Multi-Story Orchestra 2015, Peckham Car Park

The concert halls (with one very notable exception) may be enjoying a restive August, but that doesn’t mean orchestral music has fled the capital. Hidden under Frank’s, in Peckham Car Park, the Multi-Story Orchestra have retuned for Bold Tendencies 2015. Throughout August and September they will perform seven times in this uniquely stark venue, taking classical music away from the strictures of the formal venue.
Founded by composer Kate Whitley and conductor Christopher Stark, Multi-Story arrived in Peckham five years ago. They have since performed to 1,000-strong audiences, featured on television and been nominated for awards. Run on a not-for-profit basis and devoted to community interaction in both London and Ipswich, they have been hailed as the future of the orchestra. All tickets cost a mere £5.
This year’s line-up introduces a new chamber strand, set within Practice Architecture’s round ‘strawditorium’. Together, they carve a distinctive path through modern music. The first session, on Sunday 16^th August, features Debussy’s Sonata for Harp, Flute and Violin (1915) placed beside the composer’s solo works for each instrument. A week later on the 23^rd August, it is the turn of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941), a prismatic odyssey that remains one of the crucial works of the twentieth century. Founder Kate Whitley will play piano. Finally, on the 6^th September, four percussions will exult in John Cage’s works for their instruments, along with his Living Room Music (1940), which uses household objects.
The main attraction remains the pairs of large-scale concerts, however. First up, on the 8^th and 9^th August, are the first three movements of Gerald Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques (1974-85), a staggering achievement that ranks alongside the most captivating music of the post-war period. Then, on the 12^th and 13^th September, the orchestra will reach back in time to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 (1811-2), amongst the composer’s most propulsive, joyful work. It will be preceded by the ‘Living Program Note’, an immersive experience across the whole car park that seeks to create personal connections to Beethoven’s masterpiece.