THE CROWD

Concert No. 10, Grand Hall, Slovene National Theatre (SNG Maribor) at 19:30
THE CROWD

FESTIVAL MARIBOR  ORCHESTRA
Richard Tognetti – conductor, lead violin

CHOIR OF LONDON
Jeremy Summerly – conductor

Images created by: Jon Frank

Soloists:
Boris Berezovsky – piano
Eva-Nina Kozmus – flute
SToP – Slovenian Percussion Project

Sound design:  Richard Tognetti
Sound assistant: Bob Scott
Sound engineer: Danilo Ženko
Projection:  Allcomb d.o.o.

Program:
Richard Tognetti:  Battle for the Crowd (premiere)
Richard Tognetti: Mosh Maggot; Chorale; Rain (premiere)
Jean Sibelius: Kuolema: Scenes with Cranes (from Kuolema, Op. 44)
George Crumb: “Bones and Flutes” from Black Angels
Morton Feldman: “Slow Waltz” from Three Voices
Richard Tognetti: Ecstasis  (premiere)
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor »Unfinished« (1. Movement)
Brett Dean: Dispersal (2001)
Claude Debussy: Syrinx
Dmitrij Šostakovič: Allegretto (Polka) for string quartet (after Polka from The Age of Gold)
Richard Tognetti: Bells (premiere)
Trad. Icelandic (arr. Stearne): Fagurt er í Fjörðum
Jean Sibelius: Kuolema: Scene VI (from Kuolema, Op. 44)
Jón Leifs: Quartetto III, Op.64, “El Greco” (4. Movement)
Richard Tognetti: Train (premiere)
Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne No.7 in C sharp Minor, Op.27 No.1

THE CROWD

“While all our ancient beliefs are tottering and disappearing, while the old pillars of society are giving way one by one, the power of the crowd is the only force that nothing menaces, and of which the prestige is continually on the increase. The age we are about to enter will be in truth the Era of Crowds.”  – Gustave Le Bon, 1896.

What is it we feel when part of a crowd?  Is it fear or empowerment?  Do we lose ourselves, or find our real selves?  Is a crowd a mob, an ignorant mass of unthinking beings?  Or is it an intelligent body, capable of thought processes and invention of which individuals alone would not be capable?  We spend much of our life in crowds: when we go to the football or attend a concert, when we cross the street at peak hour, when we worship, mourn, protest or feast, we often do so as part of a crowd.  We join with other people with whom we feel something in common: temporarily, we build a community, even if – in the case of a rioting or looting crowd – sometimes it is a construction hell-bent on destruction.

The Crowd examines the nature of the crowd, in its many manifestations, both human and in the natural world.  Elias Canetti counts raindrops among the many natural phenomena that can become symbols for the masses, and the orchestra as one of the many human manifestations of it.  We look at sport, feasting, mating – forms of congregation that bring people together in a common purpose but which also highlight the aloneness, the solitariness and the independence that often resides at the heart of the crowd.  This is explored both through the medium of live forces and also of replicants, across the gamut of the crowd experience from alienation to the reinforcement of humanity.

The Crowd brings us together temporarily, and then rends us apart again.  It gives us fleeting meaning, and a transitory community.  It is warm and welcoming, and it is threatening and forbidding.  Ultimately, it is not more or no less than all of us.

Richard Tognetti