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| The four Bond girls |
As the Classical Brit Awards whip up publicity ahead of this month’s shindig at the Royal Albert Hall in London, annual debates are reignited about the origins, legitimacy and future of that most provocative of music genres: crossover.
Given its current popularity it seems strange to trace, as some have, the phenomenon back to the obscure prog rock output of the late 1960s and 1970s. Of course, its genesis wasn’t quite so clear-cut. So-called rock opera evolved simultaneously, followed by dubious novelties such as Malcolm McLaren’s Fans, an album that includes a techno-tribute to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in which Pinkerton’s rap account of his holiday fling is intertwined with “Un bel di vedremo” (“Cio-Cio San was her name/ And this is her tale of woe/ Take it away Cio- Cio ... ”).
But it was the unlikely pairing of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and the voluminous soprano Montserrat Caballé that launched the mainstream crossover genre and, incidentally, established its long-running association with sport, with their duet ahead of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Since then, crossover artists have flourished, with stars such as the “can belto” ensembles Il Divo and Blake, and Welsh mezzos Charlotte Church and Katherine Jenkins dominating the gift market. Crossover has expanded into a wide range of sub-genres, popera and hip-hopera among them, and gone on to embrace the full potential of instrumental music. Inspired, perhaps, by two violinists – Vanessa-Mae with her pin-up profile, Nigel Kennedy with his bad-boy posturing – the most recent and surprising trend has been that of the electric string quartet.
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| Il Divo |
Their tools might be traditional but the music they produce is far from it: tracks such as “Explosive” showcase volleys of bowing against slick percussion backing, “Kashmir” features a meandering violin-line over a synth-heavy bass and “Samba” is a catchy dance number replete with whoops and fiesta whistles. Influences are deliberately vague – Westerhoff describes their music as “a fusion of lots of different styles such as world music and gypsy” – and they are carefully branded as musicians who evade categorisation: girls who just wanna have fun.
Davis claims that the furore when their debut album Born was “demoted” from the classical charts for sounding too much like pop didn’t bother them in the slightest. “I think it raises hackles if people think we’re trying to pretend we’re classical, or what we do is classical, but we’ve never said that. We didn’t mind when we were kicked off the classical charts but it became this big news story.”
Like many crossover stars, Bond have garnered strong support at sporting events – the quartet are in demand at horse races, baseball games and football matches around the world. For their latest project, commissioned to coincide with the release of the Peugeot 380 CC Four Seasons convertible, the band have recorded a new interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which reduces the four suites into four tracks. The music will be available for free download and is to be performed live by the band in UK shopping centres during May and June.
Critics will no doubt accuse them of corporate back-scratching and myopic artistry: does the world really need another Four Seasons rehash? But Davis says that it’s a piece they have long been interested in and their version will be accessible. “It’s for people who wouldn’t necessarily go straight out there and buy the English Chamber Orchestra playing the Four Seasons, it’s softer on the untrained ear,” Hanson adds.
Certainly the recordings offer an easy and approachable introduction to the Four Seasons soundscape (Vivaldian in flavour without those largo longeurs) but some will blanch at the blatant advertising: free performances sound benevolent enough but they’re not without ulterior motive – there are strings attached, you might say.
The girls themselves are touchingly earnest and evangelical about the influence they wield. “Because we’re sold in the classical section, people often go in there to get one of our albums and then pick up something else. And lots of young kids have taken up instruments because they think it’s cool. We get lots of letters,” Davis says.
As far as music critics are concerned, however, groups such as Bond lack the credibility of experimental classical ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, who have collaborated with Icelandic folk-rockers Sigur Rós, or the Brodsky Quartet, who have received acclaim for their work with Elvis Costello. Some claim that crossover music has damaging effects on the classical record industry.
Bond decided they would engage with the issue and invited their fiercest critic, cultural commentator Norman Lebrecht, to a schools workshop they organised. “He actually thought it was really valid music. We were playing Russian folk songs and all sorts and he saw the effect on the school kids and wrote a really nice article about it,” Chater says. But a true resolution seems unlikely, precisely because crossover artists such as Bond have to define themselves against classical artists in order to achieve mainstream success.
Much of this comes down to presentation. Popular perception dictates that classical musicians are stuffy and staid (au contraire, claimed Blair Tindall in Mozart in the Jungle, a high-profile exposé of the sex, drugs and baroque and roll lifestyle enjoyed by members of US orchestras) and this is largely because of their dress. So while classical artists are typically seen in bouffant evening gowns, crossover stars are snapped in slinky mini dresses, or nothing at all – Bond have previously done a tasteful nude photo shoot.
I ask about the degree of control they have over their presentation and how they feel about the pressures of appearance. “I think it’s such a visual age and the way we’re marketed is very like a pop band but sometimes we don’t even have a stylist and we often wear our own clothes,” Davis says. But does the primping and pampering not get tedious? “We’re girls,” Westerhoff squeaks, “We love it. It’s nice to be coiffured.”
Image will be all the more important this summer as Bond prepare for their new album, due for release this autumn, and a face-off in the charts with Simon Cowell’s recent recruits, another all-girl string quartet named Escala, who shot to fame as finalists in last year’s Britain’s Got Talent series. Bond deny there’s any sense of competition but publicity machines are hyping up the rivalry and the press are already debating their comparative sex appeal.
If the battle of the bands/babes is undecided by record sales, it is likely to be judged in the sporting field. Escala might have covered this winter’s football season for Sky Sports but all eyes are now fixed on the 2012 Olympics. Bond have the head start – Hanson was selected to perform alongside David Beckham and Leona Lewis at the closing ceremony for the Beijing games before she joined the group last autumn – but there’s still everything to play for. “Nothing’s been decided yet,” she says, “we’ve given them a wink so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
The Classical Brit Awards take place at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on May 14 www.classicalbrits.co.uk
