For Seasons
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Issue 54 | March 2020
Agency
Jung von Matt AG
Creative Team
Managing Director, Creation: Till Eckel Creative Director, Art: Marc Isken Creative Director, Digital: Evilda Nikander Creative Director, Copy: Joachim Kortlepel Art Director: Julia Sachse Senior Copywriter: Alpan Esen Senior Art Director: Sungu Hacisabanoglu
Production Team
Data Strategist: Leonie Gehrckens Senior Project Manager: Inka Weigl Photographer: Peter Hundert Production: Markenfilm SPACE Creative Studio for Sound, Music and Acoustic Narratives: Kling Klang Klong Filmproduction: Markenfilm CROSSING Director: Akim Trüller
Other Credits
Managing Director, Accounting: Sven Rebholz PR and Social: Segmenta Communications
Date
November 2019
Background
The disturbing extent of the climate crisis was brought to life in an unprecedented music performance thanks to a collaboration between Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Jung von Matt/SPREE.
Idea
On Saturday evening, the grand hall of the Elbphilharmonie alongside a global live stream audience, witnessed a world first. The most famous musical depiction of nature – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, reimagined to reflect the present day, aptly named For Seasons. Historical climate data was analysed against current figures and their differences then mapped onto the notes of the iconic masterpiece to create For Seasons.??
“Listen up and give this topic the attention it should have got ages ago,” spoke Chief Conductor, Alan Gilbert, full of enthusiasm from the project’s response so far.
The United Nations have announced that For Seasons would be included in their development program. Further performances from international orchestras are already in the pipeline and the rights to the new arrangement will be free to use non-commercially, for the purpose of combatting the climate crisis. Enabling the project’s positive affect to continue for years to come. The project was accomplished by partners from across Germany: Segmenta Communications was in charge of the global public relations and social media activities, while Markenfilm SPACE and KLING KLANG KLONG transformed the concept into the final musical score.
Whilst the core idea sounded simple, the reality of making climate change genuinely audible within the 1725 masterpiece, was not so straight forward. It wasn’t enough to simply create a piece that sounded ‘wrong’. First, raw climate data had to be collected from validated sources such as research institutes, universities and environmental agencies. It took six months for a team of sound-artists, software-developers and musical arrangers to compile and use over ten different data sets. Using the principle of “data-to-concert”, the data sets became the foundation of multiple algorithms, which were directly applied onto the original score. The result was an entirely new piece: the clear distinctions between the seasons are almost completely eliminated and the length of the seasons have been altered. The flocks of festively singing birds, portrayed by Vivaldi have been largely silenced by extinction. Even the occasional violent storms of Summer, are now unpredictable natural disasters and the murmuring streams are now either flooded or dried out. The harmonious passages of the original piece have become disharmonious and out of balance – just like nature itself.
“It’s important to make climate change tangible for its full extent to be understood” says the JvM team about the goal of the campaign. And the reactions in the press and on social media show that it’s working. The live audience, rose to standing ovations after a minute of silence. The message, carried in by musicians on a large banner, hit home; “We’ve heard all about climate change. Now, it’s time to listen”.
Project-Links
https://www.forseasonsbydata.com https://www.facebook.com/forseasonsbydata
United Nations Tweet
https://twitter.com/UNDPClimate/status/1196085015093940226