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Nicola Benedetti is one of the most sought-after classical violinists | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
of her generation. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:10 | |
She regularly performs with the greatest orchestras in the world. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
Wynton Marsalis is one of the biggest stars in jazz, | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
A trumpet virtuoso and composer with nine Grammy Awards | 0:00:19 | 0:00:23 | |
and a Pulitzer Prize to his name. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:25 | |
They're working together on a concerto | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
which Wynton will write for Nicky, | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
and which she will premiere with the London Symphony Orchestra. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
It's going to be embarrassing. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
These two very different artists share a common goal. | 0:00:42 | 0:00:46 | |
They both believe that great music can transcend rigid categories | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
like jazz or classical. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
But the next nine months will put that belief to the test. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:55 | |
Yes, this whole thing so far has been much more time-consuming | 0:00:55 | 0:00:59 | |
-than I expected. -It's already late. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
So, I mean, it's not going to be on time. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
Wynton has been a mentor to Nicky | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
since she found stardom in her late teens. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:10 | |
The winner of the 2004 Young Musician Of The Year is | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
-Nicola Benedetti! -APPLAUSE | 0:01:13 | 0:01:15 | |
But they have never collaborated like this before. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:19 | |
I can't do this, I'm sorry. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:20 | |
With intimate access behind the scenes, | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
we follow these two intensely driven individuals as they try to create | 0:01:26 | 0:01:30 | |
a concerto that can unite the different musical traditions | 0:01:30 | 0:01:35 | |
that have defined them. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:37 | |
I love jazz music and I love the orchestra. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:39 | |
Now, I think the two can come together. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
I may not be able to do it, | 0:01:41 | 0:01:43 | |
but somebody can do it. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
It's January 2015, | 0:01:55 | 0:01:58 | |
and Nicola Benedetti has arrived in New York to work with | 0:01:58 | 0:02:01 | |
Wynton Marsalis on his violin concerto for the first time. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
Two days ago, | 0:02:05 | 0:02:07 | |
I received, like, the first printed... | 0:02:07 | 0:02:11 | |
copy of some music from Wynton. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
Before that, the only thing I had was, like, things like this... | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
and which are impossible to read. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
And, actually, this is very neat. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
This is much more neat than the first couple of photographs | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
that I was sent, but... | 0:02:27 | 0:02:28 | |
um...it is still, like... | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
You know, it's not the most practical thing to read off. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
SHE PLAYS | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
One of the cornerstones of the classical repertoire, | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
the concerto is a piece written for a soloist and an orchestra. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
Many of the greatest violinists in history have inspired concertos, | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
like those by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Sibelius. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:53 | |
Every single violin concerto out there, almost all of them, | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
was written with a violinist saying to the composer, "That's too hard, | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
"that's too easy, you should add this, you should take away that." | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
He keeps saying he wants it to be something that I am really | 0:03:04 | 0:03:08 | |
enthusiastic about playing. So he wants to write it for me, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:12 | |
something that I love to play, | 0:03:12 | 0:03:13 | |
rather than just, like, here is his masterpiece composition, | 0:03:13 | 0:03:17 | |
you'd better like it, kind of thing. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
So he's really been sort of sending me a lot of things, | 0:03:19 | 0:03:24 | |
like thematic material, | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
and then also the sort of more technically demanding things, | 0:03:26 | 0:03:30 | |
just asking, "Does this work? Do you like this? | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
"Is this the kind of thing that suits you?" | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
So I've been receiving, like, little bits of information, | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
drips and drabs like that, but nothing that, you know, | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
has been a kind of whole structure. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
But if every concerto is a dialogue between soloist and orchestra, | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
Wynton and Nicky want this one to be a dialogue | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
between two very different types of music as well. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
But whatever ambitions they have for the piece, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
they have to start somewhere. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:04 | |
I think it's best if we just go through the different moods first. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:09 | |
But doesn't mean I can play it, though. I can't... I mean, I can't play it. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
I practised it this morning. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:14 | |
I'm sorry, there's no "it". There's just... There's just notes. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
I just want to make sure that have caught the mood that you want in the different sections. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
So with this line, it has everything that you wanted in it? | 0:04:22 | 0:04:26 | |
-So first it's like... -HE PLAYS A FEW NOTES | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
Like, you just... | 0:04:29 | 0:04:30 | |
And it's, like... It builds up. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
This is where you get to the kind of psychological part | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
that we're going to develop later. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:44 | |
Then you come away from it. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:45 | |
Now you get to the soulful part. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
So just those first bars, you have the encapsulations of the different | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
moods that we're going to do. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
NICKY PLAYS | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
It's really amazing to meet a person this much younger than me | 0:05:16 | 0:05:20 | |
and who's that engaged with their culture, and that serious. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
Listen, it's very rare. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:24 | |
For me, writing a piece is very personal. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:30 | |
I almost get obsessed with my work, day and night, | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
and have certain type of pressures. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
I only want to write it for her to like it. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
So we're just holding the chord. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
For Wynton, this piece would be an expression | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
of some of his most deeply held beliefs about music. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:57 | |
In his mind, music is always part of a shared human inheritance. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:01 | |
The greatest body of literature in the West is music. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
All respect to Shakespeare and Dante and all the greats. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
That body of music is... Whew! That's a powerful library. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:14 | |
'I don't separate music so much into styles. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
'Classical music is such a great library that I always liked. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
'And I never liked it against jazz. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
'I'm a jazz musician - my father was a jazz musician, I always loved jazz. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:28 | |
'And not just one person is creative, or one group of people, | 0:06:28 | 0:06:32 | |
'we're all creative. We can achieve great things if we're willing to | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
'struggle with each other | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
'and go through the dialogue and arguments and things and come back together.' | 0:06:36 | 0:06:40 | |
'So we're just starting. I'm finished sketching the first movement, her part, | 0:06:46 | 0:06:50 | |
'which is going to change. I sent her one sketch, she said it's too simple. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
'So I said, "OK." Normally, I get people complain it's too hard.' | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
How did she say it...? | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
She said, "None of this is anything that I could not play after looking at it for 20 minutes." | 0:06:58 | 0:07:03 | |
So, OK, you know, we'll see. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
Like many modern concertos, Wynton's will have four movements. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:25 | |
As spring arrives, Nicky receives the second movement. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:29 | |
She no longer has a problem with the music being too easy. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
NICKY PLAYS | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
SHE GRUNTS IN FRUSTRATION | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
Oh, my goodness, have I got what I asked for, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
which was music that's hard to play! | 0:07:42 | 0:07:47 | |
I'm just, like, looking at these notes, going, | 0:07:47 | 0:07:49 | |
"Why would I have insisted on that? | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
"Why would I want to make my life so difficult?" | 0:07:51 | 0:07:53 | |
I must have practised this page for, like, | 0:07:53 | 0:07:58 | |
I don't know, five hours in a row? | 0:07:58 | 0:08:00 | |
And I still sounded terrible playing it. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
Part of the point of any concerto is to be a showcase for the talents of the soloist. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:13 | |
The second movement is full of incredibly fast | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
and virtuosic playing. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
But the notes themselves aren't the only reason it's going to | 0:08:19 | 0:08:21 | |
be hard for Nicky to play. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
It's particularly difficult | 0:08:26 | 0:08:27 | |
with music that you have never heard before, | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
that you've never seen before | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
and that there are no reference points for. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:36 | |
You're starting from a completely different position | 0:08:36 | 0:08:38 | |
to what you would if you were to open a Shostakovich violin concerto, | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
and you have so much context. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
You know the sound of Shostakovich, you know his language, | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
and you've sort of grown up with the... | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
with the idea and the sense of how that sounds and how it's meant to sound. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
This is... This is so... | 0:08:52 | 0:08:57 | |
alien in so many ways. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
It's going to rely on me so deeply understanding and feeling each sound | 0:09:00 | 0:09:06 | |
and colour and expression. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
Unless you internalise them and you really live with it for a while | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
and try to... | 0:09:11 | 0:09:13 | |
try to... | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
let it become a part of your fibre, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
it sounds very much like an imitation. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:21 | |
We are definitely over the honeymoon phase. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
Definitely. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
And, like, all the little... | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
..potential issues and cracks and challenges are... | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
..not on their way to surfacing, they are here. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
They're definitely here. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
THEY PLAY JAZZ | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
Part of what will make Wynton's music so challenging for both Nicky | 0:09:53 | 0:09:57 | |
and the orchestra to play is that it revolves around a type of sound | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
and feeling that rarely features in the classical canon. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
I love jazz music. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
It has a certain type of humour and optimism, | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
it has Anglo-Celtic music as the foundation of the harmonies | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
and the melodies. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
There's African rhythm. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:15 | |
Afro-American rhythm and feeling. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:19 | |
And it's rooted in the blues. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:21 | |
If you play 99% of your time in something | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
that's not blues idiom music, | 0:10:30 | 0:10:32 | |
it takes a great investment to make a blues idiom statement. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
It's hard. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
Nicky's great investment in taking on this piece is about more | 0:10:41 | 0:10:45 | |
than learning and understanding the blues. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:48 | |
Her part will encompass African rhythms, burlesque passages, | 0:10:48 | 0:10:51 | |
gospel inflections and traces of Celtic folk. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:54 | |
Classical violinists don't often play any of these things, | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
let alone all of them, in one concerto. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
OK, that's short. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:07 | |
De-de de-de-AH-da. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
It's a combination of a jig and an African 6/8. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
'I always loved the fiddle, | 0:11:12 | 0:11:13 | |
'trying to figure how to make the instrument do the things | 0:11:13 | 0:11:17 | |
'that I can bring to it that are different. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:19 | |
'I have to filter through my own sensibility of jazz, | 0:11:19 | 0:11:22 | |
'and make the orchestra groove, make it play the feeling of the blues, | 0:11:22 | 0:11:25 | |
'to change the emotions and colours the way we do it in jazz, | 0:11:25 | 0:11:29 | |
'because we are improvising.' | 0:11:29 | 0:11:30 | |
De-de... Just like you're playing a jig. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
HE CONTINUES DEMONSTRATING RHYTHM | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
So it's one, two, three, four. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
So we're going from one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
HE DEMONSTRATES | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
'For some reason, there's a desire to dismiss things that are dance-like, | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
'or tuneful, or grooving. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:49 | |
'And many times it's dismissed by those who can't groove, | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
'those who don't understand the power of a groove. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
'The presence of a groove doesn't mean a lack of emotional depth | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
'or psychological complexity.' | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
HE DEMONSTRATES | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
-Yeah, but am I...? -You can do it. It's a drum, too. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
It's a very percussive instrument. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
I mean, you've written, "Sing out." Is it...? Is it like...? | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
-It's loud. -OK. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:10 | |
It's like when the piano plays... | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
HE PLAYS EMPHATICALLY | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
But then it became... It became like what singers | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
in the '50s would play... in the churches, like... | 0:12:20 | 0:12:24 | |
MORE EMPHATIC | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
# And the Lord knows | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
# That you will find...# You know what I mean? It's just... | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
# DE-de-de-de-de-de DE-de-de-de-de-de. # | 0:12:35 | 0:12:41 | |
OK, that's the first time I just about played it! | 0:12:48 | 0:12:50 | |
I'm trying to finish her part. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:52 | |
And I'm... Of course I'm late. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
Every time she plays it, I hope it changes. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
There's going to be an end to that. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
Especially... Especially with anything... | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
Especially with anything fast. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
Like, the plan is, when I go home after this trip, | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
is that all the fast stuff basically stays as it is, because I just... | 0:13:12 | 0:13:17 | |
-I'm not going to be... I'm actually not going to be able to learn it in time otherwise. -Just make up stuff. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:22 | |
I can't do that. I'm incapable. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
It's just fast, you can do it. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:26 | |
-I can't. -When you start playing, you'll see it. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
I will stop. I'll just stop, in the concert. | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
Don't. Just start playing 16th notes. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
Don't. | 0:13:34 | 0:13:35 | |
Six months into their collaboration, | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
it is clear to Nicky that flexibility and openness | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
to change are fundamental to Wynton's approach to composition. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
But this doesn't always sit well | 0:14:02 | 0:14:04 | |
with her rigorous classical training. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
I sent some little clips to Wynton of the things that I was working on. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:13 | |
And if he hears something that is not sitting right | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
or that doesn't sound that good, | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
his instinct is just to want to change the notes, | 0:14:17 | 0:14:19 | |
all the time. Just change it. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:21 | |
The whole point of the last trip that I took to New York was, like, | 0:14:21 | 0:14:25 | |
to have the notes finalised and they're not going to change now. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
Nicky's difficulty with changing notes is partly a practical one. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
It's only when she's been able to solve the complex puzzle of where | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
to place her fingers and her bow | 0:14:38 | 0:14:39 | |
that she can start the real work of finding and creating her own voice | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
within the piece. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
No matter how much I try to explain to him how long the process takes to | 0:14:47 | 0:14:52 | |
really solidify the music into your fingers and into your muscle memory, | 0:14:52 | 0:14:57 | |
the worst thing that he can do is just change the notes all the time. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
Which is what he keeps doing. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:03 | |
In terms of the hours put in | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
to actually developing your interpretation of something, | 0:15:09 | 0:15:13 | |
there's definitely something about how you're tying yourself to | 0:15:13 | 0:15:17 | |
those notes and how you're working out what you're going to say through them. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
And that's something that happens if you spend 50 hours doing that | 0:15:21 | 0:15:25 | |
that couldn't possibly happen if you just pick it up and play it. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:30 | |
But for Nicky, the hours she needs to spend on the new piece | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
will have to be found whilst constantly playing concerts | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
and doing music education work all over the world. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
Wynton must finalise Nicky's part and write the entire | 0:15:42 | 0:15:45 | |
orchestra score while playing a similar number of gigs | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
and simultaneously being responsible for a major cultural institution - | 0:15:48 | 0:15:52 | |
Jazz at Lincoln Center. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:53 | |
I'm playing a Brahms violin concerto, | 0:15:56 | 0:15:58 | |
a Korngold and Glazunov violin concerto. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
Quite a lot of chamber music repertoires - Schubert, | 0:16:01 | 0:16:03 | |
a lot of Vivaldi pieces. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:05 | |
Obviously this monster of a piece. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:08 | |
I wonder how many concertos have been composed on the road like this. | 0:16:12 | 0:16:15 | |
I don't know too much is done like this. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:17 | |
It's unorthodox. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:19 | |
If you want unusual results, you have to do something unusual. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
Yes, this whole thing so far has been much more time-consuming than I expected. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:29 | |
Often if feels like you're just being sort of pulled and pushed | 0:16:29 | 0:16:32 | |
in so many different directions. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:34 | |
I know Nicky's part is going to be great. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
She thinks I'm not respectful enough of all the work that she has to do, but she's going to do that. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
I'll be particularly happy when my part is not only written but it's going to stay as it is. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:53 | |
-'Right.' -You know, I have eight versions of the second movement | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
and each time I print a new version, | 0:16:57 | 0:16:58 | |
I have to put in every single bowing and fingering again. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:02 | |
'That's why you should have played trumpet.' | 0:17:02 | 0:17:03 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:17:03 | 0:17:05 | |
I've barely spoken to Wynton the last couple of weeks. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:10 | |
And he just sounds like someone who hasn't slept at all. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:15 | |
I mean, I barely recognised his voice. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
If I don't have this music finished... | 0:17:21 | 0:17:24 | |
I don't know what's going to happen with the wave I'm on. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
So I'd better make sure I ride this wave out. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
After months of communicating by e-mail and phone, | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
Nicky and Wynton are finally able to get together in London. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:41 | |
All four movements of Nicky's part are now written, but she still needs | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
Wynton's help to explain the emotions and meaning behind it. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:49 | |
All the thematic material and everything is in this. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:53 | |
Doesn't necessarily help me play the rest of the notes. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:57 | |
But it helps me understand the meaning behind them. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:01 | |
OK. Um... | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
It's like you remembering something that's unbelievably... | 0:18:04 | 0:18:08 | |
It's not even sweet, it's far beyond that. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
The first movement is night-time. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
This is right before you go to sleep. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
You're going to have a dream. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
You sing somebody a lullaby or a bedtime story. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
Then it goes to the groove. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:36 | |
This has a real build-up, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:52 | |
it's like you're going to a destination that's kind of high-minded. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
You're looking up here. You came from the blues, now you're going up here. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
And when you get to this point now, it goes back to that pastoral feel. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:12 | |
HE HUMS MELODY | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
-Then you say... -HE HUMS | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
Now, when you get to that, that's when you're almost asleep. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
I mean, like, your thoughts that you have right before you go to sleep. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:53 | |
-HE HUMS -Like... Like angels, they're just flitting around. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:59 | |
So you see that... For this beginning section to be successful, | 0:20:09 | 0:20:12 | |
all of that has to be in it. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:14 | |
At this point, that much information is just great. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
It changes everything about how I feel, about how I play, | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
about how I feel in relation to the other parts, the tempos, the sound, everything. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:31 | |
It only builds depth into the piece. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
VIOLIN MUSIC FADES INTO JAZZ DRUMMING | 0:20:39 | 0:20:43 | |
His unrelenting tour schedule brings Wynton and his team to France, | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
to play the Jazz In Marciac Festival. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
The first important deadline for the concerto is fast approaching. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:04 | |
RAGTIME JAZZ | 0:21:04 | 0:21:05 | |
A full draft of the score is nearly complete. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
The race is on to put in all the finishing touches, | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
as in two weeks' time, an orchestra has been lined up to rehearse it | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
for them, in Chautauqua, in upstate New York. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
This will be the first and only time they get to hear the concerto before | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
its premiere in London. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
-Are you going to be on time for Chautauqua? -Define "on time". | 0:21:24 | 0:21:28 | |
It's already late. So, I mean, it's not going to be on time. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:33 | |
Every day, there is always 25 things. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
Are you going to have time for a rest after all this? | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
There's no rest. This is the rest. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
This actually is the rest. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:41 | |
I get to play with Walter and Vic and everybody, that's the rest. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
MODERN JAZZ | 0:21:45 | 0:21:48 | |
For Wynton, scoring for an entire orchestra | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
allows him to express himself on a scale | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
that exists nowhere else in music. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
But it's not without its challenges. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
If you come on the road with a band... | 0:22:06 | 0:22:08 | |
We've been blowin' with each other for 20 years, 15 years. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
It's no problem communicating with each other. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
We talk all the time. "Play this music like this." | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
And it's not said in arrogance, it's just we have a method, a way of working on stuff. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:20 | |
It is democratic, we understand what our objective... | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
or our perspective, and we are willing to... | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
But then again, that's 15 people. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
Could I conceive of 70 people doing it? | 0:22:28 | 0:22:31 | |
They COULD do it, it's hard to conceive of it. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
BLUESY JAZZ | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
Unlike some composers, | 0:22:41 | 0:22:42 | |
Wynton writes every note by hand for every single part of the orchestra. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:47 | |
The only person helping him with this is his copyist, Jonathan Kelly, | 0:22:47 | 0:22:51 | |
who must transcribe his handwriting into readable scores. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
The whole idea of composing music for a symphony, | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
you're taking a thought | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
and then making a visual representation of thought. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
So you're going from thought to visual representation, | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
to another person looking at it and interpreting your visual | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
representation of your thought. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
And then hoping that all 100 of them...um... | 0:23:16 | 0:23:21 | |
kind of...kind of...hear | 0:23:21 | 0:23:25 | |
or see the thought in similar fashion. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
It's almost impossible, if you really think about it. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:31 | |
Back in London, with the first rehearsal looming, | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
Nicky must deepen her own understanding | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
of what all the other arrangements will be playing. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
Yesterday, I received this from Jonathan, who's in France. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:46 | |
These are the new parts. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:47 | |
So this is the chance I have to actually see what the flutes are playing, | 0:23:47 | 0:23:52 | |
piccolo, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, | 0:23:52 | 0:23:56 | |
timpani, three percussionists, harp, violin one, violin two, viola, | 0:23:56 | 0:24:01 | |
cello and bass. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
My biggest fear would be that... | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
..something changes at the last minute, I don't have enough time to adjust, | 0:24:07 | 0:24:11 | |
and I somehow come unstuck with the orchestra and conductor. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
It's perfectly possible. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
It can happen in pieces that we all know really well and we've played | 0:24:17 | 0:24:21 | |
a million times. It can happen. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:23 | |
But with a piece that's brand-new | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
and so many changes happening all the time, | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
I think the chances of that happening are significantly higher. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
All the work so far has been leading up to this moment. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:42 | |
Nicky and Wynton are heading to Chautauqua, | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
where they're going to hear the concerto for the first time. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
The car ride up is the last chance for Nicky to try to understand the orchestra's part. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:53 | |
Who's playing that? Tuba? | 0:24:53 | 0:24:55 | |
Tuba. But one bass playing a heavy pizzicato. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:59 | |
And is this... # Um-ba um-ba... # | 0:24:59 | 0:25:03 | |
No, it's just a straight eight. # Ba um-ba um-ba...# | 0:25:03 | 0:25:07 | |
Tuba. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:08 | |
Tu...ba. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
In Chautauqua, there will be two rehearsals and a performance | 0:25:12 | 0:25:16 | |
of the current draft of Wynton's unfinished concerto. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:20 | |
-INTERVIEWER: -When this piece gets in front of an audience, | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
what's at stake for you guys then? | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
I want people to like it. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:27 | |
You know, I stayed up all... | 0:25:27 | 0:25:29 | |
For the last two months, I've been up at four, five o'clock in the morning, | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
after going to bed at two, | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
then working all day doing gigs and being on the road and being... | 0:25:35 | 0:25:39 | |
spoken to indelicately. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:25:41 | 0:25:43 | |
That's... | 0:25:43 | 0:25:44 | |
That was the worst... I mean, that's it. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
We've put the time and the work into it. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
She was practising all... She practised 14 hours yesterday. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
I really care. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
I'm not going to lie about that at all. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
Some people just... | 0:25:59 | 0:26:00 | |
will not be honest about that or they really don't. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
I really care. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
Chautauqua is a long way from the Barbican or Carnegie Hall, | 0:26:11 | 0:26:15 | |
but every summer, this small lakeside holiday community | 0:26:15 | 0:26:18 | |
plays host to a distinguished orchestra. For Nicky and Wynton, | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
their offer to workshop the concerto | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
was worth going out of their way for. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
ORCHESTRA TUNES UP | 0:26:25 | 0:26:27 | |
When dealing with an orchestra of any kind, | 0:26:29 | 0:26:32 | |
rehearsal time is at a premium. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
Regardless of how difficult they find the piece, | 0:26:34 | 0:26:36 | |
there will only be two three-hour sessions to work on it. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
-All right, I'll keep at it, then. -Yes, sure. -The percussion... | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
And Jonathan is still making Wynton's changes | 0:26:45 | 0:26:48 | |
right up to the wire. | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
We delivered the music to the musicians just a few days ago. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
Now, an hour before rehearsal, | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
I have to go to them and say, "OK, well, we're actually going to change this one section." | 0:26:56 | 0:27:01 | |
Instead of printing out a brand-new set of parts, | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
you paste in a few measures and put it into the original part. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:09 | |
ORCHESTRA TUNES UP | 0:27:09 | 0:27:11 | |
The guest conductor is Cristi Macelaru. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
Let's hear this. There's nothing like hearing music for the first time. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:27 | |
So we'll start at the beginning and make our way through there. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
I know there are many questions, but... | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
but Mr Marsalis is right here and he will answer everything. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
'It's hard being a composer. It's a very difficult thing.' | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
You create something that is only alive when someone else | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
believes in it, when someone else does it. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:49 | |
VIOLIN PLAYS | 0:27:51 | 0:27:55 | |
Most composers, in my experience, | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
when they hear something they wrote for the first time, they're shocked. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
You know? And sometimes at the very beginning, the first reaction is, | 0:28:10 | 0:28:14 | |
"Oh, my God, this is completely not what I expected," | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
and they don't like it, you know, | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
because they've lived with the music inside their head and it's become | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
such a personal thing that it's hard to let it go. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:26 | |
Wynton is indeed shocked by what he hears in the first few minutes. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:45 | |
OK. I know I'm a little slow. I know... I'm... Sorry, Wynton. | 0:28:45 | 0:28:50 | |
OK. Shall we try this? This is 199. Thank you so much for your patience. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:54 | |
-There's a lot she did that... -OK. -There's a lot I need to... | 0:28:55 | 0:28:58 | |
The first half seemed too dry, the second half seemed too much. | 0:28:59 | 0:29:03 | |
The first rehearsal is never perfect, | 0:29:15 | 0:29:17 | |
but for Jonathan and Wynton, there were far more issues | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
with the piece than they had expected. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
This here is terrible. It's just a groove, though. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:28 | |
You know what I want to do? Give this part to one bassist. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:32 | |
I have to make sure that this is right, what I'm saying. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:35 | |
I'm trying to figure out why this harmony doesn't sound right. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:38 | |
I think I heard a lot that I would like to change. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:42 | |
We make the changes we can make. Some of them we can't make. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:44 | |
But it's not going to change a lot, | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
but there's just some things I want to change. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
That first play-through was a shock to you at first? | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
That first 15 minutes was irresolute for me. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:55 | |
It was, whoo... | 0:29:55 | 0:29:57 | |
I start looking at it, like, "What?" | 0:29:57 | 0:29:59 | |
I can't tell what... | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
..whether what I wrote is inept or, you know, | 0:30:02 | 0:30:05 | |
just for everybody to get used to the language. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:09 | |
And this... You have to be patient. | 0:30:09 | 0:30:12 | |
-What are your expectations for tomorrow? -I expect it'll improve. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
I hope it does. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:21 | |
You know, that's basically what it is. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
ORCHESTRA TUNES UP | 0:30:33 | 0:30:35 | |
None of the musicians know the music, nobody was playing the right dynamics. | 0:30:35 | 0:30:39 | |
We've loads of wrong notes. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:41 | |
Some in the part, some just people playing the wrong notes. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:43 | |
You have, like, even just 15 mistakes like that | 0:30:43 | 0:30:46 | |
within the first five minutes of a piece and it sounds like a completely different piece. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:51 | |
ORCHESTRA PLAYS | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
With no further rehearsals planned until the piece arrives at the LSO, | 0:30:55 | 0:30:59 | |
Wynton has only three remaining hours with an orchestra in front of him | 0:30:59 | 0:31:03 | |
to establish what is and isn't working. | 0:31:03 | 0:31:06 | |
It needs to be slower. The whole thing should be grooving, more than being virtuosity - | 0:31:08 | 0:31:12 | |
it's more groove. You want to tell him about the violin? | 0:31:12 | 0:31:16 | |
-Yeah. -Can the first play 8va | 0:31:17 | 0:31:20 | |
on the pick-up to 74 for that four-bar phrase? | 0:31:20 | 0:31:23 | |
Five or whatever it is? | 0:31:23 | 0:31:24 | |
ORCHESTRA PLAYS | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
Maestro, can we take the timpani out from measure 157 to 165? | 0:31:32 | 0:31:37 | |
-Maestro? -Yes, sir. -Would you do the same thing at measure 25? | 0:31:37 | 0:31:41 | |
That's the one point that has to be really clear, what she's playing. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
-Maestro? -Yes, please? | 0:31:44 | 0:31:46 | |
Can we take the cymbal part out from measure 133 to 138? | 0:31:46 | 0:31:50 | |
Just leave the tambourine. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:52 | |
And also the horns from the same, please. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:54 | |
Is this getting closer to what you had in mind? | 0:31:54 | 0:31:56 | |
Just the feeling is not right. | 0:31:56 | 0:31:58 | |
We know the melody and the bass are confused. | 0:31:58 | 0:32:01 | |
-Give us one more chance. -It's not... | 0:32:01 | 0:32:03 | |
It's something that's globally wrong. | 0:32:03 | 0:32:06 | |
So there's probably six or seven places in the piece | 0:32:20 | 0:32:23 | |
that have kind of monumental changes that you don't have time | 0:32:23 | 0:32:28 | |
to fix, communicate, practise, | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
so...that'll just have to happen after. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:35 | |
-INTERVIEWER: -And by definition they'll be unpractised when this gets to the LSO? | 0:32:35 | 0:32:39 | |
Yeah. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:40 | |
Yeah, the LSO will be looking at a brand-new set of parts. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:45 | |
It's obvious the concerto is far from ready. | 0:32:48 | 0:32:51 | |
Whether they know it's a test run or not, | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
the idea of playing it to any audience right now is more than | 0:32:53 | 0:32:56 | |
a little unsettling for Nicky. | 0:32:56 | 0:32:58 | |
Usually after rehearsal, I would have a really proper debrief | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
just with myself, and I haven't had the space to do that, | 0:33:01 | 0:33:05 | |
on all the things that, like, I did wrong... | 0:33:05 | 0:33:09 | |
of which there were many. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
So I'm just going... | 0:33:11 | 0:33:13 | |
I've got, like, half an hour. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:16 | |
The question is... I can't believe I'm going to play this. | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
-Yeah, you're going to play. -That's going to be embarrassing. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:28 | |
-This... -It won't be. -OK, I'm just going to... | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
I'm not going to play that tonight. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
I'm just going to play there. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:35 | |
You can play that, too. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:38 | |
Ohhh... | 0:33:38 | 0:33:40 | |
OK. | 0:33:40 | 0:33:41 | |
-If for some reason I don't get... What should I do? -It doesn't matter. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:47 | |
If I just end up there and play that, that's OK? | 0:33:47 | 0:33:49 | |
-Just feel it. Yeah. -You'd rather I...? | 0:33:52 | 0:33:54 | |
Concentrate on playing, don't concentrate on that. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:56 | |
Don't worry about that, OK? That's not in a place. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
Don't start thinking about going from there to there. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:02 | |
-It's going to be... -It's not. | 0:34:02 | 0:34:03 | |
The amount of just... | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
..notes that are not just wrong, they're going to be in-between... | 0:34:07 | 0:34:09 | |
No-one will know that they're wrong. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:12 | |
-No, I know, OK. -I wrote them, and -I -won't know. -OK. | 0:34:12 | 0:34:14 | |
-Don't worry about it. -OK. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:15 | |
ORCHESTRA TUNES UP | 0:34:15 | 0:34:17 | |
Yes. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:23 | |
-Ready? -I suddenly feel slightly sick. | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
CONDUCTOR LAUGHS | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
Maybe not only slightly, maybe quite sick. | 0:34:29 | 0:34:33 | |
OK, look, whatever happens, you know... | 0:34:33 | 0:34:37 | |
I'll start whistling your part if there's a problem. | 0:34:37 | 0:34:39 | |
-Don't worry about it. -You are... | 0:34:39 | 0:34:41 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:34:44 | 0:34:46 | |
CONCERTO CONTINUES | 0:35:27 | 0:35:31 | |
After repeatedly listening to the recording of the Chautauqua performance, | 0:36:32 | 0:36:36 | |
Nicky's mind is now focused on the audibility of her part. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:40 | |
So we're just... We're just going through the part, | 0:36:40 | 0:36:42 | |
analysing all the things we didn't think worked, | 0:36:42 | 0:36:44 | |
-especially the balance issues. Um... -INTERVIEWER: -What's the balance issue? Explain that. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:49 | |
Balance issues, basically, when Wynton's over-scored the orchestra, | 0:36:49 | 0:36:53 | |
used too much brass and percussion. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
When they play, they cover me, so just trying to reduce them | 0:36:56 | 0:36:59 | |
so that you can definitely hear me. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:01 | |
In many cases, a violin concerto might have a 30- to 40-piece orchestra | 0:37:01 | 0:37:05 | |
playing behind the soloist. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:07 | |
Wynton's concerto calls for around 80 players. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:10 | |
Nicky's virtuosity will mean nothing if the orchestra drowns her out. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:14 | |
I'm sure you couldn't hear that in the hall. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
-You can hear it. -Do you remember that specifically? | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
Everything you couldn't hear I've marked in the score | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
and said you cannot hear it. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:24 | |
-What about that? -What was the problem with that? | 0:37:24 | 0:37:27 | |
If you had to analyse it. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:29 | |
-First, the... -Well, the first problem is that you can't hear me, | 0:37:33 | 0:37:37 | |
that's the first problem. | 0:37:37 | 0:37:39 | |
INDISTINCT | 0:37:39 | 0:37:41 | |
That's always the first problem. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:42 | |
-But the question is why? -I'm what? | 0:37:42 | 0:37:44 | |
I'm saying why is it that you think you can't hear the part? | 0:37:44 | 0:37:48 | |
If you look at the part and analyse it. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
If we just listen to it. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:53 | |
What would be your analysation of the problem? | 0:37:53 | 0:37:57 | |
Because I'm playing with a lot of people that are playing forte. | 0:37:57 | 0:38:01 | |
Who's playing...? Who of the people that are playing are playing forte | 0:38:01 | 0:38:05 | |
would be in your way? | 0:38:05 | 0:38:06 | |
The bassoons? The oboe's an octave below you or something? | 0:38:07 | 0:38:11 | |
-Look at who's playing. -I'm looking. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:16 | |
In their middle reg... They're not in strong registers for that. | 0:38:16 | 0:38:19 | |
So what do you suggest? | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
Everything I'm saying is based on the fact that you've marked that | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
you couldn't hear me, it's not just my, like... | 0:38:25 | 0:38:28 | |
When we listen to the tape, why do you think you couldn't be heard? | 0:38:28 | 0:38:31 | |
Just listen to the tape and think about it. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:36 | |
Even the percussion, like, always seems like it | 0:38:36 | 0:38:39 | |
does take up quite a lot of noise. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:41 | |
Maybe it could just start less. | 0:38:41 | 0:38:43 | |
-PENCIL SCRIBBLES -You can hear that. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:45 | |
That's not going to be a problem. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:47 | |
I can't do this. I'm sorry. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
CHAIR SCRAPES | 0:38:50 | 0:38:51 | |
It'll be heard now. | 0:38:56 | 0:38:58 | |
-THUMP -Taking out the whole thing? | 0:38:58 | 0:39:00 | |
You can be heard when nothing is there. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:02 | |
What's there is still... | 0:39:02 | 0:39:04 | |
-is going to go bom-bom-bom... -HE CONTINUES | 0:39:04 | 0:39:10 | |
And you hear the violin. | 0:39:10 | 0:39:12 | |
She thinks that I'm mad taking it out, but I'm not. | 0:39:16 | 0:39:18 | |
I don't mind taking it out. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:20 | |
We'll work it out. | 0:39:23 | 0:39:24 | |
That's what collaboration is. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:28 | |
You have to work it out. | 0:39:29 | 0:39:31 | |
It'll work out. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:34 | |
It is so difficult to have those conversations | 0:39:49 | 0:39:52 | |
where you're trying to say to somebody you think it's great, | 0:39:52 | 0:39:55 | |
but maybe it's just not this or not that, and... | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
Oh, I hate it. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:00 | |
I have so much work to do between now and the actual concert. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:04 | |
After two more months of changes and rewrites, | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
Wynton's concerto has been delivered to the London Symphony Orchestra. | 0:40:20 | 0:40:24 | |
The time has come for Nicky to rehearse and play the premiere. | 0:40:24 | 0:40:31 | |
NICKY PLAYS VIOLIN | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
This time, the guest conductor is James Gaffigan. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:40 | |
Yeah. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:44 | |
Do you think we will, in the time that we have, | 0:40:44 | 0:40:46 | |
-at least get to play through the last movement today? -We'll feel it. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:50 | |
I think the bulk of the time should be spent on the first | 0:40:50 | 0:40:52 | |
and then showing them the ending of the piece. | 0:40:52 | 0:40:54 | |
You know, they should see what's happening there. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:57 | |
-Yeah. -So... | 0:40:57 | 0:40:58 | |
-It'll be fun. Great. I'm going to go up there and just see how they're setting it up. -OK. | 0:40:58 | 0:41:03 | |
I have two parts of my personality. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:07 | |
I have the very black and white, logistical part of my personality, | 0:41:07 | 0:41:11 | |
of what's going to work, what's not going to work. | 0:41:11 | 0:41:14 | |
And when I look at a score like that, I see problems right away. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:18 | |
But I think in the case of doing a world premiere, | 0:41:18 | 0:41:22 | |
there's going to be a lot of shocking things one will hear. | 0:41:22 | 0:41:26 | |
Wrong notes, wrong rhythms. | 0:41:26 | 0:41:28 | |
Some are the musician's fault, some are the composer's fault, | 0:41:28 | 0:41:30 | |
some are the copyist's fault. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
Some are the soloist's fault, some are the conductor's fault. | 0:41:33 | 0:41:36 | |
We are all guilty at one point or another. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
And it just takes time. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:45 | |
It never happens right away. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:47 | |
-INTERVIEWER: -Are you ready for this? -I'm really nervous. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:53 | |
I'm, like, slightly panicking. | 0:41:53 | 0:41:55 | |
I'm not panicking, just...really nervous. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:58 | |
I react quite strongly to the rehearsal process with the orchestra | 0:42:03 | 0:42:07 | |
and it's something I do build up to and I expect something from myself | 0:42:07 | 0:42:13 | |
and from the collaboration. | 0:42:13 | 0:42:15 | |
And there's something about it that is, like... | 0:42:15 | 0:42:20 | |
You know, you're just diving into it - | 0:42:20 | 0:42:22 | |
I mean, literally like diving into the unknown. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:26 | |
CONCERTO PLAYS | 0:42:26 | 0:42:29 | |
This tempo, I was just... | 0:42:38 | 0:42:41 | |
-Fine. -They were just... You know, so many things going slightly wrong. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:44 | |
-This tempo, I think, could be much slower. -7/8 slower. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:47 | |
-Much more like... -Ah! | 0:42:51 | 0:42:53 | |
-This is more like... -The softer all of this is, | 0:42:53 | 0:42:55 | |
-and very clear and comical, this place. -Yeah. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:57 | |
Yeah. Yeah, let's make sure. OK. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:01 | |
'I'm really not feeling so positive just now | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 | |
'because I just feel like it was sort of a bit messy.' | 0:43:04 | 0:43:08 | |
Everything was loud. A lot of the time, I couldn't hear myself. | 0:43:08 | 0:43:13 | |
I couldn't hear any clarity in my part. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:15 | |
I couldn't hear clarity in the orchestra, | 0:43:15 | 0:43:18 | |
but they're also just a loud orchestra | 0:43:18 | 0:43:20 | |
and they're an orchestra that can create this unbelievable | 0:43:20 | 0:43:23 | |
overview and expansiveness. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:25 | |
But for this, so much of the time, | 0:43:25 | 0:43:27 | |
we just need, like, really cold clarity. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:30 | |
It's such a...completely new landscape to these musicians. | 0:43:30 | 0:43:36 | |
And to Nicky and I, actually. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
Although things make sense in the score, it's like... | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
When it's happening in front of you, you realise, whoa, | 0:43:41 | 0:43:45 | |
this is going to be difficult. | 0:43:45 | 0:43:47 | |
I couldn't really get a feel for | 0:43:47 | 0:43:48 | |
how much everybody was feeling the piece or not. | 0:43:48 | 0:43:52 | |
Just feels like a blur, | 0:43:52 | 0:43:54 | |
just like a blur of just, like, wading our way through | 0:43:54 | 0:43:57 | |
and it feels like quite a panicked sort of environment as well. | 0:43:57 | 0:44:01 | |
It doesn't feel...very calm | 0:44:01 | 0:44:03 | |
and it doesn't feel like it has much clarity, | 0:44:03 | 0:44:05 | |
so I just don't feel great. | 0:44:05 | 0:44:07 | |
And, of course, I immediately blame everything on myself. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
Like, my sound is small, my sound is not carrying enough, | 0:44:10 | 0:44:16 | |
it's not leading enough, blah blah blah. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:19 | |
But I've spoken to, like, the people who are with me that are here | 0:44:19 | 0:44:23 | |
and they're saying it's not the case, it's just that... | 0:44:23 | 0:44:25 | |
There's just too much chaos going on and they just have to be brought | 0:44:25 | 0:44:28 | |
right down and everything has to be cleaned up and clarified. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:32 | |
'It's hard to write for a violinist and 100 people. | 0:44:32 | 0:44:36 | |
'It's a bit strange, when you think about it, | 0:44:36 | 0:44:39 | |
'but this has become the norm to have 80 to 100 people on stage | 0:44:39 | 0:44:42 | |
'and one violinist as a soloist. | 0:44:42 | 0:44:44 | |
'What's the use of doing all this work, of doing all this gymnastics, | 0:44:44 | 0:44:47 | |
'when no-one's going to hear you?' | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
But it doesn't mean the soloist should play louder. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
It means the orchestra needs to play in a more transparent way. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
Personally, I feel like things like the second movement, | 0:44:55 | 0:44:58 | |
the first run of the second movement | 0:44:58 | 0:45:00 | |
in Chautauqua was clearer than it was today. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:03 | |
That's how I feel. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:05 | |
Anyway, it's fine. Everything is fine. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
SHE EXHALES | 0:45:15 | 0:45:16 | |
I just don't do well when I think I'm playing badly. | 0:45:19 | 0:45:22 | |
I'm just always very... | 0:45:22 | 0:45:24 | |
Um... I feel very, you know, low, when I think that. | 0:45:26 | 0:45:31 | |
OK! | 0:45:34 | 0:45:36 | |
The day of the performance has finally arrived. | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
The rehearsal process has left Nicky wondering if she's prepared or not. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:59 | |
-'Hello?' -Hi, it's Nicola Benedetti. | 0:46:04 | 0:46:06 | |
-BEEP -'The LSO?' -Yes. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:09 | |
DOOR CLICKS | 0:46:09 | 0:46:11 | |
'I'm not going to be able to be at the premiere.' | 0:46:36 | 0:46:40 | |
That's right in our fall season. | 0:46:40 | 0:46:42 | |
And it kills me that I can't be there. | 0:46:42 | 0:46:44 | |
I want to be there, even if it's just for moral support. | 0:46:44 | 0:46:46 | |
It's nothing... I mean, I'm not playing. | 0:46:46 | 0:46:49 | |
And Nicky is going to play great. | 0:46:49 | 0:46:51 | |
She knows the piece. She is serious about it. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:53 | |
I'm not worried at all. | 0:46:53 | 0:46:55 | |
Wynton, he's going to be a nervous wreck, | 0:46:58 | 0:47:00 | |
and all he's relying on is me... | 0:47:00 | 0:47:02 | |
sending him messages about, "Yeah, it sounds good," or... | 0:47:02 | 0:47:06 | |
Actually, the interesting thing about Wynton is that if I write to him and I say, | 0:47:06 | 0:47:10 | |
"Hey, here's an issue at bar 73, | 0:47:10 | 0:47:12 | |
"I think that the French horns are too loud, | 0:47:12 | 0:47:15 | |
"maybe we can pull them back," there's no problem, he'll respond. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:19 | |
Any time you tell him that everything sounds good, | 0:47:19 | 0:47:21 | |
he thinks I'm lying to him | 0:47:21 | 0:47:23 | |
because I'm just trying to protect myself from doing more work! | 0:47:23 | 0:47:26 | |
Which isn't true. | 0:47:26 | 0:47:27 | |
In the Barbican Hall, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:31 | |
an audience of London's classical music elite starts to assemble. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:35 | |
I think if I would be there, I would really be nervous for her. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:47 | |
A soloist is by themselves. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:49 | |
A band, you are a family. | 0:47:49 | 0:47:51 | |
It's a big difference. | 0:47:51 | 0:47:53 | |
The life she is living, that's a hard life. | 0:47:53 | 0:47:55 | |
There's a lot of pressure playing these very difficult pieces. | 0:47:55 | 0:47:58 | |
You've got to be on a certain level of perfection. | 0:47:58 | 0:48:01 | |
You're sitting in front of all those people, playing your instrument. It's always the dynamic. | 0:48:01 | 0:48:05 | |
She has a lot of pressure on her. | 0:48:05 | 0:48:08 | |
There's something about the life of walking on stage, playing this thing | 0:48:13 | 0:48:18 | |
from memory, everybody so silent. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:19 | |
It's like there can be something... | 0:48:19 | 0:48:22 | |
There can be a lot of tension in the profession of doing that. | 0:48:22 | 0:48:26 | |
There's no real predicting | 0:48:31 | 0:48:32 | |
what you're going to feel and what's suddenly going to, like, surface. | 0:48:32 | 0:48:37 | |
It'll take you by surprise, | 0:48:37 | 0:48:39 | |
but that's part of the risk that you take. | 0:48:39 | 0:48:41 | |
I hope that they have the opportunity to love her artistry | 0:48:48 | 0:48:51 | |
and her musicianship. I want people to enjoy things. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:56 | |
And I offer things to people when I'm doing it, | 0:48:56 | 0:48:58 | |
because if I'm not going to offer it to you, I don't need you... | 0:48:58 | 0:49:02 | |
I can keep it. Like, I don't... | 0:49:02 | 0:49:05 | |
You know, I'm offering it. | 0:49:07 | 0:49:09 | |
And I'll take the risk that you'll hurt my feelings. | 0:49:09 | 0:49:12 | |
This is the life... the life we live. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:14 | |
We try new things, we try to do things. | 0:49:14 | 0:49:16 | |
-Let's do it. -Right. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:18 | |
INDISTINCT | 0:49:18 | 0:49:20 | |
HE CLAPS | 0:49:20 | 0:49:22 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:49:22 | 0:49:24 | |
I could never imagine writing a piece of music like this | 0:49:35 | 0:49:39 | |
and letting it go. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:40 | |
It must be a strange feeling, you know. | 0:49:40 | 0:49:44 | |
You have a child and the child is yours. | 0:49:44 | 0:49:47 | |
It's clearly yours, it has... | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
everything from you, you know, the DNA, all these beautiful things. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:55 | |
But then one day, that child's going to go out in the world. | 0:49:55 | 0:49:58 | |
And that child's going to change and that child is going to grow. | 0:49:58 | 0:50:02 | |
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING | 0:56:59 | 0:57:02 | |
The crowd give the premiere a standing ovation. | 0:57:16 | 0:57:19 | |
-It was great. How do you feel? -INDISTINCT REPLY | 0:57:19 | 0:57:22 | |
And even the famously hard to please LSO is impressed. | 0:57:22 | 0:57:27 | |
I think this is a very exciting new piece and I think | 0:57:27 | 0:57:32 | |
it's a great addition to the violin concerto repertoire. | 0:57:32 | 0:57:36 | |
And I'm sure it will last the test of time. | 0:57:36 | 0:57:40 | |
But for both Nicky and Wynton, | 0:57:43 | 0:57:44 | |
the story of the concerto is only just beginning. | 0:57:44 | 0:57:48 | |
I have this piece and it has been written | 0:57:48 | 0:57:50 | |
and it's going to change with me | 0:57:50 | 0:57:52 | |
and it's going to change in ways that I don't even know yet, | 0:57:52 | 0:57:56 | |
and that's one of the most fulfilling and beautiful journeys | 0:57:56 | 0:58:00 | |
that you have with a piece of music. | 0:58:00 | 0:58:02 | |
I did not play remotely perfectly, but I was, I think, | 0:58:04 | 0:58:07 | |
very relaxed and just gave it everything, and people just... | 0:58:07 | 0:58:11 | |
The piece was... | 0:58:11 | 0:58:12 | |
was...great. | 0:58:12 | 0:58:14 | |
I don't know what else to say. And people loved it. | 0:58:14 | 0:58:17 |