Sir Simon Rattle - LEAVING HOME: Orchestral Music in the 20th Century - Episode 6/7 - After the Wake (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 6/7 - After the Wake
After the Wake looks both backwards and forwards. It considers the musical legacy of two old men who had dominated the first part of the 20th century – Schoenberg and Strauss – and looks at the post-war generation of young Europeans, such as Boulez and Stockhausen, who were determined to erase the recent past and build a completely new music for a new Europe.
With excerpts from:
Richard Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) TrV 296
Arnold Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw, for Narrator, Male Chorus and Orchestra op. 46 (1947)
Anton Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra op. 10 (1911-1913)
Pierre Boulez: Le marteau sans maître (1953–1955)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gruppen No. 6 (1955-1957)
Benjamin Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings op. 31 (1943)
Igor Stravinsky: Agon (1957)
Duration: approx. 51 minutes.
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