This film by François-René Martin & Gordon combines breathtakingly beautiful images with the magnificent sound of the Orchestre de Paris. It creates a new Symphony representing the four Classical Elements: Fire (Stravinsky’s “Firebird”), Earth (Adoration of the Earth in Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”), Water (Debussy’s “La Mer”), Air (Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea in “La Mer”). As a fifth element it adds Olivier Messiaen’s “L’Appel interstellaire” (Interstellar call) from “Des Canyons aux Étoiles” (From the canyons to the stars). The word Quintessence was originally the Latin expression for the fifth element (quinta essentia, literally “fifth being”). According to Aristoteles, there was aether as massless, unchangeable, eternal substance beyond the lunar sphere. This “fifth element” thus had completely different properties than the earthly ones. Filmed inside and outside the stunning Philharmonie de Paris in true Hollywood style this is a new milestone in the creative visualization of music. A fascinating feast for the eyes and ears.
In C – A ballet by Sasha Waltz
Terry Riley’s landmark work of musical minimalism In C comes to life in this choreography by Sasha Waltz. Captured on film at the Philharmonie de Paris, no two performances of this work are ever the same. In C, consisting of 53 melodic phrases played in sequence, is translated into 53 movements with a set of rules. Within these rules, each dancer has the freedom to decide how often to repeat a certain figure. As the performers on stage execute and repeat the movement patterns, they develop a sort of “danced fugue” (NDR): “All the time, Waltz and her ensemble show us a dialogue between music and dance. What makes In C extra fascinating is that what we also have here is a conversation with space and time, the looping and overlaying movement, especially when laid over the repeating and overlapping sound, disrupting the latter in particular” (Seeing Dance).
Daniel Harding – The Inaugural Concert: Schumann Scenes from Faust
For his inaugural concert as the new Musical Director of the Orchestre de Paris, the young British conductor Daniel Harding chose to conduct a work with which he has already enjoyed phenomenal success in Berlin, Munich and London: Robert Schumann’s rarely performed Szenen aus Goethes Faust (Scenes from Goethe’s Faust). A Magical evening in the Parisian concert hall, with an aesthetic excellence that leaves you speechless.” (Huffington Post) “For his inauguration concert Harding lands a coup.” (Le Figaro)
Harding conducts Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius”
“The Dream of Gerontius”, Edward Elgar’s striking musical meditation on life after death, showcases superb choral writing and Wagnerian inflections. Daniel Harding leads the Orchestre de Paris. Mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená performs as Guardian Angel alongside Andrew Staples and John Relyea in the Grand Salle Pierre Boulez. Created in 1900, this great oratorio, often called the “English Parsifal”, is considered a national gem. While it has been the subject of unconditional admiration for more than a century in England, it was rarely performed outside England’s borders. Even if George Bernard Shaw had no doubt that Elgar’s music was to be immortal, it took some time to prove that he was right. The powerful work, which keeps in tradition with greats like Beethoven, is now revered throughout the world and in this case receives a stellar staging in the beautiful Philharmonie de Paris.