NARRATOR: The idea was ambitious.

[ Horns honking ] The best musicians in the United States, one momentous week in New York City, performing in this All-Star Orchestra exclusively for our cameras, to explore the most exciting music ever written, to produce a television series of masterpieces from music director Gerard Schwarz, and for an audience of just you.

[ Dramatic classical music plays ] ♪♪♪ G. SCHWARZ: Welcome to "The All-Star Orchestra."

We're so happy you've joined us.

Today's program features Claude Debussy's "La Mer" and Ottorino Respighi's the "Pines of Rome."

[ Soft music plays ] Ottorino Respighi, one of the great Italian composers, born at the end of the 19th and lived into the first part of the 20th century.

He was especially known for extraordinary orchestration.

He uses the orchestra in the most evocative way.

The way he uses percussion, the way he uses the woodwinds, it's just incredible.

He wrote three wonderful and very colorful pieces about Rome -- "Roman Festivals," the "Fountains of Rome," and the "Pines of Rome."

In the "Pines of Rome," the first movement is about the pines at the Villa Borghese.

And these pines are where the kids play.

MARTIN: The piece opens with probably the most famous, and maybe infamous, passage for muted trumpet.

Very fast articulations, written in 32nd notes and 64th notes.

ALESSI: We're sitting behind the trumpets, so I'm watching my colleagues work very hard -- the trumpet players -- in the first movement.

And I'm thinking, "Boy, I'm glad they didn't write that for us."

[ Trumpets play ] ♪♪♪ [ Woodwinds play ] G. SCHWARZ: You can hear, in this first movement, the kind of effervescence of excitement and lively energy that you would expect from kids playing in the park.

The second movement is about the pines near the catacombs.

The whole mood changes.

And you have this incredible offstage trumpet playing a very beautiful melody.

[ Trumpet plays somber music ] MARTIN: This solo from the trumpet is really a prayer for all of those souls.

And it's one of the -- I think, one of the most, uh, beautiful moments.

[ Orchestra plays ] ♪♪♪ G. SCHWARZ: After the big outpouring of this beautiful melody played by the full orchestra, the piano takes over, ends the movement quietly, as we begin the next movement, the third movement, with "The Pines of the Janiculum."

This includes the song of the nightingale.

Now, this is interesting, because it's primarily the clarinet solo -- beautiful clarinet solo, but he also uses a recording of nightingales singing.

[ Nightingales sing, clarinet plays ] It was electronic.

And there was a 78 disc that would come with the music.

And you'd put it on, and you'd hear the nightingale.

[ Nightingales sing, clarinet plays ] And the last movement, "The Pines of the Appian Way" -- you know, that famous road that goes into Rome.

MARTIN: The last movement of "Pines" is kind of a rip, yeah, for the brass.

For everybody, but especially for the brass.

OLKA: It's what we were built for.

So it's a lot of fun.

ALESSI: It's one of the most grand moments of what we get to do in the repertoire.

MARTIN: You have the Roman army rising -- the ghost of the Roman army rising from the Appian Way.

J. SCHWARZ: It starts very softly.

And then, each time, there's another brass instrument that comes in or another wind instrument that comes in.

MARTIN: But then you also have this offstage group.

G. SCHWARZ: Six brass players playing buccine, which are ancient Roman instruments.

Clearly, not part of the modern orchestra.

Not only they're not part of the modern orchestra, they don't really play the same notes that Respighi wrote, so you can't actually play them in the orchestra.

We use trumpets and flugelhorns and trombones.

YOUNG: Man, is it loud.

LEE: Utterly the most thrilling, you know, blaze of sunshine.

[ Chuckles ] BOURIAKOV: Apparently, he wanted the ground to shake, that he wanted it to be so powerful that the ground is shaking.

So it feels like they're actually marching.

And I kind of felt it.

G. SCHWARZ: Since then, 1926, it has been a standard of orchestra repertoire.

YOUNG: It's a staple, and you can imagine the pines of Rome.

MARTIN: It's programmatic, of course, but incredibly vibrant and colorful.

J. SCHWARZ: I don't know if there's another piece that consistently gets the type of audience response and excitement that this piece does.

G. SCHWARZ: With the nightingale, with the offstage brass, with the big piano solo, everything you can imagine in orchestration and the way composer uses the orchestra is in this magnificent work.

[ Dramatic music plays ] ♪♪♪ [ Up-tempo music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Up-tempo music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Oboe solo ] [ Clarinet solo ] [ Up-tempo music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Up-tempo music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Up-tempo music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Up-tempo music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music intensifies ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Gong plays ] [ Somber music softens ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Somber music continues ] ♪♪♪ [ Soft music plays ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Clarinet solo ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ [ Nightingale singing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ [ Nightingale continues singing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Soft music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mysterious music playing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mysterious music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mysterious music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mysterious music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mysterious music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Grand music playing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Grand music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mighty music playing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mighty music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mighty music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Mighty music continues ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [ Brass roaring ] [ Final note plays ] [ Song ends ] ♪♪♪ G. SCHWARZ: Claude Debussy was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.

Debussy didn't write a great deal of orchestral music.

In fact, "La Mer" was the seventh major work he wrote for orchestra.

But each work that Debussy wrote was evocative of a time, of a mood, of a color.

You know, we call it impressionistic, but Debussy hated that title.

He didn't want his music to be impressionistic -- not that it doesn't cause an impression, but it's very specific.

He loved the sea.

He was supposed to be a sailor.

He started taking piano lessons at an early age, and his piano teacher said, "You might want to make him a sailor, but, boy, this kid's really gifted."

CHEN: Debussy "La Mer" is, you know, one of the all-time great orchestral pieces.

BARKER: There are lots of colors and textures in the orchestral -- in the orchestral writing.

ALESSI: And you can picture every possible scenario -- fog, rough waters.

LEE: You feel the ocean spray.

You smell the sea salt.

MARTIN: Sort of misty, cloudy, hazy.

HARNEY: So many different colors.

J. SCHWARZ: It really is a painting.

There's even just one moment in the cello section writing, which is very famous for cellists.

GROSSMAN: ♪ Da-da-ya ♪ [ Cellos playing ] ♪♪♪ It's just -- It's just a lot of fun to have a bunch of cellists playing together.

It's four different voices.

PATTERSON: The cellos in "La Mer," when they do the big section solos, is just amazing.

G. SCHWARZ: The first movement is about dawn until noon, so there's a calm, usually, at dawn on the sea.

MARTIN: And it opens with, again, a very soft, muted trumpet, a soft, muted trumpet in unison with the English horn.

And it's a -- it's a -- it's a combination of instruments you don't hear much even now, but in Debussy's day... RALSKE: A muted trumpet and an English horn, you know, it's just such a brilliant sound.

MARTIN: A real masterstroke, a blending of two colors that I can't imagine had been heard or certainly hadn't been heard by almost anyone in a concert audience at that time.

G. SCHWARZ: The second movement is about the play of the waves.

♪♪♪ ALLEN: "La Mer" takes the two harps and puts them on a pedestal.

Glissandi, which rotate between the harps, passing back and forth this beautiful sound, it's sort of fun.

It's almost a jeu, like a game.

And it's just an unmistakable sound that can be created by no other instrument.

That's why it's so exciting for harpists to play "La Mer."

G. SCHWARZ: The third movement is the dialogue of the wind and the sea.

♪♪♪ HUGHES: And there's one magical moment in particular.

It feels as if he almost stops time for a second.

[ Quiet music playing ] Debussy sets up this moment with the strings, which are pianissimo, and the harps are strumming, and on top of it, he puts this beautiful flute and oboe melody.

It's in unison.

BOURIAKOV: Creating that -- we call it "floboe" sound, you know, when you have flute and oboe playing in unison, and it creates a different color.

♪♪♪ HUGHES: So you lose track of what instrument is playing.

♪♪♪ BOURIAKOV: It's like another instrument which does not exist.

So Debussy was a master of mixing those colors.

HUGHES: It's absolutely genius.

G. SCHWARZ: And then it explodes, and you have these incredible waves and the power and the incredible beauty.

♪♪♪ And what Debussy does with these colors and with this orchestra is something that really influenced just about everyone after that, from Stravinsky on.

I doubt that any composer living today has not been influenced by this incredible master.

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On our next program, we will feature music by Richard Strauss and Adolphus Hailstork.

[ Gentle music playing ] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ NARRATOR: This program has been made possible with major support from The Estate of David Endicott Gannett.

Additional funding has been generously provided by... Other support by...