Russia, England - two nations, one orchestra!
This week I was lucky enough to get to a huge battle of a symphony concert at London's Royal Festival Hall, whose ample 1951 stage was crammed with an army of players from both the Russian National Orchestra and the London Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro-General Vladimir Jurowski. The programme included Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (has cannon shot scored into the closing passages) and Shostakovich's epic 7th symphony written for and played during - in Leningrad - the siege of Leningrad in WWII.
I have never heard an orchestra out-din the cannon in the 1812 before but this 130 strong monster managed it! They even appeared to have upturned ships' bells at their disposal - part of the battle fleet no doubt ha ha
Here is the orchestra drawn up in battle lines:
To give you some idea of the scale of the noise, there were 11 double basses, 9 horns, 10 percussionists/timpanists, 9 trombones and 2 harps. As you can imagine, it took the players nearly 5 minutes to walk on with their cumbersome instruments and sort themselves out to play. During the interval, the boxes which project into the auditorium from the side-walls were lit with red:
Oh, and let's not forget those bells!
Afterwards, it was off to the concert hall bar with my composer companion from New Jersey to raise a glass in celebration of the victory (I think the kettle drums won). Zazdarovje!
I have never heard an orchestra out-din the cannon in the 1812 before but this 130 strong monster managed it! They even appeared to have upturned ships' bells at their disposal - part of the battle fleet no doubt ha ha
Here is the orchestra drawn up in battle lines:
To give you some idea of the scale of the noise, there were 11 double basses, 9 horns, 10 percussionists/timpanists, 9 trombones and 2 harps. As you can imagine, it took the players nearly 5 minutes to walk on with their cumbersome instruments and sort themselves out to play. During the interval, the boxes which project into the auditorium from the side-walls were lit with red:
Oh, and let's not forget those bells!
Afterwards, it was off to the concert hall bar with my composer companion from New Jersey to raise a glass in celebration of the victory (I think the kettle drums won). Zazdarovje!