Again, bells on Berlioz´s "Symphonie Fantastique".

You may remember that, almost four years ago, the Asturias Symphony Orchestra played "Symphonie Fantastique" by Berlioz. At that time I wrote the article "Bells part in Berlioz´s Symphonie Fantastique". Because we have recently played the work again, I writing a new article, this time containing more and new information.

If you want to follow the music, you can download it legally and freely from this LINK (public domain).

What follows is my interpretation:

The bells we used (the same pair as the last time we played the work) are made by Paccard in Annecy (France), and they were provided by the rental company Percusonic.

© David Valdés

The notes are G and C, and they are tuned using A 442 as the reference:

© David Valdés

© David Valdés

They are supplied with two pairs of hammers: one made of aluminium, the other made of bronze.

© David Valdés

As you can see, each pair features different hammer sizes: the bigger one is used to hit the G bell, bigger and with more mass than the C one. So, the hammer size is related to the bell size. Same as the last time, and despite their horrendous weight, the bronze pair was chosen due to its superior sound quality and volume.

Set up off-stage, my "office" looked like this:

© David Valdés

From there, this was the view I got through an open door of the conductor (remember the last time I was using a video monitor as a reference):

© David Valdés

Finally, this photo was taken while playing in Gijón:

© OSPA/Marta Barbón

And this one while playing in Oviedo.

© OSPA/Marta Barbón

This article, together with the one I wrote almost four years ago, contains much information about this "obscure" and "secret" part, as it occurs off-stage, the audience not being able to see "what´s going on". Hope you enjoyed it.

…et in Arcadia ego.

© David Valdés

Bells part in Berlioz´s "Simphonie Fantastique".

Today, I´ll show you a video featuring the bells part for Berlioz´s “Simphonie Fantastique”. Something that scapes the eye of the spectator, as this happens off-stage to give an “in the distance” impression. This is the excerpt played by the Asturias Symphony Orchestra:
 

Despite this post could seem to have nothing in common with my previous ones, believe or not, it does: Berlioz´s symphony literally quotes the “Dies Irae” plainsong from the requiem mass. Because this movement is entitled “Dreams of a Witches´ Sabbath”, to quote this melody seems to be a good idea in order to recreate the lugubrious atmosphere Berlioz intended for this movement (another composer who quoted this plainsong with profusion was Rachmaninov).

The score asks for two church bells in G and C. Berlioz specifies that, should the instruments not be available, two pianos in the front stage should do the job.

This option is never used nowadays. If church bells are not available, tubular bells, plates and even synthesizers are used. There´s no need to say that, due to its rich harmonic content, volume, timbre..., church bells (the real deal) have nothing to do with tubular bells (poor man´s option). On this ocasión, we were lucky enough to have real church bells.

The weight of these instruments was ridiculous (the stage manager is still swearing!), and they were supplied with two pairs of beaters: one made of aluminium, and other made of bronze. Those hammers made of aluminium were ruled out, as they didn´t produce the wanted sound. The problem with those made of bronze was their weight... Almost five kilos each!      

Goya "El Aquelarre" ("The Sabbath")

Once I finished playing the military drum in the previous movement (“March to the Scaffold”), I went off stage to play the bells part (due to their low heigth, my body position was a little bit awkward). Their volume was brutal and, despite you can´t see it on the video, I´m using ear plugs. A video monitor shows me the conductor, taken from a camera in the back of the main hall: this way, he can cue me (any sonical reference becomes inviable as, once you hit a bell, you can hear absolutely nothing else).

Because I´m quite far from the orchestra, I play a little bit ahead of the beat given by the conductor: this way, the final result is strictly in tempo.

The sound is not good as I´d like to, as it´s the one taken by the video camera, but I hope this video served the purpose to sneak you into a part of the "Simphonie Fantastique" no one in the audience ever sees.

…et in Arcadia ego.

© David Valdés