Allan Wilson Conductor, Orchestrator & Arranger. M.Mus, LRAM, LGSM.
Talks about meeting Stuart and The Angeli Symphony
Twelve years ago I was conducting an orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. A few weeks prior to this I received a call from Anthony Wade who was a jazz pianist friend of mine. He told me an unlikely story. Stuart Sharp (Rexford) had been a penniless and homeless non-musician with a vision of having music, currently spinning around in his head, performed by great orchestras! He went on to explain that he had worked with Stuart for over five years to create an electronic version of his Angeli Symphony. My immediate feeling was of great scepticism. Anthony explained that Stuart had begun to earn money and had paid for the work so far and the electronic version was worth listening to. During a break in the recording session I met Stuart and took his tape. It was a short hand-over and we only had time for a very brief chat. A few days later I decided to check out the recording. It was almost midnight and I was definitely dubious, very tired and my instinct was to retire but curiosity got the better of me. I thought I would listen to a few seconds and take it from there. I heard it all and was totally enthralled! I was convinced it had the potential for a great symphonic masterpiece. As I listened again, my mind projected to the world's greatest musicians performing it. Then my business brain kicked in. How would Stuart pay for all this? I was sure he had no concept of the costs involved as huge amounts of money are spent on similar ventures. At a meeting with Stuart some months later he dispelled any thoughts of not achieving his objective. Initially I felt he was chasing an impossible dream with no idea of the immensity of his task. That was until I listened to his story. He had worked round the clock, with numerous jobs, for the previous 15 years and had become his own music mogul. I was simply astounded with this achievement of sacrifice and commitment. Over the next two years, in collaboration with Stuart, I arranged and co-orchestrated the score with Anthony Wade and we were ready for the next stage. He made it clear he only wanted the very best musicians and I was still shaking my head with incredulity. However, now it was time for me to assemble just such an orchestra. Great musicians such as piano soloist Nigel Clayton and Caroline Dale, who played the ‘cello solo, joined the team called The Orchestra of London. It was a major recording task requiring the best sound engineer and the best recording facilities. It also needed the best voices for the choir parts – The Pinewood Singers led by Malcolm Banham. Stuart paid for them all! Part 2 of Angeli was in fact in two movements to be joined by Irish Uilleann pipes. This was something to work on after the main recording. Such was Stuart's attention to detail he insisted on authentic pipes with the best Irish pipe player. "We all have to go to Ireland and find the best player and record the part over there," said Stuart. A few months later our team was in Galway Bay at the beautiful home of the great Irish Pipe player Tommy Keane. Tommy majestically played the linking passage, which was actually recorded live in the heart of a pinewood forest adjacent to his home. (see the video in Quotes on Video) Putting all the parts together back at Sony's Studios in London was a daunting task. Weeks later, after mixing and editing, Stuart exclaimed "Yes, that's it. That's what I have been hearing. It’s finished." I shall never forget taking that finished copy home and playing it, alone in my office, remembering all that had gone before to make this possible. I don’t mind admitting that I literally just broke down and wept. "Now,” he continued, "We start on Angeli opus one!” No one thought it possible for him to compose, produce and pay for another piece of music to match his first score. "We have only completed half the music," he retorted. Now it was ditto the above and much more. This time Stuart insisted on rehearsals and I gently suggested that the cost would be prohibitive and that I was worried about his health. It wasn't humanly possible for one person, without powerful financial backing, to work round the clock and embark on another ambitious and exorbitantly expensive score. But I was wrong….. One year later I assembled a top team to travel to Bratislava to record and rehearse with the superb Slovak National Symphony Orchestra. We all loved it, but…. Stuart didn’t like it all and said that it was not what was in his head. If he were able to read music he would have known this before we made the arrangements and it was back to the drawing board. Months later I received a phone call from Stuart. "Write this down," he shouted. He went on to sing all the parts in the score he felt were wrong and msssing. I scribbled away frantically, on several occasions asking him to slow down, and I knew something great was emerging. Opus one was eventually re-orchestrated and we were ready at long last for London’s Philharmonia Orchestra and The Pinewood Singers. Then my question once again was: "How on earth are you going to pay for the orchestra, the studio, the engineer, the post production?......” The list was endless. "Just tell me what you need," was his very sharp reply. I shook my head again with incredulity. Six months later I received a call from Stuart saying that he had earned the money necessary and instructed me to book The Philharmonia Orchestra and the choir. I knew then his wonderful scores would see the light of day and his dream realised. As I raised my baton to mark the start of the recording I reflected on the power of Stuart's vision. I mused that only a few years previously he had wondered the streets of London as a penniless vagrant. I found it impossible to understand, but here we were. At the start of the recording session I briefed the orchestra about Stuart, his life, journey and dreams. They sight-read the piece from top to tail. The atmosphere was electric and before the echo of the final chord died away the whole orchestra gave an ovation of rapturous applause. I have never known happen before in all my years in the studio. It was no longer a dream. Angeli was now complete. It was a stunning achievement and the result was musical magic.