The Tree of Life
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2016 BAM Next Wave Festival #TheTreeofLife Brooklyn Academy of Music Alan H. Fishman, Chairman of the Board William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board Adam E. Max, Vice Chairman of the Board Katy Clark, President Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer The Tree of Life BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Nov 18 & 19 at 7:30pm Running time: approx. two hours & 20 minutes, no intermission Written and directed by Terrence Malick Wordless Music Orchestra Presented in association with Wordless Music Conducted by Ryan McAdams Robert Fleitz, piano Charles Love, boy soprano Jennifer Zetlan, soprano Season Sponsor: Support for the Signature Artist Series provided by Howard Gilman Foundation. Wh Note “The nuns taught us there are two ways to be unhappy when all the world is shining through life: the way of nature, and the around it. And love is smiling through all things.” way of grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow.” As in all of Malick’s late films, we hear music in nearly every scene and important moment in With these words—the first we hear spoken by The Tree of Life. The first movement of Mahler’s the character of Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) first symphony functions as a recurring motif, in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life—the film as does the contemporary Russian composer quietly lays out the conflict and structure of the Giya Kancheli’s Morning Prayers, for chamber or- story to follow, which takes us as far back as chestra and boy soprano. Memorably, Smetana’s the Big Bang, and into a vision of the after- Die Moldau represents the transcendence of a life. Along the way, The Tree of Life pauses to life lived with love, as the three O’Brien boys and consider the emergence of life on a microscopic their mother play in the magic hour of their Texas level; the evolution of species; the immensities small town, as designed and captured by Jack of space and time; and the earliest instance of Fisk and Emmanuel Lubezki. Of the 20 compos- mercy. Just as Malick’s earlier films take the form ers whose music is in the film, the two heard of an irremediable confrontation—Kit Carruthers the longest are the English mystic John Tavener, and Holly Sargis on the run in Badlands; Bill whose Funeral Canticle and Resurrection in and the farmer in Days of Heaven; the men of Hades play at the very start, and Berlioz, C Company and the Japanese resistance in The whose Requiem is excerpted, unforgettably, at Thin Red Line—the moral conflict in The Tree of the film’s conclusion. Life is between the binaries of nature and grace. Tonight’s US live score premiere of The Tree of The way of grace is represented in the film twice Life was produced in partnership by Wordless over: by Mrs. O’Brien, whose ethereal presence Music and Fox Searchlight, who generously is equal parts humanity, empathy, and warmth; helped to assemble a new, score-less cut of and by the kind, gentle, middle O’Brien son, the film with the orchestra and choir selections R.L., whose death in Vietnam at 19 opens the removed, and only the original dialogue and story: “Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts sound effects remaining. (At the composer’s being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts request, Alexandre Desplat’s music has not been insults and injuries.” The way of nature is also orchestrated and will be heard in its pre-recorded represented twice: most obviously, by Mr. O’Brien version.) We are especially grateful to Fred (Brad Pitt)—whose cruelty, resentment, and Chandler and Fox for their help in making this self-loathing stand in marked contrast to both new print, and to Nicolas Gonda and Terrence his family, and to the classical music he once Malick for their trust in bringing this project believed himself destined—but also in the loom- to life. As the film tells us, to the celestial music ing presence of the natural and unnatural world of Berlioz: “The only way to be happy is to love. around us, alternately terrifying and sublime Unless you love, your life will flash by.” in its magnitude: “Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it —Ronen Givony over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures Fox Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures Fox Photo: Yannick Grandmont Photo: Yannick The Tree of Life—Wordless Music Orchestra VIOLIN Isabel Hagen OBOE TROMBONE Pauline Kim Harris, Caitlin Lynch Michelle Farah Michael Clayville concertmaster Karen Waltuch Christa Robinson James Hirschfeld Megan Atchley Erin Wight Arthur Sato William Lang Lauren Cauley Tom Chiu CELLO CLARINET TRUMPET Jennifer Choi Clarice Jensen Vasko Dukovski Mike Gurfield Elizabeth Derham Clara Kennedy Bill Kalinkos Sam Nester Emily Popham Gillins Christine Kim Eileen Mack Kyle Resnick Josh Henderson Rubin Kodheli Patti Kilroy Lauren Radnofsky BASSOON TUBA Will Knuth Seth Parker Woods Alden Banta John Altieri Laura Lutzke Nanci Belmont Jessica McJunkins BASS Sara Schoenbeck HARP Courtney Orlando Logan Coale Nuiko Wadden Yuki Numata Resnick Patrick Duff HORN Gillian Rivers Florent Ghys Nathan Koci PERCUSSION Ben Russell Eleonore Oppenheim Matt Marks Wilson Torres Mary Jo Stilp Jenny Ney Sarah Zun FLUTE Kate Sheeran TIMPANI Domenica Fossati Jason Sugata Victor Pablo VIOLA Roberta Michel Caleb Burhans Jessica Schmitz Jeanann Dara CHORUS SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS Elizabeth Bates Luthien Brackett Steven Bradshaw Paul An Sarah Brailey Eric Brenner Tomas Cruz Avery Griffin Madeline Healey Patrick Fennig Paul D’Arcy Chris Herbert Mellissa Hughes Wendy Giles Andrew Fuchs Steven Hrycelak Jamie Jordan Catherine Hedberg Brian Giebler Dominick Infererra Mary Mackenzie Kate Maroney Matt Hensrud Richard Lippold Charlotte Mundy Clifton Massey Tim Hodges Thomas McCargar Melanie Russell Tim Parsons Scott Mello Adam Menninga Amanda Sidebottom Kirsten Sollek John Tiranno Edmund Milly Elena Williamson Amaranta Viera Steve Wilson Jonathan Woody SOUND ENGINEER Richie Clarke PRODUCER Ronen Givony Score compiled and engraved by Conor Brown Thank you: Nicolas Gonda, Terrence Malick, Fred Chandler, Jake Kinderman and the American Boychoir School, Conor Brown, Zan Emerson, Erica Frauman, Peggy Monastra, Miles Feinberg, and Chaz Ebert. The Tree of Life MUSIC COMPOSER NAME John Tavener Funeral Canticle Mahler Symphony No. 1—I. Langsam, schleppend (slowly, dragging) Giya Kancheli Morning Prayers Zbiegniew Preisner Lacrimosa 2 Tavener Lamentations and Praises—XIX. Resurrection in Hades Kancheli Morning Prayers Berlioz Requiem—VII. Offertorium Respighi Siciliana from Ancient Airs and Dances Holst Hymn to Dionysus Smetana The Moldau—II. Vltava Brahms Symphony No. 4—IV. Allegro energico e passionato Henryk Górecki Symphony No. 3—II. Lento e largo—Tranquillissimo Kancheli Morning Prayers Couperin Les Barricades Mystérieuses Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 865 Bach Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I—Fuga VIII Traditional Hymn 87: Welcome Happy Morning (arr. Hanan Townshend) Mahler Symphony No. 1—I. Langsam, schleppend (slowly, dragging) Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54—I. Allegro affettuoso Tavener Funeral Canticle Couperin Les Barricades Mystérieuses Barry Guy After the Rain—III. Antiphon Kancheli Morning Prayers Berlioz Harold in Italy—I. Harold aux Montagnes Mozart Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545—II. Andante Preisner Lacrimosa 2 Respighi Siciliana from Ancient Airs and Dances Berlioz Requiem—VII. Offertorium Berlioz Requiem—X. Agnus Dei Traditional Hymn 87: Welcome Happy Morning (arr. Hanan Townshend) Smetana The Moldau—II. Vltava Who’s Who WORDLESS MUSIC ORCHESTRA is the house On September 11, 2011, WMO performed a band of New York City’s Wordless Music series, memorial concert for the 10th anniversary of the which was founded by non-musician Ronen September 11 attacks in the Temple of Dendur at Givony in 2006, and has since presented con- the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the world certs in museums, churches, nightclubs, and out premiere orchestration of William Basinski’s of doors, pairing artists from the sound worlds of Disintegration Loop 1.1. In 2013, the orchestra so-called classical, electronic, and rock music. performed the world premiere live score to the Comprising New York’s most omnivorous young film Beasts of the Southern Wild, with director musicians, and members of groups such as and composer Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer, for Alarm Will Sound, ACME, and Ensemble Signal, an outdoor audience of 7,000 at Prospect Park the orchestra presented its first concerts over two in Brooklyn; with the legendary Kranky ambient sold-out nights in 2008 under conductor Brad duo Stars of the Lid; and with John Cale on Lubman, with the US premiere of Jonny Green- When Past & Future Collide as part of the 2012 wood’s Popcorn Superhet Receiver on a program BAM Next Wave Festival. with music of Gavin Bryars and John Adams. In 2014, WMO performed with Jonny In 2009, Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 4 had its Greenwood at the Big Ears festival in New York premiere in two concerts at which Knoxville, and in the US live score premiere of WMO also played with the Japanese instrumen- Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. tal noise-rock band MONO. These shows were Also in 2014, WMO made its Australian debut recorded and released by Temporary Residence with Max Richter at the Sydney Opera House as Holy Ground: NYC Live with the Wordless and Melbourne Recital Centre. In 2015, the Music Orchestra. Also in 2009, WMO recorded orchestra made its Los Angeles debut with with Tyondai Braxton on Central Market, the composer/conductor Mica Levi in the US live composer’s solo debut on Warp Records, and premiere of Under the Skin; performed the US went on tour to Lincoln Center, the Library of premiere of Pablo Berger’s Blancanieves; and Congress, and Walker Art Center.