THEME MUSIC - Adolphus Hailstork - Sonata da Chiesa

John Schaefer: Live from Carnegie Hall. Welcome to another broadcast from World Orchestra Week. (WOW!) as Carnegie Hall is calling it. It's a festival highlighting some of the best youth orchestras in the world. Tonight marks the sixth of seven consecutive nights of concerts. This evening we'll hear the remarkable talents of the European Union Youth Orchestra, led by conductor Iván Fischer. We'll also hear the pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason and members of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. I'm John Schaefer here with Terrance McKnight.

Terrance McKnight: (WOW!) is right, John. All these young people backstage, out on that stage.

John Schaefer: Not just on stage, but I've never seen this, the members of the orchestra entering through the audience, coming down the aisles, and then filing on stage.

Terrance McKnight: That's right. You can probably hear the applause, that applause coming from inside the hall as these musicians are making their way on stage. Now this European Union Youth Orchestra was founded in 1976. It was founded as the European Community Youth Orchestra. Since then, they've been one of the premier youth orchestras in the world, working with luminary conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, and Leonard Bernstein. The audition process, just to join this orchestra is pretty intense as you might expect. Every year, thousands of young people between the ages of 16 and 26 audition for just 120 seats.

John Schaefer: Most of those 120 seats will be filled tonight because we have a very big work in the second half of the program, which we'll tell you about in a moment. The members of this youth orchestra will be led tonight by their newly appointed music director, the veteran Hungarian conductor, Iván Fischer. We spoke to Fischer earlier today, and he told us about taking the reins of this talented group.

Iván Fischer: There's a musical mission, which is, I think that orchestras play, very often, too mechanical and jaded and boring for my taste. I need involved musicians who take part creatively, risk-takingly in an orchestra. This is what I would like to educate this generation in this direction and use their musicianship, their creativity, and not simply follow instructions and rules. It's a big thing. Now, that's a musical task. Then there is a European task. It's the only music institution of the European Union that we have to integrate the European countries so they don't have tensions with each other but peace with each other.

Terrance McKnight: Conductor Iván Fischer, who's standing right next to me backstage here at Carnegie Hall now. We also spoke to executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, Clive Gillinson, about the European Union's new position for this veteran Hungarian conductor.

Clive Gillinson: Iván Fischer has just become their music director so he's permanently engaged now in that role, another person who's passionate about working with young people and nurturing talent all around the world. He's done tremendous work in Hungary as well. This is a passion for him, and it's a thread, frankly, that runs through every artist who's appearing with every orchestra.

John Schaefer: We also mentioned that this orchestra includes members of the Ukraine Youth Orchestra. They are touring with the European Union Youth Orchestra throughout the summer.

Iván Fischer: It's very nice to have Ukrainian musicians. A lot of them are very good because there is very good musical training in Ukraine, and it's always wonderful to welcome them. So many wonderful musicians came, especially from Odessa.

John Schaefer: Once again, Conductor Iván Fischer. Now, the program that he and the orchestra have put together for us is full of tunes that you might recognize because every piece on the program borrows a melody from an older source, whether it's a folk tune or a children's song, even music fit for English country dancing. If you keep your ears perked up, you might hear something you recognize along the way.

Terrance McKnight: Yes, that's right. Looking forward to humming along with this orchestra. Now, in the second half of tonight's program, we've got Gustav Mahler's hefty First Symphony, aptly nicknamed The Titan. Before we get to it, we're going to hear from Ernst von Dohnányi who wrote a set of variations, variations on a nursery tune, and that tune, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, you know it. The orchestra is going to be joined by pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. She's going to be the soloist for that piece, but we're going to begin tonight with a composition by British composer Anna Clyne, John. It's a piece she originally wrote for the BBC's 2013 Proms. She calls the piece Masquerade, and it takes its inspiration from concerts in London's 18th-century pleasure gardens.

John Schaefer: Right, Anna Clyne from London. She's now based and has been for a number of years here in New York City. While most of those pleasure gardens in long ago London tried to gear themselves towards more wealthy patrons, you could still expect to see people from different social and economic classes. You get all kinds of entertainment. Right now we've got three members of the orchestra about to tell us about tonight's entertainment.

[applause]

Filipa Rodrigues: [foreign language] I'm Filipa Rodrigues. I'm, since three years, member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, and I'm from Portugal.

[applause]

Filipa Rodrigues: It's a great honor that the European Union Youth Orchestra was invited to come to Carnegie Hall to play in the World Orchestra Week, (WOW!). Not only us, but we have the honor also to have met other orchestras. For example, we played with people from Venezuela, from Beijing, from Afghan, and which some of them are here today with us. Afghan Youth Orchestra, can you please stand?

[applause]

Filipa Rodrigues: Thank you so much. Also, I think we also have a couple of members from Beijing Youth Orchestra. Are you there?

Beijing Youth Orchestra Member: Yes.

Filipa Rodrigues: Yes.

[applause]

Filipa Rodrigues: I think this shows exactly what music is supposed to be about, which is empathy, share, and that the world can be a better place because we want it to be a better place. I hope you enjoyed the concert, and I will introduce my colleague, David.

David Ruiz Del Canto: [Spanish language] I come from Valencia, Spain, and I'm a violinist for two years already at the European Union Youth Orchestra.

[applause]

David Ruiz Del Canto: New York City, Carnegie Hall, (WOW!) Festival, that's quite a lot to process in such a short couple of days. We're tremendously excited to be here.

[applause]

David Ruiz Del Canto: It is too much emotion. We're tremendously excited to be here representing, as you can see, 27 different European countries. Also, we have four guests from the Youth Orchestra of Ukraine. Could you please stand up and say hi to everyone?

[applause]

David Ruiz Del Canto: It feels very special to be here with this incredible group of fantastic musicians and even better human beings from lots of different countries, different cultures, different languages, but still united in peace and harmony, sharing with the entire world with hundreds of other musicians from the entire globe, speaking the most universal, pure, and beautiful language of them all, music, together.

[applause]

Clara de Groote: [German language] My name is Clara de Groote. I am a percussionist in the European Youth Orchestra, and I am from Frankfurt, Germany. I've been part of this orchestra since two years and incredibly happy so.

[applause]

Clara de Groote: This orchestra really changes every one of us because it is an incredible experience to, first of all, travel so much and to spend time with so many different people. We are being on tour for six weeks this summer, so it's a very intense time. It is my honor to introduce our tonight's program a little bit to you. We are representing three composers tonight who are European, but also have something to do with the United States. Our first piece is Masquerade by the British composer Anna Clyne. It is a very short piece, but very, very interesting and colorful. Apparently, she's based in Manhattan, New York City since a couple of years. In case Ms. Clyne is here tonight, welcome. The second piece is by Ernst von Dohnányi, and it's called Variations on a Nursery Tune and will be performed by the orchestra alongside our beautiful and wonderful soloist Isata Kanneh-Mason.

[applause]

Clara de Groote: Last but not least, and the heart piece of tonight's program is Mahler's First Symphony. Apparently, Mahler, I've been told, performed this symphony for the very first time in the United States on this very stage in the year 1909. It's supposedly also the last time he ever conducted. It's a very special piece, a very special hall, and we are very much looking forward to tonight with you here with us. Thank you for coming.

[applause]

John Schaefer: Well, there you have three of the members of the European Union Youth Orchestra. The entire orchestra is out on stage awaiting the arrival of conductor Iván Fischer, who will start the program with Anna Clyne's Masquerade or Masquerade if you prefer. A work that draws on a book of English country dances, takes a tune from a book that has been an important part of the English folk revival in the 20th century, known as The English Dancing Master by John Playford. The specific tune, Juice of Barley, which is an obvious reference to either beer or whiskey is the basis for this Masquerade by Anna Clyne. It has an interesting opening, as you'll see, and a certain cinematic quality to it as well. As we've noted both backstage here and onstage at Carnegie Hall, Anna Clyne, although Britain-born, is very much a New Yorker these days.

Terrance McKnight: Yes. It'll be interesting to hear how much of her musical diversity comes into play in this piece because, born in 1980 in England, but she grew up listening to folk music and pop music, and she started playing piano pretty young. I'm interested to hear this piece, to hear her different musical influence played by these young people.

John Schaefer: Right. Also, she has become known as a composer who works a lot with electronic and electroacoustic sound, but this piece is purely orchestral, so it's something a little different for her. It was, of course, written for the Proms, so there is a kind of festive quality to it. Those 18th-century London pleasure gardens, Terrance, that you were referring to, were full of all kinds of entertainment, both appropriate and not. That sense of barely controlled chaos, that is also at the heart of this piece alongside that old dancing master tune. The orchestra is tuned, ready to go, and we are awaiting the stage door to swing open and for the conductor, Iván Fischer, to stride on stage, the main stage here at Carnegie Hall as (WOW!), the World Orchestra Week continues.

Terrance McKnight: We just got the sign, John. The doors are open.

John Schaefer: The European Union Youth Orchestra on stage at Carnegie Hall, Iván Fischer now at center stage. Applause from the audience. He'll turn and face the orchestra, and we'll hear Masquerade by the British-born, New York-based Anna Clyne.

[pause 00:14:14]

[MUSIC - Anna Clyne: Masquerade]

[applause]

Terrance McKnight: Masquerade, music by composer Anna Clyne, performed by the European Union Youth Orchestra and members of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, all conducted by Iván Fischer. You're hearing this live broadcast of World Orchestra Week from Carnegie Hall on WQXR. Tonight marks the penultimate concert, which means we'll be back here tomorrow, bringing you the seventh and final performance from the Afghan Youth Orchestra at seven o'clock. I'm Terrance McKnight here with John Schaefer backstage at Carnegie Hall. How about that piece, John?

John Schaefer: Yes, what a fun piece. You could hear the galumphing sounds of the English country dance that Anna Clyne used within it. Every time you begin to think they're going to settle into the tune, it goes off somewhere else. Anyway, a little bit of a stage change now because the next piece is by Ernst von Dohnányi Hungarian composer. The Hungarian form of his name is Ernő Dohnányi, but all of his published scores use the German version, Ernst von Dohnányi. The piece is called Variations on a Nursery Tune. It's for orchestra and piano. Iván Fischer, our Hungarian conductor, is a strong promoter of his fellow Hungarian composer.

Iván Fischer: This is a special task for me that I would like to make the music of Dohnányi more well known. He was a Hungarian composer who moved to the United States, and after the Second World War spent most of his time teaching here. He was a genius, a wonderful composer who is absolutely underrated. He composed on the level of the greatest of his generation. He belonged to the conservative club, to people like Richard Strauss, or Rachmaninoff, not to the Schoenberg-type modernists, but we don't care anymore, and we listen to both. I hope more and more people will discover the works of Dohnányi.

[applause]

John Schaefer: The soloist in the Dohnányi piece is the phenomenal young pianist, Isata Kanneh-Mason, no stranger to Carnegie Hall or to our airwaves. We've heard her performing in the past with her brother, the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Here they are doing Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Tune, a tune I'm pretty sure you will recognize, live from Carnegie Hall.

[pause 00:22:36]

[MUSIC - Ernst von Dohnányi: Variations on a Nursery Tune, Op. 25] [applause]

Terrance McKnight: Pianist, Isata Kanneh-Mason, performing Ernst von Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Tune. He played that with the European Union Youth Orchestra, conducted by Iván Fischer. We're live here at Carnegie Hall. I'm Terrance McKnight, back here with John Schaefer. Now, the composer on the manuscript to this piece, Dohnányi wrote, "For the enjoyment of those with a sense of humor, to the annoyance of everyone else."

John Schaefer: Great quote.

Terrance McKnight: I tended to agree with that.

Female Speaker: Yes, I think that's a great quote. I love that quote. I think he's referring to, the piece is clearly very playful and very funny, but he's also mocking many other composers. It's very tongue-in-cheek. Suppose it depends on if you're being mocked or not, I think.

John Schaefer: Terrance, the audience here at Carnegie Hall, certainly was in on the joke. You could hear their laughter both when the initial theme is played and when it recurs towards the end of the piece. That theme, of course, is the French folk song, Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman, better known in English as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, A, B, C, D. We learn the alphabet to it. In Germany, it's a Christmas carol, Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann. It's a tune that has traveled the world and was, of course, the subject of a famous set of variations by Mozart, more than 100 years before Dohnányi decided to set it.

Terrance McKnight: You know what? This audience enjoyed it so much. You can probably hear the applause. Isata, she's going back out on stage. Iván Fischer is right there behind her. Perhaps she'll play an encore, John.

John Schaefer: Entirely possible. The entire orchestra now standing, basking in the applause of what appears to be a packed house here at Carnegie Hall as we continue with World Orchestra Week, or (WOW!). This is the sixth of seven nights. Each night has brought us an unbelievably gifted group of young musicians from different parts of the world. The stage door has opened, and Isata Kanneh-Mason now going back out on stage, this time by herself. Walking back towards the piano, bowing to the audience. Let's see what she does next. She's seated back at the piano, and we'll get an encore.

[pause 00:49:56] [MUSIC - George Gershwin: The Man I Love by Isata Kanneh-Mason]

[applause]

John Schaefer: The English pianist, Isata Kanneh-Mason, with an encore of an American classic, George Gershwin's The Man I Love, solo center stage at Carnegie Hall. After joining the European Union Youth Orchestra in a high-octane version of the Dohnányi piece, the Variations on a Nursery Tune. We are at Carnegie Hall for the World Orchestra Week. Isata Kanneh-Mason back out on stage to accept another round of applause from a packed house here in the main hall at Carnegie, which has been the site, Terrence, of some fascinating music-making in recent nights. Last night, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, performed on this stage by the American Youth Orchestra, known as NYO USA, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Terrance McKnight: Yes, Thibaudet played that piece here last night. That piece has been played a lot this year because it's celebrating 100 years. Gershwin wrote that piece 100 years ago, so it's getting a lot of stage play, radio play, and it was heard here last night played by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. It was interesting for me to watch the conductor, Iván Fischer, go out on stage and sit there and listen. He became a member of the audience when Isata went out and played her encore.

John Schaefer: Seated in the back of the orchestra.

Terrance McKnight: That's right. If you're going to talk to young people about listening, one great way to do it is to show them that you actually listen.

John Schaefer: Yes, leading by example.

Terrance McKnight: That's right.

John Schaefer: We are live at Carnegie Hall. This is Classical New York WQXR 105.9 FM and HD, Newark, 90.3 FM WQXW, Ossining, and WNYC FM HD2, New York. John Schaefer, alongside Terrance McKnight, and we are at intermission.

Terrance McKnight: It is intermission here at Carnegie Hall. Right now, we're going to talk to some of the musicians. We had 700 young people in town for this seven-day festival, and they get a chance to meet one another and sit in with other orchestras, understand there was a big day where they all got a chance to meet yesterday.

John Schaefer: 700 musicians at once.

Terrance McKnight: Can you imagine?

John Schaefer: I can't imagine. No, I can't imagine.

Terrance McKnight: Highly trained musicians playing that same universal language that we always talk about, but getting to do it with young people from around the world, that's got to be pretty exciting. We just wanted to bring a couple up here and talk to us during this intermission.

John Schaefer: Joining us right now, Oksana Butrynska, who is a member of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Some of the members of your ensemble are performing and touring around with this group, the European Union, right?

Oksana Butrynska: Yes, that's completely right. There are four of us joining this amazing tour of European Union Symphony Orchestra as a special guest. So far, we cannot participate in usual tours of this orchestra as Ukraine is not a part of European Union, and therefore we're not eligible for it, but it's a great honor to be here with this orchestra, to be in Carnegie Hall, to be in New York, and it's literally a dream coming true.

John Schaefer: One of the things that Iván Fischer talks about is that this orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra, is not just a musical project; it's also a European project, and bringing Ukrainian musicians in, even though, as you say, Ukraine is not yet a part of the European Union, it seems like there's a message there that goes beyond, "Hey, come and tour with us."

Oksana Butrynska: Yes, definitely. I feel that every single day. I've met a lot of wonderful people here, wonderful musicians, wonderful human beings as well, wonderful as friends, and I'm literally having the time of my life so far.

John Schaefer: Is it bittersweet to be away from home at such a difficult time?

Oksana Butrynska: Of course, it is. What's difficult about that is when you have family at home and you think of them every single day and every single moment, but those two realities exist somehow in one world. Sometimes I even forget about that. Yesterday, we had a chamber music concert at Kosciuszko Foundation here in New York. At the time we played, we also had some Ukrainian pieces in program, and so on. At the time we played, the presenter had the news that Kyiv was bombarded again. That was quite an awakening in the middle of the concert to realize that while we are here, pursuing our dreams, people in Ukraine, your family, your friends can still be in danger, and those two realities exist at the same time.

John Schaefer: Well, Oksana, joining us at the microphone, your colleague for the moment, David Ruiz del Canto, who is from the European Union Youth Orchestra. David, in your opening remarks to the audience, you got a little emotional out there.

David Ruiz del Canto: Yes, and nervous too. Of course, it's such a big moment.

John Schaefer: What were you feeling when you walked out to address the audience at Carnegie Hall tonight?

David Ruiz del Canto: I don't know. It was like getting into a normal concert but with extra pressure. Of course, most musicians don't do that too much speaking. Just trying to put the right words in the right moment is so complicated. Yes, I was feeling nervous but also very excited.

John Schaefer: First time at Carnegie Hall?

David Ruiz del Canto: Yes, and in New York, actually, it's amazing.

Terrance McKnight: Did you change your pregame ritual before today's concert? Did you sleep any differently last night? Did you go to bed earlier? How did you prepare for today?

David Ruiz del Canto: Nothing. I just let it flow and let's see what the moment like and just try to enjoy it as much as I can.

Terrance McKnight: You sound like a professional. You've been doing this a long time.

David Ruiz del Canto: Well, no. [laughs] Well, for this past few years, yes.

Terrance McKnight: I want to ask you, quickly, about working with Iván Fischer. What's that been like for either of you?

Oksana Butrynska: Well, for me, it was very exciting because I knew about him even before. When I first heard that he was going to be conducting this program, I was very impressed already but getting to know him as a musician and as a person is something completely different. I think also he's one of the most original musicians of our time, for sure. His musical ideas, somehow you don't realize it at first, but by the time you get it, you realize this is what music is all about.

John Schaefer: How does he communicate those ideas? What's the language of the orchestra? Is it English?

David Ruiz del Canto: Yes.

Oksana Butrynska: Yes.

John Schaefer: Okay. There's 700 youth orchestra musicians in New York for WOW, the World Orchestra Week. I understand you were all playing together with Gustavo Dudamel yesterday.

David Ruiz del Canto: Yes.

John Schaefer: What was that like?

David Ruiz del Canto: Massive.

[laughter]

John Schaefer: Yes. I realized 700 people is massive.

David Ruiz del Canto: It was crazy. It was like--

Terrance McKnight: What did you all play?

David Ruiz del Canto: Hmm?

Terrance McKnight: What did you all play with him? What music?

David Ruiz del Canto: We played the Olympic Fanfare from John Williams, the last movement of the seventh symphony by Beethoven, and a piece by Ginastera, the Estancia, the Malambo Dance.

John Schaefer: What does it sound like when 700 people are playing together like that?

Oksana Butrynska: I think this scale cannot be underestimated. We needed the whole business center or whatever it was.

John Schaefer: Oh, this was at the Javits?

Oksana Butrynska: Yes. We were literally occupying the whole place. At first, when first heard brass and other groups, it was really massive.

John Schaefer: [laughs] Well, this whole week has been massive, and you still have a very big piece to play in the second half with the Mahler 1. We'll let you both go and recover from the first half and prepare for the second. Thank you both for joining us.

David Ruiz del Canto: Thank you so much.

Oksana Butrynska: Thank you.

John Schaefer: Oksana Butrynska and David Ruiz del Canto, two of the members of the ensemble that you're hearing tonight. David from the European Union Youth Orchestra, Oksana, a member of the Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.

Terrance McKnight: So amazing to have all these musicians in one place at one time. While the Olympics are going on, mind you, over in Paris, this feels like an Olympics for musicians, having so many representatives from all over the world. Orchestra from Asia, from Africa, from Latin America, of course, two orchestras here from the States.

John Schaefer: Tomorrow, Afghan, the Afghan Youth Orchestra.

Terrance McKnight: Yes.

John Schaefer: It is a very diverse group, and we are broadcasting live from Carnegie Hall. This is the sixth of seven nights of concerts. The idea behind WOW, the World Orchestra Week, what was that? We asked Carnegie Hall's executive and artistic director, Clive Gillinson, to tell us the purpose behind the idea.

Clive Gillinson: We couldn't represent every country, but on the other hand, there were two areas of conflict in the world where we thought it was just really important to reflect what a tough time young musicians in those countries are going through. For that reason, we spoke to the Ukrainian ambassador here and said we want to do something that actually shows we know and we care so that we can give an opportunity to some Ukrainian young musicians to come here. We also felt with what's happening in Israel, it was just really important to bring Jewish and Palestinian musicians together here. Again, very symbolic and very important.

John Schaefer: That's Clive Gillinson here at Carnegie Hall. This World Orchestra Week, we had Jewish and Palestinian members of the Polyphony Ensemble. They joined the National Youth Orchestra of the USA last night as part of the festival tonight. Tomorrow night, we have Terrence, the Afghan Youth Orchestra. You notice that when David called the members of the Afghan Youth Orchestra to stand at the beginning of the concert, they got a rousing ovation, so a very troubled area being represented here as well.

Terrance McKnight: I'd imagine this socializing that they get to do, John, all these musicians from around -- all of the same age, the same age group. They get to friend one another on social media and just create long-term relationships that will go on way beyond their youth orchestra years. That's part of what Clive talked about this being so special. That celebration yesterday, can you imagine 700 young players all together playing Beethoven, playing any-- They played Ginastera yesterday.

John Schaefer: Yes, right.

Terrance McKnight: I think we've got a clip of some of what happened yesterday, that huge celebration.

John Schaefer: Right. We also asked Clive Gillinson to tell us about what inspired that event, and he told us that's just what Carnegie Hall is all about.

Clive Gillinson: It's a little bit of celebration, but it's also needless to say a bit of Carnegie Hall insanity. [laughs] You never try and just take one or two steps at a time. It's a little bit like people used to talk of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim said of Lenny that Lenny loves risk. Bernstein, he will never fall off the bottom rung of a ladder. If he's going to fall off a ladder, he'll fall off the top. I feel, in a way, that's the spirit in which we like to approach things. If you're going to do something, do it flat out. Do it in the best way you conceivably can.

The whole point of this, amongst all the other objectives, is to bring together all these brilliant young musicians from all around the world. What better than actually having them all come together and play together as well, communicating as individuals and connecting through chain music and other things. That is what this is. It's absolutely a celebration of the most brilliant young musicians from all around the world.

Terrance McKnight: Let's hear a little bit of that from yesterday at the Javits Center. 700 musicians all together, Gustavo Dudamel conducting some beetho. I think we've got a little bootleg recording.

[MUSIC - Beethoven: Symphony No. 7]

John Schaefer: What a sound.

Terrance McKnight: Dudamel driving those fortes. You hear that?

John Schaefer: How could it be less than a fortes? You got 700 musicians.

[laughter]

Terrance McKnight: Oh, what fun. What a great week here on WQXR here at Carnegie Hall. This is day 6. We'll be back here tomorrow. John, you're going to be back here with Jeff Spurgeon for Afghani tomorrow.

John Schaefer: With Jeff Spurgeon, yes. We'll be here for the Afghan Youth Orchestra. Very much looking forward to that.

Terrance McKnight: Yes.

John Schaefer: Tonight, we've got the European Union Youth Orchestra, and in the second half, doing Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1. Maybe we should hear something, though, first, Terrence, from earlier this week.

Terrance McKnight: Yes, let's do that. We've got at least five recordings that we've been here for. We had the National Youth Orchestra. We had the National Youth Orchestra 2, the younger version of that orchestra. So many orchestras. My goodness. African Orchestra, Union Orchestra.

John Schaefer: Right, and the Beijing Youth Orchestra on Sunday afternoon. From that performance, we'll hear a little bit of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, the Beijing Youth Orchestra, conducted by Lu Jia.

[MUSIC - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 by Beijing Youth Orchestra]

Terrance McKnight: Listening to an excerpt from Sunday's World Orchestra Week concert. This is the Beijing Youth Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony. Now, all of these concerts are online at wqxr.org, and you can hear what a special week it's been so far. It's really been special. The last piece on the program tonight we're going to hear Mahler's first symphony, his Titan symphony, and it certainly is a monumental work to tackle. Iván Fischer, he talked to us. He gave us a little bit of a background on this piece.

Iván Fischer: Now, Mahler was very young when he composed this. We have to imagine the 20, 80-year-old Mahler, who was still conductor in the Budapest Opera House at the time. For me, as a Hungarian, there is a responsibility that he performed this very first of his symphonies in Budapest, and it was a huge flop. People didn't like it because it was loud. They didn't understand all these strange noises Mahler makes, and that was probably an extremely conservative audience there, and they didn't understand it. I have no idea how the opera orchestra of the time played it, but it was a disaster. Now, we Hungarians, we have an obligation to prove to the world that it's a masterpiece

John Schaefer: Well, Iván Fischer, the conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra, taking it upon himself and the rest of his countrymen to prove to the world that Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 is, in fact, a masterpiece. I think he's probably preaching to the choir at this point, but the Symphony No. 1 was originally called the Titan by Mahler, but he did not like that nickname. He dropped it. It has stuck around regardless, though.

Mahler put a lot of work into this piece, revising it continuously over the course of about 15 years and eventually settled on the standard four-movement symphony that we know today. Standard in terms of structure, not in terms of content. There's all kinds of natural landscape, tone painting in this piece and it's just an extraordinary work that offers a lot of possibility, I would say, for the musicians.

Terrance McKnight: Yes, I'd say so too. I think also, John, the other pieces on this program, this music by Mahler uses borrowed melodies, and so there is that similarity. It includes a music that he took from some of his own pieces. For example, in the first and third movement of the symphony, you may recognize some of the melodies comes from the Songs of a Wayfarer, a song cycle for which Mahler wrote both the poetry and the music. You may hear that in there as well.

John Schaefer: Right, but if you're not a Mahler expert and you don't recognize those Songs of a Wayfarer when they come along, just wait till the third movement because, having heard Twinkle Twinkle Little Star earlier on the program, you probably recognize Frère Jacques when it comes in even though it comes in a minor key because it's Mahler, essentially. It is a children's tune that turns into something very melancholy, very gray and grim, and yet still recognizably the tune.

Terrance McKnight: We're going to hear that symphony by Mahler, including that third movement that John just talked about in a moment. We're going to wrap up this intermission here at Carnegie Hall in the sixth of seven nights because we're going to be back here tomorrow. You're going to be back here tomorrow. I'll be listening on the radio live broadcast celebrating this wild festival, World Orchestra Week, here at Carnegie. Now, tomorrow's concert is going to feature the Afghan Youth Orchestra, and they're going to bring a program of Afghan folk music as well as Western symphonic works. Well, you probably just heard the ringer go off.

John Schaefer: Yes, it is that time. The stage door has closed. The orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra, they're all back out on stage. When I say all, I mean, it's all hands on deck. This is a big piece, massive orchestra, not 700 people, but big enough. After a little bit of tuning, we will hear Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1, once known as the Titan, and as I say, a nickname that he just can't seem to quite get rid of. It keeps coming back, but we will hear the European Union Youth Orchestra and their conductor, Iván Fischer, performing it on stage here at Carnegie Hall in this penultimate concert of the WOW festival, World Orchestra Week.

Terrance McKnight: Now, this is the symphony, John, that requires additional horns. Sometimes trumpets are placed off-stage-

John Schaefer: Off stage, yes.

Terrance McKnight: -for this work. Perhaps they're on the other side of the stage.

John Schaefer: Normally, they would be seated right next to us. It's an experience, but we'll see.

Terrance McKnight: The conductor is back here with us, Iván Fischer, just waiting to go out on stage. He's giving us a signal to just keep rapping. "Tell him about the music, Terrance," he says. They're tuning. They got to get it just right. He says this tuning system takes just a little more time, tempered tuning, and we're just going to -- That's right.

John Schaefer: 440, or you go higher?

Terrance McKnight: We're just going to get it right. You're going to be here with us as we continue this concert, the second half of the European Union Youth Orchestra. Young people from 27 countries in this orchestra. I was sitting here talking to one of the percussionists about the 27 countries represented in this orchestra. So many languages speaking this language of music here at Carnegie Hall all week. Maestro Iván Fischer is going out on stage, getting ready to conduct this mammoth piece by Gustav Mahler.

John Schaefer: After a brief, deeply technical conversation while you were introducing the piece, Iván Fischer now at the podium, center stage, here is Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 from Carnegie Hall live.

[MUSIC - Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1] [applause]

John Schaefer: Symphony No. 1 by Gustav Mahler, played live on stage at Carnegie Hall by the European Union Youth Orchestra, led by their music director, the veteran Hungarian conductor, Iván Fischer. As you can tell, that performance met every standard of professionalism, and the audience here at Carnegie Hall erupting in applause at the end of that performance. On stage, part of the WOW festival, World Orchestra Week. Seven nights, each night a different youth orchestra from around the world.

Tonight, the European Union Youth Orchestra, with a few guest members of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, performing with Iván Fischer, who is back out on stage and acknowledging the applause of the audience here at Carnegie Hall. I'm John Schaefer, alongside Terence McKnight. The big takeaway, Terence, of this week so far is the incredibly high level of young musicians these days. The level at which they can perform some of the still most challenging and ambitious works in the repertoire.

Terence McKnight: Young people from around the world performing this music. Asia, Africa, Latin America, the United States, Europe, 700 musicians from around the world at Carnegie Hall this week. If you want to check out one of these concerts, go to wqxr.org and listen back to some of these performances we've brought you over the last six nights. We're going to be back here again tomorrow night for the Afghan Youth Orchestra.

John Schaefer: At the moment, Iván Fischer pointing out various sections, various soloists, and each time he does that, you hear the audience roaring their approval. There's a lot of people to point out. I mean, almost everyone gets a turn in the spotlight during the course of that Mahler Symphony.

Terence McKnight: Yes. Now you've got the cellos standing right in front of the conductor. Whole orchestra standing again, Iván Fischer turning around to the audience. We talked earlier about this orchestra having been under Bernstein, under Barenboim.

John Schaefer: They were founded by Claudio Abbado.

Terrance McKnight: That's right.

John Schaefer: From day one, this orchestra has had serious talent up on the podium. You're also talking, Terrance, about conductors who also had a vision that went beyond music, right?

Terrance McKnight: That's right. You have the social implications of a Bernstein, of a Daniel Barenboim, who's still doing that work with that Eastern Divan Orchestra.

John Schaefer: East-West Divan. Yes.

Terrance McKnight: That's right. So these young people are not only being inspired by great musicians, but folks in the business who are concerned with the social fabric of our world, and using music as a way to bring these young people together and perhaps bring the world together through music.

John Schaefer: The European Union Youth Orchestra is exactly what its name implies, a youth orchestra representing all 27 countries that are currently in the EU, the European Union. Iván Fischer, their music director, and once again, back out on stage at the podium and acknowledging the orchestra, acknowledging the audience, stage door opens, and Iván Fischer leaving the stage, but the orchestra--

[MUSIC- Jaime Texidor Dalmau: Amparito Roca]

[applause]

[MUSIC- Jaime Texidor Dalmau: Amparito Roca]

[applause]

Terrance McKnight: It's like a Monday night party here on WQXR. We've got the European Union Youth Orchestra here in town. They just played an encore, a music by Jaime Texidor, Amparito Roca. That's your encore after they played Mahler. I'm here with John Schaefer. I'm Terrance McKnight. We're backstage at Carnegie Hall.

John Schaefer: Just as in pop music you have one-hit wonders, classical music has that, too. You have just heard Jaime Texidor's one hit. Amparito Roca is played by bands around Europe, around the world, but never like that, with a hundred-plus musicians on stage at Carnegie Hall, they're jumping and-

Terrance McKnight: In heels. Some of the ladies had on heels. I'm looking like, "Whoa, choreography."

John Schaefer: -they're all moving around, so by the end of the piece, the sections had disappeared. You have an oboist next to a cellist, next to a percussionist. They're all walking and bouncing around and shimmying down and leaping up. Really extraordinary performance from the European Union Youth Orchestra, of that piece by the Spanish composer, Jaime Texidor. A pasodoble. So, kind of a march, but in double time, as the name implies.

Terrance McKnight: They had a lot of fun with it, John. The conductor, Iván Fischer, was backstage with us, as his musicians were out there playing that music. We're coming to you live from Carnegie Hall this evening. If you've ever wondered about the more than 100 years of history that is taking place in this hall, you're in luck because we've got a podcast that comes out of WQXR. It's called, If This Hall Could Talk. Now, each episode takes a close look at an object from the collections of Carnegie Hall's Rose Archives.

From a ticket stub, to Carnegie Hall's opening night in 1891 at the height of the Gilded Age in New York, to a flyer for a tribute concert for Martin Luther King Jr. in 1961, just as he was gaining national fame. Now, this program is hosted by Broadway star, Jessica Vosk, and it features the voices of historical experts, leading performers, Carnegie Halls in-house archivist, who take you on a tour through significant moments in this cultural history of this hall and of our country. Check it out. It's, If This Hall Could Talk, available wherever you get podcasts.

John Schaefer: Well, tonight has been the sixth of seven live broadcasts on consecutive nights from Carnegie Hall's World Orchestra Week, WOW. Tomorrow night will be the final concert of this WOW festival. We'll hear the Afghan Youth Orchestra bringing a program of Western symphonic works as well as Afghan folk music. That's tomorrow night, 7:00 PM, right here at WQXR.

Terrance McKnight: Our thanks to Clive Gillinson and the staff of Carnegie Hall. WQXR's team includes engineers Edward Haber, George Wellington, Noriko Okabe, and Irene Trudel. Our production team, Eileen Delahunty, Lauren Purcell-Joiner, David Norville, and Christine Herskovits. I'm Terrance McKnight.

John Schaefer: I'm John Schaefer. Carnegie Hall Live is a co-production of Carnegie Hall and WQXR in New York. We'll send you back now to the WQXR studio, where the music continues in progress.

Terrance McKnight: We are Classical New York, WQXR 105.9 FM, and HD Newark 90.3 FM, WQXW Ossining, and WNYC FM, HD2 New York.

[background conversation]

John Schaefer: All right. We are done.

Speaker: Nice.

John Schaefer: Were you out there?

Speaker: Yes.

John Schaefer: What fun? What an encore? [laughs]

Speaker: Thrilling.

[background conversation]

 

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