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Pipes Obo

Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, London 18/4/09

Rite of Spring

I bought tickets for this a year ago and wasn't once tempted to sell them on ebay where they changed hands for £hundreds. They played South American pieces in the first half, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in the second, then four encores. At the end of the third encore the lights went down, and the orchestra put on caps and jackets in the Venezuelan colours, which they threw into the crowd at the end.

The orchestra was vast - 44 violins, a mass of percussionists (one of whom looked like one of those fridge-freezer bodyguards who accompany drug barons to conferences with their competitors) twelve double basses, and both violas and cellos placed on the right so a wall of bass hit you from that half of the stage, balancing the massive violin sound on the other.

Hatred of Young People

The hall was packed, with a higher proportion of younger people than usual. Some of these may have been from the British National Youth Orchestra who play on the South bank today (19/4/09). There'll be trouble over this - the dames in tiaras and the young fogies won't like sharing their snooty club with unwashed youth. I think we're starting to see a fight-back against Dudamel, the El Sistema project, and the popularisation of classical music generally.

José Antonio Abreu, the founder of El Sistema, was in the audience. He got a standing ovation. A Venezuelan family in front of us stood on their seats and yelled.

Spring offensive

I don't know the Rite of Spring well, so can't compare how they played to other performances, except this sounded 'from the belly.' Spring's about vigour: youth fighting their elders for sex and power; the old fighting back by sacrificing youth. Nations traditionally go to war in the spring - the 'Spring offensive'.

It was wonderful to hear it played by the most vigorous youth orchestra in the world, just as London trees burst out and people strip off layers of winter clothes. The double-reed instruments - 4 oboes, cor anglais, 4 bassoons, contrabassoon - were positioned centre-stage and blasted a sort of raw, Dionysian insanity between the army of strings, striking you in the chest.

Tweeting birds

I realised that music which seeks to represent or mimic spring - tweeting birds etc - is a waste of time. There's no substitute for going for a walk in a wood and hearing an actual bird. What's important is the representation of human emotion and behaviour when confronted by spring - what happens to humans when (in this case) someone dreams of spring:

"I saw in my imagination a solemn pagan rite; sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring." (Stravinsky)

An Englishman and his pipe

For an encore they played one of Elgar's Enigma Variations. I laughed out loud. It's the most English of music - about a shy, middle class man walking in the Malvern hills with his pipe. Touching they should have played it - they were honouring their host - but funny to hear just after a pagan girl's been sacrificed to the god of spring in music which caused an actual riot when first performed.

I took this photo when walking out of the Festival Hall after the concert: three English girls in Venezuelan colours thrown to them by kids from the Barrios half a world away but, I suspect, in their hearts.

About the Author

The author is webmaster at Brightcecilia Classical Music Forums.

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