Monoprint by Andy Hayes @andyinfinity on Instagram
The first series of our podcast, “Why Words Matter,” has come to a close this month – having spanned branding, storytelling, art, social issues, education, and now tuning into the world of music.
Continuing the baton passing from host to host, we spoke to Max Parfitt about his episode.
For more on the series, see John Simmons’ Words for all seasons. John describes how his poem grew out of the 26 radio series to incorporate 26 favourite words.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself, Max, for any 26ers who haven’t met you before?
My name’s Max Parfitt. As well as sitting on the board for 26 and editing the newsletter, I am a writer (of anything from poems to songs, prose to programme notes), and the lead producer of opera company Wild Arts.
Without giving away too many spoilers for your episode, could you share one or two reasons why you think words matter to music?
I think it’s a pairing that blows hot and cold.
There is a famous quote from Hans Christian Anderson: “Where words fail, music speaks.”
Or Tolstoy: “Music is the shorthand of emotion.”
Victor Hugo: “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
I think music is often treated as more honest than words – as though through its intangibility it can reach something more “true.”
Firstly, I find that interesting. Both are products of the human imagination, perceived and made cohesive by human brains or ears, so why is music received as something transcendental while words are so often thrown away, stumbled over, or ignored? Why is music intangible when words feel so firmly the opposite – distinctly embodied?
Secondly, as a writer and musician, I would ask if it’s fair to split them apart in the first place? Or to suggest that words are in some way emotionally incomplete. I remember reading the final pages of The Mirror and the Light in the back of a car at 2am – catching sentences in stuttering orange flickers with every street lamp we passed, and unable to put it down; feeling my soul drawn out of my body as (spoilers for primary school history classes) his neck drew closer to the block. These words needed no support to carry their emotion across – needed no “shorthand.”
In the podcast we don’t quite ask why words matter to music (or vice versa), but instead why the two are so integrally linked, and what does the combination of them offer – from libretti, to interpretation, to the language we use to describe, capture, and create music to begin with.
Who will be joining you for the episode?
I’m joined by two musicians and two writers, spanning a range of classical and contemporary music.
Orlando Jopling is the artistic director of Wild Arts, and a conductor, orchestrator, and cellist – he has worked for the Royal Opera House and English National Ballet, as well as with a wide range of collaborators from contemporary poets (he performed with poet Ant Roberts in a derelict Victorian water tower) to Sinead O’Connor.
Most recently Orlando has been collaborating on a version of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with our next guest, Siofra Dromgoole – an award-winning playwright who I came to know after her sensational play After Sex at the Arcola last year. The pair discuss their process, Siofra discovering the arts of translation and music text-setting for the first time.
John-Paul Muir is a multi-talented pianist and composer spanning classical, jazz, and contemporary styles. He and our final guest, neuroscientist Anjali Bhat, have been collaborating on plays and albums for the past few years, often in association with the Bloomsbury Festival, for which John-Paul is the artistic lead. Their most recent album, Home Now, was released back in November. They discuss their collaboration as musician and poet, and as friends – the sides of each that the other has been able to draw out.
Who do you think might be particularly interested in your episode?
Oh, well everyone, I hope! Did you hear the quotes at the start? These are intrinsic parts of everyday life – of the way we feel and live and love and interact. Of how we hear and interpret everything around us, every moment of every day.
Whether you are addicted to music in your life or whether you hardly give it a thought, it is all a part of the way we experience our individual and shared worlds.
Give it a listen and let me know your thoughts – I’m always available at max@whiteweavearts.co.uk.
– Max Parfitt
Catch up on the full series over on Substack.