CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/7/2020

Tosh Berman on 'The World's Worst: A Guide to the Portsmouth Sinfonia'—a new adventure in its highest form

Featured image—of Portsmouth Sinfonia member Brian Eno and untrained yet "very dandified" conductor John Farley in the 1970s—is reproduced from The World's Worst: A Guide to the Portsmouth Sinfonia, published by Soberscove Press and launching on the west coast Saturday, August 8 at Artbook @ Hauser & Wirth Bookstore Los Angeles, where the editors, Christopher M. Reeves and Aaron Walker, will appear in conversation with Tosh Berman. In a YouTube book review, Berman cites the orchestra's "combination of British eccentricity, Fluxus-like behavior and avant-garde visual arts and music," situating it in not just classical, but punk, avant-garde and noise music traditions. "When we think of the classical world, we think of it always in good taste. Even if we don't listen to it, it's a symbol of proper taste." In contrast, the Portsmouth Sinfonia orchestra approached classical music as an adventure, Berman states. "And this book conveys this new adventure in its highest form."