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John Wilson: An English Conductor by Cantara Christopher

A compilation of passionate postings from my music/sex/film blog on BBC conductor John Wilson. Plus some additional writing not found on blog and direct links to a variety of music.

INTRODUCTION

There is a small but loyal group of my own fans out there who have shown some interest in my online, real-time courtship of the English orchestral conductor-arranger John Wilson. For them, this collection of blog postings from 2018-2020 will be simply another stroll through my personal reactions to John, from “That limey weed, he butchered Oklahoma!” to “That’s what Korngold should sound like, the bloke’s a genius!” to “That’s a nice Tchaikovsky, wish he could’ve made it sound as crisp as he wanted, he deserves a hug for the effort.” My desire for John, my raging hunger to have this man in my life, my kitchen, my bed, has been duly noted even by the most casual of readers. So I will not be dwelling on his manifest attractions here, preferring to save that for the erotica I write. Neither will I be going into personal reminiscences of my own experiences at music school (as a string, then voice major) that following John’s career have stirred in me, preferring to do such storytelling elsewhere.

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Rather, the following pages, these blog postings, make up an album, more or less, of all I could find to pass along of John’s work on stage, in concert halls, and in the recording studio. Here are almost all I could find of his work with his own John Wilson Orchestra, that fabulous, flamboyant 80-member musical group which has its own enthusiastic following centered mostly in the UK. Here also is some of his work apart from his eponymous orchestra, for examples at Circus Roncalli and Glyndebourne, and for BBC Music. Most of the videos I link to make the most of John’s visual appeal: his bookish beau-laid features, his geeky spectacles—but most of all his astonishingly elegant figure in full dress suit, the white tie and tails he wears at concerts. Again, I’ll leave my erotic scenarios of John so attired to yet another stream of writing, where he and I dwell together in the monochrome screen world of my old boss in Hollywood, classic film director Rouben Mamoulian.

Here we will concentrate on John’s actual talent and accomplishments in a variety of music styles. This means that the blog postings reprinted in JOHN WILSON: AN ENGLISH CONDUCTOR are only the postings wherein John—his work and his words—are featured, reviews by myself and others of his work plus lists of the numbers played by The JWO at various BBC Proms, and lots and lots of audio downloads. As John records with the finest state-of-the-art indie labels in the UK, the album samples are a particular treat. Also included are downloads of his podcast chats, made in 2020, with UK culture mavens Edward Seckerson and Michael Seal. Although much less articulate extemporaneously, when given the chance to collect his thoughts in prose John appears to be an intelligent musician, a me-ti-cu-lous researcher and transcriber, but most of all, an inspired technician who has managed to devise orchestral strategies to reflect his own musical idiosyncrasies. As luck would have it, his own musical idiosyncrasies just happen to resonate with an overwhelmingly large segment of his audience, which has led to his success.

John’s success with me is only halfway, but that’s irrelevant. His success—as has been mentioned by newspaper critics in reviews far more “golden” (John’s word) than mine—lies a great deal in his specialty, which is making tweaks to the sound of works already popular and time-honored, music that almost everybody recognizes but almost no one (unless they’re pop music geeks and/or worked at ASCAP, like me) can quite place, except in personal terms of memory or sentiment. This music is comprised of standard pieces from the hybrid field of Classic Broadway/Hollywood Musical Theater/Film, as well as orchestrated tunes from The Great American Songbook which, by the way, is truly American and truly great. Works from the surprisingly large repertoire of English Light Music are also in John’s wheelhouse though, and it is where I have responded the most joyfully to my beloved conductor, as English Light Music has been the secret musical delight of my life, ever since I bounced up and down to Captain Kangaroo (@47:00) in my playpen.

So…here it is/soon will be. Here’s hoping that this album will please John’s fans as well as bring him new ones. But most of all, of course, here’s hoping it brings a smile to John’s dear face.

Available here FREE in pdf before the end of the month.