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Arctic Orchestra

Touring musicians the world over complain like a broken record - or should that be a dodgy CD – that life on the road is long and arduous and lonely.

Well tell that to the Nenets of sub-Arctic Russia, few in the world are at the end of a longer road, living a lonelier life in more hostile conditions.

And playing a gig here involves putting up with more than a dingy hotel room and bad food, it's more a case of beating through a blizzard in a sleigh, bedding down in a yurt and sitting down to a mug of reindeer blood and raw meat.

But for all the cold it's a very warm audience who will guarantee their full attention, after all it's the first time they've hard a note. Moscow correspondent Irris Makler on a remarkable musical odyssey taking the classics to the extremes.

Arctic scenes

Makler: Just below the North Pole, Arctic Russia is waking from its wintry sleep.

13:11

Music

Makler: These frozen wastes are dark for eight months of the year. But spring isn't the only cause for celebration, Mozart's music is floating out across the tundra. Played for the nomads and their reindeer by an extraordinary group of visiting musicians.

Musicians play/MAP

Music

13:37

Train

Makler: This train is bringing an orchestra to a town that's never seen one. The journey from Moscow to the Arctic oil town of Usinsk has taken two and a half days and the musicians are exhausted.

13:53

Larisa at railway station

Makler: Have you seen any orchestras at all here?

Larisa: No – an orchestra like this comes for the first time, and I hope it is not the last.

14:08

Musicians get off train

Lygia: Good morning. Very nice to meet you. This is Pia, the concert master.

14:22

Makler: Irish Lygia O'Riordan and Finnish Pia Siirala found their orchestra, Ensemble XXI in the 1980s when they were students at Moscow's world famous Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

14:33

Musicians on bus

Larisa: This is so beautiful to see such a constellation of faces from different continents suddenly coming to our Usinsk… these wonderful, beautiful faces.

14:51

Makler: Under Soviet rules, foreigners were allowed to study with Russians, but forbidden to perform with them. Lygia and Pia decided to change that.

15:09

Lygia

Super:

Lygia O'Riordan

Conductor, Ensemble XXI

Lygia O'Riordan: To this day the Moscow Conservatory is divided into two faculties – one for Russians and one for foreigners. And it was really a case of east and west never the two shall meet and we decided to start the first orchestra where it was possible.

15:19

Orchestra rehearsal

Music

15:30

Makler: Eleven years later, the orchestra, one of the finest in Moscow is still going strong, with musicians of all nations performing together.

15:41

Music

Makler: They play Carnegie Hall and Sydney Opera House but Ensemble XXI have a deeper calling: to bring music to the masses across this vast land.

15:51

Usinsk scenery

Music

16:02

Lygia O'Riordan: I would have to describe Usinsk as a dismal town.

Makler: Why do you come to these dismal places?

Lygia O'Riordan: To bring beauty. This is a great tradition in Russia. They just love music. It's in their blood and why should a child in Moscow have the possibility to hear music and not a child in Usinsk?

Orchestra rehearsal

16:27

Makler to camera

Makler: Music was one of the few things to flourish in the Soviet Union but since communism collapsed, teachers no longer scour Russia looking for promising pupils to take back to Moscow to train. And musicians no longer travel to far flung regions to perform.

16:38

For a short time up here in the Arctic, Lygia and her orchestra are filling that gap.

16:53

School children at concert

Makler: The excitement is palpable before the orchestra's first concert at the Usinsk Music School. Children of all ages pour in. The hall quickly fills up, but extra chairs are found so that no one will miss out.

17:03

Applause

Performance

Music

17:31

Makler: The children listen closely even to the most difficult music.

17:46

Lygia O'Riordan: I think that it's extraordinary. Not only have they never heard an orchestra, they've never heard any performance playing classical music at all, yet you could hear a pin drop. Here you're actually responsible for making people love or hate music in those minutes that you have in front of them, and that's a huge responsibility. And who knows, maybe from here one day they'll be a great musician and they'll say, well, I remember the first time I heard an orchestra and that was Ensemble XXI.

17:51

Applause

Children conduct orchestra

Makler: At the end of the concert, Lygia asks for volunteers to conduct the orchestra.

18:23

Music

Laughter/Applause

Lygia signs autographs

Makler: This proves to be a show-stopper, and after the concert Lygia is mobbed.

19:01

Victoria: I think the audience was splendid and it was a real pleasure to listen to this orchestra.

19:13

Victoria

Super:

Victoria Bernstein

Teacher, Usinsk Music School

Even those children that came for the first time and they've never heard classical music, they've enjoyed - and they told me it was great after the concert.

19:20

Rehearsal

Music

19:33

Makler: Before their next concert, the orchestra rehearses Vivaldi's Four Seasons, a demanding piece for a first time soloist like Alexei Popov.

19:50

Music

Makler: Lack of funding of the arts over the past decade has resulted in many gifted musicians leaving Russia.

20:06

Music

Makler: Being in this orchestra enables many of these musicians to stay.

20:17

Mark

Super:

Mark Friedman

Cellist

Mark Friedman: I like touring Russia more than abroad – to play for our people who are now cut off from the world and who have no chance of listening to live music. I try to play even better here because I want their impressions to last.

20:24

Music

20:55

Mark performing

Makler: Mark Friedman's grandfather was a war hero but after World War Two he was killed on Stalin's orders, and Mark's mother and grandmother were sent to a labour camp, up here not far from where Mark is playing now.

21:02

Mark Friedman: Yes, the trip to the north raises old memories of the stories that my grandmother and my mother told me when I was a kid.

21:17

Mark

In general I was never told horrible stories, just the more amusing anecdotes – for example, my mother told me she was taught to play the piano by Rachmaninov's nephew.

21:30

Music

21:41

Teachers perform for Ensemble

Makler: The teachers from the Usinsk Music School display their gratitude to Ensemble XXI by putting on an impromptu return concert.

21:52

Music

Applause

Makler: The professional musicians are generous, but this happy time in Usinsk ends abruptly when tragedy strikes.

Broken double bass

Sergei's double bass falls and is smashed to pieces.

22:20

Lygia on bus

Lygia is furious when she's told and the orchestra, especially Sergei, miserable.

22:42

Musicians at airport

At the airport before they fly on to the town of Narian Mar, Pia and Sergei ring ahead frantically to see if they can locate a double bass.

22:53

Pia on phone

Pia: Maybe someone has a double bass – maybe a band? Even if it's a horrible instrument, it doesn't matter. Yes, of course. Yes, yes, yes, we can find one today. We have the bridge, the strings and the bow… just the double bass – even if it doesn't have strings.

23:02

Ensemble on plane

Makler: The orchestra remains subdued on the flight. Narian Mar is an Arctic town of 50,000 inhabitants, the chances of finding a double bass there are slim. Without it the performance will be severely comprised, and Lygia remains furious.

23:23

Lygia

Makler: A sad saga of the double bass, do you think you handled that well?

23:42

Lygia O'Riordan: Probably not, you know, of course I also make mistakes but I apologise for them afterwards. I have an Irish temper, Irish blood on both sides of the family, there isn't much hope for me, is there?

Sergei and Pia go to get double bass

Kapitolina: Please come in. My husband is not at home – he went hunting and fishing.

Pia: Hello, thank you for helping us. My name is Pia.

Kapitolina: Pleased to meet you.

24:05

Makler: By a stroke of incredible luck, the former head of the music school does have a double bass, the only one for thousands of miles.

24:20

Sergei examines double bass

Pia: How is it Sergei?

Sergei: I can adjust this later… Well, the strings are a bit high…

Pia: Can you play me a 'G'?

24:28

Makler: As Sergei checks and twigs and fiddles, their relief is obvious.

24:46

Pia: It's simply a miracle – because it happened this morning and we didn't have time to organise anything.

Sergei: Okay, we'll take it. It'll be fine.

Makler: The show can go on after all.

25:11

Performance

Music

Makler: In Narian Mar, interest was so great that the concert had to be moved to a larger hall.

Music

Makler: It's a triumph, especially for Sergei.

Music

Applause

Backstage after concert

Makler: Backstage, Lygia and Sergei seem to make up.

25:59

Makler: You're tough with your orchestra, aren't you?

Lygia

Lygia O'Riordan: Oh very well. Perhaps the best answer I can give you was my Jewish, Russian Jewish lawyer in Moscow, he said, Lygia it's a well known fact that you run your orchestra like the German army.

26:09

Makler: The last stop on the tour will be the highlight for Ensemble XXI. Some brave musicians will play an open air concert on the tundra, for the Nenets, the Arctic's nomadic reindeer herders.

26:23

Makler sits on plane

Super:

Irris Makler

Makler: The reindeer herders live and roam at the northern edge of Russia and even today a trip there by helicopter requires clearance from the security police. The KGB successor known as the FSB has mulled over the security threat posed by the orchestra and has finally given the go ahead for take off.

26:37

Ensemble on plane

Music

26:55

Makler: The orchestra flies across the tundra in an old Russian helicopter with some local hitchhikers aboard. The Nenets are nomads so finding them is tricky, but after an hour's flight, a small encampment appears.

27:07

Music

Makler: And it seems the Nenets are as excited as the orchestra.

Music

Lygia greets Nenet women

Nenet woman: There's fur on the inside as well.

Lygia: And what gloves!

Nenet woman: we make everything ourselves.

Lygia: I'm from Ireland. Do you know where Ireland is? Near England.

Nenet woman: Oh yes! I've heard of England.

Lygia: Warm? No, for us it's cold.

27:40

Nenet camp on tundra

Makler: The Nenets still live their traditional lifestyle: roaming the tundra, herding reindeer and even eating them raw.

28:06

Nenet man drinks reindeer blood

Fresh blood like this is considered a delicacy.

28:22

They offer us reindeer rides and traditional Nenet's hospitality.

28:34

Nenet woman cooks for Lygia

Wild goose and reindeer, cooked this time.

28:43

It's a chance to warm up inside the yurt and get to know our hosts before the outdoor concert.

Lygia: Did you expect us to come and play?

Nenet man: Yes, we've been waiting for you. We were told yesterday, so we knew you'd come this afternoon. We've heard music – but never live – only on our transistor.

29:05

Lygia conducts ensemble on tundra

Music

29:25

Makler: Four of the musicians brave the cold, the others are too frightened for their instruments. It's a once in a lifetime concert. The frozen-fingered group serenade the reindeer and play Mozart for people who've never seen musical instruments before.

29:35

Lygia: I could never have imagined when I started this orchestra that one day I would be here. Never. I really consider myself to be very lucky, I was completely overwhelmed when we landed, but I mean, if I die tomorrow, I have lived. I can say that now and so has the orchestra.

30:00

Music

30:13

Makler: The wind carries the music across the tundra. Other Nenets hear it and are drawn to the camp by the beauty of Mozart. They beg the musicians for more.

30:19

Applause

Music

Ensemble playing inside yurt

Makler: A second impromptu concert begins with everyone crammed inside one yurt.

30:39

Music

Makler: They play Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Spring of course to a rapt audience.

Music

Makler: It's a day no one here will ever forget. Giving the gift of music has enriched the orchestra as much as the nomads.

30:59

Music

Makler: Proof, if proof were needed, that music really is a universal language.

31:09

Music

Credits:

Reporter: Irris Makler

Camera: Dave Martin

Sound: Slava Zelenin

Editor: Ian Harley

Producer: Slava Zelenin