Conductor George Marriner Maull considers his work complete if audiences have had “a goose bumps experience”—a phenomenon he describes as “being completely, emotionally overwhelmed by wordless, abstract musical sounds.”
Abstract musical sounds is his coinage for classical compositions by the likes of Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi and Stravinsky.
As founder and artistic director of the Discovery Orchestra, Maull has long preached the importance of truly listening to classical music, instead of only allowing it to play in the background during other activities. We’ve been trained “to ignore music as sonic wallpaper,” Maull says.
“We have lost the art of listening,” he adds, pointing out that the omnipresence of the internet and personal electronic devices drives us to constantly multitask.
Through interactive concerts with the Discovery Orchestra, Maull asks audiences to “monotask” as he guides them through the music, taking breaks between sections to explain each piece as well as how to identify elements like rhythm, melody and harmony.
Stay-at-home orders currently prevent New Jerseyans from experiencing live concerts. But on April 29, the Emmy-nominated nonprofit will bring a televised premiere to music fans. Tune into the one-hour program, Discover The Firebird, on Wednesday at 8 pm on NJTV. (Distributed nationally by American Public Television, the program will begin airing across the nation in May.)
Viewers can download a listening guide ahead of time or follow along with the guide that will appear at the bottom of their television screens during the premiere.
The concert will focus on just a single movement from Igor Stravinsky’s 1919 Firebird Suite. In the context of the fully staged ballet, this musical selection centers around Prince Ivan and his battle against the evil sorcerer Kastchei.
The 85-member orchestra recorded the performance back in September 2019—but the battle feels especially resonant now as we struggle to conquer the Covid-19 health crisis. “When we recorded this production, little did we know that the premiere broadcast would occur at a time in which everyone in the world would be facing a terrifying invisible force in the form of a virus,” Maull says.
Discover the Firebird marks the orchestra’s fifth broadcast program. Others are the award-winning Bach to the Future, Discover Beethoven’s 5th, Discover Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the eight-part series Fall in Love with Music. These past programs are available for purchase online; Amazon Prime members can view them for free.
Throughout years of creating broadcast shows and entertaining live audiences, the orchestra’s mission has remained the same: Teach people to listen to and appreciate the meaning behind music.
“It is as though a person, who is no longer living, has revealed the depths of their soul to us,” says Maull. “Those feelings are ours, too … We understand Stravinsky; he understands us.”
