大象传媒

The Rest is Noise.

Louise Fryer presents a week of programmes with the 大象传媒 Concert Orchestra performances from the Rest is Noise Festival - a year long survey of the twentieth century in music held at the the South Bank Centre in London.

Today's concert is titled the "Death of Nostalgia", and includes both music and poetry from World War 1. Charles Hazlewood conducts the 大象传媒 Concert Orchestra and introduces the poetry, read by Laurence Fox, from the stage. Plus complementary music from the 大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

The title "The Rest is Noise" is taken from a blog and book of the same name by American Alex Ross, in which he surveys the Twentieth Century - its themes and events through music.

Music:
Gustav Holst A Somerset Rhapsody
George Butterworth A Shropshire Lad
Julius Harrison Worcestershire Suite
Ralph Vaughan Williams Symphony No.3 (Pastoral)

Poetry
Rupert Brooke The Great Lover
Thomas Hardy The Man He Killed
Ivor Gurney To The Poet Before Battle
Wilfred Owen Dulce et Decorum Est & The Letter
Siegfried Sassoon Died of Wounds & Trench Duty
A. E. Housman A Shropshire Lad

大象传媒 Concert Orchestra
Rebecca Evans soprano
Charles Hazlewood conductor
Laurence Fox reader

3.30pm
Thea Musgrave: Songs for a Winter's Evening
Lisa Milne (soprano)
大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Martin Andre (conductor)

4pm
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Peter Wispelwey (cello)
大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov (conductor)

The 大象传媒 Concert Orchestra is a partner in the festival along with the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, the Royal College of Music and others. This week in the afternoons we've a chance to hear their contributions so far, covering roughly the first part of the twentieth century. The concerts range from this one looking at the First World War, to the rise of Hitler and Nazism in 1930's Berlin called "Seven Deadly Sins" (Tuesday), and on Wednesday we cross the Atlantic to New York to discover "Hidden Voices" - featuring music by African American composers of the time, from Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club in the roaring 20's to a Symphony by William Grant Still.

Friday brings the themes together: "Kurt Weill - Berlin to Broadway". Part of the Berlin music scene up to the early 30's, Weill kept one step ahead of the Nazis and arrived - via Paris and London - in New York in 1935. The concert includes Weill's 2nd symphony, the only music he rescued from Berlin in 1933 and includes a set of Weill's broadway music under the title "A Stranger here myself" - a song from the musical "One Touch of Venus" which opened in New York in 1943.