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The Portsmouth Sinfonia

visual
Aliases
Portsmouth Sinfonia
Country
United Kingdom
Comments
The self-proclaimed "world's worst orchestra" was founded by Gavin Bryars in 1970 when he was lecturing at the Portsmouth School of Art.
Bryars wanted to engage the masses with classical music, and sought a way to liberate the form from the pomposity of its audience. His idea was to form an orchestra of the people. Anyone could join, regardless of skill.
The orchestra comprised known musicians playing instruments they had no knowledge of, virtuoso players and people who had never played an instrument in their lives. Their oeuvré would encompass the popular classics and rock songs - music that could be played by ear. No sight-reading skills were therefore required. The virtuoso players kept everything vaguely within the realms of what might be called a tune, with the other players reaching for (and missing) notes nearby. The result was a fascinating atonal mess of a noise, one which was considered profound by several of Bryars classical contemporaries.
The results of this experiment led to the Portsmouth Sinfonia's records being pitched at the comedy market which earned them a cult following, enough for them to be selling out the Royal Albert Hall by 1974.
Although it ceased performing in 1982, the Portsmouth Sinfonia never formally disbanded.
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Covers by The Portsmouth Sinfonia

Title Performer Release date Originally by
i 1973 Ludwig van Beethoven
i 1979 The Beatles
i 1973 (unknown)
i 1973 Richard Strauss and the Frankfurt City Orchestra
i   1979 The Shadows [GB] REL, Bert Weedon REC
i 1979 Procol Harum
i Bang Bang The Portsmouth Sinfonia May 12, 2017 Unverified
i 1973 Columbia Orchestra
i 1979 Simon and Garfunkel
i 1979 (unknown), Julie Covington
i 1973 Georges Bizet
i 1973 Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edvard Grieg PRF, Arthur Pryor's Band REC,REL
i 1973 The Orchestra of The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre conducted by Riccardo Drigo
i 1979 The Dave Clark Five
i 1979 The Beach Boys
i 1979 Elvis Presley
i 1979 The Rolling Stones
i 1979 Conway Twitty
i 1973 Gustav Holst Conducting the London Symphony Orchestra
1979 The Shangri-Las
i 1979 Barbie Gaye
i 1979 The Moody Blues with The London Festival Orchestra conducted by Peter Knight
i   1979 The Orchestra of The Imperial Mariinsky Theatre conducted by Riccardo Drigo, Jack B. Nimble and The Quicks REC, B. Bumble & The Stingers REL
i 1979 The Who
i 1979 The Tornados
i 1979 Althea and Donna
i 1979 Sonny Dae and His Knights
i   1973 The Home Guards Band REL, Orchestre de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire PRF
i 1979 The Kinks
i 1979 Bee Gees
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