Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire for soprano & ensemble, Op.21
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: The Devils - concert suite for soprano, boys' choir & ensemble
Jocelyn Pook: New Commission for QEH 3 Dec 2012 BBCCO
Muse: Hysteria (I want it now) arr. for ensemble
Interval

The BBC Concert Orchestra delves into the depths of the human psyche playing with fear, anxiety, disturbance and madness in an examination of hysteria - uncontrollable emotional states leading to attention seeking outbursts, laughter, crying and fury.

A hundred years after its premiere, Arnold Schoenberg's fiercely brilliant and totally surreal sextet 'Pierrot lunaire' still has the ability to unsettle audiences.

Based on bizarre and brassy texts by Symbolist poet Albert Giraud, Schoenberg plays music puppeteer with his landmark 'Opus 21'. Pierrot, the sad, old, Italian pantomime clown is love-struck, blasphemous, mocking, violent and finally nostalgic.

The half-spoken, half-sung twisted melodrama with its splash of cabaret and high art reflects Schoenberg's own numerological manias. Seven is key.

The shocking imagery of Ken Russell's 'The Devils' finds apt expression in Peter Maxwell Davies' suite of music from the film, matching unorthodox visions of hysterical nuns with twisted, vulgarised parodies of religious chant in a powerful, sinister score.

Jocelyn Pook's new work 'Hearing Voices' is inspired by her great aunt's diaries and notebooks from her life in an asylum, exploring women's experiences of mental illness.

Muse's hit song 'Hysteria' with its big, fat, groovy bass line gets an acoustic make-over from Patrick Nunn. Heavily influenced by a scene from the Pink Floyd film 'The Wall', the song is about wanting something or someone that's out of reach so badly it pushes you over the edge.

Only suitable for ages 16 and over.

Performers

BBC Concert Orchestra
Charles Hazlewood conductor
Allison Bell sprechstimme
Melanie Pappenheim mezzo-soprano
Danny Driver piano