Frances Spalding interviewed by Anne Stevens
The lights were dim, the tables, of which there were many, each with a check cloth, were at angles to each other and each had a night light on it. The atmosphere was of a caf� or club. Could this be our austere crypt room, a humdrum part of the church? We found a table and settled down to enjoy some superb music and fascinating insights into the life of one of the members of our congregation.
More than most of us perhaps realise, music has formed a staple in Frances� very distinguished background. Anne reminded us just how distinguished she is. Not only is she Professor of Art at Newcastle University; she has also been awarded the CBE for her achievements as author and biographer, writing principally about the Bloomsbury set.
She started by playing us Bach�s Cantata No.54 with Paul Esswood, a counter-tenor, singing with the Leonhardt Ensemble, before describing a childhood spent, mainly with her mother, �in green fields, on bicycles, full of dogs, and wonderful.�
After her father left home Frances� mother was concerned about her being alone, and so sent her to a Methodist boarding school. It was here that Frances first discovered the arts and, most importantly, music. She had an opportunity via a superb art teacher to explore art individually and also to learn to play the piano. Here we heard Glinka�s Mazurka in C minor for piano. After leaving school, and despite pressure to go to the Royal College of Music or the Academy, she went up to Nottingham University and read Art History. On graduating she worked for a little while in the silver and jewellery department at Sothebys. She married and went to live in Sheffield, as her husband�s work was there and became a research assistant at what was then Sheffield Polytechnic. She did a PhD there on Roger Fry, the English artist and art critic and a member of the Bloomsbury group. Her third disc was then played, Vivaldi�s Laudamus Te from his Gloria, with Emma Kirkby and Judith Nelson singing.
Sheffield meant she was able to walk in the marvellous Peak District and savour the rugged beauty of it. We heard Canteloube�s enchanting Chant d�Auvergne No.2 (Bailero) with Kiri te Kanawa singing.
Then we had an interval and the caf� atmosphere came back The Friends of the Music served wonderful food, chicken stew (though that sounds too pedestrian for the actual deliciousness of it), a small dish of trifle, cheese, lettuce and grapes, and wine a-plenty. What a feast!
After her marriage came to an end Frances moved to London. By this time she had a son, and for his sake joined a Suzuki cello group. In these groups there is a strong connection between teacher and child and parent. She saw the same families every week at the Suzuki sessions and they became very influential in her and her son�s lives, like a family. Here we had the 3rd movement (Nocturne) from Borodin�s Quartet No.2 in D.
Frances had begun writing while in Sheffield. Her first book was a biography of Roger Fry, and then she wrote biographies of other members of the Bloomsbury Group, especially Vanessa Bell. She said that it was a Victorian habit which spilled over into the Bloomsbury Group to keep letters, so there was a wealth of documentation to help her with the biographies. Her 6th disc was by Jeremy Thurlow, Unbidden Visions for tenor, horn and piano, very modern and, for me anyway, not very easy to appreciate.
One of the people she met, in Keats Grove, was Margery Fry, the sister of Roger, and through her she was fascinated by the way the past can be part of the present. Here we had Billie Holliday singing Don�t Explain. Frances said it spoke to her and summed up her attitude to life.
The Sutton Trust says that about 3,000 children are missing out on a university education. Frances has tried to address this by becoming the Chair of Public Lectures, Newcastle University, which again is very much rooted in its locality. She spends much of her time in Newcastle, but not all of it. She has been a regular member of our congregation and on our PCC for some time now.
Frances� last disc was the Cavatina from Beethoven�s String Quartet No.13 in B flat major, opus 130. It was noticeable that all her music was for a small number of players so that it was possible to appreciate the individual instruments or singers – very much, I think, a trait of Frances.
Finally Anne asked her what disc, what book and what luxury she would take to the desert island. Frances mentioned three somewhat unexpected things: her first disc, (the Bach); the short stories of Chekhov; and the Rembrandt self-portrait in Kenwood – provided, that is, that she was allowed to take it.
One last word; she once asked someone, probably Dick Rubinstein, if he came to Hampstead Parish Church for �the architecture, the sermons or the music�. He just looked at her!
Desert Island Discs
Rachel Nugee