Two years ago, the Evening Standard wondered: »What next from memory for this peerless ensemble? The >Rite of Spring< perhaps? If anyone could do it, these guys certainly could.« Well, someone seems to have taken note of the challenge. In early September, the Aurora Orchestra will be returning to the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall to perform a concert version of Stravinsky’s feverish work in two shows before 10,000 people. But before then, on 22 August, the Brits are coming to the Elbphilharmonie: without stage production, scores, stands or chairs. Last summer, they stunned the audience here with Berlioz’s »Symphonie fantastique«, played from memory.
The Aurora Orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie (September 2022)
Experiencing a full orchestra playing together flawlessly without any kind of written memory aid also raises the audience’s adrenaline levels. Everyone shares in the thrill as if it were an artwork by a collective. It requires the musicians not only to patiently learn their own parts, but also to thoroughly explore the entire score. Then, in the concert, maximum passion, concentration, attention and eye contact is vital.
All by heart :In conversation with Nicholas Collon and members of the Aurora Orchestra
The Aurora Orchestra, which was formed in 2005, caused a sensation a few years ago when it decided to stop using sheet music, at least for some of its repertoire. In the podcast, Jane Mitchell, the orchestra’s Principal Flute and Creative Director, explains that very pragmatic considerations also lie behind this tightrope act with no safety net. Her husband, the orchestra’s founder and chief conductor Nicholas Collon, admits that he initially didn’t like the name Aurora, which was a suggestion by the marketing people. He also admits that he was recently on the edge of madness after learning just two bars of the score to the Rite of Spring by heart.
Amy Harman, Principal Bassoon, has it easy in that regard since the first bar of the work is hers alone. The work opens with a famous bassoon solo. You can’t go too far wrong there. But things quickly get complicated: »Le Sacre du printemps« is rhythmically infuriating, and is also extremely challenging in most other respects. By her own appraisal, Harman has, all those times rehearsing from sheet music, never played the work through flawlessly. When playing by heart, the skilled musician expects nothing less than absolute accuracy from herself from the first note to the last. It would be the first time.
