JOURNEY THROUGH MUSIC

Saturday 10 December, 7.30pm

Alban Berg Violin Concerto (28 mins)

Interval: 20 mins

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 7 (66 mins)

BBC PhilharmonicMichael Barenboim violinJuanjo Mena 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

Alban Berg (1885–1935)Violin Concerto (1935)

1 Andante – Allegretto (Slow, then moderately fast)2 Allegro – Adagio (Fast, then very slow)

Michael Barenboim violin

A concerto is a piece of music in which one solo player steps in front of the orchestra and takes the spotlight. The idea is that with a really wonderful player (the soloist) everyone gets to see what the instrument can do. That’s certainly true of tonight’s soloist, Michael Barenboim. Sometimes the soloist seems to compete with the orchestra to see who can play the fastest or the most excitingly. Sometimes it’s about seeing how lovely a sound they can make. And sometimes it’s about telling a story.

The story of this Violin Concerto is a sad one. The Austrian composer Alban Berg wrote it in 1935 after the death of one of his friends’ daughters – an 18-year-old girl called Manon, who’d caught the disease polio. Berg had been very fond of her, so he was heartbroken. He said that this concerto was dedicated ‘To the memory of an angel’. It’s sad music – no surprises there!

But it isn’t just sad. We all know how happy and sad feelings can often get mixed up. And music is brilliant when you want to say things that won’t really fit into words. Like a lot of Austrian composers at that time, Berg wrote his music using a technique called the 12-tone system. It makes it sound as if the music is wandering, searching, never really settling down. You can imagine why he felt that way …

What to listen for1 Andante – Allegretto (Slow, then moderately fast)• The violin has four strings, which, going downwards, are

the notes E, A, D and G, and the first thing you hear is the harp (illustrated on the previous page) plucking those four notes; then the solo violin playing them too. It’s as if they’re trying out different possibilities – they can go anywhere from here. Think of the violin as the composer, and the orchestra as his thoughts and memories. Some are sad, some are sweet. Some are angry. Gradually the music starts swaying – as if it’s dancing. The city of Vienna, where Berg and Manon lived, had a long tradition of dancing, particularly the waltz.

2 Allegro – Adagio (Fast, then very slow)• Now the music sounds angry: the orchestra seems to

shout, and the violin shouts back, fast and furious. The composer is showing how he feels, and the soloist gets to show how well he can play – it’s much harder than it sounds! Listen for when he plays three or four notes together: a harsh, crunchy sound. Eventually, it’s quiet …and is that a church organ, playing very softly? No, it’s the clarinets playing an old hymn tune that used to be performed at funerals in Austria. The violin keeps on thinking and dreaming – and when you hear the same notes you heard at the very beginning, it’s all over.

TONIGHT'S MUSIC

What else could I listen to?Alban Berg’s music can sometimes sound strange, but when you get to know it, it’s filled with emotions. If you liked this, try his Lyric Suite for string orchestra – or his wild, moody Three Pieces for Orchestra.

Interval: 20 minutes (time for an ice-cream!)

TONIGHT'S MUSIC

Anton Bruckner (1824–96)Symphony No. 7 in E major (1881–3)

1 Allegro moderato (Moderately fast)2 Adagio: Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam (Very solemn

and very slow)3 Scherzo: Sehr schnell (Very fast) – Trio: Etwas langsamer

(A bit slower)4 Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (Lively, but not too

fast)

‘Symphony’ literally means ‘sounding together’, but in classical music it has come to mean much more than that. A symphony is a long piece of music, usually for orchestra without any soloists (unlike the concerto we’ve just heard) and usually made up of four sections called ‘movements’, which all go together to tell up one big musical story. But it’s a story without words: the tunes (sometimes called ‘themes’) are like the characters, and in a symphony (like in a book) they go through all sorts of adventures. Listening to a symphony can be like reading a really good book or watching a great movie.

Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer, and he completed eight symphonies (plus a couple for practice and one that he

never managed to finish – the Ninth). It took him two years to write his Seventh, which he finished in 1883. It has the standard four movements and no specific story. After all, if he could say it in words, why say it in music? Bruckner wasn’t good with words – he was a thoughtful but very shy man. Unkind people said he was a bit stupid. How wrong could you be?!

But the music does tell us lots of things about the composer. Bruckner was very religious: often, his music sounds a bit like a hymn or something you’d hear in church. His hero was the great German composer Richard Wagner (he once went to Wagner’s house to tell him what a huge fan he was. Wagner thought that was funny, and invited him in for a beer). Wagner invented his own kind of brass instrument, called a Wagner tuba – so Bruckner has got four of them in this symphony.

Bruckner grew up in Austria, surrounded by forests and the huge mountains of the Alps: so his music often sounds vast and grand. Don’t expect it to rush! Sometimes Bruckner just seems to stop and repeat himself, as if he’s pausing to take it all in. But if you can forget about iPhones and cars and TV and games and the whole modern world, and just let Bruckner lead you along at his own speed, you’ll hopefully experience something awesome – and really beautiful.

TONIGHT'S MUSIC

What to listen for1 Allegro moderato (Moderately fast) • The violins play tremolando (playing two notes over

and over again very fast) which makes the air seem to shimmer – and then there’s a tune: a long, curving tune, gradually climbing upwards. Bruckner said it came to him in a dream, played by an angel. Now he repeats it – listen to the way the music seems to get bigger and brighter, perhaps like the sun rising over the mountains. Suddenly, it seems to change direction: Bruckner is introducing his next theme (or character). Where will they go – and what will they do? It gets very loud – but very quiet too. That’s usually a sign that the music is about to move in a new direction.

2 Adagio: Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam (Very solemn and very slow) • Now meet the Wagner tubas! See the horns (the brass

instruments at the back left of the orchestra)? Some of the players have now picked up different instruments – oval-shaped ones that point upwards. Those are the Wagner tubas and they make a very deep, dark, velvety sound. That’s perfect, because the music sounds like a sad, solemn hymn – as if Bruckner is very sad about something. And soon he gets more than just sad. The music builds very, very slowly to … well, wait and hear!

3 Scherzo: Sehr schnell (Very fast) – Trio: Etwas langsamer (A bit slower)• A scherzo is Italian for ‘joke’ – a bit of liveliness and action

after all that emotion. The string instruments play a pounding rhythm, and then the bright-sounding trumpet plays a lively tune. Bruckner got the idea when he heard a cockerel crowing! It’s off on a big adventure. There’s a middle bit, too (watch out for the timpani – the big drums on legs at the back – tapping quietly) and it’s slower and warmer-sounding. Then Bruckner repeats the whole movement all over again.

4 Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (Lively, but not too fast)• Where now? The music sounds bright and even jokey –

but Bruckner knows he has a long way to go to get home. He changes speed, and direction, and the woodwind instruments sound like birds you might hear out on a walk. There are storms along the way: but wait for the moment when the music suddenly sounds settled, quiet and still – as if it’s about to build to something really, really huge. That’s because it is! Listen out for the angel’s theme from the very beginning of the symphony as it comes to a mighty, ringing end.

What else could I listen to?Bruckner’s music isn’t quite like anyone else’s. Many people find his beautiful Fourth Symphony a good one to start with.

Notes © Richard Bratby

JOURNEY THROUGH MUSIC PRE-CONCERT SESSIONS

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We have special pre-concert introductions at two upcoming concerts. Join us a bit earlier on the concert night to discover more about the orchestra and the music being performed.

Saturday 4 February 2017Relishing in Revolution

Music by Beethoven, Saint-Saëns & DebussyPre-concert session, 6.30pm

Friday 26 May 2017Concert Fantastique

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