New film and classical music production to celebrate beauty of the Stroud Valleys

A HUGE collaborative arts project to create a film and classical music production celebrating the Five Valleys got underway this weekend.

On Saturday afternoon 70 members of the Stroud Symphony Orchestra gathered at Holy Trinity Church to professionally record a piece of classical music titled ‘Heart of the Five Valleys’.

This symphonic celebration was composed by conductor Jonathan Trim from Chalford, who penned the piece in 2004 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the town’s conception.

The 15 minute classical composition evokes the sights, sounds, history, character and people of the district and reflects the natural beauty and vibrancy of Stroud – from its bustling farmers market and artistic creativity to its rolling green hills and industrial heritage.

The recording was the first step in a massive six month project to create a film celebrating the beauty of the Five Valleys.

This side of the project is the brainchild of local film producer Dave Harries, and also plays French Horn in the orchestra.

Working with Johnathan’s music as his foundation, he plans to make a short film which documents the emotion and landscapes which inspired the composition.

Together the ambitious pair and their team hope to create a lasting Ode to Stroud, while also spreading the joys of classical music and raising money for local charity Stroud Valleys Project.

“It seems a really good fit that a film and music that celebrate the beauty of the Stroud Valleys should be used to further enhance and preserve that beauty for future generations,” said Dave.

“I have played in the orchestra for almost 10 years now so Johnathan and I have got to know each other quite well through the music.

“We performed his piece at a concert last year and I was inspired by its beauty and evocation of this wonderful place that we are lucky enough to live and work in.

“I thought the piece deserved a much wider audience and as I make films for a living it seemed logical to me to try and create a film based around Jonathan’s superb composition.

“Heart of the Five Valleys is going to be the soundtrack to this film. It’s the wellspring of this creative project. And the first stage is to get this track properly recorded.”

Rather than hiring a professional outfit to record the piece, the duo decided to ask for the skills of the amateur and semi-professional musicians of the Stroud Symphony Orchestra – for whom the music had originally been written.

“This is completely unique as far as I’m aware,” explained Johnathan. “Amateur orchestras just don’t do this sort of thing.

“Local groups have been broadcast before, but to actually go all out and create a soundtrack for a film will be a first. Stroud can tick that box and say ‘we did it first’.

“Stroud Symphony Orchestra has been around in its current form since the 1980s and I started conducting in in 1993.”

To make the professional recording they have asked locally based ex-BBC classical music recording engineer, Colin Rae (pictured) to help record and produce the music under proper recording session conditions at Holy Trinity Church.

“We were incredibly lucky to get Colin and his company Camrae Music,” said Dave.

“He has years of experience recording classical music and of course has all the latest digital technology and microphones.

“With Colin’s recording expertise we have no excuses though and will be under pressure to get it as near perfect as possible – we have to play the piece really well when the red light goes on.”

One of the driving forces for the project is that the film and the soundtrack will be used to raise awareness and money for local Stroud-based environmental charity, Stroud Valleys Project (SVP).

“We thought it would be a great to use this film to support a local charity. SVP are all about the future of the valleys and keeping the environment nice, so it was a natural fit,” explained Dave.

To mark the release of the film, SVP are planning a big gala premiere in the summer and will try and sell copies of the film and the soundtrack to raise money.

There are also plans to screen the piece at Stroud Film Festival 2018 and show the finished film at Vue Cinema in Merrywalks.

“Another part of this is to get classical music out to a wider audience,” added Johnathan. “One of the biggest challenges classical music faces is getting younger people involved.

“There is less support in the school system for this kind of thing now, so it’s really important that we get the next generation through, otherwise this stuff will die out.”

It’s expected the film will be shot and edited over the next few months for release in July.

For more information please visit www.stroudsymphony.org.uk/ and www.stroudvalleysproject.org/

(All pictures by Matthew Bigwood)