The Rest Is Noise 2013

Inspired by music critic Alex Ross’ 2007 book, the masterfully written The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, the Southbank Centre is currently staging one of the most ambitious concert series ever staged in London.

Simply put, Ross’ book charts the musical history of the twentieth century, going on to examine recent memories and our musical futures. But crucially, it also puts music into a historical context, and in turn defines the events of these past 100 years through the art it produced. In Ross’ own words, it ‘chronicles not only the artists themselves, but also the politicians, dictators, millionaire patrons and CEOs who tried to control what music was written; the intellectuals who attempted to adjudicate style; the writers, painters, dancers and filmmakers who provided companionship on lonely roads of exploration; the audiences who variously revelled in, reviled, or ignored what composers were doing; the revolutions, hot and cold wars, waves of emigration, and deeper social transformations that reshaped the landscape in which composers worked.’

Transferring such a vast endeavour to a concert series is no mean feat, yet the programme devised by the Southbank seems to be on the mark. Dividing the year into 12 key themes (listed on their website), the festival comprises talks, lectures, workshops, films and concerts, curated to match the purpose of the book – providing a mutual understanding of the twentieth century and its musical output. Over the next 10 and a half months, we will be providing dispatches from a selection of these events.

The festival’s aims of understanding the twentieth century through its music should in turn aid us in understanding our own musical climate. Art music often finds itself marginalised to a different section of every newspaper and magazine, often along with jazz, folk and ‘world’ music. And this, to an extent, is understandable – a certain degree of prior knowledge and musical understanding are required to inform value judgements. Yet we live in a time where the worlds of classical and pop are increasingly blurred – electronic artists namedrop Reich and Stockhausen as much as any techno giants; musicians such as Ben Frost choose the loaded term ‘composer’, deliberately placing themselves in some sort of historical canon, while contemporary orchestral writer Nico Muhly hobnobs with and performs alongside ‘pop’ artists like St. Vincent, Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors.

So far, the festival has already covered the themes ‘Here Comes The Twentieth Century’ and ‘The Rise of Nationalism’, but upcoming is coverage of Paris’ role in the first half of the century – a literary, artistic and musical hotbed of talent. Watch this space.