Sir Simon Rattle - LEAVING HOME: Orchestral Music in the 20th Century - Episode 1/7 - Dancing on a Volcano (English)

About this event
Written and presented by Sir Simon Rattle, the foremost British conductor of our day, this series forms a fascinating introduction to, and overview of, the music of the twentieth century. Sir Simon Rattle leads viewers on an exhilarating journey through the music of our time, explaining the chief musical developments from Mahler to the present day.
Each programme is illustrated with evocative imagery, archive film and photographs and the featured music is set within the broader context of artistic and social change.
Why “Leaving Home”? The story of twentieth-century music is one of leave-taking in many ways. As a wealth of talented composers searched for new creative responses to the world around them, many made departures from the solid ‘home’ foundations of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music – tonal harmony, melody, regular rhythm and metre. Many had to literally leave home, displaced by political upheavals. A remarkable diversity of expression developed – not all of the difficult or discordant variety commonly associated with modern music. The range is wide and this series samples the work of over thirty composers, discovering new and challenging sounds as well as some unexpectedly familiar music. It presents an extraordinary kaleidoscope of orchestral images, full of contrasts and surprises.
Episode 1/7 - Dancing on a Volcano
In Dancing on a Volcano, Sir Simon Rattle describes the musical revolution that erupted in turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Vienna and the generation of groundbreaking composers that left tradition behind.
With excerpts from:
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde WWV 90: Prelude (Act I)
Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht op. 4 (1899)
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 7 in E minor
Arnold Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra op. 16 (1909, rev. 1922/1949)
Richard Strauss: Elektra op. 58 TrV 223
Anton Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra op. 10 (1911-1913)
Alban Berg: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1935) “To the memory of an angel”
Duration: approx. 51 minutes.
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