Robert Wilson

Violin and viola

I've been retired since 2017, but before that I was a professor of pure mathematics. Since retirement, I have worked on applying the mathematics that I know to the problems of fundamental physics, especially trying to understand why the theory of elementary particles (high energy nuclear physics) is incompatible with the theory of gravity (general relativity). If we really understood this, and what to do about it, we would not need to spend tens of billions of pounds on a bigger version of the Large Hadron Collider.

Question 4 : How long have you been a member of BPO?

I joined in 1989, left in 1999, and rejoined in 2017.

My father played violin and viola, and all his children were more or less forced to learn the violin. By the time we grew up, my three brothers had settled on cello, viola and violin (in order of age) and I vacillated between violin and viola (and still do). I would often play viola to get into a higher quality band, but conversely I would join a lower standard of orchestra in order to play violin. Or the other way round, when there are lots of good viola players. In reality the viola suits my personality better, but the BPO has a shortage of violins at the moment.

When I moved to Birmingham in 1987, to take up a job in the University, I joined the Birmingham University Orchestra, initially in the first violins and then in the violas, but found the standard abysmally low compared to what I was used to in Cambridge, so looked for something better. I can no longer remember who told me about the BPO, or why it took me more than a year to get round to joining, but after that I never looked back.

I think the Mahler symphonies were the highlights. In the years when I was not a regular member of the orchestra, I would sometimes come back for a season just to play Mahler. But it wasn't really the music I played that made the BPO special - it was the friends I made. 

Yes.

My least favourite composer is Sibelius. His string writing is just sadistic. There is no other word for it. Ravel's Bolero is a piece I absolutely refuse to play ever again, as it gave me RSI which I'm not sure I ever completely recovered from. My favourite composer is actually Tchaikovsky, although I sometimes used to pretend it was Beethoven. A performance of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony with the Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra, conducted by Adrian Brown, about half a century ago, was the highlight of my time in that orchestra.

William Walton 1st Symphony.