Journey Through Music
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JOURNEY THROUGH MUSIC Saturday 19 November, 7.30pm Musical Myths Magnus Lindberg Vivo (5 mins) UK premiere Stravinsky The Rite of Spring (32 mins) Interval: 20 mins Ravel Daphnis and Chloe (54 mins) BBC Philharmonic Hallé Choir Juanjo Mena conductor ARE YOU READY TO BEGIN YOUR MUSICAL JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY? Our Journey Through Music scheme at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall is an affordable and enjoyable introduction to the world of concert-going and classical music. For young people and children from the age of 8, our special scheme is aimed at making our concerts easily accessible for families and anybody who wants to discover orchestral music or to explore it further. Ready to begin? Join us on this musical journey and discover the unforgettable world of classical music. Three performances will feature a pre-concert session suitable for all ages – but every concert in the 2016/17 season is available at a special family-ticket price. Plus – choose your seat anywhere in the house for the same price: • £7 for children aged 16 and under • £12 for accompanying adults • £35 family ticket, for 4 people (maximum of 2 adults) These prices include a £2 booking fee so you know there’s no extra costs when you book – just be sure to book in advance as these are not available on the day. Share your experience using the hashtag #MyJTM illustrations:All Wright/Nucco Brain Ben AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ORCHESTRA WHAT IS AN THE CONDUCTOR ORCHESTRA? The person in charge is usually the But there’s more to it than this. The An orchestra is a group of instrumental conductor, who stands at the front and conductor can also help to reveal the players who perform together, usually led directs the orchestra from a podium, changing moods of the music. If they can by a conductor. keeping time either by waving a short create a strong musical image for the stick, called a baton, or sometimes just listener, the effect can make us feel all The modern symphony orchestra usually with his or her hands. One of the earliest sorts of emotions: happiness, sadness, has somewhere between 60 and 90 conductors, the Italian-born Frenchman fear, pride and everything in between. players: around 30 violins, 12 violas, Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–87), kept his The music might energise you, or it might 10 cellos, eight double basses; two or orchestra together by banging a big stick make you feel you’ve fallen into a dream. three each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and on the floor, but one day he accidentally bassoons; four horns, three trumpets, stabbed his foot and soon afterwards died three trombones, a tuba, a harp and an of gangrene. It’s not as dangerous these assortment of percussion instruments. days! You can find out more about the instruments, and where they sit, on Part of the conductor’s job is to show the next two pages after this. the beat (or pulse) of the music so that all the musicians play together in time. He or she also signals when individual musicians or groups have to start or stop playing. All the time conductors are listening to the overall sound- balance, and altering it, to make sure that the important instruments don’t get drowned out by less important ones. Otherwise, like lots of people talking loudly at the same time, the result would be chaos! 1 All illustrations:All Wright/Nucco Brain Ben THE ORCHESTRA O N STAGE Most orchestras have a similar seating plan, with the strings at the front, the woodwind behind them and the brass and percussion further back still. PERCUSSION The percussion section sits at the back of the orchestra and centres around the timpani, or kettledrums – between two and four copper drums. They have pedals, which alter BRASS their pitch (or notes). The bass drum is hit with just one Like the strings and woodwind, the brass family has stick; while the metal cymbals are clashed together, often four groups. There are French horns (usually four), when the music gets very loud. The side-drum is a small instruments once associated with hunting, while military drum that can play very quietly or very loudly the trumpets came from military bands, and often indeed. Sometimes composers ask for a variety of other have fanfare-like parts. Trombones are played with percussion instruments, such as the xylophone, the a movable slide but, in spite of their size, they can marimba or even whistles, whips and sirens. play amazingly fast notes; and finally the enormous tuba makes the deepest notes of all. STRINGS WOODWIND String players sit at the front in a semi-circle, The woodwind section sits behind the strings, often in two rows. usually with the violins on the left and the There are four different instruments, usually in pairs, but in bigger cellos on the right. Each of the string sections orchestras there can be up to three or four players of each (and also the woodwind, brass and percussion instrument. The metal flutes produce a high, bright, silvery sound. sections) has a principal, who leads the The piccolo is like a small flute and plays very high up.Oboes are section. The strings divide into four sections: black wooden instruments with a detachable reed, which gives them violins, violas, cellos and double basses. The a distinctive sharp-edged sound. Before a concert starts, the whole violins are subdivided into first violins and orchestra tunes up to the note ‘A’ sounded by the Principal Oboe. second violins, with the Firsts generally having A bigger, lower version of the oboe is the cor anglais, or ‘English horn’. a slightly more difficult and brilliant part. Clarinets have a more hollow, woody sound. The lowest-sounding Violas are bigger than violins, with a deeper, member of its family is the bass clarinet. The lowest woodwind mellower sound. The cellos have a rounded, instrument is the bassoon, which is long and heavy and has to be bass sound. The huge double basses (which supported by a sling round the player’s neck. The contra-bassoon are played standing up, or perched on a high is so long that it’s bent double. Occasionally a piece will need extra stool) add depth to the string sound. The instruments, such as the saxophone, which is more usually found in harp is played with fingers instead of a bow, a jazz band. and it has a series of complicated pedals that change its pitch (or notes). BRASS CH HORNS TRUMPETS FREN T ROM BON WOODWIND ES T UB AS NI PA IM T PERCUSSION LS A B UTES OBOES CL M FL ARIN Y ETS C B AS SO O N S OND EC V HARPS S LINS IOLA IO S V C T S E DOUBLE S N L R I L STRINGS I L O BASSES F O S I V TONIGHT'S MUSIC Magnus Lindberg (born 1958) What to listen for Vivo (2015) UK premiere • Beginnings and endings: Magnus begins loudly – with bright, shining notes from the trumpets and horns (you can find pictures of these instruments on the previous You don’t have to be dead to write classical music! We’re page). But ending is a bit trickier. Keep listening: what’s he glad to say that Magnus Lindberg is alive and well and writing going to do? wonderful music – when he’s not night-fishing in the Finnish • The percussion section: things are often quite lively lakes near his home or going to rock concerts. around here! Magnus uses everything from crashing cymbals to the chiming metal glockenspiel. Keep an eye on He wrote this piece just last year, in October 2015, for a them and see if you can guess what you’ll hear next! concert in New York that (just like this one) finished with Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe, so he has made his piece sound a little bit like it. The piece’s name – Vivo – is Italian for ‘lively’. What else could I listen to? And guess what: you’re helping make history tonight as this is All of Magnus’s music sounds amazing. Try his Clarinet Concerto the very first time it has ever been played in the UK! or Feria, another brilliant, lively piece for a big orchestra. TONIGHT'S MUSIC Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) What to listen for The Rite of Spring (1913) Part 1: Worshipping the Earth Introduction • We’re in Russia; thousands of years ago. Quietly, a If you like a piece of music, you applaud (we hope!). But what bassoon (the deepest sounding of the woodwind do you do if you don’t like it? Hopefully not react as strongly instruments) sings a straining, snaking tune unnaturally as the audience in Paris in May 1913, who rioted after hearing high up: spring is spreading through the frozen land. the first performance ofThe Rite of Spring. Stravinsky’s music Signs of Spring was for a ballet put on by the famous Russian showman Sergey • Suddenly, the strings of the orchestra begin playing a Diaghilev. Diaghilev had his own ballet company, the Ballets pounding rhythm, as the tribesmen gather to celebrate Russes (which is French for ‘Russian Ballet’). His dancers were the coming of spring. They call to each other with all young, gorgeous and super-fit. He hired the world’s most songs and shouts – listen to how the wind and brass brilliant artists to create stunning costumes and stage designs. instruments pass their tunes to each other. The music And he asked the most exciting composers to write the music.