{"id":44595,"date":"2024-07-03T14:37:45","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T12:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/c374f861-680d-4180-85f9-39749855b31c"},"modified":"2024-07-03T16:36:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T14:36:08","slug":"from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians\/","title":{"rendered":"From the sax-wielding US president to the UK Prime Minister who conducted Elgar: six musical politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 03 July 2024 at 12:37 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Do music and politics mix? While they may not seem the most immediate bedfellows, they have on occasions been seen to work in close harmony. Here are six politicians who knew their way around a musical score.<\/p>

Michelle Wu<\/strong><\/h2>
The Boston Symphony Orchestra has hosted many illustrious soloists over its 143-year history, though Michelle Wu, who joined it for the slow movement of Mozart\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 21 in May 2023, is a little different \u2013 Wu is the city\u2019s mayor, no less. \u2018Music unites and inspires us,\u2019 she said, as she prepared to join the list of political notables to have displayed their musical skills in public…<\/p>
<\/div><\/figure><p>Several US presidents have been fine musicians. These include….<strong> <\/strong><\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-harry-s-truman\"><strong>Harry S. Truman<\/strong><\/h2><p>Describing a White House Steinway as having \u2018the most wonderful tone I\u2019ve ever heard\u2019 in an interview for NBC, demonstrated it by playing the opening bars of Mozart\u2019s Piano Sonata No. 11. In 1992.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-bill-clinton\"><strong>Bill Clinton<\/strong><\/h2><p>The saxophone-wielding, shades-wearing Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas, opened the <em>Arsenio Hall Show <\/em>with a rendition of \u2018Heartbreak Hotel\u2019 \u2013 his election to the presidency followed soon after. The perfect audition for the world’s biggest role?<\/p><p>Here he is playing sax at a White House party.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"USA: BILL CLINTON PLAYS SAXOPHONE AT WHITE HOUSE PARTY\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OtpjJ6obfsE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-condoleezza-rice\"><strong>Condoleezza Rice<\/strong><\/h2><p>George W. Bush wasn\u2019t, it’s fair to say, that musical, but his Secretary of State<strong> <\/strong>Condoleezza Rice certainly was. In 2008, Rice, a fine pianist, joined four musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra \u2013 including Louise Miliband, wife of then-foreign secretary David \u2013 for some <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/johannes-brahms\">Brahms<\/a><\/strong> in front of the Queen at Buckingham Palace.<strong> <\/strong><\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ed-balls\"><strong>Ed Balls<\/strong><\/h2><p>Could Rice’s way with Brahms have been the spur that inspired the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer<strong> <\/strong>Ed Balls to take up the piano? Five years later, Balls, by now shadow chancellor, was confident enough to show off his new skills with a little Schumann live on BBC Radio 2. Impressive…<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embedwrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ed Balls plays piano live on Radio 2\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tsak52DMReQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-edward-heath\"><strong>Edward Heath<\/strong><\/h2><p>That said,<strong> <\/strong>as the prime minister who in 1971 conducted the LSO in Elgar\u2019s <em>Cockaigne <\/em>while in office, Edward Heath remains the UK\u2019s loftiest musical politician. Here he is rehearsing the European Youth Orchestra in 1978 (no longer PM by that stage, but you can get a feel for his way with a baton).<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Edward Heath rehearsing European Youth Orchestra.1978.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dIYTS7hOpUo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Wednesday, 03 July 2024 at 12:37 PM Do music and politics mix? While they may not seem the most immediate bedfellows, they have on occasions been seen to work in close harmony. Here are six politicians who knew their way around a musical score. Michelle Wu The Boston Symphony Orchestra has hosted many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":44596,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians.jpg",1890,1258,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians-768x511.jpg",768,511,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians-1536x1022.jpg",1536,1022,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/07\/from-the-sax-wielding-us-president-to-the-uk-prime-minister-who-conducted-elgar-six-musical-politicians.jpg",1890,1258,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Wednesday, 03 July 2024 at 12:37 PM Do music and politics mix? While they may not seem the most immediate bedfellows, they have on occasions been seen to work in close harmony. Here are six politicians who knew their way around a musical score. Michelle Wu The Boston Symphony Orchestra has hosted many…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/44595"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}