CINEMATIC

Cinematic

Music has the ability to influence our emotions and create moods. It moves us to tears, boosts our self-confidence or gives us goosebumps. In films in particular, this power of music is used to give scenes a special atmosphere and to direct the feelings of the audience. But how exactly does this work? In the school concert »cinematic« for grades 5 - 8, the Gürzenich Orchestra takes a close look at works that were composed especially for films and classical compositions that are often used in films. Together we experience how music stimulates the imagination and brings stories to life. Cologne Philharmonic Hall No interval / Grades 5-8 / €5 pupils Free tickets for accompanying adults Tickets are available from the Bühnen Köln ticket service

Cinematic

Music has the ability to influence our emotions and create moods. It moves us to tears, boosts our self-confidence or gives us goosebumps. In films in particular, this power of music is used to give scenes a special atmosphere and to direct the feelings of the audience. But how exactly does this work? In the school concert »cinematic« for grades 5 - 8, the Gürzenich Orchestra takes a close look at works that were composed especially for films and classical compositions that are often used in films. Together we experience how music stimulates the imagination and brings stories to life. Cologne Philharmonic Hall No interval / Grades 5-8 / €5 pupils Free tickets for accompanying adults Tickets are available from the Bühnen Köln ticket service

Cinematic Symphony on Organ / Safety Last!

Organ improvisation complements old cinema exceptionally well, lending century-old films a new dimension. The concept is almost as old as cinematography itself. Harold Lloyd – the third geniusThis is one of the most easily recognisable shots in the history of cinema, and certainly in the history of slapstick comedy: a young man wearing a suit, a hat and horn-rimmed glasses is hanging off the minute hand bending away from the face of a street clock… Beneath him, a dozen storeys lower, there is the real bustling life of an American city. Safety Last! (1923, dir. F.C. Newmeyer, S. Taylor) is the most famous Harold Lloyd film, which enabled the American comedian to momentarily outshine Charlie Chaplin himself. Nevertheless, for posterity he remained “the third one” of comic geniuses, after Chaplin and Buster Keaton. He was characterised by a charming comicality rooted in his physique (the expressive body and... teeth) and laughter of the most spontaneous kind – one that stems from treating life as a game, approaching it in a purely comedic, slightly mad, fashion, with no need to fix the world (as opposed to Chaplin). In Safety Last!, the joyous madness, capable of infecting audiences with its laughter, has already survived for 101 years! The slapstick gags (panicky escapes, frantic chases, people slipping and falling over, falling ladders and comedy of errors) feel surprisingly fresh, as if the sense of humour had been preserved just for us. And one more thing: the American urge to go “higher still and at any cost, putting safety last” – does it still work? Anita SkwaraConcert duration: approximately 80 minutes

Cinematic Symphony on Organ / Buster Keaton

Cinematic Symphony on Organ / Fritz Lang / Metropolis

Cinematic Symphony on OrganOrgan improvisation complements old cinema exceptionally well, lending century-old films a new dimension. The concept is almost as old as cinematography itself. The first screening with an organ took place in 1908, at the Alcazar Theatre in Chicago. That was how silent movies – accompanied by the one-person orchestra at the manuals – would celebrate their triumphs for the next two decades, until talking movies were invented and popularised in the late 30s and early 40s. The purpose-built instruments even earned their own name: the film or theatre organ. If there was a thing they could not do! Among the sound effects they could imitate, one could find snoring, laughter, and even… kisses. The organ could yell for revenge, frantically pull at something or someone with sharp claws, cry bitter tears of sorrow, weep for love, moan at pangs of conscience, cry like a baby, giggle like a toddler, and even… bark like a dog. A musician who can improvise at the organ for film is a true rarity. They must be able to join melodies, harmonies and counterpoint together into a neat musical form. And simultaneously, to follow the picture being shown at the moment…

NOSPR / Dybał / Dervaux / The fate motif and cinematic suspense

„Thus, fate is knocking on the door” – as anecdote has it, that was how Beethoven described the famous, dramatically forceful motif opening his Symphony No. 5. The initial sounds of the overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s The Force of Destiny opera have a similar effect of activating one’s imagination. They serve as a lavish introduction to a story of melodramatic love, which maestro Verdi generously decorated with the intense colours of the monumental wind section. The Italian style and a captivating narrative are also the elements that fuel Nino Rota’s Concerto for bassoon and orchestra. Born in Milan, the composer became famous thanks to the scores he wrote for giants of cinema, the likes of Fellini, Visconti and Coppola. Can we hear that the concert pieces come from the same composer whose sounds told the story of the Corleone family? Obviously! The Concerto for bassoon and orchestra is a gripping narrative led by the noble sound of the solo instrument, filled with plot twists, tightly-packed dramatic events, and even with humour.Film music has borrowed from the works of late Romanticism with abandon. After all, Nino Rota himself is also deeply indebted to Wagner or Verdi, the latter’s work also constituting the finale of this concert. Just like film music, which began to build its own prominence and storm concert halls in Nino Rota’s time, the ballet music from Verdi’s opera Don Carlos gained independence from theatre stages and, over time, found a life of its own as a concert piece. To this day, the instrumental parts inspire awe with their epic orchestration and enthralling dramatic sequences, held together by suspense of a nearly cinematic scale. Krzysztof SiwońConcert duration: approximately 70 minutes

Twinkle Concert XS / Elfi Baby Concert

Parents with babies up to one year old and expectant mothers can make themselves comfortable on round baby blankets, and listen to the string sounds of Ensemble Resonanz. Familiar melodies invite the audience to sing along. Pram parking spaces and baby changing units are available both in the city districts and in the Elbphilharmonie. »Twinkle Concerts« is the series of children’s concerts at the Elbphilharmonie that brings the most successful productions from all over Europe to Hamburg. At times funny and playful, at others thoughtful and reflective, the series introduces children to the world of music in a special and unique way.

Twinkle Concert XS / Elfi Baby Concert

Parents with babies up to one year old and expectant mothers can make themselves comfortable on round baby blankets, and listen to the string sounds of Ensemble Resonanz. Familiar melodies invite the audience to sing along. Pram parking spaces and baby changing units are available both in the city districts and in the Elbphilharmonie. »Twinkle Concerts« is the series of children’s concerts at the Elbphilharmonie that brings the most successful productions from all over Europe to Hamburg. At times funny and playful, at others thoughtful and reflective, the series introduces children to the world of music in a special and unique way.

Twinkle Concert XS / Elfi Baby Concert

Parents with babies up to one year old and expectant mothers can make themselves comfortable on round baby blankets, and listen to the string sounds of Ensemble Resonanz. Familiar melodies invite the audience to sing along. Pram parking spaces and baby changing units are available both in the city districts and in the Elbphilharmonie. »Twinkle Concerts« is the series of children’s concerts at the Elbphilharmonie that brings the most successful productions from all over Europe to Hamburg. At times funny and playful, at others thoughtful and reflective, the series introduces children to the world of music in a special and unique way.

Twinkle Concert XS / Elfi Baby Concert

Parents with babies up to one year old and expectant mothers can make themselves comfortable on round baby blankets, and listen to the string sounds of Ensemble Resonanz. Familiar melodies invite the audience to sing along. Pram parking spaces and baby changing units are available both in the city districts and in the Elbphilharmonie. »Twinkle Concerts« is the series of children’s concerts at the Elbphilharmonie that brings the most successful productions from all over Europe to Hamburg. At times funny and playful, at others thoughtful and reflective, the series introduces children to the world of music in a special and unique way.