Bittersweet symphony: the best lockdown orchestras and choirs online
Rotterdam’s Philharmonic Orchestra was among the first in Europe to exploit the wonders of smartphones and video editing, featuring the musicians locked down in their living rooms, each introducing themselves before playing the Ode to Joy theme from Beethoven’s Choral Symphony. A nice touch allows you to download the music for each instrument and play along too, whatever level you’re at. And, here’s Bamberg Symphony Orchestra’s take on the same famous theme, this time with added conductor.
Here’s the famous Morning Mood from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite to wake us up, courtesy of the charming musicians of the Orchestre National de Lyon. (Watch to the end…)
Opera North’s orchestra had been due to perform Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra in concert in April and decided that the show must go on – virtually. Forty musicians in UK homes and one conductor, in Sweden, donned concert garb and perform the first few minutes of Strauss’s composition (most famously used in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey). Look out for the cymbal player’s extra help, and the bassoonist in a very elegant fox mask.
La Scala’s Philharmonic Orchestra sent Easter greetings in the shape of this short and very sweet extract from Pachelbel’s Canon.
Like Rotterdam’s musicians, the
Orchestre National de France also opt to introduce themselves – a lovely touch given how anonymous orchestral musicians usually have to be. They play Ravel’s Boléro, a piece in which the slow build makes it almost perfect for this kind of treatment. Here’s the New
York Philharmonic’s virtual version on the same piece.
Elgar’s Nimrod (from the Enigma Variations) is also a popular choice. Here’s the Milwaukee Symphony (Virtual) Orchestra; and the combined forces of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
Finland’s Sinfonia Lahtiopts, of course, for Sibelius. Here’s 62 musicians performing his Finlandia.
Marin Alsop and her Baltimore Symphony Orchestra come together for an ambitious project – to record the glorious, final coda from Mahler’s Third symphony.
And, finally Britain’s Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus join in the fun, with some English music (come on … Handel was an honorary Englishman), some nifty graphics and the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, virtually held together by Antonio Pappano.
Or here’s one more of many online Hallelujah Choruses, this time from the Royal Choral Society, who have performed Handel’s work in the Royal Albert Hall every year since 1876 – a tradition broken only by the blitz. Coronavirus might have put a stop to this year’s performance too, but the society was determined that this year would not be the one that got away. Bravo.