The great British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham left behind him a collection of witticisms on virtually every aspect of classical music life. As someone who spent his days – and nights – standing baton in hand in front of various groups of musicians, he developed a pretty acute understanding of what was required from them. ‘There are two golden rules for an orchestra’, he once said. ‘Start together and finish together. The audience doesn’t give a damn what goes on in between.’
Other conductors have offered a slightly more nuanced view on the role of the orchestra, but many of them recognise the power of the collective body of musicians that sat before them. Kurt Masur believed that ‘You have to change your mind with every orchestra because every orchestra has a different character.’ While composer and conductor Robert Schumann talked of the almost military might of a group of musicians playing together in unison, saying: ‘I feel so entirely in my element with a full orchestra; even if my mortal enemies were marshalled before me, I could lead them, master them, surround them, or repulse them.’
There is no getting away from the importance of the orchestra in classical music. While works for solo instruments or small groups of musicians are without question a vital part of the lifeblood of the genre, there is nothing quite so special as hearing a performance by an orchestra at the top of its game. And, over the years, our greatest composers have proven this by marshalling the forces of countless orchestral musicians in the creation of many of the most enduring and popular classical works of all time.