The Show Must Go on
What the Press Say
"This deftly written, insightful and at times poignant travelogue deserves the widest circulation." Five Stars
Julian Haycock, BBC Music Magazine
"A gentle dip into a musician's high pressure lifestyle...Davies, shows there is more to orchestral life than following the baton. He offers an entertaining comparison between the high-octane life of a professional musician today and what it was like for his LSO forebears."
FT's Books of 2013--Financial Times
"Davies's concept works a treat. He writes engagingly and fluently as a perceptive observer of orchestral life with a keen eye for entertaining detail. He is one multitasker who really could give up the day job."
Editor's Choice. Books of the Year 2013 Classical Music Magazine.
A memoir of the London Symphony Orchestra on tour in the US and further afield, focusing on their historic first visit to America in 1912, when the were due to sail on the Titanic, and their most recent travels. Gareth Davies, Principal Flautist in the LSO, tells the remarkable story of a groundbreaking trip through recently discovered diaries, archive material from London and New York and newspaper reports from the time.
Against this is set a behind-the-scenes account of the LSO's worldwide touring schedule, which finds that a surprising number of the same challenges remain. We join Gareth and his colleagues as they contend with airports, volcanoes, travel strikes, illness and even life and death situations.
As well as vivid descriptions of sitting centre stage, surrounded by music and working with the likes of Haitink, Gergiev and Sir Colin Davis, we get to glimpse into the backstage goings on and see into the mind of a professional musician as never before. Written by someone at the heart of the action, we follow the travels of three musicians, a century apart, in the same orchestra. The show does go on.
Against this is set a behind-the-scenes account of the LSO's worldwide touring schedule, which finds that a surprising number of the same challenges remain. We join Gareth and his colleagues as they contend with airports, volcanoes, travel strikes, illness and even life and death situations.
As well as vivid descriptions of sitting centre stage, surrounded by music and working with the likes of Haitink, Gergiev and Sir Colin Davis, we get to glimpse into the backstage goings on and see into the mind of a professional musician as never before. Written by someone at the heart of the action, we follow the travels of three musicians, a century apart, in the same orchestra. The show does go on.