大象传媒

The 大象传媒 Philharmonic with the CBSO Youth Chorus and Hall茅 Youth Choir for Stravinsky and Bernstein. Marie-Pierre Langlamet joins the orchestra for Ginastera's Harp Concerto.

Recorded 16 April at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Presented by Martin Handley

Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Ginastera: Harp Concerto

8.10 Interval
大象传媒 Young Musician 2016
Clemency Burton-Hill introduces the second of the finalists in this year's percussion category.
Percussionist Joe Parks plays music by:
Kopetzki and Tanaka

8.35
Bernstein Chichester Psalms
Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms

Marie-Pierre Langlamet (harp)
William Towers (countertenor)
CBSO Youth Chorus
Hall茅 Youth Choir
大象传媒 Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena (conductor)

9.10 Post Concert:
大象传媒 Young Musician 2016
Clemency Burton-Hill introduces the third of the category finalists in this year's percussion category.
Percussionist Hristiyan Hristov plays music by:
Zivkovic, Kitazume and Sammut

The concert opens with the compulsive energy of music from Bernstein's West Side Story with its eclectic and colourful battery of percussion and which includes one of the 大象传媒 Ten Pieces, "Mambo". Ginastera's Harp Concerto was commissioned in 1956 by the Philadelphia Orchestra's first female player and it took him nearly a decade to write, not receiving its premiere until 1965. He wanted to write a piece that avoided "angelic" associations and the piece reflects his ambition to explore innovative sounds from the instrument.

Psalm texts, in Ancient Hebrew and in Latin, form the basis of the second half of the concert, in which the 大象传媒 Philharmonic is joined by the CBSO Youth Chorus and Hall茅 Youth Choir. Bernstein's Chichester Psalms received its first performances in the same year as Ginastera's Harp Concerto and was commissioned by Dean Hussey of Chichester Cathedral who, writing to Bernstein, said they would be "very delighted if there was a hint of West Side Story about the music". William Towers sings the haunting tune in the centre of the work. Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms was commissioned by Serge Koussevitsky for the 50th Season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and this piece inhabits a different sound world, with unusual instrumentation that dispenses with violins and violas, but which includes important parts for two pianos.