Le Voyage de l'orchestre - En tournée avec Myung-Whun Chung

Chung on Tour Since Myung Whun Chung was appointed conductor of the Radio-France. Philharmonic the orchestra has increasingly been invited to tour abroad. Last November the Philharmonic played in New York for the first time, an honour reserved for few European orchestras. What is more, this début is to take place in the city's most prestigious venue, Carnegie Hall. Barely recovered from their experience in New York, the orchestra will, in early 2003, set off to tour Central Europe. A tour such as this is exceptional for the simple reason that, whereas in Paris the orchestra usually only plays a programme for one single concert, they will now perform the same works five or ten times over. The tour is therefore an opportunity to take their performance a step further. From one evening to the next, driven by Chung's unrelenting perfectionism, the orchestra will practise, play, and play again. It is not simply a question of reaching greater technical sophistication; rather that the influence of different conditions progressively alters the alchemy of performance. Every night means a new concert hall to play in, and a new audience to play for– an audience whose enthusiasm demands a fresh interpretation. We will focus particularly on the orchestra's approach to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. It will reveal the formidable power and energy of this orchestra under Myung Whun Chung's direction. It will also enable us to follow closely the progress of the musicians, measuring each step they take as they try to realise Chung's demands. Chung is always on the alert, always ready to improvise, always ready to overturn what has gone before. One evening he will change the encore, and a few hours before the concert the musicians are in total panic: the next day, when all are again calm and relaxed, he will suddenly launch a new drive to improve the performance still further. As we follow their progress day to day, we will show how the musicians strive to maintain a fragile balance between spontaneity and rigour, between the instant of delight and the need to keep on playing to the end, between labouring over details and creating the fleeting, sublime, moments of which Myung Whun Chung is the master. Music is an adventure which lasts only an evening; you only have a few hours to find the treasure. But on a tour, you have to find it over and over every night ... It is this ever-renewed drama which will be played out in the film.