Full colour version of the BP magazine

All the rite notes
On a cold November day last year, a group of talented young
musicians from the Trinity College of Music Symphony
Orchestra gathered together in London’s oldest concert hall for
a very special recording of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and
Elgar’s Enigma Variations. The music is to be used in a BP film
commissioned to mark the company’s centenary year. In
production for the past three years, the film begins with a
recreation of the moment geologist George Reynolds and his
team first struck oil in May 1908. It is this moment that
Stravinsky’s piece – notorious for its complicated melodies –
illustrates musically, while Elgar’s arrangement represents the
‘Englishness’ of Reynolds. The professional commission gave
the students invaluable experience of a real recording session,
while providing Trinity with the funding to bring in Edward
Gardner – one of Britain’s pre-eminent conductors – to coach
the orchestra. The next issue of BP Magazine will celebrate
BP’s centennial year with a special historical edition.
REPORT: LISA DAVISON / PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD DAVIES
BP MAGAZINE Issue 1 2009 37