Leaving Home: Dancing on A Volcano & After the Wake

Written and presented by Sir Simon Rattle, the foremost British conductor of our day, BAFTA winning art documentary LEAVING HOME is a series of independent programmes forming a fascinating introduction to, and overview of, the music of the 20th century. The story of 20th century music is one of leave-takings in many ways. As a wealth of talented composers searched for new creative responses to the world around them, many made departures from the solid 'home' foundations of the music of the 18th and 19th centuries and many had to literally leave home, displaced by political upheavals. As a result, a remarkable diversity of expression developed. The programmes feature Rattle conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, leading viewers on an exhilarating journey through the music of our time, explaining the chief musical developments from Mahler to the present. Pharos will screen two of these programmes – the first in the Series, Dancing on a Volcano, as well as the sixth episode, After the Wake.

DANCING ON A VOLCANO describes a great musical culture in decline in turn of the 19th century Vienna. From that decline erupted a musical revolution whose reverberations have continued to this day. The names of Schoenberg, Webern and Berg still strike terror into the hearts of many concert-goers, but with Simon Rattle we hear in this music's brooding power not only the collapse of the old Austro-German order and the rise of fascism, but also the portents of the music to come in the second half of the 20th century. The episode includes excerpts from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Mahler’s Symphony No.7, R. Strauss’ Electra, Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Five Orchestral Pieces Op.16, Berg’s Violin Concerto and Webern’s Five Pieces for Orchestra Op.10.

AFTER THE WAKE looks both backwards and forwards. It considers the musical legacy of the two men who had dominated the first part of the 20th century – Schoenberg and R. Strauss – and looks at the post-war generation of young Europeans, such as Boulez and Stockhausen, who were determined to erase the recent past and build a completely new music for the new Europe. The episode includes excerpts from R. Strauss’ Four Last Songs, Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, Britten’s Serenate for tenor, horn and strings, Stravinsky’s Agon, Stockhausen’s Gruppen and Boulez’ Marteau sans maître.

Directors: Peter Wes, Barrie Gavin, Deborah May
Duration: 100’ in total
Language: English
Year: 1996

Information: Pharos Arts Foundation Tel. (+357) 22-663871 / www.pharosartsfoundation.org

The event is part of the 7th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival