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 PhilharmonicAlina Pogostkina violinJohn Storgårds conductor

ARE YOU READY TO BEGIN YOUR MUSICAL JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY?

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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.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ORCHESTRA

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WHAT IS AN ORCHESTRA?An orchestra is a group of instrumental players who perform together, usually led by a conductor.

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.

THE CONDUCTORThe 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 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!

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.

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THE ORCHESTRA ON STAGEMost orchestras have a similar seating plan, with the strings at the front, the woodwind behind them and the brass and percussion further back still.

WOODWINDThe 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.

BRASSLike 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.

PERCUSSIONThe 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.

STRINGSString 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).

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TONIGHT'S MUSIC

Niels Gade (1817–90)Symphony No. 1 in C minor, ‘On Sjolund’s lovely fields’ (1841–2) 1 Moderato con moto – Allegro energico (Moderate, but

moving – Fast and energetic)2 Scherzo (Very fast and determined)3 Andantino grazioso (Steady and graceful)4 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 for1 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 Allegro molto appassionato (Very fast and passionate) – 2 Andante (slow) – 3 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 for1 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), arr. Anton Webern (1883–1945)

The Musical Offering (1747) – RicercarJohann 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.

What to listen for• 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 hymn-like 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

bbc.co.uk/journeythroughmusic

JOURNEY THROUGH MUSIC PRE-CONCERT SESSION

#MyJTM

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 2017Concert Fantastique

Music by Arvo Pärt, Berlioz & DutilleuxPre-concert session, 6.30pm