Sorry for not having been able to subtitle it, I may try again one of these days!
So enjoy it as it is!
As activities, I propose answering the following questions:
1. How do the different people describe the sound of the orchestra from minute 1:30 to 2:00?
2. How does conducting compare to horseriding?
3. How many chief conductors of the Berlin Philharmonic has there been?
4. Where do the people who watch the Berlin Philharmonic come from?
5. Why does Simon Rattle fit in so well with this orchestra, according to the horn?
6. Throughout the 20th century, what has changed and what has remained in the orchestra?
7. Why wasn't this conductor very well received at the beginning?
8. Find an example of a second conditional.
9. What does Simon Rattle compare their work with at the end of the video?
Feel free to ask any questions of comprehension.
Good listening!
Hello! I’m Myleene Klass. Welcome to Icon, the show that discovers great art by talking to great artists.
ReplyDeleteOn this month’s show we investigate the art of classical music. And what better place to start than the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the greatest orchestras in the world as well as one of the oldest.
I went to find out what makes a classical performance a classic : is it the instruments, the musicians, the score, or even the conductor? I’ve been talking to those that make the music to see what makes the magic.
Coming up!
Mad about the Strad, Icon travels to Cremona in Italy to discover the secret of the world’s most prestigious violin.
And tinkling the ivories: I meet the Berlin Philharmonic pianist in residence to talk about the most iconic pieces ever written for the piano.
Now it’s time to meet the orchestra.
- With these people there’s always a feeling that there’s a fire burning. Heat comes out of it, and the sound comes in waves.
- It’s like a wild animal, it’s just incredible.
- Beautiful, powerful, constantly flowing and changing.
- You sit on stage, you play for life or death.
- It’s like a mass of seething bodies, it just goes: Raawr!
- You make me nervous! It feels like this whole situation’s a runaway train, and you’re the one who’s meant to be in charge, as far as I’m concerned!
- It’s not quite as simple as that, I think. You know, anyone who says “oh, it must be a fantastic feeling of power, being a conductor” hasn’t conducted. Karajan used to say it was more like a jockey and a horse, at that you are there, but it is the horse that does everything. You got it, or whatever, and you know where it needs help and you know where it needs to be alone.
Simon Rattle is only the sixth chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. He takes the stand where Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Brahms once stood. For over 120 years the orchestra has been producing iconic performances. It’s a sound that draws over 300,000 people from around the globe every year.
ReplyDelete- Why is the Berlin Phil so different to any other orchestra?
- I don’t know, but they really are. Maybe it’s to do with the history, and that, at the end of the 19th century they revolted against their conductor, and they said, “we do not want to live like this, we do not want to play like this, we want to make our own show.” So, they are actually the most completely independent orchestra in the world.
- So what’s it like to walk in and try and tame a beast that is so independent?
- Terrifying!
- If you have children…
- Oh, no, I have 128 German children, it’s,... No, look, the first thing you have to realize is you cannot tame this orchestra, and it would be a real shame if you, if you tamed them. I mean, nobody wants a tamed panther, this orchestra is a panther, and they go and run.
- Simon’s a wild animal as well! (laughs) That’s why he fits so well for the orchestra!
- There’s so much potential energy there, waiting to be harnessed by somebody who understands the beast and doesn’t want to kill that spirit.
Throughout the tumultuous 20th century, musicians came and went, and the baton was passed on several times. But the wildness and the voltage remained constant. It appears to be embedded in the orchestral DNA.
- When I came I had to learn to conduct in a less energetic way, because otherwise it would sound very, very aggressive. Because… They have enough energy themselves.
- What would you say those movements mean?
- It’s like breathing, really. I mean, when you lift your arms up it’s, ah, you breath in, ah, and you breath out, I mean, just like when you sing. It’s as though I am making the motions for everybody else to sing, if that makes any kind of sense.
- Every conductor has their unique, their own unique body language. And when you work very closely with the conductor, like we do with Simon, you know what he wants, you know what he means, you know what he means when he does this: this, when he does that to the violins means he’d like a little bit more from them. He sometimes conducts with his chin, or with his whole face. It’s like an old married couple, when you know what the other one wants.
- Every movement makes a different sound. If you put ten people in front of this orchestra and got them to play the same eight bars, it would sound completely different with each person.
- Why is that?
- None of us really know.
A conductor is a builder of dramas. Each glance of the eye, and flush of the arm represents a twist in the tale. It stands to him whether what’s being told becomes an anecdote or an epic.
ReplyDeleteWhen Rattle came to Berlin in 2002 not everyone understood his storytelling technique.
- Simon did things a completely different way, and went a little bit away from this typical German sound tradition, which wasn’t always happily seen and accepted by the critics. But it’s something new, you know, if we don’t go and see all these new things, and if people don’t keep creating these new things, we’ll just stand still, and I think that’s why the orchestra chose him, because he was going a different way.
- For me, as a soloist, what I really enjoy most is his capacity to really be there, be flexible but still have enough musical backbone, rhythmical backbone, that I can just wrap around if necessary. In a repertoire like the Dvorak’s Joachim, so romantic, you need really a great maestro with a fast hand, and an orchestra who is able to instantaneously react, that’s a very rare quality to be found.
A team of top players. A great conductor. The finest music ever written. And yet, the truly iconic performance needs just one more ingredient.
- We come on stage, we sit down, we tune, you can feel it in the air, you can just smell it. In the first few notes, then you think, “oh, today’s, today’s gonna be a really good one.”
- There’s a point at the beginning of every concert, and it always happens just before I start to play, where the audience melts away, and the entire surrounding melts away, and it’s just sound.
- These are the moments where you really, you don’t feel on earth anymore. I have the feeling that we are all together, flying.
- Each concert is an adventure. When we’re working, it’s as though we’re making the runway for the plane. But then the concert is when the journey happens, and you have to then take off and see where it goes.
1. How do the different people describe the sound of the orchestra from minute 1:30 to 2:00?
ReplyDeleteLike fire burning, the sound comes on waves./ Beautiful, constantly flowing and changing./ Like a wild animal, incredible.
2. How does conducting compare to horseriding?
You are there but it´s hte horse that does everything.
3. How many chief conductors of the Berlin Philharmonic has there been?
60th? (120 years)
4. Where do the people who watch the Berlin Philharmonic come from?
350,000 people around the world every year.
5. Why does Simon Rattle fit in so well with this orchestra, according to the horn?
He is a wild animal too.
6. Throughout the 20th century, what has changed and what has remained in the orchestra?
Musicians have come and gone but wildness and voltage remain.
7. Why wasn't this conductor very well received at the beginning?
Because he had to conduct in a less energetic way (sounded agressive).
8. Find an example of a second conditional.
If you put 10 people in front of this orchestra and get them to play the same 8 bass it´d sound completely different with each person.
9. What does Simon Rattle compare their work with at the end of the video?
Each concert is an adventure, when they are working it´s ::::::::we´re making the wrong way but then the concert is when the journey happens and you have to then take off and see where it goes.
Hey good job Eduardo!
ReplyDeleteA couple of things to correct (with the transcript if you want):
Question 3 - listen carefully. Also, the question demands a cardinal number (how many...)
Question 7 - listen to the comments made by the horn
Question 8 - check grammar: it's a second conditional for EVERY tense
For parts you didn't understand, just check the trasncript.
Also: what does the expression "eight bars" mean?
BAR: http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com/dictionary/bar (definition number 10)
Thank you for commenting!
Hi! Thank you for this really beautiful video!
ReplyDelete1. A fire burning, the sounds come in waves, wild animal, beautiful, changing, you play for life and for death.
2. The conductor guides the orchestra as the jockey guides the horse, both of them are necessary but it is the horse(orchestra) who does everything.
5. It could be because he fells like a panther and the horn thinks the orchestra is a wild animal.
6. Musicians an baton have changed and wellness and voltage remain the same.
7. It might be because he was incredibly energetic.
8. If you put 10 people in front of this orchestra, it would sound completely different with each other.
9. Maybe, the begining of the concert is like an avalanche, and while they are playing they take off and they can see worries go.
Excellent job Vir!
ReplyDeleteYou can check a couple of things with the transcript:
5. Who does Simon Rattle exactly compare to a wild panther?
7. What does the horn tell us about this?
9. Listen to this reading the transcript to see the little differences in sounds that give you weak words you haven't noticed (as in "can see worries go")
Thank you for commenting, I'm glad you all liked the video!
Thank you for your commenting Bea!
ReplyDeleteI read the transcript afer commenting you and I notice some diferences... ;)
5. Ok, I have realized that Simon says the orchestra is a panther, he isn´t the panther. It is the orchestra that can not be tamed.
7. All of them know what to do just looking at Simon´s body languaje.
9. It´s really curious how I rely on some words that I have heard, and when I see the transcript they are wrong, like wellness-wildness or avalancha-an adventure or worries- where it.
Fortunatelly, on the other hand there are some sentences, I´m not completely sure but they are finally ok.
You're absolutely right Vir! We rely on what we hear, but... what else can we do? Sometimes it's very easy to blend two words together, but that's perfectly common and as your comprehension improves you'll see you become more and more reliable!
ReplyDeleteIn some days I'll post the answers so you can relate the questions to the transcript.
Thank you very much for your comments!
So! The keys to these questions:
ReplyDelete1. How do the different people describe the sound of the orchestra from minute 1:30 to 2:00?
- It’s like a wild animal, it’s just incredible.
- Beautiful, powerful, constantly flowing and changing.
- You sit on stage, you play for life or death.
- It’s like a mass of seething bodies, it just goes: Raawr!
2. How does conducting compare to horseriding?
Karajan used to say it was more like a jockey and a horse, at that you are there, but it is the horse that does everything. You got it, or whatever, and you know where it needs help and you know where it needs to be alone.
3. How many chief conductors of the Berlin Philharmonic has there been?
Six.
4. Where do the people who watch the Berlin Philharmonic come from?
All around the world.
5. Why does Simon Rattle fit in so well with this orchestra, according to the horn?
Because he’s a wild animal, in the same way as they are like a panther, according to him.
6. Throughout the 20th century, what has changed and what has remained in the
orchestra?
Musicians and conductors came and went, but the wildness and the voltage remained the same.
7. Why wasn't this conductor very well received at the beginning?
He did things differently, and went away from the German sound tradition. In the video: “Simon did things a completely different way, and went a little bit away from this typical German sound tradition, which wasn’t always happily seen and accepted by the critics”
8. Find an example of a second conditional.
If you put ten people in front of this orchestra and got them to play the same eight bars, it would sound completely different with each person.
9. What does Simon Rattle compare their work with at the end of the video?
it’s as though we’re making the runway for the plane. But then the concert is when the journey happens, and you have to then take off and see where it goes.
Thank you to you all for commenting!