Orchestrated version of Fuer Elise WoO 59 (mp3)
This arrangement was made for the Gothenburg Symphony - The National Orchestra of Sweden - school concert series of spring 2003. The concert was a semi-played concert. A boy and a girl (actors) were on stage and the music ranging from Bach to Stravinsky responded to what they acted on. The story was about friendship, being different and all that kind of things.
In this particular scene, the boy reminiscences his late mother by playing the music box she had given him. The scene starts with the music box playing Für Elise, the theme is then given to the real piano by the orchestra pianist. This is where this music clip starts. During the duration of the Für Elise, the boy goes thru a series of emotions, mainly sadness, sort of a powerless anger over the death of his mother, etc. This is in a way illustrated in the music by the "marche funébre" section.
The arrangement is scored for 2(2=picc)222-2221-timp+2-piano-strings, not quite a full romantic symphony orchestra, but a fair one anyway. The production team had a wish for a hidden educational aspect: to start with the famous melody as it originally is, then add instruments all the way to a full orchestra and then have a diminuendo back to just the piano.
In this live recording (which is done with one mic only, sorry) you can hear the 1,500 school children in the background, coughing, moving their legs etc. The concert program was performed 14 times during a week, with an average audience of 1,500 school-goers between 7 and 12 years of age.
The Gothenburg Symphony is here conducted by Joacim Claesson. The piano solo is played by the staff keyboardist Erik Risberg. We gratefully acknowledge the permission to use this audio clip given by the musicians' of the GSO. The arrangement is published by Edition Escobar.
(Jari Eskola, Nov. 2003))
WoO: 59