The orchestra as a symbol of unity

“You see behind me a symphony orchestra.  Every single one of the instruments has an entirely different background and history; they come from different places …; they’ve had different developments; they sound different… And so, the next time your soul sings, assailed with some sort of horrid indication that people can’t get along together, please remember the orchestra which is a very powerful symbol, that the things which unite us are far, far stronger than the things which would seem to keep us apart.”

David Robertson, American conductor, at the Last Night of the Proms, 12 September 2009.

Cited in BBC Music Magazine, November 2009, p.3.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

,

Featured Content

A mushroom anyone?
…everybody was possessed by the Russian passion for gathering mushrooms.  Rivalries ran high, mushrooms were counted and compared, their beauty was discussed.  Rachmaninoff was an early riser and often went alone for a walk in the woods.  He used to return contented and start teasing (he was a great teaser).  One day he badgered us […]
Environmental soundscapes
In the 1960s, the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer founded the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University.  The research group explored the sonic environment.  Later projects would include  The Vancouver Soundscapes of Canada (1973), European Sound Diary, and Five Village Soundscapes.  In his book on the subject, The Tuning of the World, Schafer wrote […]
Rehearsal conditions must be suitable
Strengthened by his initial triumph and by daily evidences of the ever-mounting appreciation and support of the Philadelphia’s new claim to artistic fame, Stokowski tried once again to convince the board that first-class musical results were impossible unless the orchestra rehearsed exactly where they performed.  The men engrossed in the financial problems of balancing budgets […]
I Shall Live in the House of the Lord – Psalm 22 (23)
Title: I Shall Live in the House of the Lord Text: Psalm 22 (23) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano     Related settings:     – The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 22; Greg Smith) – SATB and piano (PDF score) Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Joe Hisaishi on the score of The Boy and the Heron
“I did not want to describe emotions or scenes through music. I wanted to be at a certain distance from the story and the characters, and I wanted to be in between the actual story and what we see on the screen, and the viewers, in terms of writing the music.” — Joe Hisaishi T. […]
To a friend
Title: To a friend Composer: Greg Smith Text: James Fenimore Cooper Jr. Instrumentation: TTBB Product medium: PDF score Sample:
Forever I will Sing the Goodness of the Lord – Psalm 88 (89)
Title: Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord (Setting I) Text: Psalm 88 (89) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and organ     Related products:     – Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord (SATB, brass, and organ) Product medium: PDF score and parts SAMPLE:
Prayer of Thanksgiving to the Trinity
Title: Prayer of Thanksgiving to the Trinity Text: St. Catherine’s Dialogue on Divine Providence Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano (easy)     Related products:     – Prayer of Thanksgiving to the Trinity
The power of music
“Music is a readily available, highly effective tool that you use to improve both your cognitive and physical abilities.” Arthur Winter, English priest and cricketer Cited at: QuotationsBook  
Focus
Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. – Alexander Graham Bell Orison Swett Marden, (1901) “Bell Telephone Talk”, How They Succeeded. Boston: Lothrop Publishing Company, p. 38. Digitally archived at https://archive.org/details/howtheysucceeded00mardrich/mode/2up, accessed 11 September 2021.