When I went to the Faroe Islands to see the concert of TÝR and the Faroese Symphonic Orchestra it was pretty clear that I would do an interview with Heri Joensen. But I also wanted to talk to “the other side”, the orchestral part of the whole experience. And as the Faroes are a bit like my own home (you always know somebody who knows somebody) I could arrange an interview with Bernharður Wilkinson, the conductor of the Faroese Symphonic Orchestra. We met on a cold, foggy windy and rainy day just before the first rehearsal of orchestra and band together. Inside the Nordic House were we found ourselves a cozy place near the windows, with the view over the stage (and the chaos that was still reigning there by that time). Already when we had our first phone call to arrange time and date of the interview I could experience Bernharðurs – or Bennis, as he’s called here - great sense of British humour. It was really a pleasure to sit down and talk with this likeable man. But let’s read what he has to say:
Anne: You have to know that my readers normally don’t listen to classical music and they don’t know you. So could you maybe first introduce yourself?
Benni: My name is Benni - or Bernharður Wilkinson, if you want to be formal - my father is English, still alive, over 100, my mother unfortunately passed away but she is from the Faroes so I have a British father and a Faroese mother. I was born and raised in England, went down the normal path. Actually I sang as a choir boy in Westminster abbey, so it began pretty early. And then I studied the flute in the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and my first job was as a flute player with the Iceland Symphony. And there I lived in Iceland for about nearly 30 years, playing principal flute in the Symphony but I eventually became the assistant conductor so I began conducting there in Iceland. And I moved to the Faroes in 2004. So that’s a very brief history of what I do.
Anne: Do you play another instrument except flute?
Benni: Flute – I mean I can get my little bit on the piano of course and read scores. I started a little bit on the double bass, but I was advised to give it up. [laughs]
Anne: Do you also compose songs?
Benni: I don’t compose. I don’t have the time to compose.
Anne: Did you work with Rock or Metal bands before?
Benni: I’ve done quite a few in Iceland. Also with a Heavy Metal band. It was a huge success in the new concert hall there, in Harpa. And it was with a band called SKÁLMÖLD. And we have done actually two sets of concerts. They were both sold out immediately, as was here. And there is a live footage on YouTube and then I’ve also done stuff with other “pop groups” you would say. Not such a wild setup you could say. But I have done that. You can see that also on YouTube with some of Iceland’s best known bands. So it’s not completely new to me. It’s completely new to me here in the Faroes. And new to everybody else here. I think they have done one concert before, before I came here. About 15, 16 years ago.
Anne: And did you expect the concerts to sell out that fast?
Benni: No, I didn’t. No, that was surprising how quickly it went. But on maybe thinking on hindthought, as they say, and after it happened, maybe I’m not surprised. It’s interesting to mix classical musicians with rock musicians or metal musicians.
Anne: As far as I know, you only had one and half week for practicing.
Benni: Well, the choir has been practicing more, the orchestra hasn’t actually got together, the orchestra will get together today. I’ve been of course closely in cooperation with Heri, the band leader, and with the arranger [Haraldur V. Sveinbjörnson], and I mean with all the music, and all the tracks, sorting out who starts and how it ends and all that. All that kind of business. So I mean yes, there is a lot of preparations going on, sure.
Anne: And do you think it is enough time?
Benni: Do I think? It has to be! There is no other answer to that. [laughs].
Anne: That’s true.
Benni: It’s like getting into the sea, you know. You have to swim - there is no other option.
Anne: I personally, think that there are actually not that many differences between metal and classical orchestral music, because they are both pretty heavy and epic. What do you think?
BennI: Yes, You could get a big orchestral sound, of course. The thing that is different is of course once you start it’s usually the same relentless forward motion. And that is not so often in classical music. The raw, minimalistic composers like John Adams or Philip Glass, or these people in their compositions the rhythm is maybe not so loud, but they use rhythms that are constant. So there is a similarity there I think.
Anne: What is your personal opinion about the fusion of Classical Music and Metal?
Benni: Why not? I mean, I’m open for everything. I am interested if it creates an atmosphere. It is a bit like who my favourite composer is, you know. Or favourite food, it’s great at different times.
Anne: Was it hard for you to get into the material, to get to know the material?
Benni: Some pieces are harder than others. There’s a couple of pieces that you have to concentrate very hard as not to lose the beat because the main beat is the offbeat all the time and it’s always changing. Off, on, off, on. And if you don’t concentrate on that speed you could easily lose it. But I’ll be fine (laughs].
Anne: How much freedom did you have in the elaboration of the composition and preparation for the orchestra. How much freedom did they give you?
Benni: The actual pieces that they play, you could say pretty well apart from some introductions and some intros rather, that’s purely orchestral but then when the band gets going, you could say, “Ormurin Langi”, one of the well-known ones that they do they play practically what they play and we are a sort of an extra element there. You would hear some other bits coming true. But if the band were to play on their own, you would probably just hear what you could find on spotify.
Anne: And how much did you talk beforehand or even now with Heri or Haraldur V. Sveinbjörnson?
Benni: I travel quite often to Iceland to conduct the Iceland Symphony. I mean of course it’s very easy to meet Hally – Haraldur - and he did all the SKÁLMÖLD arrangement and things and he knows how it works and I had to tell him of course what instruments we have and how many and I mean we had an 80 man choir, but we had to limit it to 40 singers, because we don’t have the space and we don’t have - I mean forty handheld mikes, with everything else, I mean [laughs], that’s a lot. And as I said, the space. So we had to limit it. What we actually ended up doing was they all go to the rehearsals, but then they take it in terms - I think one does Friday night, one does Saturday early show and then they do either half on the last show. So that was the response we got from the choir. They wanted to be in it.
Anne: I don’t know if you can answer the next question because as far as I know, you will have the first rehearsal with band and orchestra today…
Benni: Now in three hours or four hours.
Anne: …so I don’t know if you can answer this, but how good can you work together with the band? Because I could imagine it’s pretty hard to get a band and an orchestra together because the orchestra knows how to play with a conductor, and the band usually plays without someone telling them what to do.
Benni: As I said before, I mean once the drummer gets it it’s going. There’s very little leeway, because it’s very, very rhythmical. Especially in metal bands. Extremely tight. And I mean as long as we’re on the same wavelength, I don’t see that being a problem. The main problem in the first rehearsal will be getting a good balance between the band and the orchestra so that the orchestra can hear. And they have to wear earplugs because it’s very, very loud. The band has got in-ears, you could say, but the orchestra doesn’t have that, these things cost a fortune here. So they have to have monitors and they have to be able to hear themselves and everything. So the main mix will be out here and that takes time. So it will be chaos for the first hour or so. I know that. So it’s not going to surprise me. [laughs]
Anne: But so you mainly have to work together with the drummer?
Benni: The drummer is the key aspect here. He has a counting, an electrical counting and I will hear that as well and we worked out who does what where. I can begin this one by myself or we go here until we get to this place and so on. We’ve been sitting down working out these logistical problems.
Anne: I can imagine that this is not as easy as it sounds.
Benni: Oh no, no, no, no. This isn’t… some of the rhythmical stuff is very complex for the orchestra to do. Very complex. We’ve got all kinds of cross-rhythms and things. It’s not a given. You know, they have to be concentrated and they will have to practice [laughs].
Anne: As far as I know some members of the Faroese orchestra also play in bands. Do you think this is good, so they can adapt more to the band or doesn’t it matter?
Benni: Of course it will help, but I think what many of them… some of them don’t and for some of them this will be a first playing like this. Especially this kind of music. Maybe they play in bands with a string background like in “Yesterday” by THE BEATLES, or something like that, you know, just nice chorus and stuff. Which is slightly different from this. It’ll help surmount and others will be in for their baptism [laughs].
Anne: You are more or less the boss of the orchestra…
Benni: I am the - you could say - the democratic dictator.
Anne: Yes. And the band is a bit different. They are a bit outside. Do they have to listen to what you say as well or do they play and you adapt to it?
Benni: Well, as I say, I look on conducting as - I mean a conductor in a scientific experiment is a catalyst. And a catalyst is something you put into an experiment, let’s say a rock band and an orchestra. The catalyst is the thing that makes the experiment work properly. It’s an extra ingredient. And I look at myself as that rather than conductor’s red card or whatever. It’s not happening. Especially these days. I mean my job is to try and put together the different pieces and the ways of working and to make it function together. So yes. “We will try to listen and do that and can we not do this?” “Oh yeah, that’s a good idea let’s do that.” and then they’re all “Should we do this?” “No, I wanna do it like this.” And then that’s my word, that’s how it’s gonna go. So it’s a combination.
Anne: And those were all my questions, unfortunately. Because I really enjoyed talking with you. Thank you very much for taking your time!
Benni: I’m gonna meet the band at three so we’re gonna go over stuff, you know, like preparation stuff and then the orchestra will be here at six - I think they landed, I think so, hope so. If they can find the runway. No, no, I think it’s ok and there are some logistical problems we still have to solve. At the moment, the choir has to sing more than we thought. The choir is in about fifteen, sixteen numbers - something like that and it’s impossible to learn it by heart. So they need stands. And then, if there are stands, I can’t have chairs. Because they have to hold the microphone and they have to turn the pages. So you know, there ARE problems. And where does the harp sit? Where is the room? And all this kind of stuff. And can they see me if I stand there? These are just different things with different puzzles. And if the choir needs one stand each that’s forty stands. Now, the orchestra has stands and the music school has stands. But whether they have forty extra stands - we’ll find out.
Anne: It will work somehow.
Benni: It’s gonna go somehow.
Live pictures: Anne, picture of Benni and me: Andrea
