Fortissimo Autumn 2010

FABER MUSIC NEWS AUTUMN 2010

fortissimo!

Fanfare to Fantasias An astonishing year for Julian Anderson

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Torsten Rasch gets Punchdrunk! p 3 Tansy Davies Plays a ‘Wild Card’ p 4 David Matthews – The Symphonist p 5 Britten Programming Ideas for 2013 p 6 Knussen News p 7 New Book – ‘Behind Bars’ p 23 Interview with composer Torsten Rasch p 21

TUNING IN • SPOTLIGHT ON TORSTEN RASCH • NEW BOOK – ‘BEHIND BARS’ • NEW WORKS FROM THE PERFORMANCE DEPARTMENT NEW PUBLICATIONS • NEW RECORDINGS • SALES PUBLICATION NEWS • MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • BOOKS ON MUSIC FROM FABER & FABER • MUSIC FOR NOW

Julian Anderson’s ‘Fantasias’ in the UK Anderson describes his latest orchestral work Fantasias as ‘a celebration of the modern symphony orchestra’. It seems fitting then, that this exhilarating 5-movement work should be performed by one the most forward-looking and youthful of musical establishments, the UK’s National Youth Orchestra.

It was the Cleveland Orchestra that commissioned Fantasias, and gave the premiere last November, but the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain got the challenging and exciting opportunity of introducing this virtuosic work to UK audiences, being the centrepiece of their summer tour, framed by French music, and conducted by Semyon Bychkov.

Raucous in the best sense, it set up one of Anderson’s scintillating scores, rhythmically intricate, rich in unexpected and often eerie sounds (double basses particularly ear-catching), and with a vein of lyricism that occasionally skirted close to melody. The NYO played with absolute assurance, lapping up every challenge.

5* review in The Guardian!

Note from the composer:

‘It is Anderson’s first multi-movement work for orchestra, and, for all their subtle interconnections, the five pieces that make up Fantasias aim at maximum variety and contrast. The opening fantasia, for brass alone and sounding like a Gabrieli sonata with a postmodern makeover, is followed by a movement overflowing with ideas and luscious, deliquescent textures, and a whispering, creaking nocturne apparently inspired by rainforest sounds. The tiny, evanescent scherzo and breathtaking prestissimo finale both introduce quarter-tones, giving a fuzzy strangeness to some of the harmonies. It’s a wonderfully rich score, which the NYO at maximum strength – six bassoons, five harps, three tubas – played with remarkable precision.’

Whereas my previous orchestral pieces have been in one continuous movement, this work is in five separate movements of varying length. The main advantage of a multi-movement structure is that it allows stronger contrasts and more variety of forms to be used within the same piece. Fantasias explores these possibilities.

The Guardian (Andrew Clements), 8 August 2010

‘It’s an incredibly arresting start to a piece which sets out to pitch sound against motion in a succession of brilliantly imagined polyphonies and is expressly designed to excite and tantalise and, in the case of the NYO, challenge and exercise. Even the extended “Nocturne” at its heart hums to a profusion of Bartokian insect life, all manner of con legno, slap-pizzicati, knocking and scratching effects conspiring to produce hyperactivity against a calm backdrop.’

Evening Standard (Nick Kimberley), 9 August 2010

The UK premiere took place in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on 4 August, then on 5 August in Aldeburgh, finally arriving at the BBC Proms on 7 August for the London premiere.

The title Fantasias indicates many things: a sense of fantasy and the fantastical, which is certainly one aspect of the music; the sense of caprice and unpredictability just mentioned, which is evident especially in movements 2, 4 and 5; and also that this is a set of varied movements which, though they belong together in this order, are not in any sense symphonic.

For all its wild contrasts, Fantasias is a celebration of the modern symphony orchestra. © Julian Anderson

The Independent (Edward Seckerson), 8 August 2010

‘Fantasias… exploited bravura, quick thinking and nifty articulation that the NYO demonstrated in abundance, underpinning the music’s propulsion and stimulating its brilliance.’

The Daily Telegraph (Geoffrey Norris), 9 August 2010

HIGHLIGHTS

Torsten Rasch gets Punchdrunk!

The UK’s most talked-about experimental theatre group Punchdrunk joined forces with German composer Torsten Rasch & English National Opera for one of this summer’s most sought-after events.

Librettist Ian Burton adapted John Webster’s 17th Century macabre tragedy The Duchess of Malfi for this new opera, performed at a mammoth 80,000 sq ft office building in one of the most deserted easterly parts of industrial London. Despite the bizarre location for such an event, the tickets sold within hours of going on sale – the crazed interest in purchasing tickets crashed the ENO’s online ticket function!

You may ask what is the draw to such an event?

Punchdrunk, masterminded by Director Felix Barrett, has made its name by habit of immersing its ever-faithful ‘Sight, sound and audiences into the action, making smell combine to them part of the production. “We staggering effect will be putting the audience in the …Torsten Rasch’s middle of the opera rather than in the stalls,” said Barrett. The opulent score…ekes audience is allowed to roam freely out the tension, through the space, free to follow particularly in the different characters and strands of grand finale.’ the story as they unfold simultaneously, making their events an interactive platform unlike any other. Torsten Rasch’s dark and rich music perfectly reflected the tortured drama. See below for press comments.

‘Sight, sound and smell combine to staggering effect as spectators wander through an office building, choosing which characters to follow. Their reward is a scenic tour, peppered with such hallucinogenic highlights as a forest of wire trees and naked figures in the dark. The lack of linearity heightens the atmosphere of John Webster’s macabre play.

Meanwhile, Torsten Rasch’s opulent score, redolent of the composer’s idol, Alban Berg, ekes out the tension, particularly in the grand finale. It is

impressively handled by contralto Claudia Huckle, counter-tenor Andrew Watts and the orchestra of the ENO. Fantastic in the most literal sense: if there were ever a candidate for a six-star review, this would surely be it.

Timeout (Hannah Nepil), 21 July 2010

‘As anyone who knows his thrilling orchestral song-cycle Mein Herz brennt will know, this man writes most beautifully for both voice and orchestra.’

The Independent (Edward Seckerson)

‘The music is by Torsten Rasch, whose assertive and forthright material harbors an edge of darkness… it was a fascinating new experience, beautifully performed, and another feather in the cap for ENO’s John Berry in his quest to extend boundaries.’

Musical America (Keith Clarke), 16 July 2010

‘…the collaboration between a forward-looking and open-minded English National Opera, a theatre group like Punchdrunk and the soundworld of the German composer of The Duchess of Malfi, proved to be an experience of another kind: unforgettable and unique.’

Welt-online 31.7.10 (translated)

In an interview with The Guardian’s Charlotte Higgins, Barrett explains how he came to choose Torsten. “We listened to the work of about 30 composers,” he said. “As soon as we heard Mein Herz brennt we knew Torsten Rasch was the one. The piece is epic, it’s so operatic in its theatricality. He has completely embraced the deconstruction of the orchestra and our dispensing with linear narrative.

He’s grabbed the idea with everything he has.”

The Duchess of Malfi The Duchess of Malfi, a young Aragonian noblewoman recently widowed, has two brothers: her twin Ferdinand, the Duke of Calabria, and her elder brother, the Cardinal of Aragon. They have expressly forbidden her ever to marry again, but the reasons for their decision remain obscure, although in Ferdinand’s case they seem to conceal suppressed incestuous feelings. The brothers place Daniel de Bosola, a professional assassin, in her service. He has recently come out of prison and the brothers employ him initially as a spy. Ultimately, he becomes the Duchess’s torturer and executioner.

The Duchess falls in love with her steward, Antonio Bologna, and secretly marries him. Over the next four years she gives birth to three of his children, a fact which the couple try to conceal from the brothers. Of course, Bosola discovers their guilt and reports it to his paymasters.

The Duchess and Antonio go into exile under the pretence of making a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Loretto. The Cardinal becomes a general and joins the war against the King of Naples. The Duchess is separated from Antonio and imprisoned in her own castle, mentally tortured in a variety of hideous ways, and finally strangled, along with two of her children.

Ferdinand goes mad, the Cardinal poisons his mistress Julia, and in the end, Ferdinand, the Cardinal, Antonio and Bosola are all dead, after a bloodbath of violence (as well as despair, regret and loss) which takes place in the darkest confusion.

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Tansy Davies Plays a ‘Wild Card’!

Davies’ debut at the BBC Proms

Also for the Proms

Davies took audiences on a journey through the Tarot pack with her latest BBC commission. Taking inspiration from this game-like form of psychoanalysis, Wild Card journeys through life’s challenges, exploring the qualities and characters of each card.

Davies’ own fascination with the Tarot has led her to exploit its labyrinths in this musical adventure loosely based on the ‘Fool’s Journey’, a metaphor for the journey through life, as depicted by the images and archetypes found in a Tarot pack. Davies herself admits to finding the Tarot a useful guide to everyday life being ‘multidimensional and gamelike.’

The twenty-two Major Arcana (characters of the Tarot) are represented in Wild Card, though not necessarily in their numbered order. They appear in succession, but sometimes as many as three cards are played together. Some characters return again and again, underpinning other scenes, or creating dramas.

Wild Card represented Davies’ debut appearance at the BBC Proms on 8 September 2010, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jirí Bìlohlávek, alongside music by Wagner and Bruckner.

BBC Radio 4’s Today programme featured Davies in discussion with Roger Wright in the run up to the premiere of Wild Card, and there was a Proms Plus pre-concert event where Davies in conversation with Tom Service, discussed her Proms commission and introduced her chamber works grind show (electric), salt box and neon, performed by musicians from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

This is only Davies second large-scale work for orchestra, her first Rift – a BBC Concert Orchestra commission was performed as part of their Discovering Music series in 2008 at the Watford Colosseum.

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Wild Card orchestra Duration 24 minutes Commissioned by the BBC 8.9.10, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: BBC SO/ Jirí Belohlávek 3(II=picc.III=afl).3.3(II&III=bcl).3(III=cbsn with A extension) - 4.3.2.btrbn.1 - timp - perc(4) - pno - harp - strings Score and parts for hire

HIGHLIGHTS

David Matthews The Symphonist Symphonies on disc

Symphony No 7!

In recognition of Gustav Mahler’s 150th anniversary this Record label Dutton Epoch released dedicated recordings of year, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in association with the Matthews’ symphonies – most recently numbers 2 & 6, BBC Philharmonic and resident Hallé Orchestra, presented which have proved to be a hit with critics this summer. all the Mahler symphonies during the season. Each ‘Matthews is among our most prodigious symphonists: symphony was prefaced by a specially commissioned work, he has completed seven, all adhering to tonality, all and it was natural that David Matthews (whose connections conceived on a grand scale, in pursuit of the beau with and sympathies for Mahler are well-known) should be idéal of full integration of material, of maximum unity one of the composers selected. As it happened, Matthews’ with maximum contrast. Here are the own Symphony No 7 was the prelude to a first recordings of his Second and Sixth fantastic performance of Mahler’s Seventh ‘…Matthews has Symphonies in powerful accounts by the BBC Philharmonic under their emerged as a leading under Steen. No 2 is a four-movement principal conductor, Gianandrea Noseda.

21st-Century exponent single span issuing in a stentorian The recent spate of recordings of presto veloce. The three-movement No of the form’ Matthews’ earlier symphonies have led to a 6 grew outwards from its scherzo – burdgeoning recognition that in him we written to commission as a variation have a major British symphonist.

Matthews’ Symphony No 7 proved no exception to this on a hymn tune by Vaughan Williams, whose Sixth view. His unrivalled talents as a supreme orchestrator and Symphony also proved an inspiration, as did Mahler’s. ability to sustain a striking lyricism throughout a wellThe movement contains a gripping cadenza for balanced structure, inspired the performers to give of their marimba and vibraphone.’ best and the audience responded with huge enthusiasm.

The Sunday Times (Paul Driver), 21 March 2010

5* review in The Guardian

International Record Review OUTSTANDING!

‘… a single-movement, four-section work that also has great beauty and richness. It rings endless changes on a rapturous viola melody, heard at the outset over tremulous violins, and reaches its climax with a dexterous percussion cadenza before bounding towards an exuberant close. Breathtakingly scored, it was superbly played.’

‘From a period rich in British symphonies, Matthews’s Second is a ‘dark horse’ now coming into its own: younger composers could certainly profit by its example.

Matthews’s music may, by his own admission, have become more overtly tonal, but its depth and emotional complexity have also increased. Those looking for easy answers should steer clear, but those looking for lasting solutions are in for a treat.’

Guardian (Tim Ashley), 27 April 2010

‘… What makes Matthews’s music lovable is the way it embraces straightforwardly tonal means, with no tricksy post-modern irony or agonised breast-beating.

This new symphony goes further in the direction of limpid simplicity. It takes daring to place a guileless melody over a row of major chords, but lending those things a subtle shapeliness and pregnant suggestiveness needs art, too, which this symphony had in abundance.’

International Record Review (Richard Whitehouse), May 2010

‘…Matthews has emerged as a leading 21st Century exponent of the form… Learning from Tippett, Maw and others that pattern-making must always be purposeful, he shuns rhapsodic rambling and can summon up the kind of creative energy that makes the epic finale of the Second Symphony so powerful.’

Gramophone (Arnold Whittall), September 2010

Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 27 April 2010

‘... artfully and beautifully composed... there is a splendid cadenza for timpani which is the grand climax of the work, and also the signal for a slow, shadowy Tenebroso section which moves out of darkness into the boisterous energy of the coda.’

‘Matthews is among our most prodigious symphonists…’

The Times (Hilary Finch)

The 21-minute symphony was presented to audiences on Saturday 24 April, at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. The world premiere did lack one particular audience member – the composer himself, who was stranded in Australia due to the volcanic ash transport crisis, which disrupted so many events early in 2010.

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Britten – Programming Ideas for 2013 Britten’s music is so widely known and frequently played, that making a special celebration for 2013 (the hundredth anniversary of his birth) presents concert planners with quite a challenge.

However, the abundance of Britten’s creative talent resulted in a large number of works that remain eclipsed by his better known achievements. Many of these are not worthy of the neglect that has become their lot, and would be in the forefront of another composer’s oeuvre.

2013 must surely be the moment to revisit these pieces.

See below for ideas for short concert openers, jazzrelated works, and the extraordinary collection of music for BBC plays that produced some of the composer’s most imaginative work.

Overtures & Concert Openers Occasional Overture The festal brass, bustling strings, brilliant solo writing and dazzling textures of the Occasional Overture were written in less than two months, during a particularly fertile compositional period.

Overture Paul Bunyan

J. B. Priestley’s Johnson Over Jordan is a modern morality play, in which a man on the verge of death revisits earlier periods in his life as he contemplates what he has become and where he is going. These different periods in the protagonist’s life stimulated Britten to write a remarkably evocative incidental score. ‘The Spider and the Fly’, his music for the play’s most climactic scene, set in a decadent night-club, incorporates 1930s jazz with great skill.

Concert Suites for Orchestra Suite from Death in Venice - Duration 27 minutes Less of a suite and more of an operatic symphony, this continuous orchestral work functions as a précis to Britten’s final operatic utterance. It flows logically through the salient points of action, falling into several clearly differentiated sections, and thus includes some of the most dramatic and beautiful music of this extraordinary score, with its exotic gamelan-like ballet music.

Johnson over Jordan Suite - Duration 18 minutes

Britten drafted this overture and intended its inclusion in the first production of Paul Bunyan. When Britten revised his popular operetta in the final years of his life, he composed a new brief introduction. Following Britten’s death, Colin Matthews orchestrated the original overture, using the instrumentation and colours of the opera, and it now stands as an exciting work in its own right.

FURTHER INFORMATION: Occasional Overture

The Building of the House Overture (1967)

Overture Paul Bunyan

The 1967 Aldeburgh Festival opened with a visit from Queen Elizabeth, a concert in the new Snape Maltings Concert Hall, and with this overture, composed to celebrate the ‘building of the house’. The work itself is as lively as the wonderful acoustic in which it was first performed, and although the version for choir and orchestra was most suitable for its premiere, the alternative versions for organ and orchestra or extra brass are just as effective.

Duration 5 minutes 2(II=picc).1.2.bcl.1 - 2221 - timp - perc(2/3) - (pno) - (harp) - strings Score 0-571-50571-6 on sale, parts for hire

Britten & Jazz Cabaret Songs - Duration 2-5 minutes These four Cabaret Songs, composed between 1937 and 1939 but not published until 1980, were written for Hedli Anderson (later wife of the poet Louis MacNeice), a singer specialising in the performance of high quality ‘light music’.

They are lively and witty settings, clearly influenced by the popular hit songs of the day (à la Cole Porter) while the onomatopoeic train noises of Calypso clearly point forward to Midnight on the Great Western from the Thomas Hardy cycle Winter Words of 1953. There is also a version for ensemble arranged by Daryl Runswick, entitled Britten’s Blues.

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Johnson over Jordan

See work details above for further information.

Duration 8 minutes 3(III=picc).2.ca.Ebcl.2.2.cbsn - 4331 - timp -perc(3): SD/TD/susp.cym/BD/ cyms/whip/tam-t/tgl/xyl - cel - harp - strings Score 0-571-50713-1 on sale, parts for hire

The Building of the House Overture Duration 6 minutes 3 fl.2 ob.Ebcl.3 cl.acl.bcl.2 asax.tsax.bsax.2 bsn - 4 hn.3 tpt.3 trbn.bar.tuba timp - perc(2) - string bass Score and parts (fp) 0-571-56117-9 on sale, chorus part 0-571-50144-3 on sale

Cabaret Songs Duration 12 minutes for voice and piano, score 0-571-50577-5 on sale ensemble version: asax(=cl).tpt.vln.pno.db.drum kit Score and parts for hire

Johnson over Jordan Duration 35 minutes 1(=picc).1(=ca).3(I=Ebcl.III=bcl+asax).1 0210 - timp - perc(1) - gtr -strings (soprano voice) optional scoring for Spider and the Fly: 2 asax(=cl).2tsax(I=bcl.II=cl) 3 tpt.2 trbn - drum kit - pno -gtr - vln.db.

Score and parts for hire

Johnson over Jordan Suite Duration 18 minutes 1(=picc).1.2(I=Ebcl.II=bcl+asax) or 3(I=Ebcl.III=bcl+asax).1 - 0210 - timp perc(1) - pno - strings Score 0-571-51166-X on sale, parts for hire

Suite from Death in Venice Duration 27 minutes 2(=picc).2.2(II=bcl).2 - 2221 - timp(=crot) - perc(4) pno - harp - strings (min 6.4.3.3.2) Score 0-571-50977-0 on sale, parts for hire

HIGHLIGHTS

Knussen News ‘Ophelia’s Last Dance’ Ophelia’s Last Dance, Knussen’s 9-minute work for solo piano, is the expansion of a musical idea first realised by Knussen in 1974. It was originally intended for his Third Symphony, and related fragments of it turned up in his 1975 work Ophelia Dances Book 1 for chamber ensemble. This particular theme continued to return to Knussen, and so it is used here, as he says in his programme note, by way of ‘continuing the dance in various ways’.

Kirill Gerstein gave the premiere on 3 May at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan, then a few days later at New York’s Town Hall. The pianist was so taken with this recently-completed piece that he played it twice! Allan Kozinn from The New York Times explains:

‘Each half of Mr. Gerstein’s fascinatingly constructed program began with a Busoni sonatina, followed by Oliver Knussen’s “Ophelia’s Last Dance” (Op. 32) – that’s right, he played it twice – and then a large Romantic work. … It begins with a dash of light-textured sparkle and a gently chromatic line, and as it grows more emotionally charged, its language veers toward neoRomanticism rather than the harmonic density of Mr. Knussen’s earlier music. ‘

Its unwinding tune is immediately memorable. It is so shimmeringly coloured, so precisely made, so assured in the delivery of its climax that it always leaves my mood effervescent. It is called Two Organa and Oliver Knussen, who wrote it, is one of Britain’s greatest living artists… His music is instantly likeable, elegant, melancholy and exhilarating. …He writes his jewel-like scores carefully, with great technical rigour, but there remains at the heart of his music an unanxious playfulness. His works are often set in the childhood worlds of toys and storybooks and in that familiar, phantasmal place between waking and sleeping. He is a conductor famed for his perfectionism and generosity, a rare combination … He has added beauty to the world.’

The Guardian (Adam Foulds), 24 July 2010

RPS Award for Conducting Achievements Knussen received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for conductors, from a shortlist of such major talents as Andris Nelsons and Kirill Karabits.

New York City Opera

The New York Times (Allan Kozinn), 10 May 2010

The UK premiere was championed by Huw Watkins at the Aldeburgh Festival on 21 June.

Ophelia’s Last Dance will be available to other pianists after May 2011. Please contact the Promotion Department for more information.

‘Two Organa’ at the Proms The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group staged a latenight appearance at the BBC Proms on 6 August, conducted

by Ilan Volkov, in a concert which framed Oliver Knussen’s Two Organa and George Benjamin’s Three Inventions, with new works by Luke Bedford and Hans Abrahamsen.

Knussen’s Two Organa was earmarked in a Guardian article a week earlier by ultimate fan Adam Foulds, as a work which gave him instant joy.

‘There aren’t many ways you can be sure to make yourself feel happy, but there’s one that always seem to work for me. I listen to a piece of music, only a minute and a half long, that was originally written for a music box and then orchestrated.

New York City Opera who first performed Where the Wild Things Are in 1987, is including the work in their ‘Opera in the Schools’ project in 2011. There will be performances of the opera, alongside an educational project for thousands of school students in over 40 schools across the five boroughs of New York.

‘Wild Things’ at Tanglewood The Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music is celebrating 70 years in 2010, and the seven decades of great composers who have led and taken a major role in its composition program. Knussen was enrolled this year as one of the three living composers who have chaired the composition activities. One of the Festival highlights was a performance of Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are.

‘You did not have to search for things to love about Mr. Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are. Every bar is vividly drawn and full of energy.’

The New York Times (Allan Kozinn), 17 August 2010

‘… the music is wonderfully evocative, conjuring up the Wild Things’ rumbles and screeches as a chorus of the imaginary beasts wordlessly howls and growls in the background.’

The Berkshire Eagle(

Forthcoming performances The Way to Castle Yonder 8.10.10, Tokyo Opera City, Japan: Tokyo PO/Oliver Knussen 3.2.11, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK: Hallé Orchestra/Oliver Knussen

Symphony No 3

29.1.11, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, UK: Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Horn Concerto 3.2.11, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK: Martin Owen/Hallé Orchestra/Oliver Knussen

Requiem

13.3.11, UK: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/Oliver 14, 15.10.10, The Symphony Hall, Osaka, Japan: Osaka PO/Oliver Knussen/Claire Booth Knussen 27, 28.4.11, Arnhem, Netherlands: Claire Music for a Puppet Court Booth/Asko/Schönberg/Oliver Knussen 20.10.10, Kanazawa, Japan: Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa/Oliver Where the Wild Things Are Knussen 5, 9.4.11, New York, USA: New York City Opera/Juilian Kuerti

Violin Concerto

28.1.11, Edinburgh Usher Hall, UK: RSNO

Selected forthcoming performances

THOMAS ADÈS by a dancer’s pliéing legs as much as the legs themselves.’

Arcadiana/Piano Quintet/ Darknesse Visible/ Mazurkas

Financial Times (Apollinaire Scherr), 19 May 2010

The New York concert premiere of this now-widelyperformed concerto is scheduled for Carnegie Hall on March 5 2011 with visiting St Louis SO under David Robertson and Leila Josefowicz as soloist. London audiences can hear another choreography of Adès’ music: Three Studies from Couperin will be choreographed by Kim Brandstrup, staged by The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in October this year.

(Australian premiere of ‘Mazurkas’) 10.10.10, Melbourne Festival, Australia: Calder Quartet/Adès

Three Studies from Couperin/Chamber Symphony 12.10.10, Melbourne Festival, Australia: ANAM/Adès

In Seven Days/ Violin Concerto/ Overture to ‘The Tempest’

New orchestral work tours the world

(Australian premiere of ‘Violin Concerto’) 15.10.10, Melbourne Festival, Australia: Adès/Melbourne SO/ Nicolas Hodges/Tal Rosner (video)

Three Studies from Couperin 15, 16, 18, 22, 28, 30.10.10, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, UK: The Royal Ballet/ch. Kim Brandstrup/cond.

Barry Wordsworth

Adès at the Melbourne Festival

20, 21.10.10, Sydney, Australia: Sydney SO/Adès

Adès is an important feature of this year’s Melbourne International Arts Festival, as he makes a rare trip to Australia to conduct the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s in some of his most acclaimed works.

Adès is also programmed to give a chamber recital and direct and play harpsichord in separate events at the festival. See below for more details.

Darknesse Visible/ Mazurkas

MELBOURNE FESTIVAL DIARY

Tevot 16.10.10, Melbourne Town Hall, Australia: Melbourne SO/Adès

Asyla

23.10.10, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia: Adès

Powder Her Face 9, 11.11.10, Teatro Rossini di Lugo, Bologna, Italy: dir. Giuseppe Grazioli

Violin Concerto 12, 13.11.10, Powell Symphony Hall, St Louis, MI, USA: St Louis SO

Lieux retrouvés 7.12.10, Rochester, New York, USA: Steven Isserlis/Jeremy Denk 9.12.10, New York, USA: Steven Isserlis/Jeremy Denk

In Seven Days

10 October – Adès & The Calder Quartet Adès spends part of each year in Los Angeles, which is where he met the Calder Quartet who have performed and recorded Arcadiana. They have since worked together with great success in Stockholm at the Adès Tonsätterfestival. In Melbourne they perform the Piano Quintet – originally a Melbourne Festival commission.

12 October – Adès and ANAM Adès directs musicians of the Australian National Academy of Music in a program of his own: Les Baricades Mistérieuses, Three Studies from Couperin and Chamber Symphony plus other music by Couperin & Rameau.

6, 7, 8.1.11, Avery Fisher Hall, New York, USA: Alan Gilbert/New York PO/Adès 13.2.11, Glasgow, UK: Nicolas Hodges/London Sinfonietta/Adès 18.2.11, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: Nicolas Hodges/ London Sinfonietta/Adès

15 October – Adès & Melbourne SO

New work

Pianist Michael Kieran Harvey, multi-disciplinary musician Anthony Pateras and musicians of the Academy perform Adès’ Living Toys.

(world premiere) 26, 28.1.11, USA: New World Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas

The Four Quarters (world premiere) 12.3.11, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA: Emerson String Quartet 14.3.11, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA, USA: Emerson String Quartet (French premiere) 6.4.11, Paris, France: Emerson String Quartet (London premiere) 7.4.11, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, UK: Emerson String Quartet

Adès conducts the renowned Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in a programme featuring his violin concerto with Anthony Marwood, alongside the Australian premiere of his multimedia piano concerto In Seven Days.

21 October

New Ballets Leading choreographer Wayne McGregor chose Adès’ Violin Concerto – Concentric Paths to choreograph and present with the New York City Ballet in May. There were five performances.

‘… an astounding score, the 2005 Violin Concerto Concentric Paths by Thomas Adès.

Outlier translates the restless, weightless wavering of the concerto’s opening into a romance between negative space and the body’s solidity. It emphasises the diamond of air framed

8 THOMAS ADÈS © MAURICE FOXALL

The New World Symphony Orchestra operate in Miami, a region once best known for sun and surf, which is fast becoming a world-class cultural destination. It was a natural for the New World Symphony therefore to commission Adès to write a work to open their state-of-the-art new concert venue designed by Frank Gehry. The new orchestral work will fully demonstrate the eagerly-anticipated acoustic and a collaboration with Tal Rosner will result in an accompanying video. The new work will be of approximately 15 minutes in duration and has been co-commissioned by no less than six other international organisations (in each case being presented as a stand-alone concert work): New World Symphony, Frank Gehry Hall, Miami on 26th & 28th January 2011; Los Angeles Philharmonic, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles on 9 April 2011; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on 17th June 2011; San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco on 8 September 2011; New York Philharmonic, Avery Fisher Hall, New York in January 2012; The Barbican, London in February 2012; Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon, January 2012.

Classical Brit Award for ‘The Tempest’ Adès joined the likes of Andrea Gheorghiu and Bryn Terfel on the glitzy red carpet in order to receive his award as ‘Composer of the Year’ for the EMI recording of his 2nd opera The Tempest, at this season’s televised awards ceremony.

‘Aspects of Adès’ Festival & premiere of new String Quartet Adès’ ongoing relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra continues with another composer focus, following several other successful presentations of his music. The Spring 2011 tribute begins with the West Coast premiere of his second string quartet, The Four Quarters on 14 March, only two days after its Carnegie Hall world premiere on 12 March (Carnegie Hall commissioned it). In addition, Adès conducts his piano concerto In Seven Days (a Los Angeles Philharmonic commission) and the new work for Miami. Other featured pieces are: Concerto Conciso, These Premises Are Alarmed and Violin Concerto. As pianist Adès performs his virtuosic Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face on 5 April.

H I GNHI N L IG G HI N TS TU Selected forthcoming performances

JULIAN ANDERSON Westminster Abbey Mass Anderson was commissioned by the Dean & Chapter of Westminster to mark the 450th anniversary of the Abbey’s Collegiate Charter (granted by Elizabeth in 1560). Bell Mass was given a deeply committed performance by the Choir of Westminster Abbey under James O’Donnell on 29 June in a liturgical performance at a Sung Eucharist on the Abbey’s patronal feast day, and again in concert on 2 July.

Julian Anderson in conversation with James O’Donnell JO: This is your first commission for Westminster Abbey. How does it feel to be following in the footsteps of Purcell, Blow, Handel, and the many other illustrious composers who all wrote music for the Abbey?

For Anderson, 2010 is a year of consolidation and arrival. He was a recipient of two high-profile commissions for anniversary celebrations, premiered a week apart. The LPO commissioned him to write a short fanfare for 16 brass players, and as a commission from Westminster Abbey, Anderson produced a stunningly beautiful Bell Mass for SATB and organ, lasting 15 minutes.

But the highlight of the Anderson year for the 6000 Prommers in the Albert Hall was the amazingly assured and vibrant performance by the NYO of his Fantasias – a formidably virtuosic work commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra, but receiving at this year’s BBC Proms its London premiere (see p.2). 2010 is also the first year of the composer’s new relationship as Composer in Residence to the LPO. Fantasias is already programmed – with Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski – and several earlier orchestral works will grace each season at the Southbank for the next three years.

Anniversary Compositions 350th Anniversary of the Royal Society Julian Anderson’s commission to write a short Fanfare to welcome HRH Queen Elizabeth II’s arrival at the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society convocation at the Royal Festival Hall on 23 June – one of this year’s many events recognising the remarkable contributions that the Royal Society has made towards the progress of science. Anderson’s father Professor ES Anderson was a Royal Society Fellow and an eminent microbiologist, making this a particularly relevant commission for the composer. Anderson aptly titled the 3-minute Fanfare Transferable Resistance, and describes the work: ‘Instead of a purely conventional fanfare, I have tried to convey something of the profound excitement and adventure of scientific discovery, as well as the high moral standards of the Royal Society’s Fellowship.’

During the event, HRH Prince William was admitted to the Royal Society in the company of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

JA: I am delighted to have been commissioned by the Dean & Chapter to compose for this special anniversary. I used to worship in the Abbey when I was a pupil at Westminster School. Indeed, one of my main memories is of the loud Abbey bells ringing during classes.

Alhambra Fantasy 16.10.10, Lyon, France: Conservatoire de Lyon

Heaven is Shy of Earth 26.11.10, Barbican, London, UK: Susan Bickley/BBC Symphony Orchestra/Oliver Knussen

The Stations of the Sun 15.12.10, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: London Philharmonic Orchestra/Jukka-Pekka Saraste

The Comedy of Change 17 & 18.12.10, Symphony Space, New York, USA: New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Alan Gilbert 28.4.11, MuziekGebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Oliver Knussen/Asko/Schoenberg

The Crazed Moon 19.3.11, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski

JO: What was the particular inspiration for this work?

JA: I was inspired by the space and height of the building and have tried to capture these aspects in the sound of the piece, and also in the sections when individual singers chant at different speeds lending a kaleidoscopic effect. I was also inspired by the Abbey bells, which suggested to me fresh forms of melody and a new kind of melodic writing – a new simplicity and stillness.

‘The Comedy of Change’ US premiere New York’s Metropolitan Museum features Anderson’s ensemble work The Comedy of Change in their new music series ‘CONTACT!’ which “connects audiences with some of the most interesting, innovative, and engaging music of our time”. The work will be performed on 17 & 18 December by an ensemble of New York Philharmonic musicians within the intimate setting of the museum, giving the work its US premiere.

‘Heaven is Shy of Earth’ revival Julian Anderson’s Heaven is Shy of Earth for mezzosoprano, SATB choir and orchestra, based on poetry by Emily Dickinson was a huge success at its 2006 premiere, with the Sunday Times describing it as ‘a powerful, beautiful and curious work’ and the Guardian praising its ‘shimmering soundworld’. Don’t miss this chance to hear the world premiere of the completed version (now including a Gloria) alongside ideal companion pieces, Copland’s setting of Dickinson’s poetry and Sean Shepperd’s Wanderlust, a thrilling and exciting showpiece for orchestra. Oliver Knussen conducts Susan Bickley and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican on 26 November 2010.

9 JULIAN ANDERSON © MAURICE FOXALL

Selected forthcoming performances

MALCOLM ARNOLD

Concerto for Clarinet No 2

‘The Malcolm Arnold Festival will be celebrating Sir Malcolm’s 90th with an appropriately grand gesture! The Festival will include all of his nine symphonies. Arnold was undoubtedly a major symphonist: his very personal sense of musical structure and development and his selfproclaimed announcement that ‘all my music is autobiographical’ make these works enormously important within the corpus of 20th century British Music. I envisage the weekend not as a series of concerts but as one continuous musical experience which will also include other contemporary works, talks, discussions and general celebratory offerings!’

28.8.10, Parish Church, Sant Pere Pescador, Spain: Georgina Feary/Thames Youth Orchestra/Simon Ferris 11.11.10, Seoul Culture & Arts Center: Prime Philharmonic Orchestra/Bong Kim

Four Cornish Dances 30.8.10, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: BBC Concert Orchestra/Keith Lockhart

The Return of Odysseus/ Sweeney Todd 16.10.10, Malcolm Arnold Festival, St Matthew’s Church, Northampton, UK:

The Three Musketeers, 12 & 28.1.11, 6 &.2.11, 19.5.11, 9.6.11, Estonian National Opera, Tallinn, Estonia: Ballet of the Estonian National Ballet/ch. David Nixon/cond. Jüri Alperten & Mihhail Gerts

Paul Harris

‘Malcolm Arnold’ chosen for new academy name A new Academy is to be set up in Northampton in Sir Malcolm Arnold’s name.

Over 400 students and staff proffered suggestions to the David Ross Foundation who sponsor the Academy, and by popular vote, Sir Malcolm’s name was chosen. Chairman of the Foundation, David Ross, said “I have been delighted by the volume of responses from staff and students in relation to the academy name. It is my belief that the academy name should be unique and celebrate the best of Northampton and that is precisely what Sir Malcolm Arnold signifies. I would like to thank those students and staff for submitting so many suggestions.”

The new academy, which opened on 1 September 2010 on the site of Unity College, Northampton will focus on raising expectations of what students are capable of achieving.

Malcolm Arnold Festival 2010 The theme for the 5th Malcolm Arnold Festival in 2010 is Stage and Screen. Ideal mediums for Sir Malcolm’s gloriously colourful, evocative and melodic music and a fascinating assortment of incidental music will be showcased. One of the major highlights, is the performance of The Return of Odysseus and the Sweeney Todd Suite with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra and the Abingdon Choral Society under their conductor Alexander Walker. The performance will take place on 16 October at St Matthews Church in Northhampton.

90th Anniversary of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s birth 2011 is the 90th anniversary of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s birth, for which many celebrations are organised.

Plans for Malcolm Arnold Festival in 2011 Paul Harris, the Artistic Director of the Malcolm Arnold Festival, gives a sneak preview into the highlights of next year’s anniversary Festival from October 21st – 23rd at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton.

10 MALCOLM ARNOLD © MAURICE FOXALL

In recognition of the anniversary, the brass department of Wells Cathedral School is presenting, ‘England Labour and Love’ – a special concert in May which will feature Sir Malcolm’s works for brass.

Wells Cathedral School is a DfES Specialist Music School and coincidentally the Brass Department in 2011 will also be celebrating its 25th anniversary as a DfES Specialist department, when the first brass specialist, Matthew Gunner (horn) and Ceri McInally(tuba) arrived along with the current Head of Brass Paul Denegri in 1986.

As Sir Malcolm Arnold was a distinguished trumpet player, there is an obvious connection between these anniversaries. The concert will feature, amongst others, all his brass unaccompanied Fantasies for trumpet, trombone, horn and tuba, his Trumpet Concerto, various fanfares, his 2 brass quintets and Sir Malcom’s demanding Symphony for Brass.

The concert will be held in the school’s 16th century recital hall and features the Brass Departments finest young musicians on the DfES specialist music scheme.

Paul Denegri HonARAM FTCL LTCL

‘Four Cornish Dances’ at the BBC Proms On 30 August, the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted

by Keith Lockhart performed Sir Malcolm Arnold’s classic Four Cornish Dances at this year’s Proms in a programme listed as ‘English classics and US pizzazz’.

‘… Arnold’s music was born to vibrate through the Albert Hall.’

Also in the programme were other British classics Walton & Butterworth, and a new work by Graham Fitkin, followed by Bernstein, Gershwin and John Williams.

‘For sonic thrill, though, nothing beat the concert’s other Cornish souvenir, Malcolm Arnold’s Four Cornish Dances. Rumbustious but troubled, Arnold’s music was born to vibrate through the Albert Hall.’

The Times (Geoff Brown), 1 September 2010

TUNING IN Selected forthcoming performances

GEORGE BENJAMIN performances on the Maltings stage in John Fulljames’s production, it draws on Benjamin’s peerless ability to create tight structure from a haze of colour, harmony from complex, intractable-seeming material, and bright innovation from painstaking craftsmanship. Both works take music and its powers, often abused, for their main subject. It is a subject that Benjamin’s contributions of the last three decades or so have further deepened and ennobled.’

The Guardian (Guy Damman), 21 June 2010

‘...At First Light (1982) was revealed as a masterpiece of the modern orchestral repertoire’.

Financial Times (Andrew Clark), 13 June 2010

George Benjamin receives CBE

Buxton Festival & Latitude Festival, Suffolk

Faber Music congratulates George Benjamin on receiving a much deserved CBE for his services to music, in the Queen’s birthday honours list for 2010.

Benjamin’s 50th birthday celebrations hit a climax this summer when he featured at several prominent festivals!

Into the Little Hill continued to marvel audiences this summer hitting the festival scene on tour with the London Sinfonietta and the Opera Group to Buxton Festival and Suffolk’s multi-arts festival Latitude, before arriving for a run of performances at the Linbury Studio in Covent Garden at the end of July.

For this tour, Into the Little Hill was coupled with Berio’s rarely performed tour de force Recital 1.

Ojai Festival, California

Benjamin’s Music at the BBC Proms in 2010

As this year’s Music Director for California’s Ojai Festival, three of Benjamin’s works were heard during the four-day, six-concert event, from 10-16 June. Benjamin’s programming, the bulk of it played by the Ensemble Modern, included Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale and the chamber version of Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra – as well as works by composers closer to him both personally and stylistically, including Messiaen, Ligeti, Boulez and Knussen. LA Times critic Mark Swed heralded Benjamin as ‘a refined, generous musician of many sides’ and applauded Into the Little Hill.

The London premiere of Benjamin’s Duet for piano and orchestra was eagerly awaited since its 2008 premiere in Lucerne, but at last on 2nd August, Pierre-Laurent Aimard wowed the BBC Proms audiences with his performance of this extraordinary and striking work. Jonathan Nott conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

BENJAMIN FESTIVITIES!

Benjamin’s score gets under the skin. Shadowy instruments – bass flute, contrabass clarinet, two basset horns, mandolin, banjo, double bass – were made to sound weirdly light and insubstantial. In diamond-like mysterious instrumental phrases, the sinister turned ethereal then mystical. A small masterpiece...

LA Times (Mark Swed)

Aldeburgh Festival, Suffolk The Aldeburgh Festival began with a chance to revisit the London Sinfonietta & the Opera Group’s staging of Into the Little Hill, followed by an array of concerts presenting a broad scope of Benjamin’s oeuvre.

‘Susan Bickley sang Benjamin’s setting of WB Yeats’s Long-legged Fly at its premiere. Twenty years later, she reminded us why Upon Silence remains one of the composer’s most profound offerings. Like the slender opera Into the Little Hill, which transferred fluently for two GEORGE BENJAMIN © MAURICE FOXALL

‘...Aimard laying out the grounds for discussion on which the orchestra built an elaborate songand-dance. Even in the most florid passages, every piano note was precisely placed, generating a whirlwind of responses: a delightful fragment of harp melody, baleful trombone rasps, a brief swoon from the strings.

Exuberance is not always a quality associated with Benjamin’s music; Duet has it in abundance.

Fractured, jumpy figures hinted at the possibility of dance without ever settling on a regular rhythm, while on the podium, Nott seemed forever on the verge of take-off, until the barnstorming climax brought everything to a juddering halt.’

The Evening Standard (Nick Kimberley), July 2010

Benjamin’s music made a second appearance at the Proms came just a few days later on 6 August, in the form of a late night concert to celebrate his 50thbirthday year. The programme combined music by British composers Knussen and Bedford, as well as Benjamin’s Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra, alongside the UK premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s Wald. The concert was vividly executed by the BCMG conducted by the talented Ilan Volkov.

At First Light 11.9.10, Stadthaus Winterthur, Switzerland: Musikkollegium Winterthur/Douglas Boyd 12.9.10, Schwaz, St Martin, Austria: Ensemble Modern/Franck Ollu 25.9.10, Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ, Amsterdam: Concertgebouw orchestra/George Benjamin

Fantasy on Iambic Rhythm 19.10.10, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, UK: Pierre-Laurent Aimard 23.11.10, Cologne Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany: Pierre-Laurent Aimard

Into the Little Hill/ Viola, Viola/Three Miniatures for Solo Violin/Flight (‘Into the Little Hill’ Spanish premiere) 2, 3.12.10, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Spain: London Sinfonietta/cond. Frank Ollu/Claire Booth/Susan Bickley

A Mind of Winter 8.12.10, Stadthaus Winterthur, Switzerland: Musikkollegium Winterthur/Douglas Boyd

Palimpsests 18.3.11, Archipel Festival, Geneva, Switzerland: Contrechamps/Alejo Perez

Into the Little Hill 26, 27.3.11, Hamburg, Germany: Hamburg Symphony Orchestra/Jeffrey Tate/Claire Booth/Susan Bickley

Upon Silence 16.2.11, Royal College of Music, London: Theseus Ensemble

‘…a refined, generous musician of many sides’.

‘Into the Little Hill’ in Barcelona Benjamin’s lyric tale continues its grand tour with the London Sinfonietta and the Opera Group, for its Spanish premiere this Autumn at the Grand Teater del Liceu in Barcelona, performed alongside companion pieces Viola, Viola, Three Miniatures for Solo Violin and Flight.

11

DEREK BERMEL bicultural with each successive generation. In preparation for writing the piece, I returned to Brazil for a month, where I spent days refamiliarizing my fingers with chôros, bossa nova, and samba standards, at night jamming with friends in clubs around Rio de Janeiro. In this way I reconnected with the South American spirit, and the piece now feels to me to be as much about memory as music.’

‘[Bermel’s] musical guidebook was by Charles Ives and William Bolcom. He threw styles and genres around with abandon – and considerable skill.’

Los Angeles Times (Mark Swed), 5 May 2010

First orchestral disc has ongoing impact

Dudamel premieres ‘Canzonas Americanas’ Gustavo Dudamel premiered Bermel’s latest work for large ensemble, Canzonas Americanas, in Disney Hall, Los Angeles on 4 May, part of a Green Umbrella concert given by the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group. The work was commissioned for the occasion by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.

In four movements the 17-minute work explores “the interconnectedness of North and South American musical traditions.” As the composer writes: “This was not a difficult task, as our cultures are sonically intertwined, both historically and contemporaneously.

From Gershwin and Copland to Ellington and Gillespie, many of our trailblazing composers have been indelibly influenced by Latin music, and vice-versa. Apart from their distinct instrumentations, AfroBrazilian and African-American compositions – such as Pixinguina’s chôros and Joplin’s rags – can be difficult to distinguish. My hometown of New York has become as much of a center for salsa and merengue music as Havana or Santo Domingo, and the U.S. as a whole is becoming more bilingual and

‘He threw styles and genres around with abandon – and considerable skill.’

Bermel’s first orchestral CD release (“Voices” on the BMOP Sound label) continues to garner critical praise:

‘Wonderful new music, all of it. Dust Dances is charming and jazzy, and reminiscent of Bernstein at his most ‘Wonderful new relaxed. Thracian music, all of it… One Echoes is exotic and of the most refreshing atmospheric, conjuring discs in a while.’ up visions of John Fowles’ The Magus.

Elixir is a moving and soothing interlude with wonderful antiphonal effects. Voices, a conversational concerto, features a range of interchanges between the composer’s solo clarinet and the orchestra, with an almost raunchily bluesy conclusion. Performances are tip-top, and the sound clear and immediate.

One of the most refreshing discs in a while.’

Stereophile (Kalman Rubinson), June 2010

‘Cabaret Songs’ in Denmark Crack Danish group the Figura Ensemble recently programmed Bermel’s Cabaret Songs, arranged for the group in 2007. Figura performed the songs on 10 June as part of the Athelas New Music Festival 2010 in Copenhagen.

Faber Composers at Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival – a conglomeration of all the art forms and a feast for the senses, showcases events in a variety of live music, poetry, theatre, dance and comedy, and for the first time this year staged works

by Faber Music composers. George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill toured with the Opera Group & London Sinfonietta this summer, and stopped at Latitude for some festival drama on Sunday 18 July. John Woolrich’s evocative Ulysses Awakes was performed by violist Rob Ames and the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Hugh Brunt at the Film and Music Arena on 16 July.

12 PHOTO CREDIT: VIOLIST ROBERT AMES AND MUSICIANS OF THE LCO PERFORM WOOLRICH’S ‘ULYSSES AWAKES AT LATITUDE FESTIVAL © JANA CHIELLINO AND BRUCE ATHERTON DEREK BERMEL © JEROME EVERSON

TUNING IN

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

CARL DAVIS

Selected forthcoming performances Safety Last 30.10.10, Atwood Concert Hall, Anchorage, AL, USA: Anchorage Symphony Orchestra

The Iron Mask 3.12.10, Birmingham Symphony Hall, UK: CBSO

The Rink 18.1.11, Bedford Corn Exchange, UK: Philharmonia Orchestra/cond. Carl Davis 19.1.11, De Montfort Hall Leicester, UK: Philharmonia Orchestra/cond. Carl Davis (Danish premiere) 3, 4.2.11, Koncertsalon Alsion, Sonderborg, Denmark: Sønderjyllands Symfonieorkester/cond. Carl Davis

The General

‘Death in Venice’ in Canada & Italy A run of eight performances of Death in Venice is planned for October 2010 in Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, performed by the Canadian Opera Company, in a production directed by Yoshi Oida (previously seen at Aldeburgh Festival in 2007).

The opera will also appear at La Scala in Milan, in March 2011, directed by Deborah Warner, with a star-studded cast of singers: Ian Bostridge, Peter Coleman-Wright and Iestyn Davies, alongside the resident orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner (This was the production premiered by ENO in 2007).

Reissue of String Quartets disc The 1990 recording of Britten’s string quartets 1-3 by the Britten Quartet has been re-released by Brilliant Classics in an attractive new volume.

Critics praised the re-release with 5 star reviews.

‘This survey of Benjamin Britten’s quartet music has tremendous authority and verve in the earlier pieces, and almost unbearable poignancy in the final passacaglia of Quartet No. 3 5* review in BBC Music Magazine BBC Music Magazine (Calum MacDonald), September 2010

Benjamin Britten: Selected forthcoming performances The Sword in the Stone: Concert Suite

From Lichfield to Liverpool and from Kuala Lumpur to Washington, Carl Davis keeps up a hectic schedule of travel, presenting a variety of programmes to packed houses – Bond to Beatles – and of course his own uniquely programmed concerts along with silent film presentations.

‘The Iron Mask’ Closer to home Davis presents Allan Dwan’s 1929 The Iron Mask in Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 3 December. It’s a silent swashbuckling adventure starring Douglas Fairbanks, one of the all-action stars of the pre-talkie era.

There’s a scheming Cardinal, an evil count, kidnappings, and plenty of sword-fighting – all the ingredients needed for a great sequel to The Three Musketeers.

16 June 2012 Hallé – Oratorio confirmed On a more serious note, Davis is now at work on an important commission from the Hallé Orchestra for a 45-minute work for orchestra, children’s choir, speaking chorus and two actors. Davis is collaborating with author Hiawyn Oram to create The Last Train to Tomorrow. Based on the ‘Kindertransport’ movement in 1938/39, the piece will chart the journey Jewish children took to escape Nazi Germany, to the safety of British foster families. The premiere is planned for 16 June 2012.

22.1.11, Princes Hall, Aldershot, UK: Farnborough Symphony Orchestra/cond.

Mark FitzGerald

The Immigrant 20.2.11, Cité de la Musique, Paris, France: Carl Davis

The Lady of the Camellias *.2.11, Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Croatia: Balet HNK u Zagrebu/chor. Derek Deane/cond. Dian Tchobanov

The Phantom of the Opera 27.3.11, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: Philharmonia Orchestra/Carl Davis

Ballade for Cello and Orchestra (world premiere) 30.4.11, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, UK: Jonathan Aasgaard/Royal Liverpool Philhamonic Orchestra/Carl Davis

Aladdin 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.5.11, New National Theatre, Tokyo, Japan: chor. David Bintley/cond.Paul Murphy/New National Ballet

23.9.10, , UK: Chamber Orchestra Anglia

Death In Venice 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31.10.10 & 3, 6.11.10, The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada: Canadian Opera Company/cond. Steuart Bedford/dir. Yoshi Oida 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17.3.11, La Scala, Milan, Italy: dir. Deborah Warner/cond. Edward Gardner/Ian Bostridge/Peter Coleman-Wright/Iestyn Davies

The Burning Fiery Furnace 3, 5.2.11, St Francis in the Fields, Prospect, KY, USA: Kentucky Opera/dir. Thomas Smillie/cond. Jim Rightmyer

Curlew River 12.2.11, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Albuquerque, NM, USA: Canticum Novum Chamber Orchestra/cond. Kenneth Knight 13.2.11, USA: Canticum Novum Chamber Orchestra/cond. Kenneth Knight

‘Ballade’ for Cello and Orchestra Davis’ next work for orchestra will be a cello concerto for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. This ‘Ballade’ will be programmed under his baton on 30 April 2011, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and cellist Jonathan Aasgaard taking the solo part.

13 CARL DAVIS © RICHARD CANNON

Selected forthcoming performances

TANSY DAVIES

JONNY GREENWOOD

Wild Card (world premiere) 8.9.10, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: BBC Symphony Orchestra

salt box/grind show (electric)/ neon 8.9.10, Royal College of Music, London, UK: students from Guildhall School of Music 9.10.10, Aldeburgh Studio, Snape: Azalea Ensemble, Chris Austin

neon/salt box 23.10.10, Brussels, Belgium: Musiques Nouvelles, Jean-Paul Dessy

neon (Croatian premiere) 4.10.10, Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall, Zagreb, Croatia: Cantus Ensemble

As with Voices and with Tears/ Residuum (world premiere of ‘As with Voices and with Tears’) 14.11.10, Portsmouth Cathedral, UK: Portsmouth Grammar School/London Mozart Players

neon/salt box 23.11.10, Brussels, Belgium: Ensemble Musique Nouvelle/Jean-Paul Dessy

Iris/Falling Angel 5.12.10, CBSO Centre, Birmingham, UK : Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/Peter Rundel/Simon Haram

Hinterland 6.2.11, CBSO Centre, Birmingham: BCMG, Nicholas Collon

New Discs with NMC & Non-Classical!

A disc containing some of Davies’ most ambitious and complex works is currently in the planning stages with NMC. Iris and Falling Angel should be featured.

Meanwhile, the alternative ‘Nonclassical’ label is set to release such twisted funk hybrids as neon, salt box 2, Dark Ground, and Grind Show (electric), plus the enigmatic troubadour song cycle Women In Love, and remixes of her work by other artists.

Faber Music Publishing More Davies Faber Music has taken on some earlier works by Davies, including her chamber ensemble works Inside Out II, Salt Box and Grind Show. For complete listings, please see www.fabermusic.com.

‘As with Voices and with Tears’ Davies experiments further with live electronics later in the year for a new work with SATB choir and string orchestra As with Voices and with Tears. Portsmouth Grammar School commissioned Davies for a Rememberance Sunday commemoration concert – the school’s resident choir is coupling with the London Mozart Players and Andrew Cleary to perform the 23minute work at Portsmouth Cathedral on Sunday 14 November. The music is set to Walt Whitman’s Dirge for Two Veterans – a fitting and emblematic tribute to the veterans who fought in World Wars I & II. Also performed on the evening is Davies’ earlier work Residuum (2004) for two solo violins, solo cello and strings.

‘Falling Angel’ revived by BCMG Davies’ 17-minute work for 17 players Falling Angel was first performed by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in 2007, conducted by Thomas Adès, and toured to Paris. The work was described by Paul Conway (Tempo magazine) as “Fanfares and marches fuelled dense, multi-layered textures… there was an ever-present sense of danger, of teeting on the brink”. The BCMG ensemble and Peter Rundel revive the work in Birmingham this December, along with Davies’ Iris.

14 TANSY DAVIES © MAURICE FOXALL

Australian CO premieres ‘Popcorn Superhet Receiver’ Under the leadership of Artistic Director, Richard Tognetti, the Australian Chamber Orchestra gave the Australian premiere performances of Greenwood’s Popcorn Superhet Receiver in May and June this year (six performances in total):

‘The work’s inventive use of musical effects glissando, tremolo, Bartok pizzicato has been widely discussed. But the exploration of texture is just as important.

For most of the piece, soft repeated notes create stratums of buzzing lines out of which melodic tendrils emerge and dissolve sometimes solos, sometimes in larger groupings creating a rippling, wave-like effect.

Tognetti and the orchestra performed this intricately detailed, multi-layered work with scrupulous clarity, focus and precision.’

The Australian (Murray Black), 1 June 2010

‘Popcorn Superhet Receiver’ in print We are delighted to announce that the full score of Popcorn Superhet Receiver is now available on sale.

See p 24 for further details.

Wordless Music to stage US premiere of ‘Doghouse’ Trail-blazing US promoter Wordless Music are to give the US premiere of Greenwood’s new orchestral piece, Doghouse, in Spring 2011 as part of their New York season. Details to follow.

Greenwood to score film of Murakami’s ‘Norwegian Wood’ The score of Doghouse will also inform Greenwood’s latest film score, to Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung’s’s adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s celebrated novel ‘Norwegian Wood’. The film is released in Japan in October of this year.

TUNING IN Selected forthcoming performances

JONATHAN HARVEY

Harvey takes ‘80 Breaths for Tokyo’ Harvey’s intrinsic spirituality and connections with Buddhist traditions are often conveyed through his music, providing him with a natural following in the east, especially in Japan whose population is 94% Buddhist.

It seems a simple choice then that Harvey was embraced as the ‘themed’ composer for Tokyo’s International Program for Music Composition in August 2010. His ensemble repertoire was first on the roster, performed at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall on 26 August, in a concert featuring his String Quartet No 4, Hidden Voice II plus his latest ensemble work Sringara Chaconne. The concert was performed by string quartet Quatro Piacerri and members from the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

The centre-piece of these celebrations was the commission from Suntory Hall’s, ‘Music for Today 2’ Summer Festival, for an orchestral work. For this Harvey produced 80 Breaths for Tokyo, which was presented by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra under Ryusake Numajiri on 30 August, in a programme which also included his striking orchestral work Body Mandala. Harvey explains his ideas for this new work: “Breathing, in one form or another, is behind all music. However distant, breathing always has a relationship to music. Yoga students use it to master the body, Buddhists to master the mind, and therapies of all sorts realise that one must step back from one’s habitual ignoring of the act of breathing in order to become more deeply aware. When a large body of people breathe in synchrony the effect is ritualistic, whether it be sacred or a political demonstration. Neurologists are finding powerful neuronal synchrony in many human rites and social events. 80 Breaths for Tokyo is partly the result of the practice of Zen breathing, and partly the result of listening to slow music and enjoying its power over the mind and body. The orchestra somehow mirrors the infinitely variable, infinitely subtle and coloured ambiguity of breath.”

JONATHAN HARVEY © MAURICE FOXALL

Praise for ‘Speakings’ disc

Dum transisset sabbatum

Between 2005 and 2008, Jonathan Harvey was the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s composer-inassociation. The final and most ambitious work to come out of that collaboration (which also involved IRCAM) was Speakings, for large orchestra and electronics, first performed at the Proms in 2008 by the BBCSSO and Ilan Volkov, the final part of a trilogy that Harvey built around the Buddhist concept of purification. Andrew Clements from The Guardian praised the disc.

4.9.10, BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall, London, UK: BBC Singers/David Hill

‘As the title suggests, ‘…the recording this work deals with reveals the sheer the purification of physical impact speech, but using and strange beauty computer analysis, of his orchestral Harvey attempts to writing…’ find a way of translating the inflections of speech into the vocabulary of orchestral instruments. The theory is immensely complex, but Harvey’s musical use of it is often strikingly direct, and the recording reveals the sheer physical impact and strange beauty of his orchestral writing…‘ The Guardian (Andrew Clements), 24 June 2010

Swiss premiere of ‘Speakings’ The numerous accolades which Harvey received in his 70th year included the Prince Pierre of Monaco Prize for Speakings. The Agora Festival in Paris programmed the work in this year’s festival in June 2010, and the forthcoming Swiss premiere on 18 March 2011 in Geneva, is to be performed by Ensemble Contrechamps, conducted by Alejo Perez.

‘Messages’ getting through!

Messages is soon to receive its Netherlands premiere on 25 September at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest conducted by young American conductor James Gaffigan.

All Harvey concert planned in Canada The New Music Concerts Ensemble in Canada have re-organised their earlier concert, which was cancelled due to Harvey being taken ill in 2009. They now plan a full programme of his works including the world premiere of ensemble work Vajra by the gamUT ensemble conducted by Norbert Palej at the University of Toronto on Friday 4 March 2011.

The commission was from the University of Toronto where Jonathan Harvey will be the Michael and Sonja Koerner Distinguished Visiting Composer.

The concert will be preceded by a public talk by Harvey. Also programmed are Hidden Voice 2, Wheel of Emptiness, Scena and The Riot, for performance on 4 March 2011 at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto.

Bhakti 18.9.10, Flanders, Belgium: Ictus Ensemble

Messages (Netherlands premiere) 25.9.10, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Groot Omroepkoor/ Radio Filharmonisch Orkest/James Gaffigan

Nataraja 3.10.10, Festival Musica, Salle de la Bourse, Austria: Mario Caroli/Erika Hashimoto

Come Holy Ghost 14.11.10, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA, USA: Millennium Consort Singers/Martin Neary

String Quartet no 3 17.12.10, IRCAM Espace de Projection, Paris, France: Diotima Quartet

Ah! Sun-flower 1.3.11, Purcell Room, London, UK: Claire Booth/Andrew Matthews-Owen

Hidden Voice 2/ Wheel of Emptiness/Scena/ The Riot 4.3.11, Betty Oliphant Theatre, Toronto, Canada: New Music Concerts Ensemble

Speakings (Swiss premiere) 18.3.11, Geneva, Switzerland: Ensemble Contrechamps/Alejo Perez

Agora Festival review of ‘Speakings’ Aidé par une informatique discrète, Il rend le matériau assez malléable pour épouser les contours phonétiques de bribes de phrases. A l’evidence, Harvey réussit son pari avec cette page troublante qui contourne habilement le caractère anecdotique de l’experience Diapason, September 2010

15

Selected forthcoming performances

MATTHEW HINDSON Glass, Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, say, to Darius Milhaud and Bizet (the crazy “drunken” quotes from Carmen near the end of the piece) – the concerto avoids being merely pastiche, thanks to the committed and very expressive playing of St. John, who brings out the underlying sincerity of purpose and remarkable craftsmanship in the work.’

New work (world premiere) 16.9.2010, Riverside Theatre, Parramatta, NSW, Australia: Australian Chamber Orchestra/Parramatta String Players

Nintendo Music (Singaporean premiere) 27.9.2010, Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore, Singapore: Marcel Luxen

Calgary Herald (Bob Clark), 28 May 2010

St John gives the US premiere of the Violin Concerto with the Rochester PO on 17 and 19 February 2011, under the baton of Sarah Ioannides.

(Malaysian premiere) 6.10.2010, Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Marcel Luxen

New work (world premiere) 23.10.2010, Sir John Clancy Auditorium, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia: Australia Ensemble

Dangerous Creatures (two movements only) 26-29.10.2010 & 1619.11.2010, Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia: Sydney Sinfonia/Richard Gill

Concerto for Violin (Australian Postcards) (US premiere) 17 & 19.2.2011, Eastman Theater ,Rochester, NY, USA: Lara St John/Rochester PO/Sarah Ioannides

‘Kalkadungu’ at Colorado Music Festival ‘Energy’ premieres at Edinburgh Festival Hindson travelled to the Edinburgh International Festival in September this year, to attend the concert premiere of Energy, the first movement of his award-winning score to David Bintley’s commissioned ballet, E=mc². Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted the Sydney SO on 2 September, whilst elsewhere in the festival, Hindson’s scintillating Little Chrissietina’s Magic Fantasy for violin and piano was given by Australian artists, Duo Sol.

‘After the break all hell broke loose in Matthew Hindson’s head-banging, foot-stomping little essay, Energy, which was a bit like the Rite of Spring crashing into Isobel Gowdie and the Miraculous Mandarin in the east end of Glasgow on a wild Saturday night; an electric and thrilling piece.’

The Herald, 3 September 2010

Canadian Launch for ‘ Violin Concerto’ Lara St John bowled over the Canadian audience and press alike when she gave the North American premiere of Hindson’s virtuosic Violin Concerto on 27 May. The ‘…brimming with event was part of the “Hear and humour, brashness and Now” festival being staged by excitement in its outer the Calgary Philharmonic movements, and filled Orchestra:

with pastoral beauty in its slow movement. ‘

‘Even if you were familiar with St. John’s interpretation of the work on her acclaimed recent CD, you couldn’t help being bowled over by hearing it performed live. The concerto is a lively work – brimming with humour, brashness and excitement in its outer movements, and filled with pastoral beauty in its slow movement. A virtual crazy quilt of musical references – Hindson comes across in this piece as a kind of latterday Francis Poulenc, drawing on everyone from Philip

16 MATTHEW HINDSON © MAURICE FOXALL

Didjeridu virtuoso William Barton visited the Colorado Music Festival on 5 and 6 August, where he was centre-stage for the US premiere performances of Kalkadungu, the work he cowrote with Matthew Hindson, and in which he stars on didjeridu, voice and electric guitar.

Michael Christie conducted the Festival Orchestra.

‘… this piece is completely centered on Barton and his art. The orchestral parts (which include actual rustling branches) coincide deliciously with his improvisational style, which seems random but is very much not. And he didn’t just blow on his didge. He also played electric guitar, clacked claves, and vocalized.’

The Daily Camera (Kelly Dean Hansen), 8 June 2010

Australian Ensemble commission Hindson is currently working on a commission for mixed chamber ensemble, from Justice Jane Mathews OA, for the Australia Ensemble, to be premiered in Sydney on 23 October.

ACO premieres ‘Crime & Punishment’ Crime and Punishment, a 10-minute work for double-bass and strings, has been commissioned

by Barbara Blackman for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, with soloist, Maxime Bibeau (the ACO’s principal bass). It premiered in Wollongong on 11 March, the launch of a 12-date Australian tour.

‘The Metallic Violins’: Now on CD Hindson’s virtuosic work for violin duo, The Metallic Violins, is now out on a Tall Poppies disc, in performance by James Cuddeford and Natsuko Yoshimoto:

‘… the fun, flamboyant showpiece of the collection. It borrows the technique of “shredding” from heavy metal, in which guitar solos are played at breakneck speed. Stagy sliding and scratchy effects on both violins emulate an electric guitar in full flight.’

The Australian (Graham Strahle), 27 March 2010

TUNING IN Selected forthcoming performances

COLIN MATTHEWS too, darts at shapes and sounds rather than uttering them plainly. …The second movement is a different proposition, its solemn tolling chords creating a powerfully luxuriant melancholy.’

Suns Dance

‘…Matthews’s concerto is a substantial work, its introspective refusal to do conventional concerto things seeming every bit as impressive here as it did at its Birmingham premiere last autumn.’

Violin Concerto

30.9.10, Music of Today, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: Philharmonia/Diego Masson

Hidden Variables

(orchestral version) (Italian premiere) Daily Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 29 July 2010 1.10.10, Arena di Verona, Italy: Orchestra Arena di Verona (Polish premiere) *.10.10, Poland: Leila Josefowicz/tbc

La fille au cheveux de lin

The Guardian (Andrew Clements), 30 July 2010 21.10.10, Manchester Cathedral,

‘ Violin Concerto’ at the Proms Oliver Knussen is known for his highly individual and stimulating concert planning, and so it proved in his BBC SO Prom on 28 July, which featured the London premiere of Colin Matthews’ Violin Concerto (a Feeney Trust commission). The new work was presented alongside a diverse collection of repertoire

by Stockhausen, Birtwistle, Zimmermann and Luke Bedford.

Since the premiere in Birmingham last September, ambassador for new music and virtuoso violinist Leila Josefowicz, has toured the violin concerto to four European countries, ensuring a broad public profile. Josefowicz performed her solo part from memory standing out against an orchestra which features a lively percussion section. Critics found the new concerto to be ‘mercurial’ and ‘luxuriant’.

‘The most substantial was ‘…reflective and Colin Matthews’ mercurial, its scoring Violin Concerto, demonstrating receiving its Matthews’ fine ear for London premiere. orchestral sonority…’

The first of its two movements is by turns reflective and mercurial, its scoring demonstrating Matthews’ fine ear for orchestral sonority. The second movement is an eloquent rhapsody for the solo violin, pitted against repeated notes at first unobtrusive but becoming more insistent.

The dialogue generates a powerful drama in which Leila Josefowicz was impassioned and communicative.’

The Evening Standard (Barry Millington), 29 July 2010

‘Colin Matthews’s Violin Concerto, here receiving its London premiere, is daring in its anti-heroic quality. The solo violin floats like an airy spirit over an orchestral haze, only gradually acquiring energy and weight, and the orchestral music,

The Violin Concerto is still touring, and will visit the USA’s West Coast, Finland and Germany over the next 6 months.

In a composer profile event which preceded the BBC Prom performance, a sequence of instrumental works reminded us of Matthews’ ability to write music on a smaller scale. Cellist Jonathan Rees performed Matthews’ Third Duo and his First Enigma, while young violinist Charlotte Reid judged momentum in Chaconne and Moto perpetuo and violist Robert Ames conveyed the ephemeral manner of Scorrevole and the incandescent Calmo.

Debussy Préludes on double-disc At the turn of the 21st century, Matthews gradually orchestrated all 24 of Debussy’s piano preludes as a commission from the Hallé. The Hallé’s own record label issued recordings of the preludes as they became available, and have now released a bumper CD of both volumes for Debussy/Matthews enthusiasts. See page 24 for more information.

‘Matthews’ creative finesse is remarkable: the pieces aren’t simply dressed in orchestral clothes, rather sensitively re-imagined for an expanded palette of refined colours by a gifted contemporary composer.’

Manchester, UK: Chetham’s Serenata Strings/Catherine Perkins

Des pas sur la neige/La cathédrale engloutie/Feux d’artifice 1.12.10, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski

Violin Concerto 4.12.10, Miami, USA: Leila Josefowicz/Oliver Knussen/New World Symphony (Finnish premiere) 19.1.11, , Finland: Finnish Radio Orchestra/Leila Josefowicz/Sakari Oramo *.3.11, Germany: Leila Josefowicz/Frankfurt Radio SO/Hugh Wolff

Seven Fauré Songs (world premiere) 9.2.11, Younger Hall, St Andrews, UK: Sally Matthews/Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Robin ticciati

Out in the dark 1.3.11, Purcell Room, London, UK: Claire Booth/Andrew Matthews-Owen

The Times Playlist (Geoff Brown), 17-23 July 2010

‘Seven Fauré Songs’ Matthews orchestrated a selection of seven Fauré songs as a commission from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The world premiere takes place on 11 February 2011, performed by soprano Sally Matthews and the SCO, conducted by Robin Ticciati, at St. Andrew’s Younger Hall in Edinburgh.

‘Turning Point’ at Tanglewood Matthews headed to the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival in Boston this summer for the US premiere of his orchestral work Turning Point presented by the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra conducted by Cristian Macelaru.

‘Turning Point comes out with guns blazing before settling down into calmer states, still charged with nervous energy.’

The Berkshire Eagle (Andrew L.Pincus), 18 August 2010

We await a UK premiere for this, the composer’s most recent piece for orchestra.

17 COLIN MATTHEWS © MAURICE FOXALL

Selected forthcoming performances: David Matthews

DAVID MATTHEWS

NICHOLAS MAW

Dark Pastoral (world premiere) 5.9.10, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: Steven Isserlis/BBC Concert Orchestra/Paul Daniel

Symphony No 7 (London premiere) 19.10.10, St John’s, Smith Square, London, UK: Kensington Symphony Orchestra/Russell Keable

New Work: (world premiere) March 2011, Wigmore Hall, London, UK: Nash Ensemble

Editors Choice!

‘Matthews’ ability to write music which is not merely “upbeat“ but expressively wide-ranging and emotionally exuberant is heard here at its best…

Performance values are of the highest throughout this disc.’

Gramophone (Arnold Whittall), October 2010

5* review!

‘The writing has many of Matthews’ familiar strengths: a fine sensuous imagination… an equally clear sense of organic development of ideas… It’s hard to imagine this music played, sung or recorded better.’

BBC Music Magazine (Stephen Johnson), October 2010

‘Winter Passions’ is Editor’s Choice Winter Passions – Matthews’ latest disc on NMC is ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone’s October Issue. The disc features The Nash Ensemble in a selection of his vocal & chamber works including Terrible Beauty, a work for mezzo-soprano and ensemble, beautifully sung by Susan Bickley, while baritone Stephen Loges gives a weighty rendition of Matthews’ Winter Passions.

Other works exquisitely performed are his Clarinet Quartet, Marina, and both String Trios 1 & 2.

‘Dark Pastoral’ a Vaughan Williams inspiration On 5 September, a day-long tribute to Proms founderconductor Henry Wood was presented in the form of a Last Night programme from a century ago. While the parade of short popular classics programmed in this concert truly recalled Proms concerts of another age, the BBC Proms also continued Wood’s commitment to new works – asking David Matthews to extend and recompose the short unfinished Vaughan Williams cello concerto for Steven Isserlis. The new work begins with 4 minutes of the original slow movement, which is then developed by Matthews in a different direction.

Steven Isserlis was accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra under Paul Daniel.

String Quartets on disc Ever a willing exponent of sonata form, David Matthews is currently composer of no less than eleven string quartets (as well, of course, of seven symphonies). Four of the quartets are featured on the new Kreutzer Quartet’s CD, which is attracting appreciative reviews:

‘…The Fourth (1981) is a pastoral-romantic work with an appealing modern edge, while the threemovement Sixth (1991) and two-movement Tenth (2001) are eloquently discursive and moodily astringent. There’s also a stand-alone Adagio (1990), which falls somewhere between Beethoven and Butterworth. These excellent performances leave me looking forward to Volume 2.’

‘Sophie’s Choice’ – Disc of the Month in Opera Magazine The release of Sophie’s Choice on an Opus Arte DVD has prompted considerable appreciation of this seminal work.

‘…there are many passages of exquisite ‘One of the most lyricism… Maw’s music – striking aspects of rooted in a confident, the production is mobile combination of recitative and arioso its musical moves the action forward excellence…’ with fluency and flow…

The performances are a triumph… Here, then, is a DVD that does ample justice to a work not just of serious purpose and great integrity, but one that makes a valiant effort to speak back to the unspeakable. It will generously repay repeated viewings.’

‘…a bold and daring attempt to fashion a valid operatic setting for one of the key American novels of the 20th Century’

‘One of the most striking aspects of the production is its musical excellence… Maw’s opera strikes me… as a thoughtful and thoughtprovoking piece of musical theatre… a bold and daring attempt to fashion a valid operatic setting for one of the key American novels of the 20th Century… it is unquestionably the last major statement by one of the foremost British composers of his generation and, as such, this release warrants serious consideration; it can be strongly recommended.’

Tempo (Paul Conway), July 2010

Financial Times (Andrew Clark), 26 June 2010

18 DAVID MATTHEWS © MAURICE FOXALL

Opera Magazine (Christopher Ballantine), June 2010

NICHOLAS MAW © MAURICE FOXALL

TUNING IN

PETER SCULTHORPE

CARL VINE

Carl Vine: Selected forthcoming performances Pipe Dreams 26.9.10, Riga Great Guild Hall, Latvia: Sinfonietta Riga

Percussion Symphony (Spanish premiere) 13.10.10, Palau de la Musica, Valencia, Spain: tbc

Sonata for Piano Four Hands 27.11.10, Huntington Estate Music Festival, Mudgee, NSW, Australia: Ian Munro/John Chen

Peter Sculthorpe: Selected forthcoming performances

‘String Quartet No. 18’ at EIF! A trip to the UK beckoned when Sculthorpe’s latest String Quartet (No 18!) from his extensive anthology was performed by the Toyko Quartet at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. The composer, now a lively 81, travelled across the globe to be present for the performance. The Australian-based Flinders Quartet who co-commissioned the work with the Edinburgh Festival, gave the world premiere in Australia in June 2010.

‘…an enthralling piece that tackled some meaty issues, unfolding landscapes of solitude and desolation while at the same time revealing its fearless composer as a full-blooded Romantic in his open-hearted lyricism and conjuring of soaring melodies.’

The Herald (Michael Tumelty), 3 September 2010

This explored the topical issue of climate change in musical language which combined the best of western traditions with the haunting indigenous chants and songs of the South Pacific… the distinctive quality of Sculthorpe’s individual voice made for a compelling and refreshing work.

The Scotsman (Susan Nickalls), 3 September 2010

Also at the festival was a performance of Sculthorpe’s orchestral piece Memento Mori, given by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

‘…then there was Memento Mori by the grand old man of Australian music, Peter Sculthorpe, who was present to hear his massive, fantastic rock of a piece, a slow, elegiac structure through which the Dies Irae floats like a spectre, wonder-fully-played, with huge intensity and a well-gauged rise and fall.’

The Herald (Michael Tumelty), 3 September 2010

‘Peter Sculthorpe … was there to acknowledge the warm applause for his 1993 Memento Mori, a sombre eco-fantasy on the Dies irae, written as a tribute to the doomed 17th-century residents of Easter Island.’

‘ Violin Concerto’ for Australian Youth Orchestra Carl’s new Violin Concerto, commissioned by the Hon. Jane Mathews AO, will be premiered by Dene Olding and the Australian Youth Orchestra with conductor Thomas Dausgaard at the Sydney Opera House on 20 and 21 July 2011, in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Meet The Music series.

New Norcia 1.11.10, City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney, Australia: Sydney Sinfonia/Richard Gill

Second Sonata for Strings (German premiere) 11.11.10, Burghausen, Germany: Burghauser Kammerorchester/Anna Kesting

‘The Silver Rose’ The Australian Ballet toured Vine’s music earlier this year with Graeme Murphy’s brilliant ballet The Silver Rose, a re-interpretation of the famous opera scenario, Der Rosenkavalier, by Hugo von Hoffmannsthal.

Vine wove together individual pieces from his personal body of work to create a final score. Each piece comes from different periods spanning two decades, but Vine has melted them together to form a cohesive whole. The Australian Ballet’s season has now concluded.

Australian String Quartet The Australian String Quartet presented a National Composers Forum at the University of Adelaide 2729 August, 2010. Vine was compositional adviser for the forum, and presented a workshop with the ASQ on his third string quartet.

New work ‘Piano 4 Hands’ Vine’s new work Sonata for Piano 4 Hands will be played by pianists John Chen and Ian Munro at the morning concert on 27 November at this year’s Huntington Estate Music Festival in Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia.

‘Pipe Dreams’ Sinfonietta Riga’s 2010/11 concert season opens on 24 September at the Great Guild Hall in Latvia with Carl’s flute concerto Pipe Dreams performed by flautist Patrick Gallois under conductor Normunds Šne.

The Times (Hilary Finch), 3 September 2010

19 PETER SCULTHORPE © MAURICE FOXALL

CARL VINE © KAREN STEAINS

TUNING IN Selected forthcoming performances: John Woolrich

JOHN WOOLRICH Woolrich’s small-scale repertoire, The Kingdom of Dreams, The Night will not draw on, A Singing Sky, and Three Capriccios for Oboe.

The Kingdom of Dreams 16.9.10, Leicester Festival, UK: Nicholas Daniel

Woolrich at Latitude Festival

The Night will not draw on/A Singing Sky

18.9.10, Leicester Festival, UK: Nicholas Daniel

The evocative string orchestra pieces Ulysses Awakes was performed by violist Robert Ames and the London Contemporary Orchestra to huge crowds, conducted by Hugh Brunt at Latitude’s Film and Music Arena on 16 July.

The Theatre Represents a Garden: Night

Britten Sinfonia tour ‘Another Staircase Overture’

(UK premiere) 17.9.10, Leicester Festival, UK:

Oboe Quintet

18.9.10, Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, UK: Orchestra of St John’s/John Lubbock

Three Capriccios for oboe 19.9.10, Leicester Cathedral, UK: Nicholas Daniel

Capriccio 16.10.10, Snape Maltings, Snape, UK: Markus Däunert/Aldeburgh Strings

Another Staircase Overture 6.2.11, Dartington Great Hall, Devon, UK: Britten Sinfonia 7.2.11, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, UK: Britten Sinfonia 9.2.11, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, UK: Britten Sinfonia 10.2.11, Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, UK: Britten Sinfonia 11.2.11, Town Hall, Birmingham, UK: Britten Sinfonia 13.2.11, Theatre Royal, Norwich, UK: Britten Sinfonia 19.2.11, Leeds Town Hall, Leeds, UK: Britten Sinfonia

Stendhal’s Observation 1.3.11, Purcell Room, London, UK: Claire Booth/Andrew Matthews-Owen

Woolrich takes up several new posts in the UK this Summer including Artistic Director at Dartington International Music Festival, Professor of Music at Brunel University and Artistic Director at the 2010 Leicester International Festival, where he will be injecting his musical and directorial expertise into the veins of these establishments.

Leicester International Music Festival Oboist Nick Daniel describes Woolrich as “a major force in new music” as well as “someone with a profound love of music and a great understanding of the way music can affect people’s lives”. It is for this reason that this year Woolrich has been enlisted as the festival’s Composer-in-Residence, and has had many of his chamber works woven into the repertoire.

Leicester commissioned an Oboe Quintet from Woolrich which was performed in the Festival a number of years ago, which is revived this year preceded by a special pre-concert talk by the composer. Also scheduled are performances of

The Britten Sinfonia have organised an exclusive tour of Woolrich’s string orchestra work Another Staircase Overture in February 2011. A variety of UK venues on the schedule include Dartington Great Hall; West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge; Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton; Birmingham Town Hall; Theatre Royal, Norwich & Leeds Town Hall.

‘Capriccio’ in Aldeburgh Woolrich’s lyrical Capriccio for solo violin and strings pays a visit to Aldeburgh on 16 October 2010 to feature as part of a Britten Weekend, and will be performed by Violinist Markus Däunert and the Aldeburgh Strings, who are made up of musicians from the Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme.

The young artists will be mentored and joined in performance by some of Europe’s leading orchestral and chamber musicians, amongst them principals from the Leipzig Gewandhaus and London Symphony Orchestra, and former members of the Alban Berg and Belcea Quartets.

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS 100th Anniversary & New Edition for Fantasia On the cusp of the hundredth anniversary of its premiere at the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival, Faber Music is proud to publish a much-needed new edition of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. The new edition corrects the original engraver’s mis-interpretations of many of Vaughan Williams’ intentions and other mistakes in the Curwen Edition, to give a clearer score, which combined with a new set of parts with new rehearsal numbers, will give greater clarity and understanding to the work’s many followers. The score is available 0-571-53196-2 at £19.99. Parts are available from the Hire Library.

JOHN WOOLRICH © MAURICE FOXALL

Composed in 1910, the Fantasia was one of the first major successes for the young Vaughan Williams. It so impressed Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney (then young organ scholars) that they spent the night walking the streets of Gloucester fired up with excitement. The work’s magic has not dimmed since and it has become one of the most iconic works in the literature of English music.

UTNEIN NG R AISNC H A N I N T E R V I E W W I T H … TO RT S

Torsten Rasch

Punchdrunk, the experimental and unorthodox theatre company produced The Duchess of Malfi this summer. What hurdles did you come across when composing music for them?

Besides a preference for certain Japanese instruments, I would say it hasn’t really influenced my music. But there are (musical) art forms which have made a deep impression on me, especially the Japanese Noh-Theatre. It’s still lingering in my thoughts, and it will probably show up in one of my pieces in the future.

There were certain restrictions with the instrumentation, since the musicians had to move whilst others played. It was much more of a challenge to dispense of the narrative of the story which is essential to Punchdrunk’s style. However, on the other hand, one really got the inimitable experience of actually being in the story, not just hearing or following it as you would when you see a staged opera in the usual style.

You spent many years of your life in Japan – how has this influenced your music?

Other than Japanese culture what would you say are the most important influences on your style of composition?

A great variety of musical styles from the past and the present. Musicologists always insisted on the point of the dissolved harmonic system at the end of the last century, and the impossibility of a continuance in that style. I feel very much at home in a dissolved harmonic language and think Schoenberg could (and should) have continued much longer in the style of his Op. 16 Fünf Orchesterstücke for example.

You have completed two operas in the past few years, (‘Rotter’ in 2008 & ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ in 2010) and in the past you have also written many film scores. In what way does a visual art form impact your music?

Visual artforms haven’t made a huge impact on my composing – however, words (sung or spoken) appeal to me greatly. To me, the instrument of the human voice is the most fascinating of all. Writing for film, as I have in the past, does mean subordinating one’s material to allow for the importance of a visual journey, which is a helpful exercise (in terms of collaborating with others).

Writing an opera is the most challenging enterprise for me – not so much for the visual component (because I’m not the director who’s staging it) – but in terms of musically visualising drama, being able to organize it, and make it emotionally involving.

Do you consider the audience when you’re working on a composition?

It would be an impossible task to compose for the audience, because one never knows who’s in the audience. How does one assess what they like or dislike? I’m the first one listening to the music, and it has to pass that test first.

What do you say when asked to describe your music?

‘Music is perceived in the UK (and other countries) on a more impartial level, without the concept of how music must be composed for our time. I have the impression that it’s judged on only the one condition: is it captivating or not?

In this sense I feel very “at home”.’

My music is highly expressive and highly organized. A continuing examination of the balance between the intellectual and the emotional side of expression.

How important is it that music be accessible on first hearing?

For me it very much is. But that doesn’t mean it has to be simple or pleasing. There has to be a comprehensible factor, which involves me in the music. There is of course no formula for it but it certainly has a relation to the above mentioned balance between emotion and intellect. The latter often dominates in modern music which sometimes leaves me unsatisfied and perplexed.

You have a number of premiere performances in the UK this year, including your latest orchestral work ‘Le Serpent Rouge’ which is to be performed by the BBC SO and André de Ridder – do you feel that the UK is a fitting home for your music?

I think that in the UK, music is listened to without any “philosophical contamination” which has been accumulated in Germany through many years of dominance of certain constitutive institutions (which are still important here).

Music is perceived in the UK (and other countries) on a more impartial level, without the concept of how music MUST BE composed for our time. I have the impression that it’s judged on only the one condition: is it captivating or not? In this sense I feel very “at home”.

21 TORSTEN RASCH, PHOTO CREDIT: MAURICE FOXALL

NEW WORKS FROM THE PERFORMANCE DEPARTMENT ORCHESTRAL JULIAN ANDERSON Fantasias (2009) orchestra. Duration 23 minutes. 4(III & IV = picc, IV = picc detuned ¼ tone).3(III = ca).3(II = Bb cl detuned ¼ tone, III = Ebcl + bcl).3(III = cbsn) - 4.tpt in D (= Bb ptpt).3 in C (II = tpt detuned ¼ tone).3.1 - perc(4) - harp - pno (=cel) - synth (=pno sound; detuned ¼ tone) - strings.

FP: 19.11.09, Severance Hall, Cleveland, USA: Cleveland Orchestra/Jonathan Nott

JONNY GREENWOOD

As with Voices and with Tears (2010) SATB choir, string orchestra and electronics. Duration 23 minutes. Text: Walt Whitman: Dirge for Two Veterans (English). Commissioned by Portsmouth Grammar School. FP: 13.11.10, Portsmouth Cathedral, Portsmouth, UK: Portsmouth Grammar School/London Mozart Players/Andrew Cleary. Score and parts on hire

HOWARD GOODALL The Selfish Giant (2010)

string trio and orchestra. Duration 23 minutes. solo violin, viola, cello - 2222 - 4331 - perc(3) harp - strings. FP: 28. 2.2010, Invitation concert, BBC Maida Vale, London, UK: BBC CO, Robert Ziegler. Score and parts for hire

narrator, childrens’ choir and orchestra. Duration 20 minutes. 2(II=picc).2(II=ca).2(II=bcl).1 2100 - timp - perc(1 or 2): susp.cym/xyl/cabassa/BD/tam-t/wind machine/SD/finger cym/mark tree/wdbl - cel - harp - organ - strings. Text: Oscar Wilde/Howard Goodall (English). Commissioned by the Brighton Festival. FP: 1.5.2010, Brighton Festival, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Brighton, UK: Kolade Agboke/Brighton Festival Youth Choir/Brighton PO/Howard Goodall. Score, vocal score and parts for hire

JONATHAN HARVEY

ALEXANDER L’ESTRANGE

80 Breaths for Tokyo (2010)

And the stones sing (2010)

Orchestra. Duration 18 minutes. 4(III+IV=picc).2.oboe d’amore.3.3 - 4331 - perc (5):mar/high.cym/med-high bamboo cluster/microtonal mark tree/5 Taiwan temple bowls (varying sizes) with marble/2 cym/mcas/high brass chimes/vib/large BD/spring coil/low cym/low tam-t/high glass chimes/high crot/med bamboo cluster/high tam-t - 2 harps - pno - electric organ - CD operator - strings (14.12.10.8.6). Commissioned by Suntory Limited for Suntory Hall International Program for Music Composition 2008. FP: 30.8.2010, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Score and parts for hire

mezzo-soprano, SATB chorus, percussion and strings. Duration 14 minutes. perc(1): tgl/wdbl/SD/mark tree/susp.cym - strings. Text: Adey Grummet (English). Commissioned by Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts Limited supported by the Joan Hughes Memorial Fund. FP: 28.8.2010, Presteigne Festival, St Andrew’s Church, Presteigne, UK: Clare McCaldin/The Joyful Company of Singers (Artistic Director, Peter Broadbent)/Presteigne Festival Orchestra/George Vass.

Full score, vocal score and parts for hire

Doghouse (2010)

CHAMBER ENSEMBLE JULIAN ANDERSON Transferable Resistance (2010) brass ensemble. Duration 2 ½ minutes. 4.2 tpt in D.4 tpt in Bb.2.2 btrbn.2. Commissioned by the Royal Society to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Society. FP: 30.6.10, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: LPO Brass/Neville Creed. Score and parts on hire

DAVID MATTHEWS Actaeon (2010) narrator and ensemble. Duration 14 minutes. narrator - tsax - tpt - pno – vln. Text: ‘Tales from Ovid’ translated by Ted Hughes (English). Commissioned with support from Arts Council England, PRS for Music Foundation, RVW Trust and Holst Foundation. FP: 4.5.10, Brighton Festival, Brighton, UK: Counterpoise (Eleanor Bron (narrator)/Alexandra Wood (vln)/Deborah Calland (tpt)/Kyle Horch (sax)/Iain Farrington (pno)). Score and parts for hire

INSTRUMENTAL OLIVER KNUSSEN Ophelia’s Last Dance (2010) solo piano. Op. 32. Duration 9 minutes. Commissioned by the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival for 2010 Gilmore Artists Kirill Gerstein, with funds from the Russell L. Gabier Fund. FP: 3.5.2010, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA: Kirill Gerstein.

Exclusive until 3.5.2011. Please contact promotion@fabermusic.com for further information.

OPERA TORSTEN RASCH The Duchess of Malfi (2010) Opera. Duration 72 minutes. Duchess (M) Ferdinand (CT) Cardinal (hB) Bosola (Bar) Julia (hS).

3(II+III=picc).2.ca.2.bcl.2.cbsn - 4331 - timp - perc(3): glsp/vib/xyl/t.bells/crot/tgl/claves/ratchet/sleighbells/tamb/wdbl/4 okedoh/hyoshigi/kotzumi/5 tomt/5 log drums/small Chinese cym/2 susp.cym/gongs/2 tam-t/SD/BD - harp - cel - strings (min 12.10.8.6.5) - sampler (or SATB chorus) Sub-plot instrumentation: 1111 - 2221 – 0000. Text: Original Work: John Webster Libretto: Ian Burton (English). Commissioned by the English National Opera. FP: 13.7.2010, Great Eastern Quay, London, UK: Co-production between English National Opera and Punchdrunk. Felix Barrett (Artistic Director)/Maxine Doyle (Associate Director)/Stephen Higgins (Conductor). Score and parts for hire

CHORAL JULIAN ANDERSON Bell Mass (2010) Double SATB choir and organ. Duration 17 minutes. Text: Liturgical (Latin). Commissioned by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey, as part of the 450th anniversary of the Abbey’s Collegiate Charter (granted by Elizabeth I in 1560). FP: 29.6.2010, Westminster Abbey, London, UK: The Choir of Westminster Abbey/James O’Donnell. Score on special sale from the hire library

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TANSY DAVIES

P 13 FROM 1ST MOVEMENT OF JULIAN ANDERSON’S ‘FANTASIAS’

STRING ORCHESTRA DAVID MATTHEWS/EDWARD ELGAR String Quartet (2010) string orchestral arrangement of the Elgar String Quartet. Duration 27 minutes. Commissioned by the Presteigne Festival. FP: 26.8.10, Presteigne Festival, St Andrew’s Church, Presteigne, Powys, UK: Presteigne Festival Orchestra/George Vass. Score and parts for hire

STRING QUARTET THOMAS ADÈS The Four Quarters (2010) string quartet. Duration 15 - 20 minutes. Commissioned by the Carnegie Hall Corporation. FP: 12.3.11, Isaac Stern Auditorium/Ronald O. Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA: Emerson String Quartet. Score and parts on special sale from the hire library

PETER SCULTHORPE String Quartet No 18 (2010) Duration 19 minutes. Jointly commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival for the Tokyo Quartet and by Peter Doyle for the Flinders Quartet . FP: Australia: 5.6.10, Montsalvat Barn Gallery, Melbourne, Australia: Flinders Quartet. UK: 2.9.10, Edinburgh International Festival, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, UK: Tokyo Quartet. Score and parts on special sale from the Hire Library

‘BEHIND BARS’ BY ELAINE GOULD

Behind Bars

by Elaine Gould Behind Bars is the indispensable reference book for composers, teachers and students of composition, editors, and music processors. In the most thorough and painstakingly researched book to be published since the 1980s, specialist music editor Elaine Gould provides a comprehensive grounding in notational principles. Behind Bars covers everything from basic rules, conventions and themes to complex instrumental techniques, empowering the reader to prepare music with total clarity and precision. With the advent of computer technology, it has never been more important for musicians to have ready access to principles of best practice in this dynamic field, and this timely book will support the endeavours of software users and devotees of handcopying alike. The author’s understanding of, and passion for, her subject has resulted in a book that is not only practical but also compellingly readable.

Supported by 1,500 music examples of published scores from Bach to Xenakis, this seminal and allencompassing guide encourages new standards of excellence and accuracy.

An endorsement from Sir Simon Rattle

‘Elaine Gould in this wonderful monster volume, has written the equivalent of the Grove Dictionary for Notation. It is an extraordinary achievement, and if used by the next generation of composers and copyists will be a blessing for hard working and long-suffering performers everywhere! Every chapter presents solutions and rules that will make our life easier, save rehearsal time and

COMPANY NEWS New website launches in Autumn 2010 Faber Music is proud to announce the launch of its new website. There are new features including audio streaming, an online store, composer video profiles, online perusal scores, an event calendar and more.

Please visit www.fabermusic.com to get a flavour of our new look website!

frustration, and will ultimately lead to better performances.

What is important for a musician is to be able to spend rehearsal time on the music itself, without the hindrance of trying to decipher it. The clarity Elaine asks for is not a matter of dry rules or customs: it is part of the living texture itself. I not only welcome her book unreservedly, but I would also pray that it becomes a kind of Holy Writ for notation in this coming century.

Certainly nobody could have done it better, and it will be a reference for musicians for years to come.’

About the author Elaine Gould has been Senior New Music Editor at Faber Music since 1987, in which capacity she has edited the complex and varied scores of such composers as Oliver Knussen, Jonathan Harvey, George Benjamin, Colin Matthews and Thomas Adès.

Before this she was a free-lance copyist, specialising in copying contemporary music for several leading British music publishers.

She is among the most highly respected music editors currently working in the field.

Get your copy.

‘Musicians deserve the very best that the language of notation can provide, and the most elegant layout that can be achieved; in this way they will be free to give their best in a performance. Behind Bars aims to provide the tools for this purpose.’

Elaine Gould

Fortissimo E-newsletter To coincide with the launch of the new website, Faber Music will be updating selected readers by the means of a fortissimo e-newsletter with more immediate and recent news and information. To sign up for this mailing, please write to: Promotion@fabermusic.com supplying your full name, position, organisation and email address.

23

Selected forthcoming performances

HOWARD GOODALL

Eternal Light: A Requiem

‘Love Story’ triumphs at Chichester and now transfers to the West End!

2.10.2010, Holy Rood Church, Swindon, UK: Swindon Choral Society/Robin Nelson (Dutch premiere) 9.10.2010, Gouda, The Netherlands: Laus Deo/Jan Stulp 24.10.2010, Temple Sinai, New Orleans, LA, USA: Joel Colman/Loyola University Chorus & Orchestra (Swedish premiere) 6 & 7.11.2010 (3 perfs), (Andreaskyrkan, Stockholm, Arsta Church hall, Stockholm & Enskede Church, Stockholm), Sweden: Tina Bergholm/David Aler/Con Spirito/Arsta Chamber Choir/Tafvelin Light Orchestra/Lars-Gunnar Sommarbäck 7.11.2010, West End United Methodist Church, Nashville, TN, USA: The Chancel Choir/Don Marler 13.11.2010, Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Richmond, VA, USA: Immanuel Episcopal Church/Jimmy Hicks 14.11.2010, Portsmouth Cathedral, UK: Portsmouth Grammar School/London Mozart Players/Andrew Cleary 20.11.2010, Arundel Cathedral, UK: The Angmering Chorale/George Jones

Love Story (West End premiere) 27.11.2010-26.2.2011, Duchess Theatre, London, UK

New work (world premiere) 20.12.2010, ‘Carols for Candlelight in aid of Cancer Research UK’, All Saints’ Church, Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, UK: DeChorum/Jonathan Manners

Eternal Light: A Requiem & Spared 4-6.2.2011, St Joseph Cathedral, Groningen; Boniface Church, Leeuwarden & Willibrord Church, Utrecht, The Netherlands: Koorprojekt Opus / Anne Sollie

piece was commissioned by the Brighton Festival, and Goodall’s concert launched the 2010 festival with the performance by the Kolade Agboke (narrator), Brighton Festival Youth Choir and Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra. The Selfish Giant is an ideal introduction to the orchestra for young audiences, with a prominent part for organ (the Giant) and colourful timbres conjuring up the passing of the seasons in the Giant’s garden, all this plus poignant melodies for the children’s choir. It would make an ideal pairing with long-established classics such as Peter and the Wolf and The Snowman.

Love Story is an affecting new musical by Howard Goodall, to a book and lyrics by Stephen Clark, after the celebrated novella by Erich Segal. It premiered in Chichester on 29 May, where it was lauded by the national press and is now transferring to London’s West End. It previews at the Duchess Theatre from 27 November, before opening on 6 December and running until 26 February 2011. West End star Michael ‘Pelican in the Wilderness’ rides high in Ball will be making his producing debut:

the Charts

‘(Goodall) … turns its overwrought story of sentimentality into a finely wrought mood piece that pulses with sensitivity…

It is fully 90 minutes into a 110-minute show before we get to that leukaemia will claim her body but not before she has worked her way into your heart. Emma Williams, whose emotional intelligence matches the lyrical clarity of her rapturous singing is a big reason for that and so is the gorgeous wash of Goodall’s magnificent melodies. You may find yourself in tears.’

‘Pelican in the Wilderness’ is Goodall’s third disc recorded with Enchanted Voices, a hand-picked femalevoice choir par excellence. Sitting high in the classical charts since its release on the Classic FM/UCJ label on 10 May, it is a collection of 13 settings of the Psalms, with accompaniment from the Tippett Quartet, and Daisy Fancourt on Sunday Express (Mark Shenton), 13 June 2010 organ/keyboard. The ‘The genius of turning this into a musical is that recording’s healing powers have been much publicised the songs offer welcome moments of interiority in – the CD was also reported in the UK national press to the hectic narrative onslaught, giving crucial be the music of choice for both David Cameron and emotional heft and access into the hearts and Nick Clegg, as they hatched out the final terms of the minds of the lovestruck duo. new coalition Government!

And it’s not just any songs we’re talking about, but plangent, beautifully crafted and sung pieces. ‘Goodall’s melodic gift is well to the fore throughout the disc… This is superior, diatonic, The haunting opening number What Can You ultra-legato easy listening, albeit heartfelt and Say? deserves to become a classic.’

Evening Standard (Fiona Mountford), 8 June 2010 honest, though there are times when Goodall almost out-Rutters his senior composing colleague, ‘The Selfish Giant’ delights family in terms of sweetness. The instrumental audience at Brighton Festival accompaniments are beautifully and luxuriously On 1 May, a packed Brighton Dome saw Goodall played.’ conduct the premiere of The Selfish Giant, a 20-minute work for narrator, children’s choir and orchestra, based on the celebrated story by Oscar Wilde. The

Gramophone (Malcolm Riley), July 2010

Eternal Light: A Requiem & New work (world premiere) 26.2.2011, Lincoln Cathedral, UK: Bishop Grosseteste University College

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GABRIEL PROKOFIEV

US premiere for Gabriel Prokofiev’s ‘Concerto for Turntables’ Gabriel Prokofiev’s US profile is firmly in the ascendancy. His NonClassical label is now distributed by Naxos USA, and, he featured at the SXSW festival in 2009. He has also enjoyed recent features at Wordless Music in New York, and in July this year hosted NonClassical club nights at Le Poisson Rouge (NY) and in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Now, his orchestral music will be heard stateside, as the US premiere of his Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra is to be given by the enterprising Present Music ensemble in Milwaukee. The composer will travel from the UK for the concert on 18 September.

‘Eternal Light’ & new choral commissions In the two years since Eternal Light: A Requiem was premiered, it has been performed over 150 times by more than 60 different choirs in the UK, USA, Australia, ‘Zimbe!’ premieres in the US and is Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland. It released on CD continues to gain critical acclaim: Following the premiere of And the stones sing, ‘… this work is a melodic gem: comforting, L’Estrange travelled to Carmel, Indiana where he soothing, and extremely hopeful. Goodall’s attended the US premiere of Zimbe!, his 40-minute melodic gifts are present in every bar, and it is African-inspired choral cantata. Three well nigh impossible to come away from hearing performances were given by The Carmel Repertory the work without feeling that one is somehow Theatre and Carmel Community Choir under the uplifted… If you like the Rutter Requiem – and I baton of Darren S Herring. L’Estrange and his love it – this one will also have intense appeal, wife, singer Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, also gave and really is just as good.’ choral workshops at the universities of DePauw Fanfare (Steven E. Ritter), 12 March 2010 and Indiana.

Zimbe! was also released on CD in July this year, on the Andagio label. The Zimbe! Singers, Haileybury Lower School Choir and Call Me Al Jazz New Hess suite: ‘The TV Detectives’ Quintet were conducted by Joanna Forbes We are delighted to announce representation of Nigel L’Estrange. For more info visit www.zimbe.net Hess’s The TV Detectives, an 8-minute orchestral romp through some of the composer’s most memorable TV themes, including Maigret, Dangerfield, Campion, Wycliffe and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. Score and Two new film suites parts are now available from the Faber Music Hire Newly available are two orchestral suites by OscarLibrary. winning composer Stephen Warbeck perhaps best known for his scores to Shakespeare in Love and ‘Silent Nights’ release Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (both already available 29 November sees the release of ‘Silent Nights’, a new from the Faber Music Hire Library). seasonal CD on Classic FM’s own label. Featuring the Charlotte Gray starred Cate Blanchett in a composer at the piano, wartime espionage drama based on the best-selling with the strings of the novel by Sebastian Faulks. Warbeck’s 21-minute Royal Philharmonic suite perfectly captures the brooding atmosphere Orchestra, it’s a tranquil of war-torn France, with solo roles for violin and and reflective collection piano. of well-known Christmas Princess Ka’iulani is a historical biopic about carols and songs, skilfully the legendary Hawaiian princess who fought arranged by Hess. Faber resolutely to reinstate the Kingdom of Hawaii Music will be releasing a following the overthrowing of the monarchy in matching publication for 1893. The film premiered at the Honolulu Film solo piano.

Festival in October 2009 and will be released on DVD on 14 September. The four-movement suite lasts 11 minutes.

NIGEL HESS

STEPHEN WARBECK

ALEXANDER L’ESTRANGE Presteigne Festival commission for L’Estrange

And the stones sing is a 14-minute choral-orchestral work by Alexander L’Estrange, a commission from the Presteigne Festival, where it premiered on 28 August.

Festival Director George Vass conducted The Joyful Company of Singers, Festival Orchestra and mezzo soloist Clare McCaldin. The commission celebrates the 500th anniversary of the celebrated Presteigne Tapestry in St Andrew’s Church and depicts Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. The text, by Adey Grummett, takes the 16thC Flemish tapestry as its inspiration.

Christmas Ideas!

Looking for ideas for Christmas concerts? New and recent repertoire available includes Nigel Hess’s seasonal orchestral toe-tapper A Christmas Overture, The Manchester Carols for SATB choir and small orchestra (or SSA and small ensemble) by Carol Ann Duffy and Sasha Johnson Manning, and brand-new is Anthony Bolton’s A Garland of Carols (for upper voices and harp, a touching homage to Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, see p.24).

More info & perusal materials: musicfornow@fabermusic.com Follow us on Twitter: fabermusic_mfn

New Works from Music for Now ORCHESTRAL HOWARD GOODALL The Selfish Giant (2010) after Oscar Wilde, for narrator, childrens’ choir and orchestra. Duration 20 minutes.

2(II=picc).2(II=ca).2(II=bcl).1 - 2100 - timp - perc(1 or 2) - cel - harp - organ – strings. Commissioned by the Brighton Festival. FP: 1.5.2010, Brighton Festival, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Brighton, UK: Kolade Agboke/Brighton Festival Youth Choir/Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra/Howard Goodall

JONNY GREENWOOD Doghouse (2010) String trio and orchestra. Duration 23 minutes. Solo violin, viola, cello - 2222 4331 - perc(3) - harp – strings.

Commissioned by the BBC. FP: 28.2.2010, Invitation concert, BBC Maida Vale, London: BBC Concert Orchestra, Robert Ziegler

NIGEL HESS The TV Detectives (2003) Suite for orchestra, featuring themes from the TV programmes Dangerfield, Campion, Wycliffe, Maigret & Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. Duration 8 minutes.

Picc.2.2.ca.2.bcl.asax.2 - 4.3(I=crt in Bb).2.btrbn.1 - timp - perc(3) - harp - gtr (acoustic & electric).bgtr - soprano voice pno.synth - strings

GABRIEL PROKOFIEV Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra (2006) Duration 21 minutes.

1(=afl).1(=ca).1(=bcl).0 1.2.1.btrbn.0 - perc(4) incl timp – strings.

Commissioned by Chimera Productions. FP: 26.9.2007, Scala, London, UK: DJ Yoda/The Heritage Orchestra/Jules Buckley

STEPHEN WARBECK Princess Ka’iulani Suite (2009) Suite for orchestra from the feature film.

Duration 11 minutes. 1.2(II=ca).2.1 3.1.1.btrbn.1 - timp - perc(2) - harp - pno – strings. FP: 17.10.09, Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall, Honolulu, HI, USA: Honolulu SO/Gerard Schwarz

CHAMBER ENSEMBLE DEREK BERMEL Canzonas Americanas (2010) Chamber ensemble of 17 players (with medium voice). Duration 17 minutes.

1(=picc).1.1.1 - 1110 - perc(2) - elec gtr - medium voice (mvt 4 only) - pno - strings (db=elec bass). Commissioned and premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

FP: 4.5.2010, Disney Hall, Los Angeles, CA, USA: Luciana Souza/Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Ensemble/Gustavo Dudamel

CHORAL ALEXANDER L’ESTRANGE And the stones sing (2010) Mezzo-soprano, SATB chorus, strings and percussion. Duration 14 minutes. Text: Adey Grummet (Eng). perc(1) – strings.

Commissioned by Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts Limited supported by the Joan Hughes Memorial Fund. FP: 28.8.2010, Presteigne Festival, St Andrew’s Church, Presteigne, UK: Clare McCaldin/The Joyful Company of Singers (Artistic Director, Peter Broadbent)/Presteigne Festival Orchestra/George Vass

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SELECTED NEW PUBLICATIONS & RECORDINGS T HOMAS A DÈS Mazurkas solo piano Playing score 0-571-52011-1 £7.99

T HOMAS A DÈS Concert Paraphrase on Powder Her Face solo piano Playing score 0-571-52006-5 £14.99

G EORGE B ENJAMIN Duet piano and orchestra Full score 0-571-53469-4

J ONNY G REENWOOD Popcorn Superhet Receiver

B ENJAMIN B RITTEN String Quartet No 2; String Quartet No 3; Three Divertimenti The Elias Quartet Sonimage SON 10903

Complete String Quartets Britten Quartet Brilliant Classics 9168

Three Divertimenti Emperor String Quartet BIS SACD-1540

H OWARD G OODALL Pelican in the Wilderness Enchanted Voices/Tippett Quartet/Howard Goodall Classic FM

The Seasons The Tippett Quartet with Patrick Savage EMI Classics

string orchestra Full score 0-571-52204-1 £14.99

J ONATHAN H ARVEY Tendril chamber ensemble of 11 players Full score 0-571-51342-5 £29.99

C OLIN M ATTHEWS / C LAUDE D EBUSSY Debussy Preludes: Général Lavine l’eccentrique, Danseuses de Delphes, Les sons et les parfums, Brouillards & Ondine orchestra Full scores 0-571-53019-2 £7.99, 0-571-53008-7 £7.99, 0-571-53014-1 £7.99, 0-571-53009-5 £7.99 & 0-571-53020-6 £7.99

DAVID M ATTHEWS Concerto in Azzurro cello and orchestra Full score 0-571-52059-4 £29.99

RALPH VAUGHAN W ILLIAMS The Wasps performing edition of complete incidental music and settings of text from the play by Aristophanes for vocal soloists, male chorus and orchestra, originally used for stage production and now, with narrator, forming a concert work Vocal score 0-571-53190-3 £24.99

J OHN W OOLRICH The Theatre Represents a Garden, Night chamber orchestra Full score 0-571-53147-4 £16.99

J ONATHAN H ARVEY String Trio/String Quartet No 1/String Quartet No 2/String Quartet No 3/ String Quartet No 4 Arditti Quartet Aeon AECD 0975

C OLIN M ATTHEWS Scherzetto Endymion Ensemble NMC D160

C OLIN M ATTHEWS / C LAUDE D EBUSSY The Debussy Preludes Hallé Orchestra/Mark Elder Hallé

DAVID M ATTHEWS Winter Passions; Terrible Beauty; Clarinet Quartet; Marina; String Trio; String Trio No 2 Susan Bickley/Stephan Loges/The Nash Ensemble/Lionel Friend NMC Recordings D 152

P ETER S CULTHORPE Into the Dreaming Aleksandr Tsiboulski Naxos

RALPH VAUGHAN W ILLIAMS Sancta Civitas Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/The Bach Choir/David Hill Naxos

A LEXANDER L’E STRANGE Zimbe! (premiere recording) The Zimbe! Singers/Haileybury Lower School Choir (conducted by Quentin Thomas)/The Call Me Al Jazz Quintet (led by Alexander L’Estrange)/ Joanna Forbes L’Estrange Andagio CD001, for purchase at www.zimbe.net

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B O O K S O N M U S I C F R O M FA B E R & FA B E R NICHOLAS KENYON

IAN BOSTRIDGE

THE FABER POCKET GUIDE TO BACH

A SINGER’S SCRAPBOOK

978-0-571-23324 £8.99

The music of J.S.Bach has a unique power and attraction some 300 years after it was written. From annual performances of the great Passions and BBC Radio 3’s hugely successful Bach Christmas, to its use in adverts, films and popular arrangements, the imaginative strength of Bach’s music continues to draw listeners to explore its mysteries.

This new Pocket Guide looks at all Bach’s music, sacred and secular, and explores why he speaks so profoundly to our age about both the spiritual and the sensual in life.

Among the features of this easy-to-use book: • BACH: THE MUSIC WORK BY WORK • PERFORMING BACH TODAY • BACH ACROSS THE CENTURIES • BACH’S INSTRUMENTS • BACH: THE LIFE YEAR BY YEAR

Accessible and easy to use, Nicholas Kenyon provides for the first time an up-to-date survey of all Bach’s major works in the light of the latest research, from Masses to Cantatas, Concertos to Suites, and recommends the best CDs and further reading.

‘No book can ever have provided so many essentials about a genius’ Daily Telegraph

9780571 252459 Hardback £15.99

Ian Bostridge is one of the outstanding singers of our time, celebrated both for the quality of his voice and for the exceptional intelligence he brings to bear on the interpretation of the repertoire of the past and present alike. Yet his early career was that of a professional historian, and A Singer’s Scrapbook takes a look at the multifaceted world of classical music through the eyes of someone whose career as a singer has followed a unique trajectory. Consisting of short essays and reviews written since 1997, some in diary form, it ranges widely over issues serious (music and transcendence) and not so serious (the singer’s battles with phlegm), while inevitably discussing many of the composers with whom Bostridge has become identified, such as Britten, Henze, Janácek, Schubert, Weill and Wolf.

Ultimately it returns to the theme of his earlier work on 17th century witchcraft - what place can there be for the ineffable in a world defined by an iron cage of rationality?

Including a Foreword by the eminent sociologist, Richard Sennett, A Singer’s Scrapbook is an intriguing glimpse into the mind and motivation of one of Britain’s best loved musicians.

‘Achieving that rarest of feats in the scholarly world: taking a wellworn subject and ensuring that it will never be looked at in quite the same way again’ Noel Malcolm, Times Literary Supplement on Witchcraft and its Transformations

www.faber.co.uk 27

S A L E S P U B L I C AT I O N N E W S

Head Office Faber Music Ltd Bloomsbury House 74 – 77 Great Russell St London WC1B 3DA Tel: +44(0)207 908 5310 Fax: +44(0)207 908 5339 information@fabermusic.com www.fabermusic.com Promotion tel: +44(0)207 908 5311/2 promotion@fabermusic.com

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by Lis Lomas

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Margaret Rizza (b.1929) is quite a remarkable figure.

Now in her 80s, she only began to compose in 1997, in her late 60s, but in that relatively short space of time has risen to become a major personality in the world of Christian choral music, with substantial sales of both her printed and recorded music, including a chart-topping recording on the UCJ label, which gained airplay on Classic FM. All this has followed an illustrious career as an opera singer, in which she sang professionally for 25 years, under the name of Margaret Lensky, and sang at many of the leading operatic venues, under such conductors as Britten, Stravinsky and Bernstein.

As a singing teacher she then taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (1977-94) and was closely involved with Dartington International Summer School, giving masterclasses and vocal workshops over many years up until 2008.

Margaret’s contemplative choral music has been widely acclaimed, not only in the UK, but also abroad.

She has given many seminars and conferences featuring her music in the USA, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Ireland, as well as leading many choral and vocal workshops in the UK. In 2007 she was commissioned by Harry Christophers to write a work for The Sixteen. This commission resulted in something of a departure for her music as it began to inhabit a more contemporary soundworld. The resulting Ave Generosa was recorded by those forces on their much-lauded CD A Mother’s Love, and performed by them at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in 2008.

Available in print this summer are Ave Maria, Mary Slept, Veni Jesu and O Sapientia, all of which feature on a new CD of her choral music, due to be released at the end of the year.

David was also Organ Scholar at The Queen’s College, Oxford and then at Gloucester Cathedral. He also spent periods there as Acting Director of Music and Acting Assistant Organist and was closely involved with the Three Choirs Festival. He won prizes in improvisation and performance at the examination for Fellow of The Royal College of Organists and has given Parisian recitals at La Trinité and Notre-Dame, and in many English cathedrals.

As a composer, the CD of his choral music “Hail, Gladdening Light” (Wells Cathedral Choir and Matthew Owens) was Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’. A number of his works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4 whilst recent work has included Missa Sancti Pauli commissioned by St Paul’s Cathedral for the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music and commissions for the new music wells 68 – 08 festival. In 2008 his Requiem was premiered in St James’s Church, Spanish Place, London with St Mary’s School, Calne, Edward Whiting (director) and Philip Dukes (viola) and was recently given its US premiere in St Mary The Virgin, Times Square, New York. The same forces recently released the work on Regent Records to great acclaim. In addition, Wells Cathedral Choir has just released a further recording of his choral music on Regent entitled Flame Celestial.

All four of the works we are publishing this year are available on the “Flame Celestial” recording. More information can be found at www.davidbednall.com 0-571-53550-X O Praise God in His Holiness SATB/organ £2.99 0-571-53551-8 Hail, Gladdening Light SSAATTBB £2.99 0-571-53552-6 The Souls of the Righteous SATB £2.50 0-571-53553-4 If Ye Love Me SATB unacc. £2.50

‘A Garland of Carols’ – New for Christmas

We are delighted to make available in print A Garland of Carols, by Anthony Bolton.

Described by the composer as a homage to Britten, A 0-571-53540-2 Ave Maria SATB unacc. £2.99 Garland of Carols is a 450-571-53541-0 Mary Slept SATB unacc. £2.99 minute seasonal cycle scored 0-571-53542-9 O Sapientia SATB unacc. £2.99 for treble voices and harp, 0-571-53543-7 Veni Jesu SATB, organ and cello £2.99 and takes as it model Britten’s David Bednall (b.1979) is a own A Ceremony of Carols. busy composer and Bolton will undoubtedly organist, combining an be a new name to many extensive freelance career Fortissimo readers. He is better known as one of the with the position of Sub UK’s most successful fund managers and only in recent Organist at Bristol years has he returned to composition, following studies Cathedral, PhD Studies in with leading composers, Colin Matthews and Julian Composition with Professor Anderson. A Garland of Carols has been recorded on John Pickard at Bristol Guild Records in performance by Oxford Voices and University and the Mark Shepherd with Sioned Williams on harp.

Directorship of The University Singers. He studied with Naji Hakim and David Briggs and was Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral.

www.fabermusic.com