MAESTRO WITH THE MIDAS TOUCH

Classical pianist, conductor, and the most recent recipient of the Lifetime Achievement accolade at the Ulster Tatler Awards, Barry Douglas discusses his start in music aged four, meeting Queen Elizabeth II and learning Russian.

Like most of us, Barry Douglas watched Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on TV. And again like many of us, the concert pianist and conductor was impressed by the beauty of the music selected to conduct our late Monarch to her rest. “Yes, it was beautiful and uplifting in Westminster Abbey.” Asked to comment on the ensuing debate about the importance of music education and whether we should better fund the subject, Mr Douglas OBE says he has been out of the loop. “I’ve been travelling, but music is important for our souls.” He goes on to illustrate the point by describing his own early start in the subject.

Aged four, the young Barry Douglas attended a concert for piano and two other instruments. He knew immediately which one he wanted to try and told his Sligo-born mother so. Lessons were organised and later on, Douglas attended the Belfast School of Music. “But you could get a whole year’s piano tuition for £1.50. You had to pay more, £5, for your second instrument and mine was clarinet.” There was also music at school, with a junior and senior choir at Methody. “You’d see these big rugby football types there, having just sung Mozart’s Requiem. It did them good because studies have shown music is good for the brain, for organisation and intellect.” Warming to his theme, Douglas notes that music-making can also help with team-building, just like sport. “You have to sing the same note as the guy next to you!” And most important of all, maybe, being involved in music can give you “access to the sensitive side of your psyche”.

It’s no surprise that Barry Douglas found lockdown tough. Watching him play The Clinoon, a short piece he recorded at home in Lurgan for The Ulster Orchestra, you sense, while relishing the sounds, he would like to be with fellow musicians. The pianist recalls his last concert before the pandemic silenced concert halls. “It was on March 8 and 9 in Versailles, outside Paris, and the last notes I played were the last notes of (Beethoven’s) Emperor concerto.” Then nothing for about four weeks, as he explains. “Everything was cancelled. I didn’t know what to do at first. I started reading a lot of books, and didn’t finish them. I read Thomas Hardy and Irish poetry, Seamus Heaney and MacNeice. I like Heaney because his poetry is like music. When you say it aloud, it’s musical – the words recreate what the spade is like digging.”

Having been lucky enough to hear Barry Douglas play Liszt’s piano concerto at the Clandeboye Festival some years ago, I remember his passionate approach to the music. If you YouTube his account of any piano music, there is a real emotional engagement. Yet, I ask him, is this surprising given that Northern Irish people are often stereotyped as people who find it hard to express their emotions. “Good question. I’m not sure that we are like that, you know. The English are often portrayed as having this stiff upper lip but then there’s Simon Rattle.” The English star conductor is known for his emotional interpretation of great works.

Barry Douglas is not only famous for his piano work, he is also known for creating Camerata Ireland and founding the Clandeboye Festival. This involved him getting involved in the organisation of a beautiful music event in a fabulous setting with the late Lady Dufferin who died this year. This year’s programme celebrated the event’s 21st birthday and was dedicated to the chatelaine of Clandeboye who took a keen interest in proceedings.

Douglas says now: “It was very sad. I was lucky enough to know Lady Dufferin who was one of the brightest people I have ever met. She asked all the right questions.” In his piano recital, Douglas included Beethoven’s Apassionata sonata, a chance to express some big emotions.

My memories of attending this event which, as Barry Douglas agrees, operates a bit like Glyndebourne in marrying classy classical music to a beautiful setting, are various. I once spotted Stephen Rea, who read at concerts here. Radio 3’s Sean Rafferty is a regular MC, and the atmosphere is special. Douglas agrees: “It is a beautiful place. There is something about being there.”

He played Liszt’s piano concerto at Clandeboye during a thrilling concert some years back. Barry Douglas’ commitment, passion and enjoyment of the theatricality were memorable. He says now that that was the last time he played the piece, although he is now reviving it for a concert this autumn. He says he has been recalling the score. “That was 2008. Initially, when I tried, I could remember half of it. I thought about it and don’t want to show off, but managed to remember it all. If I hadn’t, I would have had to use my digital keyboard.” The interpretation will be different, as time has elapsed. “Every performance is different, because of the audience, the circumstances.”

Music is a demanding profession. Douglas says that he used to practise eight to nine hours a day, now it’s five to six. “But when I am on holiday I try not to play at all, which is difficult.”

Which piano does he own? A Steinway grand, as it happens. Douglas admits he has to be careful namechecking piano manufacturers as colleagues have in the past praised one make and get into trouble. Yamaha is good, others too, he says, but Douglas clearly loves his current grand piano. “I bought it in 2014, sold my two pianos to do so and added in a bit. It’s very versatile.” And clearly worth it.

Awarded an OBE in 2002 and a CBE in 2021, which he received from Prince Charles, he comments, “He has been to several of my concerts, loves Ireland, and is very musical. I naturally sent him condolences.” Douglas is fortunate enough to know members of the Royal family, including the late Queen. “I met her on five to six occasions and she was always a great support. She invited me to lunch at Buckingham Palace in the early ‘90s. I went, had a great time and was poured an incredible glass of red wine. I love the St Emilions and it was a Chateau Leoville Las-Casas.” After the event, which was very enjoyable, the oenophile went to a noted London wine seller’s, Berry Brothers, to acquire another bottle. “They said they didn’t have the 1970. I told them I’d just drunk some over the road, that is, at the Palace. The man said ‘Sorry, sir, the Queen has bought the whole year.”

We discuss music’s ability to bridge division. Daniel Barenboim’s acclaimed West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, with musicians from Jewish and Arab backgrounds, is a shining illustration, so does the same principle apply here in Northern Ireland? “Yes, I remember belonging to the Belfast Youth Orchestra as a teenager. We all left our baggage, literally and metaphorically, at the door. What really matters is the experience.”

Douglas’ children have all learnt to play music and his youngest, Liam, is now professional. “He’s a rock guitarist with Plastic Cowboys. We went to see them in Dublin recently at Whelan’s and he is really good.”

The performer intends to take a bit of a sabbatical. Barry Douglas, who says that he feels “Irish and European”, aims to improve his command of Spanish and Russian. He learnt Russian after winning the Tchaikovsky in 1986. “I was good enough to do interviews, but I couldn’t do that now.” During rare downtime, Douglas relaxes by walking or running near Lough Neagh, “one of the biggest lakes in Europe”, and when in France, buying food in the market which he then cooks.

Douglas has work across Europe coming up, including concerts in Bucharest and the Wigmore Hall: “I’ll be learning some new things, including Schubert”. We can enjoy his work in Belfast in January when Barry Douglas is joining the Ulster Orchestra, a regular musical partner of his, for a concert in January at the Ulster Hall where the orchestra tackles Sibelius’ Sixth and he plays a work he has championed, Britten’s piano concert.

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