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Heavy-duty bells
A long-cherished wish has now come true: five new bells are in place among the percussionists, and three of them will be baptised this week when the Danish National Symphony Orchestra performs Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony with new chief conductor Fabio Luisi at the helm.
René Mathiesen, chairman of the orchestra, says it's an old dream that has now been realised.
"It was a great wish for our first solo percussionist Gert Sørensen that we could have presented a new set of bells when we moved into DR Koncerthuset. But it was simply too expensive," he says.
René Mathiesen, chairman of the orchestra, says it's an old dream that has now been realised.
"It was a great wish for our first solo percussionist Gert Sørensen that we could have presented a new set of bells when we moved into DR Koncerthuset. But it was simply too expensive," he says.
However, a visit to the famous Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam brought hope:
"We visited them and their chairman, who is a percussionist himself, told us that they had just received new bells produced by a Dutch company at an affordable price," says René Mathiesen, who estimates that while you would normally expect to pay a couple of million for the bells that have now been ordered, the price ends up at a six-figure sum.
And it is the Friends of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra that has helped to finance the bells. Therefore, the name of the association will forever be engraved on the bells with the year 2016 written in Roman numerals.
"The bells are indestructible from that date," says Rene Mathiesen.
"We visited them and their chairman, who is a percussionist himself, told us that they had just received new bells produced by a Dutch company at an affordable price," says René Mathiesen, who estimates that while you would normally expect to pay a couple of million for the bells that have now been ordered, the price ends up at a six-figure sum.
And it is the Friends of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra that has helped to finance the bells. Therefore, the name of the association will forever be engraved on the bells with the year 2016 written in Roman numerals.
"The bells are indestructible from that date," says Rene Mathiesen.
Indestructible
Berlioz recommended that if you didn't have the right bells at hand to play the symphony, they could be replaced by 20 pianos on the back stage.
A number of classical works have been written with bells in the score. Rene Mathiesen mentions Mahler's 3rd and 9th symphonies, Mussorgsky's ’Exhibition Pictures’ and Hector Berlioz's ’Symphonie Fantastique’, which will be on the programme later in the season.
"Berlioz recommended that if you didn't have the right bells at hand when playing the symphony, they could be replaced by 20 pianos on the back stage. Normally, however, we've managed with tubular bells that sound almost right," says Rene Mathiesen, who is now wondering if the bells can come along when the orchestra goes on tour.
"We ordered the lightweight model and the bells we've received so far only weigh 1200 kilos," he says.
But even if such a bell is visible, they can also disappear:
"The bell company that supplied our bells also made a bell for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics four years ago. After the one strike that sounded from that bell according to the composer's score, no one has seen it since," says Rene Mathiesen.
"Berlioz recommended that if you didn't have the right bells at hand when playing the symphony, they could be replaced by 20 pianos on the back stage. Normally, however, we've managed with tubular bells that sound almost right," says Rene Mathiesen, who is now wondering if the bells can come along when the orchestra goes on tour.
"We ordered the lightweight model and the bells we've received so far only weigh 1200 kilos," he says.
But even if such a bell is visible, they can also disappear:
"The bell company that supplied our bells also made a bell for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics four years ago. After the one strike that sounded from that bell according to the composer's score, no one has seen it since," says Rene Mathiesen.
Lightweight models