Best known for The Thick of It, Mock the Week and countless sharp-witted comedy turns, Chris Addison brings his passion for classical music to the Crucible stage in an evening that promises to be anything but traditional. Exposed’s Jasmine Steele Went to find out more…
You’re known for your work in comedy and TV – what sparked your enthusiasm for classical music, and when did that love begin?
You know, that’s right from my childhood. There are certain pieces of classical music that take me right back to being a tiny kid. My mum and dad have always loved it – and my gran. She grew up in Vienna and was surrounded by it, so she passed it on to her kids. I just remember my dad playing chamber music at enormous volumes through the house – there was no escaping it. I was brought up with no notion that it might be different from other music, that it was difficult or only for people with qualifications or whatever. It was just natural.
Was chamber music always on your radar, or did you stumble across it later in life?
Yeah, definitely. It’s a funny one, isn’t it? When you think of classical music, you think of a conductor and an orchestra – something massive – or you see an opera. But we sort of forget about chamber music. My dad loved to play it, so I grew up with Beethoven, violin sonatas, Haydn. I think people assume we don’t come across it often, but it’s all over TV and film soundtracks.
Can you remember the first classical piece that properly gave you goosebumps?
That’s a brilliant question. I can remember the first piece I ever heard – my mum had a 7-inch of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. When I was older, I discovered the Czech composer Dvořák, and he wrote this piano quintet – the middle movement is really short and fast. It’s a lovely tune and quite a giddy piece of music. I remember playing it over and over again. To this day, I still think, ‘I’ll use it somewhere, I’ll put it in something’ – but I’ve no idea what.
How would you describe this show to someone who thinks classical music isn’t really ‘for them’?
Wall-to-wall banging tunes. It’s just really good music. I’d say it’s a good introduction. It’ll be a really fun show with some of the most insanely talented musicians playing some of the best music ever written. I think it’s really important that people know it’s for everybody.
And it’s not anyone’s fault who’s going, “Oh, classical music just isn’t for me.” It’s no one’s fault but the people who make it feel like that. There’s plenty of gatekeeperism. It has an image of being posh, difficult, or like you need to know something. All you have to know is – do you like a good tune? Because we’re going to be playing a ton of those.
You’ve called the history of chamber music “sometimes bizarre” – can you give us a sneak preview of one of the more unexpected or strange stories you’ll be sharing on the night?
We’re still nailing it down! We have the brilliant Ensemble 360, who are amazing musicians, but it’s about finding the pieces of music that fit with their forces and what they like to play.
I strongly suspect we’ll end up talking about how Handel and Bach got blinded by the same man. We might also hear about Ethel Smyth, who was an incredible composer in the early 20th century. She composed the suffragette anthem, but one thing that held her back was critics calling her music too masculine. She used to compose under E.M. Smith so they didn’t know she was a woman.
There are some good stories along the way – whittling it down into an evening’s entertainment is the challenge.
On that note, you’re taking us through music from Bach to Steve Reich – how did you go about curating a programme that spans centuries but still hangs together?
I think the easiest way to do it is probably the most obvious – start at the beginning and go on from there. It’s all about how music develops, and it’s really interesting because I think we take a lot of it for granted.
Like Mozart’s clarinet was a complete novelty back in the day – so for him it must have been like writing a piece of chamber music for a vocoder or some brand-new instrument. There are people who do that now. Towards the end of the programme, I’m almost certain we’ll feature music from Anna Meredith, a young Scottish composer.
What’s great about Anna is that she’s completely within the idea of what chamber music is, but she also lives in the 21st century. So I think the best way of telling this story is to start with someone who invented it – then look at everyone else who developed it. We’ll take it right through to the present day and see how it’s changed along the way.
Classical concerts often come with a certain formality – how does this show break away from that?
Well, it’s got a narrator – I’ll be doing some blabber in between pieces, which is not normal. But the whole Music in the Round vibe is to break all of that stuff down. One of the ways they do it is by putting the musicians right in the centre of everything, with the audience around them.
It gives you a real sense of being with a bunch of people. Rather than everybody facing in the same direction, trying to avoid the head in front of them and get the best view, you’re aware of everyone else’s reactions – it feels more informal, more intimate, and more connected to the music.
One of the things that makes classical music feel so formal is the separation between musicians and audience. If you go to see an orchestra in a big old symphony hall, then you do feel a bit cut off – like they’re over there, we’re over here. With this show and with Ensemble 360’s shows, that barrier’s gone.
It’ll be a really fun show with some of the most insanely talented musicians playing some of the best music ever written. I think it’s really important that people know it’s for everybody.
Music in the Round are brilliant at making classical music accessible – how important is that mission to you personally?
I think it’s really important, especially as culture has somehow been cut off from a massive number of people who I think would really like it.
I remember about 30 years ago, I was at a comedy club in Manchester called The Frog and Bucket. Back in the day, the audience were known to be quite tasty – not the easiest crowd. One night, someone was doing crowd work and picked on a student who said she studied opera. She stood up in front of everyone and sang a piece – and that spit-and-sawdust club, which is normally rowdy as hell, fell completely silent. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone was watching in total concentration, and when she finished, they went crazy.
So when you finally sit and hear chamber music – in a space that doesn’t feel threatening, where you’re not judged or feeling out of place – you’re free to listen. Tickets are £5 for under-35s, so it’s really a great opportunity.
How does it feel to be performing at the Crucible Theatre – have you been before?
When I was a kid, I used to sing in Sheffield with the Hallé Orchestra. My school would occasionally provide boys’ choirs for the Hallé when they needed them – usually for pieces by Benjamin Britten. My earliest memory is coming and singing classical music there, so it feels only appropriate to return.
Chris Addison’s Incomplete Guide to Chamber Music comes to the Crucible Theatre on 10 October. Tickets, available from sheffieldtheatres.co.uk, range from £14 to £28 – or just £5 for under-35s and students.
