JOURNEY
THROUGH
MUSIC
Sunday 19 February, 7.30pm
Niels Gade Symphony No. 1 in C minor (25 mins)
Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor (25 mins)
Interval: 20 mins
Johann Sebastian Bach, orch. Anton Webern
The Musical Offering – Ricercar (7 mins)
Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 7 (21 mins)
BBC Philharmonic
Alina Pogostkina violin
John Storgårds 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
AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE ORCHESTRA
WHAT IS AN
ORCHESTRA?
THE CONDUCTOR
An orchestra is a group of instrumental
players who perform together, usually led
by a conductor.
All illustrations: Ben Wright/Nucco Brain
The modern symphony orchestra usually
has somewhere between 60 and 90
players: around 30 violins, 12 violas,
10 cellos, eight double basses; two or
three each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and
bassoons; four horns, three trumpets,
three trombones, a tuba, a harp and an
assortment of percussion instruments.
You can find out more about the
instruments, and where they sit, on
the next two pages after this.
1
The person in charge is usually the
conductor, who stands at the front and
directs the orchestra from a podium,
keeping time either by waving a short
stick, called a baton, or sometimes just
with his or her hands. One of the earliest
conductors, the Italian-born Frenchman
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–87), kept his
orchestra together by banging a big stick
on the floor, but one day he accidentally
stabbed his foot and soon afterwards died
of gangrene. It’s not as dangerous these
days!
Part of the conductor’s job is to show
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 soundbalance, 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!
But there’s more to it than this. The
conductor can also help to reveal the
changing moods of the music. If they can
create a strong musical image for the
listener, the effect can make us feel all
sorts of emotions: happiness, sadness,
fear, pride and everything in between.
The music might energise you, or it might
make you feel you’ve fallen into a dream.
THE ORCHESTRA
ON 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
BRASS
Like the strings and woodwind, the brass family has
four groups. There are French horns (usually four),
instruments once associated with hunting, while
the trumpets came from military bands, and often
have fanfare-like parts. Trombones are played with
a movable slide but, in spite of their size, they can
play amazingly fast notes; and finally the enormous
tuba makes the deepest notes of all.
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
their pitch (or notes). The bass drum is hit with just one
stick; while the metal cymbals are clashed together, often
when the music gets very loud. The side-drum is a small
military drum that can play very quietly or very loudly
indeed. Sometimes composers ask for a variety of other
percussion instruments, such as the xylophone, the
marimba or even whistles, whips and sirens.
STRINGS
WOODWIND
String players sit at the front in a semi-circle,
usually with the violins on the left and the
cellos on the right. Each of the string sections
(and also the woodwind, brass and percussion
sections) has a principal, who leads the
section. The strings divide into four sections:
violins, violas, cellos and double basses. The
violins are subdivided into first violins and
second violins, with the Firsts generally having
a slightly more difficult and brilliant part.
Violas are bigger than violins, with a deeper,
mellower sound. The cellos have a rounded,
bass sound. The huge double basses (which
are played standing up, or perched on a high
stool) add depth to the string sound. The
harp is played with fingers instead of a bow,
and it has a series of complicated pedals that
change its pitch (or notes).
The woodwind section sits behind the strings, often in two rows.
There are four different instruments, usually in pairs, but in bigger
orchestras there can be up to three or four players of each
instrument. The metal flutes produce a high, bright, silvery sound.
The piccolo is like a small flute and plays very high up. Oboes are
black wooden instruments with a detachable reed, which gives them
a distinctive sharp-edged sound. Before a concert starts, the whole
orchestra tunes up to the note ‘A’ sounded by the Principal Oboe.
A bigger, lower version of the oboe is the cor anglais, or ‘English horn’.
Clarinets have a more hollow, woody sound. The lowest-sounding
member of its family is the bass clarinet. The lowest woodwind
instrument is the bassoon, which is long and heavy and has to be
supported by a sling round the player’s neck. The contra-bassoon
is so long that it’s bent double. Occasionally a piece will need extra
instruments, such as the saxophone, which is more usually found in
a jazz band.
S
AS
BR
BA
LS
OBOES
TROM
BON
E
CLARI N
ETS
S
BA
SS
OO
N
TU
BA
S
S
N
VIOLA
S
C
S
LO
EL
STRINGS
FI RS
VIOL T
IN
S
PS
ND
CO
SE OLI NS
VI
HAR
CU
SS
IO
TES
FLU
TRUMPETS
CY
M
PE
R
NI
PA
H OR NS
ND
WI
OD
WO
M
TI
CH
FR E N
DOUBLE
BASSES
TONIGHT'S MUSIC
Niels Gade (1817–90)
Symphony No. 1 in C minor,
‘On Sjolund’s lovely fields’ (1841–2)
1
2
3
4
Moderato con moto – Allegro energico (Moderate, but
moving – Fast and energetic)
Scherzo (Very fast and determined)
Andantino grazioso (Steady and graceful)
Molto allegro e con fuoco (Very fast and fiery)
‘Symphony’ literally means ‘sounding together’. But in
classical music, it has come to mean the longest and most
ambitious type of piece that you can write for an orchestra. A
symphony is often made up of several different sections called
‘movements’ – usually (but not always) four – which together
tell a big musical story. And that’s what really matters: the
story. Composers use tunes (or ‘themes’) as characters – and
occasionally they give you a little clue in the title.
Niels Gade was Danish. He finished his First Symphony in 1842.
The idea for it came from a song he’d written, ‘On Sjolund’s
lovely fields’, which is about a medieval Danish king who used
to ride out hunting and adventuring (basically, he was a Viking!).
The tune of the song is the very first thing you hear in this
symphony. (Keep listening – it pops up again and again!)
What to listen for
1 Moderate, but moving – then fast and energetic
• The music begins with the sad, misty-sounding tune of the
song. Then suddenly the brass instruments give a gruff call
to action, and we’re off on a stormy musical adventure.
2 Scherzo (Very fast and determined)
• ‘Scherzo’ literally means a joke – most symphonies have a
bit of light relief! Listen for the sweet, bright tunes played
by the woodwind instruments; they sound a bit like birds
you might hear in the countryside.
3 Steady and graceful
• A sweet, gentle scene – maybe amid the fields. The oboe
plays a lovely, flowing song. The bright-sounding flute soon
joins in.
4 Very fast and fiery
• Thunder! Listen to those timpani at the back of the
orchestra and the brass instruments. If you think it sounds
like the King and his armies are riding out to battle – and
victory – well, Gade probably wouldn’t have disagreed.
What else could I listen to?
Gade wrote eight symphonies in total, but for something
shorter, try one of his colourful overtures, such as The Naiads
or Echoes of Ossian.
TONIGHT'S MUSIC
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47)
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
(1838–44)
1
2
3
Allegro molto appassionato (Very fast and passionate) –
Andante (slow) –
Allegro molto vivace (Fast and very lively)
Alina Pogostkina violin
If they’d had Music GCSE in 19th-century Germany, Felix
Mendelssohn would have got an A*. Even when he was 16 years
old everyone who knew him already thought he was one of the
most incredible musicians they’d ever met. He mostly played
the piano, but he was pretty good on the violin too. ‘He never
touched a string instrument the whole year round’ said one of
his friends – ‘but if he wanted to, he could do it – he could do
most things!’
Mendelssohn had a lot of close friends (one of them was Niels
Gade). He wrote this concerto for his friend Ferdinand David,
a seriously good violin player. Mendelssohn always looked out
for his friends, and he wanted this piece to show just how well
Ferdinand could play (mind you, our soloist tonight, Alina, is just
as good!). A ‘concerto’ is a piece in which the solo player takes
on a full orchestra – and an opportunity for the solo instrument
to show off!
What to listen for
1 Very fast and passionate
• The orchestra starts quietly, and the violin enters almost
straight away – as if it’s singing a song. The cellos and
double basses pluck their strings (this is called ‘pizzicato’):
it’s a bit like a heartbeat. Listen out for the cadenza –
when the violinist plays completely on her own, showing
off everything she can do. When will the orchestra join in
again – and how? The music slows down and goes straight
into …
2 Slow
• … A new song for the violin, very soft and sweet. Things
get a bit sadder in the middle; then when the violin starts
playing again, she plays several notes at the same time.
That’s called ‘double-stopping’ and it’s much harder than
Alina makes it sound! The violin asks a little question, and
the music goes straight into …
3 Fast and very lively
• … The last movement, which is light, and brilliant
(Mendelsson’s music was often compared to fairies
dancing). The trumpets start things off, and then it’s like a
chase – listen for how the woodwind instruments try and
keep up with the darting violin. Who wins the race?
What else could I listen to?
Mendelssohn was a keen traveller – he even visited Manchester
(he stayed in Didsbury). His overture The Hebrides paints a
scene from one of his holidays in Scotland.
Interval: 20 minutes (time for an ice-cream!)
TONIGHT'S MUSIC
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750),
What to listen for
arr. Anton Webern (1883–1945)
•
The Musical Offering (1747) – Ricercar
Johann Sebastian Bach was quite a man: he ran music clubs,
taught a church choir, played the organ and had 20 children! On
top of that he was probably the cleverest composer who ever
lived – he was brilliant at weaving music together so that the
more complicated it gets, the more beautiful it sounds. One
day in 1747 the King of Prussia (modern Germany) put him to
the test. He gave him a strange, winding tune and challenged
him to create a piece from it. Bach surpassed himself and came
up with a whole book of pieces: The Musical Offering.
This is one of them; a kind of musical puzzle called a Ricercar.
Bach starts with the King’s tune and weaves in six more lines
of music, one after the other. He didn’t say what instrument
it was for so in 1935 the Austrian composer Anton Webern
‘orchestrated’ it – writing it out so it could be played by the
different instruments of the orchestra.
•
The Royal Tune: the first music you hear is slow, serious
and a little bit mysterious. It’s always there, too – even as
Bach adds more and more instruments and tunes around
it.
Tone colours: there aren’t many instruments here,
but Webern shares out Bach’s music between them
(beginning with the trumpet), overlapping so it never
sounds the same twice. It’s like a slowly moving
kaleidoscope: always changing into new and wonderful
colours (well, their musical equivalent – sounds).
What else could I listen to?
Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ is
incredibly exciting – but if you like those shifting colours, try
Webern’s own strange, wonderful Symphony.
TONIGHT'S MUSIC
Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)
Symphony No. 7 (1924)
Jean Sibelius lived in Finland, in the far north of Europe. Finland’s
winters are long, dark, and bitterly cold, and in its summers the
sun never goes down. Large parts of the country are covered
with forests and wide, shimmering lakes. Many listeners feel
they can hear all of this in the sound of Sibelius’s music – and
in Finland, many people considered Sibelius to be a national
hero. His best-known piece, Finlandia, was so stirring that when
Finland was ruled by Russia, they banned it!
Sibelius looked like a stern and serious man – actually, he was
terrible with money and drank far too much. But he never
lost control of his music, and especially not his seven amazing
symphonies. When Sibelius wrote his Seventh Symphony in
1924 he was confident enough to do it his own way. He joins
all the movements into one big movement. All the themes
seem to grow naturally out of what came before: like a tree or
a river. It sounds serious – but also wonderfully grand and fresh.
‘Other composers mix colourful cocktails’ he said. ‘But I serve
pure, cold water’. And when you’re really thirsty, there’s nothing
better!
What to listen for
•
•
The beginning: the music starts on the low string
instruments of the orchestra, and seems to push
gradually upwards. Does it remind you of anything? The
instruments often play in different groups – which sound
darker, and which lighter?
The trombone: as the music gradually reaches a peak, one
trombone plays a slow, powerful theme, while the whole
orchestra rustles around it. Listen out for it – you’ll hear
it three times in the symphony: each time it appears just
before the music is about to change direction.
•
•
•
•
The mood brightens: as the music gradually gets faster,
the wind instruments seem to dance and skitter about.
Listen for the flutes: they look bright, and sound it too!
The whole orchestra gathers speed.
The trombone again: this time, it seems to be coming
from nowhere, as the orchestra swirls around and the
drums rumble. And what about the music that follows? It
seems to be getting faster again: where is the symphony
going now? It’s as if a wind is gathering; the oboes chatter
excitedly.
A third climax: and the trombone tune powers through
once more. This time, the whole orchestra seems to
surge around it like a stormy sea.
The finish: slowly and majestically, the music starts to
unwind. The brass instruments sing a solemn hymnlike tune, the string instruments seem to sigh, and the
symphony ends … but not with a bang …
What else could I listen to?
Sibelius never wrote another symphony (though some think
he did, and then got nervous and burned it). But all of his six
earlier symphonies are wonderful: if you liked the Seventh, try
the Fifth next.
Notes © Richard Bratby
JOURNEY THROUGH MUSIC
PRE-CONCERT SESSION
We have a special pre-concert introduction at this upcoming concert. Join us a bit earlier on the concert
night to discover more about the orchestra and the music being performed.
Friday 26 May 2017
Concert Fantastique
Music by Arvo Pärt, Berlioz & Dutilleux
Pre-concert session, 6.30pm
bbc.co.uk/journeythroughmusic
#MyJTM