BA100: New Flower Duet theme as re-engineered by the BA Orchestra
#1
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BA100: New Flower Duet theme as re-engineered by the BA Orchestra
Well, there won't be many airlines able to do this.
There is a new video on BA's Youtube channel, featuring the BA Orchestra, a long standing social club of BA staff, with some external players too. Delibes Lakmé "Flower Duet" has been re-engineered by a member of BA's staff to encompass 100 bars, and then performed (in Waterside by the looks of it) by the BA Orchestra.
Here is the hyperlink for the full screen version:
The Media Centre has a complex press release on the subject, below for the record.
British Airways - BRITISH AIRWAYS ENGINEER RE-IMAGINES FAMOUS MUSICAL THEME FROM ?LAKMÉ? TO MARK AIRLINE?S CENTENARY
BRITISH AIRWAYS ENGINEER RE-IMAGINES FAMOUS MUSICAL THEME FROM ‘LAKMÉ’ TO MARK AIRLINE’S CENTENARY
April 17, 2019
Flower Duet theme from Delibes’ opera Lakmé reimagined to reflect British Airways’ history, in the airline’s centenary year
Music composed by British Airways’ quality engineer Lyndon Ooi whose day job involves checking that British Airways’ aircraft are fit to fly from a technical perspective
The music features a number of distinctive characteristics which reflect key moments in the airline’s history
Music was performed by the British Airways Orchestra made up of 30 British Airways colleagues and some external musicians.
Wednesday April 17, 2019 – To mark its centenary British Airways has released a new composition based on the famous piece of music, Flower Duet, which featured in Delibes’ opera Lakmé.
The original version of the music will also be recognisable as it has featured in a number of adverts from across the airline’s history, and is also played in the cabin during boarding.
The new version has been composed by Lyndon Ooi – a quality engineer at British Airways – whose day job involves checking that British Airways’ aircraft are fit to fly from a technical perspective.
The reworked composition is made up of 10 variations representing 10 significant milestones in British Airways’ history. It rises, falls, speeds up and slows down to moments including the formation of Imperial Airways, the introduction of the new jet age, Concorde’s farewell and the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5.
A full video of the music being performed by the British Airways Orchestra, made up of 30 British Airways colleagues including Lyndon, can be seen [above].
Other characteristics of the piece include:
* Years are used as bar numbers starting from 1919, the year Air Transport and Travel, the forerunner to British Airways, was formed
* The theme has been deliberately transposed from B major to G major so that the first two notes of the flower duet theme are “B” and “A” representing British Airways
* In variation IV, the BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) version is “B”, rest, “A”, “C”. The Cello plays “B”, “E”, “A” (representing British European Airways) against this. Both BOAC and BEA merged to form the current ‘British Airways’ customers know today
* The time signature of 7/4 in the bar 1971 represents the inaugural flight of British Airways’ first 747.
* The Concorde theme in bar 1976 - the year of is the aircraft’s first commercial flight - involves climbing up two octaves and back down signifying its ability to reach the speed of Mach 2 (supersonic speed)
* The end of the piece involves the entire current British Airways fleet of aircraft being represented by numbers on the diatonic scale. For example, 787 (the Dreamliner) and 320 (a popular short-haul aircraft) are on trills. As a look to the future, 350 comes in the final bar representing the A350 British Airways will receive later this year
Lyndon Ooi, the composer behind the music who works as an engineer, said: “Music has been a passion all of my life – much like the excitement of flying and the experience of travel it communicates with people and speaks straight to their hearts. It was a real challenge to fit the entire 100-year history of British Airways into the piece but I’m really happy with the final result. And what a pleasure it was to perform it with my colleagues in the British Airways Orchestra.”
A film of Lyndon explaining his thinking behind the music can be seen below:
In its centenary year, British Airways is hosting a range of activities and events. The airline is hosting BA 2119 - a programme, which will lead the debate on the future of flying and explore the future of sustainable aviation fuels, the aviation careers of the future and the customer experience of the future.
The airline will be working with expert partners to identify BA’s 100 Modern Britons; the people up and down the country who are currently shaping modern Britain, and of course, the year would not be complete without creating some special moments for customers – on and off board.
The centenary activity is taking place alongside the airline’s current five-year £6.5bn investment for customers. This includes the installation of the best quality WiFi and power in every seat, fitting 128 long-haul aircraft with new interiors and taking delivery of 72 new aircraft. Last month the airline also revealed its highly-anticipated new business class seat - 'Club Suite' - and confirmed it will arrive on the first of its A350 aircraft in July.
A link to the British Airways Orchestra Facebook page can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/britishairwaysorchestra/
ENDS
Ooi's report on Cloudfront:
https://d1btjlf89lsb3b.cloudfront.ne...1555488483.mp4
There is a new video on BA's Youtube channel, featuring the BA Orchestra, a long standing social club of BA staff, with some external players too. Delibes Lakmé "Flower Duet" has been re-engineered by a member of BA's staff to encompass 100 bars, and then performed (in Waterside by the looks of it) by the BA Orchestra.
Here is the hyperlink for the full screen version:
Code:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rsTk2AZI9k
British Airways - BRITISH AIRWAYS ENGINEER RE-IMAGINES FAMOUS MUSICAL THEME FROM ?LAKMÉ? TO MARK AIRLINE?S CENTENARY
BRITISH AIRWAYS ENGINEER RE-IMAGINES FAMOUS MUSICAL THEME FROM ‘LAKMÉ’ TO MARK AIRLINE’S CENTENARY
April 17, 2019
Flower Duet theme from Delibes’ opera Lakmé reimagined to reflect British Airways’ history, in the airline’s centenary year
Music composed by British Airways’ quality engineer Lyndon Ooi whose day job involves checking that British Airways’ aircraft are fit to fly from a technical perspective
The music features a number of distinctive characteristics which reflect key moments in the airline’s history
Music was performed by the British Airways Orchestra made up of 30 British Airways colleagues and some external musicians.
Wednesday April 17, 2019 – To mark its centenary British Airways has released a new composition based on the famous piece of music, Flower Duet, which featured in Delibes’ opera Lakmé.
The original version of the music will also be recognisable as it has featured in a number of adverts from across the airline’s history, and is also played in the cabin during boarding.
The new version has been composed by Lyndon Ooi – a quality engineer at British Airways – whose day job involves checking that British Airways’ aircraft are fit to fly from a technical perspective.
The reworked composition is made up of 10 variations representing 10 significant milestones in British Airways’ history. It rises, falls, speeds up and slows down to moments including the formation of Imperial Airways, the introduction of the new jet age, Concorde’s farewell and the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5.
A full video of the music being performed by the British Airways Orchestra, made up of 30 British Airways colleagues including Lyndon, can be seen [above].
Other characteristics of the piece include:
* Years are used as bar numbers starting from 1919, the year Air Transport and Travel, the forerunner to British Airways, was formed
* The theme has been deliberately transposed from B major to G major so that the first two notes of the flower duet theme are “B” and “A” representing British Airways
* In variation IV, the BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) version is “B”, rest, “A”, “C”. The Cello plays “B”, “E”, “A” (representing British European Airways) against this. Both BOAC and BEA merged to form the current ‘British Airways’ customers know today
* The time signature of 7/4 in the bar 1971 represents the inaugural flight of British Airways’ first 747.
* The Concorde theme in bar 1976 - the year of is the aircraft’s first commercial flight - involves climbing up two octaves and back down signifying its ability to reach the speed of Mach 2 (supersonic speed)
* The end of the piece involves the entire current British Airways fleet of aircraft being represented by numbers on the diatonic scale. For example, 787 (the Dreamliner) and 320 (a popular short-haul aircraft) are on trills. As a look to the future, 350 comes in the final bar representing the A350 British Airways will receive later this year
Lyndon Ooi, the composer behind the music who works as an engineer, said: “Music has been a passion all of my life – much like the excitement of flying and the experience of travel it communicates with people and speaks straight to their hearts. It was a real challenge to fit the entire 100-year history of British Airways into the piece but I’m really happy with the final result. And what a pleasure it was to perform it with my colleagues in the British Airways Orchestra.”
A film of Lyndon explaining his thinking behind the music can be seen below:
In its centenary year, British Airways is hosting a range of activities and events. The airline is hosting BA 2119 - a programme, which will lead the debate on the future of flying and explore the future of sustainable aviation fuels, the aviation careers of the future and the customer experience of the future.
The airline will be working with expert partners to identify BA’s 100 Modern Britons; the people up and down the country who are currently shaping modern Britain, and of course, the year would not be complete without creating some special moments for customers – on and off board.
The centenary activity is taking place alongside the airline’s current five-year £6.5bn investment for customers. This includes the installation of the best quality WiFi and power in every seat, fitting 128 long-haul aircraft with new interiors and taking delivery of 72 new aircraft. Last month the airline also revealed its highly-anticipated new business class seat - 'Club Suite' - and confirmed it will arrive on the first of its A350 aircraft in July.
A link to the British Airways Orchestra Facebook page can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/britishairwaysorchestra/
ENDS
https://d1btjlf89lsb3b.cloudfront.ne...1555488483.mp4
#3
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I also enjoyed it. Will this be found on-board in the near future? There is also a glaring mistake. In Variation X, one of the Dreamliners has the registration G-VIIN which is found on a 777.
Last edited by tedcruz; Apr 17, 2019 at 3:39 pm
#5
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A horrible idea as far as im
concerned. I thoroughly dislike the concept of ‘adapting’ classical music and rewriting it. It includes both the version currently used and this. Leave the Flower duet alone, it is just a lot more beautiful as Delibes composed it. I have no doubt, however, that I’ll be a very small minority here.
PS: I like the idea of BA staff performing though! Just wish it was the actual air.
PPS: why no image of an A380 (unless I've missed it?). It is my favourite BA bird! It would also be nice to feature some of the subsidiaries within the BA family, the unique offerings such as CWLCY, and BMI among the historical ones.
concerned. I thoroughly dislike the concept of ‘adapting’ classical music and rewriting it. It includes both the version currently used and this. Leave the Flower duet alone, it is just a lot more beautiful as Delibes composed it. I have no doubt, however, that I’ll be a very small minority here.
PS: I like the idea of BA staff performing though! Just wish it was the actual air.
PPS: why no image of an A380 (unless I've missed it?). It is my favourite BA bird! It would also be nice to feature some of the subsidiaries within the BA family, the unique offerings such as CWLCY, and BMI among the historical ones.
Last edited by orbitmic; Apr 19, 2019 at 1:28 am Reason: My phone had changed "Duet" into "Diet". Talk about revionism!
#8
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A horrible idea as far as im
concerned. I thoroughly dislike the concept of ‘adapting’ classical music and rewriting it. It includes both the current version used and this. Leave the Flower diet alone it is just a lot more beautiful as Delibes composed it. I have no doubt, however, I’ll be a very small minority here.
PS: I like the idea of BA staff performing though! Just wish it was the actual air.
concerned. I thoroughly dislike the concept of ‘adapting’ classical music and rewriting it. It includes both the current version used and this. Leave the Flower diet alone it is just a lot more beautiful as Delibes composed it. I have no doubt, however, I’ll be a very small minority here.
PS: I like the idea of BA staff performing though! Just wish it was the actual air.
#9
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I'm with you on this as I'm a conservative when it comes to change in relation to the classical version. However, overall I think this is an excellent piece of PR work. Love the clip of Sir Winston. Am currently reading the Roy Jenkins biography of him and am amazed at the amount of time he spent flying and away from the UK during the war.
#11
I think everyone involved in this should be congratulated. I got goosebumps at Variation II.
Obviously it's PR but if you enjoy watching it, it's a win-win.
Also been enjoying some of the recent JAL adds, very classy.
Obviously it's PR but if you enjoy watching it, it's a win-win.
Also been enjoying some of the recent JAL adds, very classy.
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#15
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A horrible idea as far as im concerned. I thoroughly dislike the concept of ‘adapting’ classical music and rewriting it. It includes both the version currently used and this. Leave the Flower duet alone, it is just a lot more beautiful as Delibes composed it. I have no doubt, however, that I’ll be a very small minority here.