And all the bells were ringing

And all the bells were ringing

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

March 21, 2024

Message from Anne-Gaelle Monot:
I’m a French violinist in a non professional orchestra and I wanted to share with you this amazing moment of our last concert from Sunday when the bells of a church in Paris started ringing exactly at the same time as the last note of the Shostakovich 11th symphony and with the same note, G.

The orchestra is the Ondes Plurielles with conductor Andréi Feher from Quebec.

Comments

  • Tom Varley says:

    Serendipity!

  • Margaret Koscielny says:

    I found this deeply moving. Such a wonderful synchronicity.

    • David K. Nelson says:

      and the conductor had the wit to hold the moment for audience, orchestra and himself. As if to say, savor this incredible experience.

  • DH says:

    I wonder if the sound track has been ‘processed’. At the last chord the bell seems louder than elsewhere and too constant, and the fade of the bell sound sounds unnatural. To me.

  • Nosema says:

    Played it in Copenhagen 18/19 years ago. The ill fated conductor wanted the bells to come from a synthesizer – result was at the concert there was a glitch in the keyboard’s programming ,and instead of bells we heard to our delight in fortissimo what sounded like several very angry turkeys….

  • KANANPOIKA says:

    Reminds me of the time: performing Vaughan Williams’
    “Donna Nobis Pacem”….on two consecutive evenings, at two
    different locations, after the soprano soloist had sung her last quiet notes, alone, and before the audience could applaud…there was a distant clap of thunder…and a baby cried….

  • M2N2K says:

    Not sure about the orchestra, but the bells sounded fully professional.

  • MOST READ TODAY: