After more than four decades as a classical music critic, arts editor and culture writer for The Times, Richard Morrison has had a front-row seat for the past half century of evolution in the British arts scene. Having been given a broad remit by the organisers of the Darwin College Lecture Series to share his thoughts on the topic of Song, his depth of experience and understanding meant he was spoiled for choice.
But the lecture he will deliver on Friday will be perhaps surprisingly topical. In a series finale entitled How Song Shapes Society, and Society Shapes Song, Richard plans to focus on “what’s happening in the world today, and the way that song has either deliberately or inadvertently been pulled into the political arena.”
From the debate over whether the BBC should broadcast Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury, to the display of a Palestinian flag during a curtain call at the Royal Opera House, perspectives on the conflict in the Middle East have played out on British stages.
“The whole question of Israel and Gaza, which has completely divided the cultural world, very violently in some ways, has spilled over into song.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also had musical repercussions internationally.
“Originally, when Russia invaded Ukraine the arts world was pretty well united on the side of the Ukrainians. A lot of Russian artists who were very distinguished conductors and soloists became persona non grata in the west, and there was a sort of backlash. Should individual artists who may not personally have supported the invasion be bearing the brunt of our anger about it?”
Donald Trump’s use of the arts for personal and nationalist aggrandisement is also on Richard’s radar, from the renaming of the Kennedy Center to the decree that the National Symphony Orchestra should open every concert with The Star-Spangled Banner.
“So it’s quite clear that song is as political as it has ever been,” he says.
“I think if I’m trying to bring a logical thesis to it, it’s that whereas song in the past was a form of protest for the underclass – for example slave spirituals or in South Africa during Apartheid, or what happened in the Soviet Union where music was often a channel for dissent that couldn’t be spoken outwardly…what’s happening now is that more and more you’ve got the rulers or the despots or the governments imposing themselves on the way that song is brought into the public medium.”
Censorship is not always overt. Richard sees an excess of caution over political neutrality having a direct impact on musical expression.
“You’ve got this big clash now I think between the arts world, which has always been fairly liberal and doesn’t see why it should stop expressing its views, and public money and the question of being neutral. Funding bodies like the Arts Council in the last two years have really tightened their rules about what you can and can’t do…there’s a lot more worry about offending the politicians who control the purse strings.”
Song may be recognised, both by its creators and audiences and by those who wish to silence them, as having a particular power. But Richard’s talk will also ask whether it makes a tangible impact as a form of protest, or simply offers catharsis. From Shostakovich’s symphonies to Bob Dylan’s harmonica, music gives voice to rebellion, but is rarely effective as its instrument.
A Cambridge music graduate who spent much of his time here immersed in student journalism, Richard has retained a role as a church organist and Director of Music throughout his long career at The Times.
“I always say, if you work for a newspaper, you want something that makes you feel sane outside of that. But when I’m dealing with my church choir, I feel that’s the insane bit!”
The decline of arts funding and its lack of support in schools is a perennial source of despondency, though with the benefit of the long view, Richard resists the temptation to hark back to better days.
“It’s always been underfunded, and we can’t pretend that there was a golden age. I wrote the history of the London Symphony Orchestra and that was founded in 1904. They came close to bankruptcy just after the First World War, again in the 1920s, again in the war years, again in the 1950s when a lot of other orchestras were founded, and right up to the present day. It’s perpetually in crisis.”
In a lecture which will draw on that perspective, but with a very current focus, Richard will demonstrate the centrality of song to our political lives today.
“Because I come to this not from an academic angle but as a sort of observer of the contemporary scene, I hope to help people make the links between these big concepts of freedom and protest and music, and things that are going on today. It’s very much affecting the lives of musicians and audiences and people who decide what’s going on platforms today.”
Join us for Richard’s lecture, How Song Shapes Society, and Society Shapes Song, at 5.30pm on Friday 13th March.
