Page 4 - WORTHING SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

4
Musical
PLANET
Friday
29TH SEPTEMBER
at 7.30pm
The Great Animal Orchestra is a symphony for orchestra and wild soundscapes composed by Richard Blackford and based on Bernie Krause’s
book of the same name, which was read on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week, where Blackford first heard it. Krause referred to biophony for the collective voices
generated by the organisms in a given natural habitat and time and likens these layers of sounds to the layers and textures of an orchestra. Blackford integrated some of these
extraordinary sounds into an orchestral palette to create this remarkable work.
Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals celebrates twelve of the best-loved and essential wildlife species to be found on Earth, with appropriate stories to accompany each. It contains some of the most exquisite and much-loved music of all time (despite the composer banning it from being played in his lifetime).
Perhaps one of the most essential creatures to the survival of almost everything our planet has to offer
is the humble Bee and this is reflected in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, which is dazzling in its virtuosity. There is a reason for mankind adopting the phrase ‘as busy as a bee’!
The concluding piece of this first concert celebrates nature at its very best. Beethoven’s 6th Symphony – also know as the Pastoral Symphony – is full of the sounds of nature, including bird calls, bubbling brooks, a thunderstorm and walks in the countryside (something Beethoven loved to do).
The
season starts with a celebration of our living planet ....
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals Richard Blackford The Great Animal Orchestra Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumblebee Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastoral’