Book Description

In 1970, galvanized in part by the musical experiments of John Cage, Gavin Bryars, and Cornelius Cardew, students at Portsmouth College of Art formed their own symphony orchestra. Christened the Portsmouth Sinfonia, the primary requirement for membership specified that all players, regardless of skill, experience, or musicianship, be unfamiliar with their chosen instruments. This restriction, coupled with the decision to play "only the familiar bits" of classical music, challenged the Sinfonia's audience to reconsider the familiar, as the ensemble haplessly butchered the classics at venues ranging from avant-garde music festivals to the Royal Albert Hall. By the end of the decade, after three LPs of their anarchic renditions of classical and rock music and a revolving cast of over one hundred musicians-including Michael Nyman and Brian Eno-the Sinfonia would cease performing, never officially retiring.The World's Worst: A Guide to the Portsmouth Sinfonia, the first book devoted to the ensemble, examines the founding tenets, organizing principles, and collective memories of the Sinfonia, whose reputation as "the world's worst orchestra" underplays its unique accomplishment as a populist avant-garde project. In the simple constraint that defined the ensemble, the trappings of European concert hall traditions commingled with an experimental approach to music, producing a sense of joyful collectivism that was shared with the Sinfonia's audiences. The unorthodox journey of the Portsmouth Sinfonia unfolds here through interviews with the orchestra's original members and publicist/manager, magazine publications, photographs, and unseen archival material, alongside an essay by Christopher M. Reeves.