Vancouver Symphony Presents Kids' Concert

The focus is squarely on the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as Jamie Bernstein galvanizes and excites the concert-goers of tomorrow with classic excerpts from some of the biggest and greatest classics ever written!

Jamie Bernstein is the daughter of legendary conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein. Leonard Bernstein was of course the creator of the New York Philharmonic's Young People's Concerts when he was the Music Director of that storied institution, and Ms. Bernstein carries forward the family legacy with her entertaining and educational performances for children and families. The VSO Kids' Koncerts series is aimed at children aged four to eleven and their families.

Extreme Orchestra was developed by Michael Barrett and Jamie Bernstein, and written by Jamie Bernstein.

A description of this production in Ms. Bernstein's own words follows:

The concept for this, our second young people's concert, began when Michael Barrett and I were reminiscing about our earliest concert-going experiences. We still remember the thrill of hearing a stage full of musicians playing full-tilt. How amazing it was to witness those musicians, each playing an acoustical instrument, forming a single organism that could emit such an enormous sound! That's why we begin our concert with the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony; that deafening opening chord really snaps everyone to attention.

It takes talent, finesse and lots of practice for an orchestra to master the loudest, fastest parts of the classical repertoire. But actually, it's just as hard to play soft and slow. Our concert shows why, as we zero in on tempo (fast/slow) and dynamics (loud/soft). Put 'em all together, and you're on an exploration of an orchestra's virtuosity - which we think of as "musical athleticism."

Virtuosity in an orchestra takes place at several levels. On the solo level, we examine a challenging French horn passage, or a breath-defying oboe run. Then there's the virtuosity of a whole section: the violins playing perfectly in tune and together, or the trumpets blowing 16th notes so flawlessly that they make a sparkling diamond of sound. Then there's virtuosity by group: all the strings together, say, or all the winds. Not only do these groupings have to master the art of playing as one; they must also listen to all the other sections. The music they're playing needs to make overall sense to them as well as to us.

In each of our musical selections, we explore tempo and dynamics by highlighting virtuosic passages that are particularly challenging for a group, section or solo instrument. We slow up fast passages, speed up slow ones, and point out the tough spots to come so that the audience can identify them (and judge the performance) when the excerpt is played through.

We show how tempo and dynamics can be combined in surprising ways. Using another example from Tchaikovsky's Fourth, we play the pizzicato movement, to show fast yet quiet. In addition to the virtuosity required by the string players in executing their pizzicati, we focus on the horns in the contrasting middle section, and a devilish flute solo towards the end of the movement.

To demonstrate the difficulty in playing slow, we perform part of the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony. First we play the melody at a ridiculous fox-trot clip, then slow it down to its proper, time-stopping pace to show how much tempo matters.

The "Eryximachus" movement from Bernstein's "Serenade" is a perfect vehicle for looking at solo virtuosity (violin) versus group virtuosity. In a reversal of our speeding up the tempo in the Adagietto, we slow this one down to hear exactly what those 32nd notes actually are.

We devise several opportunities for audience participation. Best of all, two kids get to win a chance to come up onto the podium and conduct the "March to the Scaffold" from Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique!"

We end our concert with the finale to Stravinsky's "Firebird" ballet, for several reasons. First, it boasts a brilliant combination of loud yet slow, in which slowing down the music even further actually intensifies the excitement. Also, the final notes of the ballet give the narrator a golden opportunity to set the record straight on the chronic misuse of the word "crescendo." Finally, "Firebird" is simply one of the greatest finales ever written.

Michael Barrett and I believe that this concert not only galvanizes the potential concert-goers of tomorrow, but also energizes the orchestra itself, giving it permission to show itself off, and be justifiably proud of the prodigious feats of beauty it regularly performs. -- www.vancouversymphony.ca