Hallé Orchestra

Hello again, you appear to have stumbled upon another blog post of mine! Very recently I was fortunate enough to see the Hallé Orchestra perform at Bridgewater Hall. So if you are interested in classical music and even if you aren't, this post will be perfect for you!

Hallé Orchestra

The Hallé Orchestra, for the vigilant, have been mentioned in this blog before (here). They are a world-class orchestra, based in Manchester. They do regular performances at Bridgewater Hall, but have been known to venture elsewhere, such as Jodrell Bank. For a complete novice in classical music, I have to admit I was skeptical as to whether I would enjoy an evening performance of pieces which I was unfamiliar with. Well, I had nothing to fear. The mixture of the beautifully designed hall (below) and the extremely talented orchestra ensured that I was in for an experience I'll happily have again.

Have a look at that. Breathtaking.

The Pieces

I'll list the pieces which they played, if you want to go and have a listen: 

Stravinsky-Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Mendelssohn-Violin Concerto in E minor

Tchaikovsky-Symphony No.5

If those mean nothing to you, you're in the same boat I was. But it didn't matter that you had no idea how the music went, as you could very easily lose yourself to the music. I think this was the nature of the Hallé.

The piece by Stravinsky was most probably my favourite of the evening, a 10 minute piece performed purely by wind instruments. It was short enough that you could listen to it when you had a small bit of time, yet it still contained all of the elements of classical music you would expect to find, if you wanted to delve into the genre.

The Orchestra, just warming up.

The piece by Tchaikovsky was performed in the 2nd half, after the interval. It was a piece which demanded its own section, a thrilling foray through the voices of many, many instruments, spaced with audacious pauses. These pauses could catch a beginner, like myself, out. Luckily, I had an experienced listener sitting next to me, so I knew when to react. So be careful when listening to that one in public, or risk looking the fool.

When?

The performance which I saw was part of the Thursday series by the Hallé, which takes place at Bridgewater Hall.

Cost?

The cost depends, if you are a student, then the cost is £3 on the door! Huzzah! You can get the experience of seeing a world-class orchestra for a shaving of what you would expect the price to be. Winners all around, so don't miss out!

Live from Jodrell Bank- Transmission 007

Hello! Just as you thought I did very little travelling, I manage to get some in the last few weeks of summer! Shortly after my visit to the Towersey Village Festival (previous post- I recommend giving it a read), I was fortunate enough to do some volunteering up north. The event in question was "Live from Jodrell Bank" (http://www.livefromjodrellbank.com/), of which transmission 007 shall be the focus today.

Background

The "Live from Jodrell Bank" transmissions began a few years back, the reasons for it are unbeknownst to me. However, it is still powering on today. Which is great news for music fans, as some big names have assembled at Jodrell in the past, including Elbow and New Order. Transmission 007 (they are all named this way) was headlined by the Hallé Orchestra, with a few other classical supporting acts.

Lovell Telescope

Ignoring the musicians, the Lovell Telescope (named after Sir Bernard Lovell) was the headliner. Just over 76m in diameter (over 8 Routemaster buses!), it strikes an imposing figure. Impressive though it may be, it is there everyday. The musicians weren't. If you desperate for information, please go the Jodrell Bank website (http://www.jodrellbank.net/).

The Lovell Telescope- in all its glory.

Science Arena

In this event, the science definitely did not try and take a back seat. There was a wide range of stalls, ranging from the scientifically simple (solar system bracelets) to the celestially complex (Square Kilometre Array). There was of course the Manchester staple, graphene. Yet, physics shared the stage with atmospheric scientists and even some wacky chemists! Each of the stalls were interactive, with guests being able to fire rockets, look at moon rocks and even make some light-up badges! All of the people in the science arena were very approachable and incredibly knowledgeable, as you would hope. For the quieter people, there were several talks given by leading scientists.

Sadly, it is not without some disappointment. An issue I had with the science arena in this transmission was that it seemed very separated from the music arena. For an event that seemed to promote science alongside music, you could potentially go the whole day without seeing any science-based activity. I was told this was not the case at previous transmissions, so we will have to wait and see for the future.

The beginnings of the science arena. Notice various flags for different topics.

Transportation

I recommend driving down, or getting one of the coach packages. Or something that will drop you right at the door. The reason for this is that the nearest train station is a 2 mile walk away. So unless you want to leave the event early to get the last train, I recommend driving and parking. There is a parking fee (grumble), but the advanced one is a bit cheaper.

Music Arena

As I mentioned previously, separated from the science arena. The majority of the music arena was very well laid out, with the food and drink stands at the back. There were several performances throughout the day, including a talk from the people's favourite Tim O'Brien. For the main Hallé performance, the Lovell telescope was used as a backdrop, on which various projections were done. I'll go into this further in a bit. While the music arena was generally well laid out, with the Lovell telescope behind the music stage, there were a few issues.

One issue was the position of the ice cream vans. Mr Whippy vans were placed in the middle of the crowd (towards the back), causing anybody sitting nearby to hear classical music with a mechanical hum overtone. This needed to be addressed. Another issue was the toss-up between having amazing seats or having a good view of the telescope. If you were at the side, like I was, you got an amazing view of the telescope and an okay view of the stage. On the other hand, if you were at the front, you got an amazing view of the stage and no view of the telescope. This is hopefully something that would be sorted for future performances, as I believe this layout hasn't always been the case for the transmissions.

Above and below: Day and night from roughly the same spot. Notice how if
you were very close to the stage, you would block out the telescope.
Right: Day and night from roughly the same spot, to the side of the stage.

Hallé- "A Concert Inspired by the Stars"

A magnificent projection of a nebula, to accompany the music.

The main act were the Hallé orchestra, as previously mentioned. They were performing classical pieces with planetary relations, along with several science-fiction themes. For a classical beginner but long time science-fiction fan like myself, it was heaven. The few classical pieces which I knew (e.g The Planets by Holst, along with The Blue Danube) were performed exquisitely and the science-fiction themes (Dr Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Independence Day to name a few) were done with such energy you couldn't help but smile. The concert was split into two halves. The first allowed for the turning of the Lovell telescope, to "The Blue Danube", which was a fantastic choice of music for the occasion. The Lovell telescope was used as a backdrop on which several scenes were projected, however this only really occurred during the second half. This meant the first half felt a bit like they weren't using the telescope to its full potential. This was not the case in the second half, where it was used for sweeping travels through the solar system and the cosmos. All in all, the Hallé did a brilliant job and took control of the arena like very few can.

 A Very Special Birthday

The event landed on the 100th birthday of Sir Bernard Lovell, the man who really kick-started radio astronomy. Without him, the event wouldn't have been possible. To commemorate this event, the Lovell telescope was used to show a feature about his life and the evolution of Jodrell Bank. It was a very fitting tribute and was very touching, especially for a physics nut like myself.

Summary

On a whole, I would say transmission 007 was a success. There were a few niggling placement issues, but these can be dealt with for future events. The Hallé were a fantastic booking, the playlist was brilliant for those, like myself, who were new to classical music. If there was a similar event next year, would I go again? Try and stop me.