FABER MUSIC NEWS AUTUMN 2013
fortissimo! The many faces of Benjamin Britten A centenary round-up
Special features FABER COMPOSERS AT THE PROMS
Anderson, D. Matthews, Adès, C. Matthews p.4-5 MARTIN SUCKLING
Composer in association with SCO p.6 JULIAN ANDERSON
Composer in residence at Wigmore Hall p.7 JOHN WOOLRICH
Interview ahead of 60th birthday p.28 Tuning In • New Publications & Recordings • Music for Now • Media Music • Publishing News
highlights of Britten’s 100th year ‘DEATH IN VENICE’
church parables
Death in Venice was Britten’s last opera, and in many ways it is a summation of his art: a counterpoint on light and dark, splendour and decay, innocence and corruption. The tale – based on Thomas Mann’s novella – is unnerving yet deeply moving; the music is both beguiling and haunting, portraying the murky, plague-infested waters of Venice.
Britten’s three Church Parables – Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal Son – marked a new departure in his writing. Exotic and mysterious, here is music of extraordinary pared-down beauty and arresting originality in this last creative phase of his life.
A triumph at ENO There have been several performances of the opera throughout 2013 and indeed, there are more to come – Death in Venice opens at Opera North in October, and in December the opera receives its Russian premiere at the Moscow Conservatory with a cast including Ian Bostridge – but one of the highlights of this centenary year has to be the revival of English National Opera’s classic 2007 production. Featuring poignant direction by Deborah Warner, fantastic conducting from Edward Gardner, mesmerising dance sequences by Kim Brandstrup, not to mention a formidable cast, this was an operatic triumph! And one that reconfirms Death in Venice at the heart of the repertory.
‘…Death in Venice emerges anew… yet with its rich layers of meaning fully intact.’ The Guardian (Martin Kettle), 17 June 2013
‘I can’t imagine a more exquisitely achieved marriage of music, drama, and design… A flawless evening.’
Mahogany Opera invigorates Church Parables In perhaps one the most ambitious projects of the centenary year, Mahogany Opera, directed by Frederic Wake-Walker, mounted a fully-staged trilogy production that toured to St Petersburg (where Britten saw the Rembrandt painting that inspired The Prodigal Son), Orford Church – Aldeburgh Festival (where the Parables were first performed), as well as the City of London and Buxton Festivals.
‘This was an all but perfect performance. Wake-Walker’s staging brilliantly fused medieval iconography with the Japanese Noh tradition that inspired Britten… the Aurora Orchestra played the haunting score with all the strange luminescence and textural fluidity unique to it.’ The Times (Hilary Finch), 19 June 2013
‘The Church Parables are strange and compelling works, masterpieces surely, of a very inward-looking kind… Part Japanese Noh play, part Anglican medieval mystery play, the Parables are a bizarre hybrid that should not work – but does… a good choice for the centenary festival, bringing some of Britten’s finest music back into circulation.’ Financial Times (Richard Fairman), 18 June 2013
The Independent (Michael Church), 17 June 2013
‘Austere, beautiful, heartbreaking’ ‘Austere, beautiful, heartbreaking, streaked with genius - that goes for both Britten’s Death in Venice and Deborah Warner’s remarkable production…‘ The Arts Desk (Ismene Brown), 16 June 2013
‘Curlew River’ in LA and around the world This year has also seen performances well beyond UK soil in Vienna, Montréal, Rome, Tanglewood (Boston) and LA, where the Jacaranda Chamber Orchestra joined the LA Gay Men’s Chorus in only the second-ever performance in LA.
‘The sparseness and the strangeness are the greatest glory of Curlew River. ’
2 Mahogany Opera ‘ENO ‘Death in Venice’ © Hugo Glendinning, , Curlew River’ © Robert Workman Britten Dances © Robert Workman, Welsh National Youth Opera ‘Paul Bunyan’
Los Angeles Times (Mark Swed), 29 April 2013
Highlights
other operas
dance
‘Paul Bunyan’ receives due recognition
Full premiere of ‘Plymouth Town’
Paul Bunyan is probably the closest Britten ever came to writing a musical. Musically charming and dreamlike, this remarkable collaboration with the poet W.H. Auden recreates the great myth of the American frontier – peopled by a giant, an accountant, singing geese and lumberjacks. Until now it has been rarely performed, but with three UK productions in 6 months, the opera may finally be receiving due recognition. In August Welsh National Youth Opera performed the work in Cardiff, with Stephen Fry as the voice of Paul Bunyan. In September British Youth Opera and Southbank Sinfonia take up the baton for a series of performances at London’s Peacock Theatre. Finally in February English Touring Opera take Paul Bunyan on tour around the UK.
One of the joys of Britten’s centenary has been the chance to shine light on lesser-known works. Included in these is Plymouth Town, a ballet that Britten composed in 1931 following his first year at the Royal College of Music. It lay untouched until 2004 when a concert performance was given at RCM, and a year later a recording was made by the BBCSO, but not until this summer was the ballet itself staged. The world premiere was surely an event that Britten would have approved of with young students from The Hammond Dance School and Chethams’s School of Music (none older than 15!) coming together to perform this young man’s work, with new choreography by Jane Elliott. This was an occasion to reflect on just how far Britten’s star has risen – would the seventeen year-old composer of Plymouth Town ever imagine he might one day appear on a centenary stamp or coin? – just as it was an occasion to reflect on his legacy – Britten was a pioneer in music education and today’s young performers owe much to his work.
‘The Golden Vanity’ in Sweden The Golden Vanity – a ‘vaudeville’ for boys’ voices with piano accompaniment – was first performed at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1967 by the Vienna Boys’ Choir. On the surface it may seem a classic ‘Boys Own’ adventure, but as with so many of Britten’s creations, there’s a dark, unsettling undercurrent. One which director Caroline Petrick has brought out in her extended adaptation which was originally staged at la Monnaie in 2001 but was revived this May by Royal Swedish Opera.
‘This is no merry tale performance. There are threats, deceit, ostracism… Above it all rises, however, the visionary, fantasy and beautiful song…’ Petter Lindgren (Aftonbladet), 20 May 2013
‘It is a children’s opera, but one that caters as much to an adult audiences. In Petrick’s production fiction merges with reality… Violence and brutality smolder under the surface…’ Svenska Dagbladet, 19 May 2013
Choreographers inspired by Britten Britten may have written his own ballets, but the association between Britten and dance goes much further and choreographers have long been inspired by his music, especially so in this centenary year .
Young Apollo – Ashley Page ‘…Death in Venice also haunts Ashley Page’s If Memory Serves, a setting of Young Apollo, which conjures the beautiful boys on the Lido beach and the piercing romance of a summer’s infatuation. It’s a sweet and witty piece… stacking its dancers into crisp art deco shapes, while spinning out glamorously fluid, extended lines of movement.’ The Guardian (Judith Mackrell), 21 June 2013
Phaedra – Richard Alston ‘I was overwhelmed,’ writes Richard Alston of the occasion he first heard the music of Britten, ‘not just by its incredible beauty but by the eloquent setting of words.’ It is fitting then that Alston has chosen to set one of Britten’s most powerful works, the late cantata Phaedra, to dance for the first time. The performances will take place on 6-9 November at London’s Barbican with Richard Alston’s own dance company, the Britten Sinfonia and mezzo-soprano Allison Cook.
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Faber composers at the proms julian anderson – ‘harmony’
david matthews – ‘a vision of the sea’
The BBC Proms is undeniably one of the world’s greatest music festivals and this year was a special one for Faber Music’s composers, who were featured prominently with seven premieres, including the first piece on the opening night, and a host of other concerts – many of which were televised.
Hearing gulls swooped and cried, the tide swelled and ebbed, and the shimmering light of a bold new sunrise filled the Royal Albert Hall with the premiere of David Matthews’s new symphonic tone poem A Vision of the Sea. The BBC Philharmonic and their principal conductor Junajo Mena were on finest form conjuring up flashes of exuberance and melodies dripping with lyricism. And the sea was never far away. ‘Most of the piece,’ writes Matthews, ‘was written at my house in Deal in Kent, where I am constantly aware of the sea. I have attempted to portray the sea in all its various moods, as I have observed them.’ The 20-minute piece was commissioned by the BBC and marks Matthews’s 70th birthday this year.
Any Proms commission is an honour, but to be asked to compose the very first piece of the festival is a particular mark of distinction, and one which this year fell to Julian Anderson. The resulting piece, Harmony, a 5-minute work for chorus and orchestra, eschews the traditional blazing brass or clashing cymbals of a concert overture, instead it’s a thoughtful reflection on music, time and eternity. ‘The piece emerges gradually,’ explains Anderson, ‘hovers, spreads through the hall and vanishes. It sets a brief text by Richard Jefferies about time and eternity in which he says that time is nothing but an illusion. This seemed to me a suitable text with which to celebrate music-making and concert-giving, as the opening work of the Proms should do. What’s so magical about listening to music, or indeed playing it, is transcending everyday clock-timing and replacing it with a completely illusory musical time which suspends our awareness of normal time altogether.’ The premiere was given by the massed forces of the BBC SO and Chorus under Sakari Oramo.
‘Commissioned by the BBC to write a short season-opener, Anderson might have been expected to uncork the fizz, and deserves credit for not doing so… Proving that less really can mean more, Anderson’s pristine musical poem is over almost as soon as it has begun – but not before eliciting mystic waves from the sopranos, a flurry of dark rumblings in characteristically imaginative orchestration and a succession of quasi-minimalist syncopations. Harmony will surely travel.’ Financial Times (Andrew Clark), 14 July 2013
‘Harmony will surely travel’ ‘It was a nice conceit, to begin the world’s largest music festival with something called Harmony, and the piece itself caught with delicate precision the idea that music stops ordinary clock time and creates its own sort of motion. Its brief four-minute swell left behind a definite flavour of something English, as if Delius had momentarily joined hands with French modernist chic.’ The Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 12 July 2013
‘Rarely can a Proms season have opened so quietly, or vast choral and orchestral forces been used with such exquisite fastidiousness. Setting a text contemplating time and eternity by the 19th-century writer Richard Jefferies, it came and went in a four-minute hush of note-clusters and sinuous choral counterpoints, with brief bursts of jazzily off-kilter string pizzicatos supplying a contrast.’ The Times (Richard Morrison), 13 July 2013
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Photos: Thomas Adès © Chris Christodoulou, Royal Albert Hall © Chris Christodoulou
‘A Vision of the Sea, is gorgeous in its haziest moments, when gauzy sonorities trip alongside throbbing string motifs and the soft shimmer of the rainstick. Matthews’s music, which sits defiantly outside of contemporary trends… has a satisfying beauty of its own.’ The Times (Neil Fisher), 18 July 2013
‘…a substantial and attractive work inspired by the sights and sounds of the sea off the coast of Kent… characteristic of Matthews’s style in its warm lyricism and sensuousness shot through with poignant rather than abrasive dissonance… there’s powerfully evocative sea music… with colourful scoring…’ Evening Standard (Barry Millington), 17 July 2013
‘Waltzing strings conjure up glittering spray, rainsticks evoke waves sucking back the sand, and the woodwind imitate seagulls. It is all skilfully, lightly done…’ The Guardian (Erica Jeal), 17 July 2013
‘ravishingly coloured’ ‘…ravishingly coloured performance of David Matthews’ new tone poem A Vision of the Sea… Lasting about 20 minutes, the piece resembles an aural watercolour – woodwinds evoking gull cries, brass forecasting storm-squalls, percussion percolating into stillness – in which mood is paramount and orchestration is king.’ Financial Times (Andrew Clark), 17 July 2013
Highlights
colin matthews – ‘Turning point’ Colin Matthews’s 18-minute orchestral work Turning Point was commissioned by the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and first performed there in 2007. It has since been performed to great acclaim by the GürzenichOrchester Köln and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. This summer it received its UK premiere at the Proms in a stunning performance by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Thomas Sondergard. As Matthews writes, the title describes the work’s structure: ‘I began it in the spring of 2003 but, having completed the first main section, I couldn’t find the way to continue. This first section was almost wholly fast music and when I came back to it I realised what was needed was a complete change of direction, a “turning point”, into music that is very slow and intense.’
‘…it bursts into life with a seething mass of notes in the woodwind, which spread through the orchestra, as if passing down through multiple layers of activity. When the “turning point” comes, it leads to slower music, but if anything the intensity increases. Awash with energy and ideas, the piece scored a palpable hit.’ Financial Times (Richard Fairman), 31 July 2013
‘I was fascinated by Turning Point. An ingeniously constructed 20-minute orchestral work, it lived up to its title by switching halfway through from a frenetic mosaic of whirling motifs into a Gorecki-like wall of massive, immensely slow, mostly consonant string harmonies, punctuated by arid clangs and clunks from the percussion.’
Thomas Adès – ‘Totentanz’ Before its premiere, Thomas Adès’s Totentanz was widely tipped to be one of the Proms highlights; after the performance it was proclaimed as ‘a cultural event of the first magnitude’! With its jaw-dropping orchestral sonorities, its wild, whirling dances, and its moments of crystalline stillness, this piece will live long in the memory. The 35-minute work, for orchestra and two vocal soloists, is based on a 15th century German frieze depicting the smiling figure of Death alongside every category of human society in strictly descending order of status, from the Pope to a baby. In Adès’s setting Death, a baritone – here Simon Keenlyside – asks his victims to join his macabre dance, they plead mercy, but their cries – sung in each case by mezzo Christine Stoijn – are met with an unrelenting orchestral force that sums up the futility of their situation. Totentanz was a commission from Robin Boyle in memory of Witold Lutosławski and his wife, Danuta. The piece will be revived on 28 September at the Warsaw Autumn Festival.
‘…one of the best concerts of the year… Until its unnervingly tonal ending, when the world’s vanities seem to slither into an eerie Mahlerian lullaby, Adès’s score is mostly brutal, exploiting screeching high sonorities or grunting low ones, with a crippled, lurching momentum. That makes it sound unpleasant. Yet I found it thrilling: one of his best.’ The Times (Richard Morrison), 19 July 2013
The Times (Richard Morrison), 31 July 2013
‘a palpable hit’ ‘Turning Point links an elaborate scherzo with slowly moving chordal music that gradually comes to dominate the entire work: the ecstatic, richly detailed woodwind and brass writing has overtones of Mahler and Berg. It was beautifully done.’ The Guardian (Tim Ashley), 30 July 2013
‘an immense achievement’ ‘Totentanz begins like Schoenberg at his most atonally rebarbative, and over the first twenty minutes he ratchets up the aural discomfort until the orchestra becomes convulsed in an explosion… But then we find ourselves in a cleansed and beguiling sound-world which might have been created by Mahler… this could make a very effective Other Faber Music Proms one-act opera.’ • John Woolrich & Tansy Davies – The Independent (Michael Church), 18 July 2013
‘an immense achievement… This seemed a cultural event of the first magnitude.’ The Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 18 July 2013
new variations on Sellinger’s Round with English Chamber Orchestra • Malcolm Arnold – Concerto for Two Pianos (3 hands) with Noriko Ogawa/Kathryn Stott/BBC Concert Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth • Benjamin Britten – Phaedra with Sarah Connolly/Britten Sinfonia/ Sian Edwards • JS Bach / Benjamin – Canon & Fugue (from The Art of Fugue) with SCO/Robin Ticciati
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martin suckling Suckling becomes Associate Composer with SCO Martin Suckling’s star is most certainly rising and it is fair to say he has become one of the most sought-after young composers of his generation. In recognition of his talent, and his particular standing in his native Scotland, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra has appointed Suckling as its new Associate composer. Suckling joins a roster of illustrious composers who have ranked as associates of the SCO, including James MacMillan and Peter Maxwell Davies. Suckling and the SCO have already enjoyed major success with storm, rose, tiger, a 2011 SCO commission which was revived earlier this year to great acclaim (see below). Suckling’s next commission will be premiered at the orchestra’s 40th Birthday Concerts in Glasgow and Edinburgh in February 2014. SCO Principal Conductor Robin Ticciati was instrumental in making this appointment: ‘It is with pure joy and excitement that I welcome Martin Suckling to join us as an associate artist. It was a dream of mine to invite Martin to be part of our future. We offer Martin a virtuosic orchestral palette with which to create his new scores alongside essential space to breathe as a young composer.’
SCO & Benjamin excel in ‘storm, rose, tiger’ Suckling’s storm, rose, tiger, a 17-minute orchestral commission from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, wowed audiences at its first airing in 2011. At its revival in April this year (with conductor George Benjamin, a one-time teacher of Suckling’s) the piece proved just as powerful.
‘…it was fascinating to hear Martin Suckling’s excellent storm, rose, tiger for a second time… Benjamin used his uncompromising sharp edges o reveal just how rigorously engineered and confidently executed the score is.’ The Guardian (Kate Molleson), 29 April 2013
‘The highlight was the dazzling performance of storm, rose, tiger, an exhilarating essay in orchestral energy and colour, which, in its every needlepoint gesture, confirms the young Glaswegian as a major voices of his generation, an astounding orchestrator, and probably the most important figure in Scotland’s music since James MacMillan…’ The Herald (Michael Tumelty), 29 April 2013
‘Suckling… probably the most important figure in Scotland’s music since James MacMillan’ ‘Suckling has clear musical ideas and knows how to develop them, always leading the ear with a skein of beguiling sonorities.’ Financial Times (Andrew Clark), 29 April 2013
Praise for fourth short story The reaction to Suckling’s ‘musical postcards’ (now renamed Short Stories) has been extraordinary. Despite their brevity, each one of these four short string works – composed over the 2012/13 season for the Scottish Ensemble – has been rapturously received. Each miniature not only perfectly captures a moment in time, but crystallises the composer’s style: radiating melodies that glow with microtones, shimmering textures that reveal a dark underworld. The fourth story, Touch, was no exception:
‘…it was a joy to hear Suckling’s characteristic rhythm and beauty, all reduced to a powerfully disciplined, skilful and pointed miniature.’ The Herald (Rosenna East), 14 June 2013
‘…the piece is a kind of furious tocatta that weaves a complex rhythmic mesh around steely metric signposts… [it] packs a formidable amount of material into its short, high-octane blast.’ The Guardian (Kate Molleson), 11 June 2013
…and performance of the complete set Although each miniature is capable of standing on its own, the idea has always been to unite them; ‘I like to think they might fit together a bit like Bach’s Notebooks for Anna Magdalena,’ writes Suckling. The set will be performed by the Scottish Ensemble in Scotland in October, before reaching London’s Wigmore Hall on 26 October.
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PHOTOS: martin suckling © Maurice Foxall, Robin ticciati © marco borggreve
Highlights
Julian anderson Anderson appointed as Wigmore Hall’s composer in residence Julian Anderson is a composer who has made major contributions to almost every musical genre from vast orchestral music to intimate choral works, from large ensemble pieces to solo miniatures (and soon he adds an opera to his oeuvre – see p.15). But amongst the most important collections of music are his chamber works, a fact recognised by the Wigmore Hall in its decision to appoint Anderson as its next composer in residence. John Gilhooly, Wigmore Hall’s Artistic Director writes: ‘Bold thinking and the spirit of adventure have shaped Wigmore Hall’s determination to promote contemporary chamber music and song. I am therefore delighted to welcome Julian Anderson as Wigmore Hall’s second ever Composer in Residence. He has been described by The Times as “a composer to cherish” and by the Evening Standard as “one of the finest composers of his generation”. Students travel from all corners of the world to study with him at the Guildhall, and his list of forthcoming performances and commissions, meanwhile, underlines the international significance of his work and you will see his influence throughout the season and the years ahead.’
‘one of the finest composers of his generation’ The residency begins on 2 November with a Julian Anderson composer day. At 1pm there is the opportunity to hear some of Anderson’s most colourful chamber pieces, including Four Piano Studies, The Colour of Pomegranates, The Bearded Lady, Sea Drift, Prayer for solo viola, alongside works by Gérard Grisey, Oliver Knussen and George Benjamin. The evening concert will include the world premiere of Anderson’s Another Prayer for solo violin, as well as Tiramisu, The Comedy of Change and works by Hans Abrahamsen and Salvatore Sciarrino. The concerts will feature some of today’s finest performers including the Aurora Orchestra and conductor Nicholas Collon, Claire Booth (soprano), Paul Silverthorne (viola), Adam Walker (flute), Mark Simpson (clarinet), Cédric Tiberghien (piano) and András Keller (violin). The rest of the season includes two string quartet premieres: the London premiere of Anderson’s String Quartet No. 1 Light Music with the Jack Quartet on 23 January and the world premiere of his String Quartet No.2 (co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival) with the Arditti Quartet on 15 May.
photos: Julian Anderson © Maurice foxall, wigmore hall © benjamin ealovega
LPO residency continues Whilst Anderson takes up a new post at the Wigmore Hall, he also continues an existing one with the London Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he has been composer in residence since 2010. This season sees the revival of two of Anderson’s much-loved orchestral pieces. The Stations of the Sun proves its popularity with no less than its third performance with the LPO – it will be performed on 7 December as part of a retrospective of seminal British works from the 1990s including MacMillan, Turnage and Adès. Alleluia – a 15-minute work for chorus and orchestra, first performed in 2007 to mark the re-opening of London’s Royal Festival Hall – will be given another chance to shine on 1 March alongside Beethoven’s 9th. The residency continues next season with the world premiere of Anderson’s violin concerto, which he is composing for violinist Carolin Widmann.
…and release of LPO CD The London Philharmonic Orchestra has provided a uniquely supportive environment for Anderson including a commitment to record his orchestral works. This autumn they will release a CD featuring acclaimed performances of Fantasias, The Crazed Moon (both conducted by Vladimir Jurowski), and The Discovery of Heaven (conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth) – a South Bank Award winning work – all recorded live over the 2011/12 season. This CD adds to Anderson’s growing catalogue of recordings for which he has won several awards and accolades. A second LPO disc, featuring later works, will follow in 2015.
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Selected forthcoming performances
Thomas Adès Opera Philadelphia
Totentanz
(Polish premiere) 28.9.13, National Philharmonic Concert Hall, Warsaw, Poland: Warsaw Philharmonic/ Rafal Jamiak
‘Opera Philadelphia pulled off its greatest piece of work perhaps in several seasons, with a gorgeously sung and smartly crafted production of Powder Her Face… With only 17 musicians in the pit, Adès has enough confidence in his listener to be constantly turning on a dime… Pluralism reigns. Composers have argued as much for decades, but surely no one has done so as emphatically, and so beautifully within the framework of single pieces, as Adès. Powder Her Face was premiered 18 years ago, and yet its cascading pastiche now seems only more a product of our time.’
Three Studies from Couperin / Concerto for Violin / Scenes from The Tempest 3, 4, 5, 6.10.13, 10, 11, 12.10.13, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, USA: Pablo Heras-Casado/Leila Josefowicz/ San Francisco Symphony
Polaris 10, 11, 12.10.13, Boston Symphony Hall, Boston, MA, USA: Boston Symphony/ Thomas Adès 25.11.13, Norway: Bergen Philharmonic/James Gaffigan
Living Toys 26.10.13, , Israel: Israel Contemporary Players/Zsolt Nagy/ Hila Baggio
Lieux retrouvés / Catch / Court Studies from The Tempest 5.11.13, Barbican Hall, London, UK: Thomas Adès/Anthony Marwood/Louise Hopkins/ Matthew Hunt
Asyla 7.11.13, City of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic: Petr Vronsky/ Hradec Kralove Philharmonic 7.12.13, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: London PO/ Vladimir Jurowski
Three Studies from Couperin 5, 6, 7.12.13, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, USA: New York PO/David Zinman
These Premises Are Alarmed 6.12.13, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK: BBC PO/ Juango Mena
In Seven Days 13.12.13, Teatro Manzoni Bologna, Italy: Roberto Prosseda/ Orchestra Teatro Communale di Bologna/Lothar Zagrosek
Tevot 13.1.14, Stadthalle Kassel, Germany: Patrik Ringborg
Concerto for Violin 6.2.14, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: Philharmonia Orchestra/Pekka Kuusisto/ Nicholas Collon
Powder Her Face 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 19.4.14, Ambika P3, Marylebone, London, UK: English National Opera/ dir. Joe Hill-Gibbins/ cond. Edward Gardner
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Philadelphia Inquirer (Peter Dobrin), 11 June 2013
‘Powder Her Face’ continues to dazzle Almost 20 years since it was written, and after nearly 300 worldwide performances, Thomas Adès’s first opera, Powder Her Face, clearly still has dazzling power and potency. It is hard to believe that this most consummate work was written by a 24 year-old, but then that young man was Adès, whose prodigious musical talent was awe-inspiring even as a teenager. Two recent US productions – at New York City Opera and Opera Philadelphia – have once again proved that this opulent, raunchy and stylistically diverse work is here to stay.
New York City Opera ‘The music of Powder Her Face manages to be eclectic in a way that never sounds like pastiche and always sounds like Adès. Set into the spiky texture of much of the score, its occasional lilting snippets of 1930s-style popular songs could, in other hands, be the stuff of simple-minded parody. But Mr. Adès always brings in an unexpected note, a destabilizing rhythm, a mood that won’t stay put. It is a style in which one thing flows endlessly, effortlessly into the next, just as the characters constantly change their costumes and the staccato brass tweets at the end of the overture lead seamlessly into the Maid’s laughter in the opening scene.’ The New York Times (Zachary Woolfe), 8 February 2013
‘In this fanciful tale of the Duchess of Argyll — a reallife 1950s British beauty whose husband divorced her on 88 counts of adultery — the notorious lady makes a pass at a room-service waiter. As her aria subsides to a strangled murmur, 25 nude male extras crowd into the room like gym-toned spirits of one-night stands past… In most operas, such lurid staging would seem over the top. But here it’s a perfect fit with the nerve-jangling score, which sounds like Stravinsky, Ravel and Alban Berg run through a Cuisinart.’ New York Post (James Jorden), 18 February 2013
photo: thomas adès © brian voce
‘Was it really as far back as 1995 that Thomas Adès premiered Powder Her Face? It hardly seems so; his music and Philip Hensher’s English libretto seem fresh enough to have been written just yesterday… Opera Philadelphia has put her life back on stage for us in a production as gorgeously staged and costumed as it is sung… Powder Her Face is a reminder that even in modern times, the stuff of great dramatic tragedy still exists, and that a great composer can bring it out and illustrate it through his work. It is well worth adding to the regular modern operatic repertoire.’ Broadway World (Marakay Rogers), 12 June 2013
‘Polaris’ – the North Star down under Polaris, the ‘North Star’, may never appear in the southern hemisphere, but Adès’s own star burned brightly earlier this spring when his orchestral work Polaris: Voyage for Orchestra was performed in Australia by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The 14-minute piece was was written to highlight the acoustics of the new Frank Gehry-designed New World Centre in Miami in 2010, and its bold antiphonal effects and swirling orchestral textures have been wowing audiences world-wide ever since.
‘This program was arguably the Sydney Symphony’s most interesting for the year, and was led by one of the leading musicians of his generation - Thomas Adès… Polaris was an exhilaratingly immersive experience. Two brass choirs were placed on either side behind the audience, playing chorale-like dialogues in intimate imitation. The orchestra simultaneously varied and complicated the material, creating a minutely crazed surface on which the glow of the brass was reflected.’ Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney (Peter McCallum), 6 May 2013
‘Polaris is a bold, compelling work, unfolding with a profound inner logic.’ The Australian (Murray Black), 3 May 2013
The score of Polaris is available to buy from www.fabermusicstore.com
Tuning in
Colin Matthews
Selected forthcoming performances
Continuing success of ‘Movements for a Clarinet Concerto’ Britten’s centenary year has offered the opportunity to uncover hidden gems; works such as the ‘Movements for a Clarinet Concerto’ which started life in 1941 when Britten began to sketch a concerto for Benny Goodman, but which remained unfinished until Matthews – a one-time assistant of Britten’s – stepped in to complete the work in 2007. This year alone, the charming concerto will have been performed 13 times in 6 different countries. In May the work reached California in a much-praised performance at the San Francisco Conservatory with clarinettist Brenden Guy.
Matthews’s dramatic Horn Concerto at the Aldeburgh Festival The concerto form is an inherently dramatic one, with the soloist and orchestra locked in dialogue. In his Horn Concerto Colin Matthews takes this premise a step further and casts the horn soloist as ‘a wanderer’ who slips around the concert stage and through the back, leading the ear in a sonic journey where the solo line explores an impressive range of acoustic possibilities. The piece was first performed in 2001 and was revived this summer at the Aldeburgh Festival, where an enthralled audience watched the drama unfold as soloist Richard Watkins took to the stage with the CBSO and conductor Ilan Volkov.
‘why on earth isn’t it performed more often’ ‘…Matthews’s superb horn concerto… According to the programme note, “the horn solo is, literally, a wanderer”. And it was refreshing to find that they didn’t mean figuratively. The concerto began with both Watkins and Volkov absent from the stage… Volkov then tiptoed onto the podium to take up the reins while Watkins made himself heard from the wings. As the twenty minute, single movement work progressed, he made his way across the stage. This was more than just a gimmick as the sound of the horn changed in interesting ways with the Maltings’ acoustic… as if that wasn’t enough, Matthews provided extra horns by the upper doors for a quadraphonic effect. All this made for an experience that was not only excellent musically but also theatrically. It is always nice to come out of a performance of a contemporary piece wondering why on earth it isn’t performed more often, and this was certainly one such.’
‘There’s a long-breathed slow movement created out of a “Mazurka Elegiaca” for two pianos, and a zippy finale from an unfinished orchestral sketch. The result is an enjoyable affair… with the kind of stylistic integrity that comes from Matthews’s decision to draw on materials from the same period in Britten’s life. The first movement is by far the most beguiling, a blend of the composer’s distinctive early harmonic language and Goodman’s jaunty, jazzy persona… the finale, centered around a bustling rhythmic motif, is a fullscale charmer.’ San Francisco Chronicle (Joshua Kosman), 5 June 2013
‘In the first movement one could hear several sassy licks that made it clear that Britten was aware of Goodman’s performance style. However, the overall rhetoric is Britten’s own, reflecting the high spirits that served him so well in his two suites of orchestrations of music by Gioachino Rossini.’ Examiner (Stephen Smoliar), 5 June 2013
New work ‘Traces Remain’ for BBC SO This January the BBC SO will premiere Traces Remain, Matthews’s latest orchestral work. The piece, a BBC commission, is inspired by Charles Nicholl’s book Traces Remain and a quote from the preface gives a hint of the music’s starting point: ‘the sudden presence, the glimpse behind the curtain, the episode measured in minutes and preserved across the centuries.’ The premiere will take place at the Barbican on 8 January and will be conducted by the BBC SO’s new principal conductor, Sakari Oramo.
Oscuro / Three Interludes / Calmo
15.9.13, King’s Place, London, UK: London Sinfonietta
Movements for a Clarinet Concerto 21.9.13, Australian National Academy of Music, Melbourne, Australia: Australian National Academy of Music/Paul Dean 25, 26.9.13, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Canada: Toronto SO/Joaquin Valdepeñas/Peter Oundjian
Debussy orch. Matthews: La fille aux cheveux de lin / Feux d’artifice / La cathédrale engloutie / La danse de Puck
28, 29.9.13, Magdeburg, Germany: MDR Sinfonieorchester/ Hannu Lintu
Contraflow
6.11.13, St George’s Concert Room, UK: Ensemble 10:10/ Clark Rundell
Nowhere to hide
(London premiere) 28.11.13, Wigmore Hall, London, UK: Schubert Ensemble
Traces Remain
(world premiere) 8.1.14, Barbican Hall, London, UK: BBC SO/Sakari Oramo
Grand Barcarolle
(New York premiere) 1.6.14, Rose Theater, Lincoln Center, New York, USA: Orchestra of St. Luke’s/Pablo Heras-Casado
Elegiac Chaconne / Berceuse for Elliott 20.6.14, Wigmore Hall, London, UK: BCMG
Tanglewood Festival commissions 5th String Quartet Matthews has four celebrated string quartets to his name (the most recent was premiered at the Wigmore Hall last year), and now he is to add a fifth to his catalogue. The new piece is a commission from the Tanglewood Festival in Boston and will be performed as part of the festival’s 2015 season.
Where’s Runnicles blog (Tam Pollard), 16 June 2013
9 photo: colin matthews © maurice Foxall
Selected forthcoming performances
David Matthews lines of birdsong and cockerels, a resource Matthews is increasingly drawn to. It was tantalising to hear this engaging, fluent work as through a veil, it should be heard again… The concert ended on a hilarious high with the premiere of David Matthew’s The Shorter Ring – the whole of Wagner’s Ring cycle done and dusted in five minutes, not a leitmotif left out. I can’t imagine a more painless way to enjoy Wagner’s 200th anniversary.’
Symphony No 4
9.10.13, Cadogan Hall, London, UK: English Chamber Orchestra/ Alissa Firsova
Love Songs / The Bartered Bride Overture 12.10.13, Wigmore Hall, London, UK: Nash Ensemble
Fifteen Fugues
13.10.13, St John’s Church, Little Missenden Festival, UK: Aisha Oraxbayeva
BBC Music Magazine (Helen Wallace), 17 June 2013
Clarinet Quartet
A beautiful new Double Concerto for Violin and Viola
14.10.13, Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon Festival, UK: Contemporary Consort
Piano Trio No.3
15.10.13, St John’s Church, Little Missenden Festival, UK: Leonore Piano Trio
Symphony No 7 18.10.13, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK: BBC PO/HK Gruber
Three Birds and a Farewell
19.10.13, St John’s Church, Little Missenden Festival, UK: Tom Hammond/Sound Collective
String Quartet No 12
27.10.13, Fellowship House, London, UK: Kreutzer Quartet
Adonis
3.11.13, Fellowship House, London, UK: Sara Trickey, violin/ Daniel Tong
Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd
(US premiere) 7, 8.12.13, Church of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Manhattan, USA: Central City Chorus/ Phillip Cheah
Double Concerto
9, 10, 13, 15.12.13, Tour, Russian Federation & The Netherlands: Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida Thompson/ Daniel Bard
New piano works shine at Spitalfields Festival The Spitalfields Festival excels at combining old with new, and this year – amongst London’s trendiest Shoreditch bars, in the stunning yet crumbling church of St Leonard’s – the festival audience was treated to a stunning piano recital which included two new works by Matthews, alongside pieces by Schubert and Chopin. The event was celebrating pianist William Howard’s 60th birthday, as well as Matthews’s own 70th, and Howard had commissioned a new 12-minute work from Matthews to mark the occasion. The resulting piece, entitled, Four Portraits portrays four figures (including Howard) that have had an important influence on Matthews. The concert also included Matthews’s delightfully and hilariously crafted Shorter Ring, a 5-minute reduction of Wagner’s entire Ring Cycle! (The score is available at www.fabermusicstore.com)
‘The first of his Four Portraits depicts the pianist himself in the guise of a Chopin specialist. Matthews’s slow waltz twists the parodic nearly into the personal, but his headlong use of Moravian folk songs in the fourth piece, portraying the Czech composer Pavel Zemek Novak, seemed remarkably authentic… The endpiece was unforgettable: The Shorter Ring, Matthews’s four-movement reduction of Wagner’s 15-hour tetralogy to about five minutes. He manages to keep all the original keys (bar one), and the recension could hardly be more deft… I left the church reeling.’ The Sunday Times (Paul Driver), 23 June 2013
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‘His Four Portraits, conjures four friends in what amounts to a short piano sonata. Howard himself is pictured in a sly, slow Chopin-esque waltz, while Novák inspired the joyous last movement with an impish Moravian folk-tune. In the middle comes a darkly menacing Scherzo, intended for the composer Anthony Powers, and an intriguing depiction of Anne Senior’s (manager of the Schubert Ensemble) Gloucestershire garden riven with strange photo: david matthews © clive barda
One of the highlights of this summer’s Cheltenham Festival was the world premiere of David Matthews’s Double Concerto for Violin and Viola with masterly soloists Anthony Marwood and Lawrence Power accompanied by Welsh Sinfonia. The 16-minute piece is a beautiful showcase of several common themes in Matthews’s music: birdsong, landscape and dance. The work was co-commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival, Presteigne Festival (a second UK performance was given in August by Sara Trickey, Sarah-Jane Bradley and the Presteigne Festival Orchestra) and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta (who will give four performances in December in Moscow, St Petersburg, Amsterdam and Helmond).
‘…the work that really made Sunday’s concert worthwhile, David Matthews’s new Double Concerto for violin, viola and strings. Commissioned for the festival… the writing similarly treated the soloists as equal friends. Matthews’s Mahlerian fondness for nature painting surfaced in the slow movement, borne aloft with magical nightingale trills. Other movements projected their own pleasures: joyfully florid interplay in the first, muscular Irish jigging in the third. In whatever register, the notes just flowed; this delightful concerto deserves many more outings.’ The Times (Geoff Brown), 11 July 2013
‘this delightful concerto deserves many more outings’ Release of Symphony No 7 & Vespers CD Matthews’s CD catalogue is growing rapidly and this autumn sees the release of a much-awaited disc combining his Symphony No 7 with his largescale Vespers (for mezzo & tenor soli, chorus and orchestra), with stunning performances by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the London Bach Choir and conductors David Hill and John Carewe. The CD is part of a highly-acclaimed series of Matthews’s symphony recordings released on the Dutton label (the last in the series – Symphonies 2 and 6 – won a BBC Music Magazine Award!). The latest CD will be released in October to coincide with a performance of Symphony No 7 given by the BBC Philharmonic and conductor HK Gruber.
Tuning in
Hot off the press: CD of solo violin music David Matthews’s Fifteen Fugues for solo violin, composed over four years between 1998 and 2002, not only constitute what is probably the largest set of violin fugues by a living composer; they also form an extended essay in musical portraiture, with each fugue ‘depicting’ its dedicatee. These Fugues form the basis of a new CD – just released on Tocatta Classics – in which violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved delves into Matthews’s highly-regarded solo violin repertoire. The rest of the disc includes Matthews’s Three Studies (1985) and Winter Journey (1982–83), a tone-poem for solo violin inspired by Schubert’s Winterreise.
…and Fifteen Fugues score The score of Matthews’s Fifteen Fugues for solo violin will be published later this autumn. A must-have for any violinist!
‘White Nights’ at English Music Festival David Matthews’s White Nights, a 12-minute fantasia for violin and small orchestra, was one of the high points of this year’s English Music Festival at Dorchester Abbey. Violinist Rupert Marshall-Luck joined the Orchestra of St Paul’s and conductor Ben Palmer for a memorable performance.
‘…the best – David Matthews’s haunting White Nights, a revision of a violin concerto – left an indelible mark. Rupert Marshall-Luck tackled the sinewy solo part with fluency. Matthews uses traditional methods yet creates music that is dazzlingly new.’ The Observer (Fiona Maddocks), 2 June 2013
‘music that is dazzlingly new’ ‘White Nights… based on a novella by Dostoevsky about a young man who comes across a woman in tears. He falls in love with her but at a subsequent meeting learns that she is awaiting the return of her betrothed. In the composition the violin represents the dreamer, the flute the young woman and the clarinet the other man in her life. This proved to be a powerful, haunting work strong on atmosphere and anguish…’ Seen and Heard International (Roger Jones), 29 May 2013
US premiere of Psalm 23 Matthews’s Psalm 23, for SATB chorus and strings, will receive its US premiere this December in a performance with New York’s Central City Chorus and conductor Phillip Cheah. The programme has been planned to celebrate Britten’s centenary and will also include Britten’s The Company of Heaven.
Francisco Coll
Selected forthcoming performances
‘Ad Marginem’ (At the margin) – a viola concerto about ‘mass culture’
Ad Marginem
Francisco Coll has found much affinity recently with the concerto genre – his piano concertino No seré yo quien diga nada and trombone concerto Tapias display a striking interpretation of the form – and so it was with relish that he undertook a commission from the London Sinfonietta to write a new viola concerto for the ensemble’s renowned viola player, Paul Silverthorne. This work, like many of his other recent pieces, displays a fascination with ‘current society,’ as Coll explains: ‘As I did before with my piano concertino, I tried now with Ad Marginem, to express again my social concerns and obsessions through the sonic medium. I find a kind of parallelism between the individual versus the mass and the soloist versus the ensemble. Ad Marginem,“At the margin”, is the vestige of a concertante-piece for viola and ensemble, in which the viola functions as leader of a mass culture, rather than an individual.’ The 15-minute piece (for viola and 12 players) will be premiered on 8 December at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, as part of the London Sinfonietta’s innovative New Music Show series.
8.12.13, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, United Kingdom: London Sinfonietta
Melisma
9.3.14, Ahrenshort, Germany: Duo Kang Kusnezow 29.3.14, Heikendorf, Germany: Duo Kang Kusnezow
new work: an opera
(world premiere) 14, 17, 18, 19, 22.3.14, Tour, UK
No seré yo quien diga nada 11, 21.6.14, Tour, UK: CBSO/ Thomas Adès
Chamber opera commission An opera commission is a rare thing for a young composer, but perhaps in the case of the precociously talented Francisco Coll, not such a surprise. Coll is currently working on a chamber opera to be performed at Aldeburgh, Opera North and the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House in March 2014. The 50-minute opera is for 10 players and 5 singers (coloratura soprano, mezzo-soprano, countertenor, tenor and bass-baritone), and is based on short texts and fragments by Kafka. The libretto has been created by playwright Meredith Oakes, who explains the scenario: ‘An evening unfolds among strangers and acquaintances who drink, try to fall in love, and try to find some sort of coherence, or at least a way out. A figure from ancient legend visits them but can offer them no useful information. They will probably be here again tomorrow…’
Growing reputation in Spain Coll’s reputation in his native Spain is also growing and it is with great pleasure that he accepted a prestigious commission from the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical. The resulting work, entitled Liquid Symmetries – for 15 players, 12 minutes – will be premiered at the National Museum Reina Sofia Art Centre on 3 March, with Grupo Modus Novus and conductor Santiago Serrate.
CD release Coll’s first commercial disc was released this summer. It features the Valencia Regional Government Youth Orchestra and the two works he wrote for them as composer in residence: No seré yo quien diga nada (10 mins), a piano concertino for pianist Nicholas Hodges, and In Extremis (17 mins), a cantata for choir and orchestra.
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Selected forthcoming performances Curve with Plateaux
6.9.13, Klara Festival, Brussels, Netherlands: Arne Deforce
Lotuses
14.9.13, Klara Festival, Netherlands: La Monnaie String Trio/Carlos Bruneel
…towards a pure land / Body Mandala / Speakings 27.9.13, Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, Germany: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln/Ilan Volkov
Run Before Lightning
27.9.13, Festival Musica, Salle de la Bourse, Strasbourg, France: Ensemble Recherche
Two Interludes and a Scene for an Opera
27.9.13, Cite de la Musique, salle des concerts, France: Ensemble Intercontemporain/ Claire Booth/Matthias Pintscher
Body Mandala (French premiere) 5.10.13, Festival Musica, Strasbourg, France: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln/ Emilio Pomarico
Speakings
25.10.2013 Musica Electronica Nova Festival, Wroclaw, Poland: Orchestra of Filharmonia Wroclawska/Pascal Rophé
Sprechgesang
19.10.13, Cite de la Musique, salle des concert, France: Ensemble Intercontemporain/ Peter Rundel
Ashes Dance Back (Taiwanese premiere) 31.10.13, National Concert Hall, Taipei, Taiwan: Taipei Chamber Singers/Yun Hung, Chen
Concerto for Cello (2005 version) 31.10.13, Theatro Manzoni Bologna, Italy: Orchestra Teatro Comunale/Eva Zahnn/Jonathan Stockhammer
Tranquil Abiding 16.11.13, Hegelsaal Stuttgart, Germany: SWR RadioSinfonieorchester Stuttgart/ Lucas Vis
Wheel of Emptiness / Scena 23.1.14, nyk, United Kingdom: Philharmonia Orchestra/ Antony Hermus
Jonathan Harvey Memorial service A memorial service for Jonathan Harvey will be held in the chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge on Saturday 19 October 2013, at 12 noon. All are welcome.
The UK premiere of ‘Wagner Dream’ 2013 is Wagner’s bicentenary year and Wagner operas are everywhere you look, but Welsh National Opera chose to mark the occasion in a rather different way, with the first fully-staged UK performance of Jonathan Harvey’s opera Wagner Dream. WNO’s daring paid off, with critics praising Harvey’s ‘hauntingly beautiful’ work and remarking that ‘WNO deserves the highest credit for being the first in the UK to stage this important piece.’ The stellar WNO cast included Claire Booth as Prakriti, Dale Duesing as Buddha and Richard Angas as the Old Brahmin, led by the rising young conductor Nicholas Collon. The production, by director Pierre Audi, is a re-staging of the original premiere production from 2007 in Luxembourg. The opera revisits the day of Wagner’s death in 1883 and imagines the Buddhist opera that he had long dreamt of writing. As the stricken man drifts in and out of consciousness, he is visited by a Buddhist guide who grants him a vision of the opera that never was – the Buddhist legend of Prakriti and Ananda. The tale offers poignant parallels with Harvey’s own situation: he died in December 2012, 6 months before the UK premiere of this most important work, but his memory was kept alive at the performances with a large picture of Harvey projected onto the backdrop as the cast took their bows. Wagner Dream was first performed at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg in 2007 and in its original version the text was entirely in English. However, prior to its UK premiere, David Poutney, director of WNO, suggested that the cultural dialogue of the opera would be enhanced and clarified by translation into German and Pali (the ancient language spoken by Buddha) for the German and Buddhist parts respectively. Harvey agreed and it is this new version which was performed by WNO.
‘Visually stunning and beautifully lit, the brilliant jewel colours of India mingle with the yellow and gold of the Buddhists, as seductive to the eye as Harvey’s exquisite sounds are to the ear, the ring of fire a decidedly Wagnerian touch. Yet director Pierre Audi brings a clarity that has the two narrative strands unfold on different levels and periodically merge; a black Corbusier-curved chaise longue permits the silkenrobed Wagner, even in his agony, to be the reclining Buddha of western music…’ The Guardian (Rian Evans), 7 June 2013
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photo: wno production of ‘wagner dream’ © david massey
‘Jonathan Harvey’s hauntingly beautiful opera Wagner Dream… is unquestionably the most self-defining work by Harvey… His own Buddhist preoccupations inspired a score that takes us into visionary realms, mixing orchestra and live electronics to summon up both shadowy hints of Wagner’s sound world and something more exotic, and at WNO Nicholas Collon mixes them with a fluid baton to produce pure Harvey.’ The Telegraph (John Allison), 8 June 2013
‘hauntingly beautiful… a score that takes us into visionary realms’ ‘It has some extraordinary music: just 20 instruments are involved, but the electronics send an infinite variety of sonic timbres swishing round the theatre. Yet it also has an earnestness… the most exciting music is Harvey’s underscoring of Wagner’s agonised rants — music that suggests body and soul splintering apart.’ The Times (Richard Morrison), 9 June 2013
‘Harvey’s score is an astonishing, transcendent thing. The electronics meld assuredly with the live orchestra… The scoring during the spoken scenes is a marvel of subtlety and the Buddhist music is beautiful, with one foot in pentatonicism and the other in brilliant, Stockhausen-esque mysticism. It’s all a study in consistency and effectiveness from Harvey… Overall, it’s a triumph, and WNO deserves the highest credit for being the first in the UK to stage this important piece – so clearly on a par with those recent triumphs of contemporary opera The Tempest, The Minotaur and Written on Skin.’ Bachtrack (Paul Kilbey), 7 June 2013
Harvey in Europe Jonathan Harvey’s music continues to inspire musicians across the European continent and this May both the Concertgebouw Brugge and The Parma Conservatory of Music chose to honour Harvey with a series of composer portrait concerts. In Brugge, audiences were treated to pieces from across Harvey’s catalogue, performed by some of the world’s best Harvey interpreters: the acclaimed Latvian Radio Choir sung a selection of Harvey’s choral works, the deFilharmonie and pianist Ralph van Raat performed the vivid Bird Concerto with Pianosong, and Ictus Ensemble explored some of Harvey’s seminal ensemble works including Bhakti and Ricercare una melodia.
Tuning in
Whilst in Parma, the focus was on Harvey’s unique combination of instrumental and electroacoustic genres, with students and professors presenting papers on Harvey’s music and legacy, alongside performances of his key electronic works.
Harvey in Aldeburgh Britten’s centenary may have made all the headlines at this year’s Aldeburgh festival, but in a quieter, yet no less humbling way, tributes were also paid to the late Jonathan Harvey, whose own association with Britten and Aldeburgh has been long and rich. Over two weekends Aldeburgh audiences heard some of Harvey’s iconic choral works – including the UK premiere of his very last work Plainsongs for Peace and Light – sung by the Latvian Radio Choir, some of his ground-breaking string quartets played by the Arditti Quratet, and the UK premiere of one of his most important orchestral pieces – 80 Breaths for Tokyo – with the CBSO and Ilan Volkov.
‘80 Breaths for Tokyo’ ‘…the culmination of Harvey’s lifelong search for the integration of human and electronic sound… Brushed by pitched percussion including bamboo clusters and Taiwan temple bowls, this breathing even created a glimmer of a sea interlude or two, as ebb and flow, wash and undertow patterned the score. There were beautiful moments of stasis, wild dance, an impassioned valediction…’ The Times (Hilary Finch), 16 June 2013
‘…it created a series of marvellous effects… Harvey’s orchestral climaxes, the way he builds them and then allows them space to hang and fade, rather reminded me of Messiaen…’
Tansy Davies
Selected forthcoming performances
Eclectica concert — Davies explored
Song of Pure Nothingness
If anyone’s music is worthy of a concert entitled Eclectica, it must surely be Tansy Davies, whose unique aesthetic swerves around the frontiers of different genres – from funk to Birtwistle, folk to Ligeti – but yet occupies a space very much of its own. And at a UBS LSO Eclectica concert devoted to the composer, we heard a wide variety of her chamber works (the evening was billed as a live recreation of Davies’s acclaimed album Troubairitz) from the ritualistic percussion piece Dark Ground, to her powerful Troubairitz songs and the irregular dance grooves of ensemble pieces Neon and Grind Show. The performers included the Azalea Ensemble, percussionist Joby Burgess and Davies herself on a red and white Stratocaster guitar!
(world premiere) 9.9.13, Ultima Festival, Oslo, Norway: Elisabeth Holmertz/ Kenneth Karlsson 26.10.13, Transit Festival, Belgium: Elisabeth Holmertz/ Kenneth Karlsson 9.11.13, November Festival, Netherlands: Elisabeth Holmertz/ Kenneth Karlsson
‘Davies’s music is profoundly invigorating’ ‘With its irreverent slap-bass synth and fusion of blunt textures and funk rhythms, vividly brought out by the Azalea Ensemble, neon is in many ways typical Davies. But its extrovert character contrasted strongly with the rest of this fascinating concert… From the eerie world of Salt Box – reminiscent, with its unpredictable electronic track over reed organ and chamber ensemble, of a poltergeist in a village church – to the doodling profile of the Loure for solo violin much of Davies’s material ponders the boundary between private imagining and public utterance, its articulation hovering on the crest of the moment… Davies’s music is profoundly invigorating. Her willingness to take stylistic liberties remains a hallmark, but the quality of her work is reflected in its rare power to remind its listeners of their own inner freedom.’ The Guardian (Guy Dammann), 10 April 2013
Where’s Runnicles blog (Tam Pollard), 16 June 2013
‘Song of Pure Nothingness’ in Oslo
Choral works ‘The Angels and The Annunciation were heard in the ancient church at Blythburgh, where the roof’s carved angels gave an added resonance to Harvey’s extraordinary emulation of fluttering wings. And the Latvian Radio Choir’s singing was even more startling in Marahi and The Summer’s Cloud’s Awakening. In these, Harvey’s visionary embracing of Christian and Buddhist ideals moves from ethereal to earthly, the sense of timeless yet living energy somehow heightened…’ The Guardian (Rian Evans), 9 June 2013
The songs of the troubadours have once again proved rich inspiration for Davies – her 2010 work Troubairitz set seven troubadour texts – and this autumn sees the premiere of Song of Pure Nothingness (13 mins), a setting of an 11th Century poem by Guillaum IX D’Aquitane, for soprano and Indian harmonium. ‘The poem,’ writes Davies, ‘a kind of riddle, is a seemingly perfect balance of chaos and order, human frailty and strength. The song hovers in a place where dream or fantasy meets reality. Far from being in a state of confusion though; here a meditative lover sees life with enhanced clarity.’ The premiere was given at the Ultima Festival in Oslo (9 September) by Elisabeth Holmertz and Kenneth Karlsson, who are touring the work to the Transit Festival in Belgium (26 October) and the November Festival in the Netherlands (9 November). 13
Selected forthcoming performances
Oliver Knussen Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Flourish with Fireworks
20, 21.9.13, Aichi Prefectural Arts Theatre, Nagoya, Japan: Nagoya PO/Martyn Brabbins
Horn Concerto 10.10.13, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, UK: BBC NOW/ David Pyatt
Hums and Songs of Winnie the Pooh
26.10.13, Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel: Israel Contemporary Players/Zsolt Nagy/Hila Baggio
Four Late Poems and an Epigram of Rainer Maria Rilke
2.11.13, Wigmore Hall, London, UK: Cédric Tiberghien/ Mark Simpson/Andras Keller/ Nicholas Collon/Claire Booth/ Aurora Orchestra/ Paul Silverthorne/Adam Walker
Where the Wild Things Are
22, 23, 26, 27.11.13, Teatro Comunale Bologna, Italy: Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna/Polastri
Songs without Voices
29, 30.1.14, Auditorio de Murcia, Spain: Britten Sinfonia/ Claudia Huckle/Jacqueline Shave
Ophelia Dances Book 1 26.4.14, Barcelona, Spain: BCN216
…upon one note
20.6.14, Wigmore Hall, London, UK: BCMG
Knussen returns to Boston Oliver Knussen’s Boston connections run deep – in the 1970s he studied with the New England Conservatory professor Gunther Schuller, and later went on to hold many important positions at the Tanglewood Festival (run by Boston Symphony Orchestra) – so it was with great warmth that he was welcomed back to Boston this year for a series of portrait concerts to celebrate his 60th birthday. The first concert, with Boston Symphony Orchestra, featured Knussen’s much-loved Whitman Settings and Violin Concerto, alongside Russian composers Myaskovsky and Mussorgsky. The second concert, with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, delved into Knussen’s earlier works, Music for a Puppet Court and Symphony No 2.
Boston Symphony Orchestra ‘… [the] program, curated and conducted by the British composer Oliver Knussen, had the exploratory energy and distilled interest of roughly a full month of typical subscription concerts, all packed into a two-hour stretch. For Knussen’s Whitman Settings, the composer chose four brief poems varyingly ethereal in subject matter, and fashioned for them concise yet beautifully evocative musical worlds… Knussen’s music seems to cast him as both learned astronomer and instinctive stargazer, alert to the complexities of craft and to the simplicities of found beauty. So it likewise appears in Knussen’s Violin Concerto, written in 2002 for the soloist Pinchas Zukerman, who was on hand to dispatch this work with skill and tonal warmth, especially in its surprisingly songful middle movement. The piece’s finale brims with energy, spinning a virtuosic solo against a precisely shaped orchestral backdrop.’ The Boston Globe (Jeremy Eichler), 13 April 2013
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photo: oliver knussen © maurice foxall
‘Knussen’s 1983 Music for a Puppet Court brought both to the fore. Arrangements of two polyrhythmic canons by the Renaissance composer John Lloyd are coupled to a variation on each in Knussen’s deftly labyrinthine style, one twittering, restless, the other unfurling swaths of ornamented lyricism. Like all of Knussen’s music, the score’s compulsively vibrant orchestration — the sound fairly glistens throughout — shapes a fluid sense of time and its passing. The evening closed with a superb performance of Knussen’s 1971 Symphony No 2, premiered when he was 19, already showing full modernist assurance. Poems by Georg Trakl and Sylvia Plath trace a long, expressionistically uneasy night; the music teems and broods, motion often seemingly compressed into vertical layers of counterpoint. Darkly glinting, expertly tangled, the symphony inviting and unsettling all at once.’ The Boston Globe (Matthew Guerrieri), 15 April 2013
…and receives an honorary NEC degree At the same concert Knussen was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Music from the New England Conservatory. He was praised for music that ‘jumps off the page, grabs and entrances the listener’, as well as for being ‘a major force in illuminating contemporary music’s complexity and intensity.’
New York portrait Whilst in the US, Knussen also stopped off at the Miller Theater in New York for a portrait concert given by Ensemble Signal and conductor Brad Lubman. The programme included many of Knussen’s most enduring ensemble and chamber works – Requiem: Songs for Sue and Ophelia Dances – which clearly delighted the New York audience.
‘Ophelia Dances… The pungent harmonic language is tart and captivating. And the piece really dances. A swinging early episode seems deceptively cheerful. Soon a jazzy clarinet interrupts and the rhythmic flow fractures into jagged bursts. The performance was dazzling.’ New York Times (Anthony Tommasini), 19 April 2013
‘Most touching of all was the music which he wrote upon the death of his wife, Sue… Mr. Lubman and his Signal Ensemble gave the piece a freshness, a gossamer-thin beauty of texture… Mr. Knussen’s music is… magical in resurrecting past times, in transcending the ordinary, magical in hiding music within music, that it must be played again and again here… how fortunate we were to hear a composer who can unveil the unending spiritual flowers within our fragile world.’ Concerto Net (Harry Rolnick), 19 April 2013
Tuning in
Nicholas Maw
Julian Anderson
Nicholas Maw - Selected forthcoming performances Little Concert 9, 10, 11.10.13, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, Allington Hall, Shrewsbury School, Theatre Royal, Norwich, United Kingdom: Britten Sinfonia/Paul Lewis
Julian Anderson - Selected forthcoming performances Book of Hours
(Korean premiere) 11.10.13, Seoul Arts Centre, South Korea: Seoul PO/ Thierry Fischer
The Crazed Moon (Japanese premiere) 11, 12.10.13, Aichi Prefectural Arts Theatre, Nagoya, Japan: Nagoya PO/Tadaaki Otaka
Maw celebrated in BBC Radio 3’s British Music focus During his lifetime, Maw was regarded as one of Britain’s foremost composers and his music was frequently performed on BBC Radio 3. It was fitting then that Maw was remembered early this year in Radio 3’s British Music focus which featured two of the composer’s much-loved works, the choral piece One Foot in Eden Still, I Stand and Little Suite for solo guitar.
‘Music of Memory’ – new recording Nicholas Maw’s solo guitar works Music of Memory and Little Suite are steadily becoming staples of the contemporary guitar repertoire. A recent recording, by the Greek guitarist Antonis Hatzinikolaou on the NMC label, further confirms the importance of these works. Music of Memory forms the title track and it’s interesting that the ‘memory’ here refers to Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in A minor which Maw’s piece references through a series of musical ’meditations’.
‘An important, well-packed guitar recital disc of British contemporary music, centring on Nicolas Maw’s Music of Memory… Recommended.’ Musical Pointers (Peter Grahame Woolf), May 2013
‘Little Concert’ with the Britten Sinfonia ‘Graceful’ and with ‘densely poetic harmonies,’ Maw’s Little Concert for oboe and small orchestra remains one of the seminal works in his catalogue. The 12-minute work was written in 1988 for the orchestra of St John’s Smith Square and has been performed over 45 times since then. Anyone unfamiliar with this charming piece – Maw described it as a kind of concert aria or konzertstück – will have the opportunity to hear it this autumn when oboist Nicholas Daniel and the Britten Sinfonia perform the work at London’s Barbican Centre.
‘Light Music’ premiered after 30 years Nearly 30 years after it was written, Anderson’s String Quartet No.1 Light Music finally received its premiere this summer at the Aldeburgh Festival. This bold work, written when he was only seventeen, was perhaps the first example of spectral music by a British Composer, and as such was deemed unplayable at the time. Happily this situation has now changed and Anderson’s quartet sits firmly alongside works by Ferneyhough, Lachenmann and Harvey. Indeed, the Aldeburgh programme also included two quartets by Jonathan Harvey, as well an interesting pairing with Britten’s Quartettino which was also the work of a seventeen year-old composer.
‘The numerous microtones, rapidly shifting rhythms and perpetually varied bow pressure made this work simply too difficult to perform until the Arditti insisted on bringing it to late but ravishing life. We heard sonorities scrunched, wound up, dropping in free fall, melody adrift and levitating, and moments of both hysteria and hypnotic beauty.’ The Times (Hilary Finch), 16 June 2013
‘Thebans’ – a new opera for ENO Julian Anderson’s much-anticipated first opera, Thebans, will be premiered at English National Opera next spring. Anderson has already shown a wonderful affinity for vocal writing in several works (not least Heaven is Shy of Earth, for mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra) and for staged dance works; now the realm of opera beckons. The piece is based on Sophocles’s three Theban plays and the libretto has been adapted by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness. The first act will draw on Oedipus the King, the second on Antigone, the third on Oedipus at Colonus. Pierre Audi will direct the opera (the premiere will mark Audi’s return to London after 30 years!) and Edward Gardner will conduct 11 performances in May/June 2014.
The Comedy of Change
22, 23, 24, 25, 26.10.13, Sadler’s Wells, London, United Kingdom: Rambert Dance Company/chor. Mark Baldwin/ Rambert Orchestra
Piano Etudes Nos. 1-4 / The Colour of Pomegranates / The Bearded Lady / Prayer / Seadrift 2.11.13, Wigmore Hall, London, United Kingdom: Cédric Tiberghien/Mark Simpson/Andras Keller/Nicholas Collon/Claire Booth/Aurora Orchestra/Paul Silverthorne/Adam Walker
Tiramisu / The Comedy of Change / Another Prayer
(world premiere) 2.11.13, Wigmore Hall, London, United Kingdom: Aurora Orchestra/Nicholas Collon/ Andras Keller
The Stations of the Sun 7.12.13, Royal Festival Hall, London, United Kingdom: London PO/Vladimir Jurowski
String Quartet No 1
19, 21, 24, 14.1.14, World Tour: The Jack Quartet
Alleluia
1.3.14, Royal Festival Hall, London, United Kingdom: London PO/Vladimir Jurowski/London Philharmonic Choir
The Discovery of Heaven 24, 25, 26, 29.4.14, Avery Fisher Hall, New York, USA: New York PO/Andrew Davis
Thebans
5, 6, 10, 15, 17, 20, 29, 31.5.14, Coliseum, London, United Kingdom: English National Opera
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photos: nicholas maw © maurice foxall, julian anderson © maurice foxall
Selected forthcoming performances
George Benjamin fought the freedom struggle of the oppressed Agnès, whilst counter-tenor Iestyn Davies was an ethereal sonorous illuminator… Much cheering for a short 90 minutes.’
Palimpsests / Duet / Ringed by the Flat Horizon
16.9.13, MITO Festival, Milan, Italy: Orchestra del RAI Torino/ George Benjamin/Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Die Presse (Walter Weidringer), 15 June 2013
Written on Skin 23.9.13, UGC Ciné Cité, Strasbourg, France: film screening of Aix-en-Provence performance
It gets under your skin, from the first to the last note…
29.9.13, 4, 20, 26.10.13, 17, 28.11.13, 6.12.13, Stadttheater Bonn, Germany: Beethoven Orchester Bonn/Hendrik Vestmann
‘…[a] subtly crafted score. George Benjamin, one of the most distinguished English composer of his generation, cultivates in his first full-length opera a polystilistic open musical language, which is characterized by highly sophisticated instrumentation, whose beguiling palatable and sensual sound carries the red-hot vocals.’
16, 18, 19.11.13, Festival d’Automne, Opéra Comique, Paris, France:/Orchestra Philharmonique de la Radio France/George Benjamin 11, 16, 27.4.14, 3.5.14, 16, 24.5.14, State Theatre, Detmold, Germany: dir.Kay Metzger/Das Orchester des Landestheaters Detmold/Lutz Rademacher 22, 23.5.14, Calouste Gulbenkian Concert Hall, Lisbon, Portugal: Gulbenkian Orchestra/ George Benjamin
Viola, Viola
12.10.13, Berlin, Germany: Tabea Zimmermann/Members of the Berlin Philharmonic 3, 4, 5.4.14, Sint Petrusbasiliek, Boxtel, Netherlands: Daniel Bard/ David Marks
Duet
21, 22.10.13, Munich, Germany: Bavarian State Opera Orchestra/ George Benjamin/Pierre-Laurent Aimard
(Iceland premiere) 5.6.14, Reykjavik, Iceland: Iceland Symphony Orchestra/ George Benjamin/Nicolas Hodges
Three Miniatures for Solo Violin
2.11.13, Wigmore Hall, London, United Kingdom: Thomas Gould
Dance Figures
29, 30.11.13, 1.12.13, L’Auditori, Barcelona, Spain: Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya/Pablo Gonzalez 19.12.13, Teatro Manzoni, Bologna, Italy: Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna/ Lothar Zagrosek
Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra 10.5.14, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA: Ensemble ACJW/ Susanna Mälkki
Upon Silence / Octet
1.6.14, Rose Theater, Lincoln Center, New York, USA: Orchestra of St. Luke’s/Pablo Heras-Casado
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Kleine Zeitung (Ernst Naredi-Rainer), 15 June 2013
‘Written on Skin’ – one year on One year ago Written on Skin was heralded as a ‘masterpiece’, ‘a classic’, ‘a defining opera of the 21st Century’ – not easy titles to live up to, and ones that could easily fade after the initial excitement of the premiere, but if anything, this extraordinary opera has grown even more in stature. In just one year it has been performed 27 times to sell-out audiences across 6 different cities, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and on BBC 4 TV, and recorded for CD (the Nimbus disc has received much praise) and DVD (to be released in January 2014). Everywhere this opera is heard, it receives unanimous praise. The most recent performances at Theater an der Wien, Vienna, Bayerischer Staatsoper, Munich (with conductor Kent Nagano and Klangforum Wien) and a concert performance at the Tanglewood Festival in Boston (with Benjamin conducting) were no exception.
VIENNA REVIEWS ‘Who says that contemporary opera is elitist, aloof, inaudible or even that it should sit in an intellectual ivory tower? None of this applies to Written on Skin… Benjamin’s music is phenomenal: Delicate, shimmering, sensual, coarse and brutal, tonal and atonal, passionate and sober – but always, always brilliant. Yes, you could also hear Berg, Debussy, Messiaen or Boulez. But Benjamin is Benjamin and as such is gigantic… Conductor Kent Nagano and the fantastic Klangforum Wien really explore all facets (of which there are many) of the score and spark an irresistible orchestral magnetism. It gets under your skin, from the first to the last note… Opera – it lives! And today!’ Kurier (Peter Jarolin), 15 June 2013
‘The splendidly eclectic George Benjamin provides expressive, rich and beautiful music that Klangforum Wien, under Kent Nagano, concentrates and sensually proliferates…Terrific soprano Barbara Hannigan
MUNICH REVIEWS ‘Benjamin’s music moves so sophisticatedly between never-thick orchestral textures and an immediate expressiveness. The sound atmosphere shimmers between Eros and danger so that the one and a half hours are dramatically perfect…’ Süddeutsche Zeitung (Michael Stallknecht), 25 July 2013
‘Benjamin’s music brings the staging to life. With a few viol sounds the story jumps back in time, only for the lyricism to be destroyed by jagged outbreaks. Although the music is firmly rooted in the British tradition, at no point is the fascinating, colourfully-instrumented opera conventional… anyone who loves opera, should not miss this modern masterpiece.’ Abendzeitung München (Robert Braunmüller), 24 July 2013
‘bel canto for the 21st Century’ ‘He [George Benjamin] is the illuminator who frames the medieval love triangle with exquisite colorings… Benjamin’s classy, timeless beauty conjures up aloofness, whilst the quite tangible drastic action constitutes the charm… The vocal lines are cantabile… bel canto for the 21st Century.’ Neue Musikzeitung (Juan Martin Koch), 24 July 2013
‘Lurking sounds, a thriller about power and violence… Benjamin has composed music of silence, pale, soft sounds… a dazzling panorama of grey tones… Music that neither illustrates nor psychologizes and yet describes a cool, but subliminally heady atmosphere of latent violence.’ Schwäbisches Tagblatt (Otto Paul Burkhardt), 26 July 2013
PHOTOs: bernanrd foccroulle (Director of Festival d’Aix-en-Provence) recieves a copy of ‘Written on skin’ from george benjamin Written on skin (ROH production) © clive barda
Tuning in
Tanglewood REVIEWS ‘In the past year, it has been staged in London, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Munich and Vienna, each time bringing audiences to their feet and leaving critics to pull out superlatives they hadn’t thought they’d ever use in the context of new opera… It really is that good… Mr. Benjamin is a master of color and detail and in this subject, with its themes of illumination and enlightenment, his music has found its home… In concert version, the visual power of Mr. Benjamin’s writing comes through especially sharply.’ The New York Times (Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim), 13 August 2013
‘Successful, serious contemporary operas are exceedingly rare in today’s classical music world, but the composer George Benjamin and the playwright Martin Crimp have created one in Written on Skin… the score is indeed a marvel, astonishing in its timbral precision and in its balance of flexibility and sweep, with moments of local drama set off against a meticulously integrated whole. As a composer Benjamin is known as a master colorist, but evidently inspired by the subject of medieval illumination, he has outdone himself here… [a] complexly beautiful 21st-century score, one that carries forward the worlds of Debussy and Berg without surrendering to either one.’ The Boston Globe (Jeremy Eichler), 14 August 2013
Grand Prize for ‘Written on Skin’ Written on Skin has been doubly honoured at this year’s French Critics Awards, with the opera itself taking the Grand Prize and soprano Barbara Hannigan winning the Music Personality Award for her role as Agnes. Written on Skin has already received a UK Opera Award and it is wonderful that it has now been honoured in the country of its premiere.
‘Written on Skin’ on TV and Radio In May Written on Skin was broadcast to the nation on BBC Radio 3 and on BBC 4 TV. Over 100,000 people tuned in to the performance which was recorded at the Royal Opera House in March. An exceptionally healthy audience for contemporary opera!
…and future performances There seems to be no stopping the run of Written on Skin performances which have been virtually continuous since its premiere (in the words of one opera director, ‘it seems to be conquering the world’)! The opera will be performed across Europe throughout the 2013/14 season: Stadttheater Bonn (September/October), Festival d’Automne, Opéra Comique, Paris (November), Landestheater Detmold (April), Calouste Gulbenkian Concert Hall, Lisbon (May).
The next opera! George Benjamin and Martin Crimp are already looking to the future and it has been announced that the pair are to write a third opera to be premiered at the Royal Opera House in Spring 2018. Kasper Holten, director of opera at ROH, writes: ‘We are delighted that – following the incredible success of Written on Skin – George Benjamin and Martin Crimp have agreed to write a brand new fullscale opera for the main stage at Covent Garden. It is hard to imagine a better match between a composer and a writer than Benjamin and Crimp, we have enjoyed doing Written on Skin immensely and we are extremely proud that they will be writing a new piece for Covent Garden. We expect this commission will be done in partnership with other opera companies, and interest has already been expressed from opera companies in several countries, but the world premiere will take place at Covent Garden.’
The one before – ‘Into the Little Hill’ Given the attention being lavished on Written on Skin, one might expect Benjamin/Crimp’s first opera, Into the Little Hill, to be overshadowed, but as a recent Wigmore Hall performance proves, this work has lost none of its potency.
‘…the crowning exhibit, Into the Little Hill, now six years old. The emergence since of Written on Skin has done nothing to dent the first opera’s power. Indeed, shimmering in the hall’s acoustic the music seemed bolder and better than ever, the vocal lines and instrumental ensemble deftly blended…’ The Times (Geoff Brown), 9 April 2013
‘Never one to waste a single note, Benjamin seems to have found his ideal collaborator in Crimp, whose resonant text is at once succinct and hugely evocative. Benjamin’s subtly glowing, tangy music was vividly played by the BCMG under his own baton.’ The Guardian (Erica Jeal), 9 April 2013
Orchestral showcase at MITO festival George Benjamin’s operas may have been making all the headlines recently, but no one should forget that he is also the composer of several exquisite orchestral works. This hasn’t escaped the Italian MITO festival, which this September will feature a wide selection of Benjamin’s orchestral oeuvre, from his early Ringed by the Flat Horizon (1980) to the more recent Duet (2008), from works invoking landscape and place (At First Light) to ones showcasing dance and orchestral virtuosity (Dance Figures). Three orchestras – The London Sinfonietta, Filarmonica 900 and Orchestra del RAI Torino – will give two performances each in Milan and Torino. MITO’s Artistic Director, Enzo Restagno, writes: ‘An anthem to the present resounds in the concerts featuring George Benjamin.’ 17
Torsten Rasch Combined with the stage production, the result was a cumulative treat of art… 12 minutes of roaring applause after the last curtain was well deserved.’ Das Opernglas (G.Helbig), May Edition
…and a fascinating concert suite Alongisde the main operatic performances, the Robert Schumann Philharmonie premiered Rasch’s 27-minute orchestral suite, Das Haus der Temperamente, based on the opera. The fascinating suite depicts four of the main characters and their associated temperaments: The Duchess - sanguine, Ferdinand - choleric, Bosola - melancholic and The Cardinal - phlegmatic.
Rasch and the Three Choirs Festival
The German Premiere of Rasch’s ‘stunning’ opera Torsten Rasch’s blood-curdling opera, The Duchess of Malfi, wowed audiences at its German premiere at Chemnitz Opera in March. Director Dietrich W. Hilsdorf brought to life the shocking drama (based on John Webster’s 17th-century play), whilst the cast – including mezzo Tiina Penttinen as The Duchess, and countertenor Iestyn Morris as her brother Ferdinand – poured rich emotion into the twisted characters, and the Robert Schumann Philharmonie sent Rasch’s sumptuous, darklyinfused music swirling around the house. The German press were quick to praise this ‘stunning’ opera.
‘The stage seethes with true-to-life images… a music of emotional depth and a sumptuousness of sound-colours… The music is not just illustrative, but pushes forward and gives impetus. One is spared the deliberation of whether the ‘new’ is also beautiful. This music is stunning! The pace is aligned to the narrative flow of the stage… Ferdinand has crackpot jumps which mirror the emotional world of his existence… darkexpressive music is the order of the day…’ Freie Presse (Marianne Schultz), 25 March 2013
‘This music is stunning!’ ‘…the spatial dimensions of Rasch’s music extend an invitation for intensive listening from the very beginning. Despite the blatant action, Rasch does without blatant music; with him ‘doom’ grows out of silence, sallow passages for woodwinds, and spongy surfaces of brass… a fine-spun network of chamber music-like instrument groupings of is attributed to the characters on stage… sweeping opulence breaks out in a ludicrous ball scene…’ Dresdner Neue Nachrichten (Boris Michael Gruhl), 3 April 2013
‘The music of this fascinating score by Torsten Rasch pushed dramatically forward, never decorative or just ‘padding’. 18 photo: TORSTEN RASCH & RODERICK WILLIAMS AT THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL © Green Bay Media Limited
2014 marks the centenary of World War One and in an unusual, yet fitting, step The Three Choirs Festival – an event with a long tradition of nurturing some of Britain’s finest composers, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Delius et al. – has chosen to commission Rasch, a German composer, to commemorate the occasion. This major 40-minute work, for choir, soloists and orchestra will be premiered in the summer of 2014. As a taster of this large commission, four short songs by Rasch were premiered at this year’s Three Choirs Festival. The 10-minute song cycle, which features poetry by A. E. Houseman, Alun Lewis and Ivor Gurney, explores experiences of war both at a general level and a very personal view. As the composer writes: ‘While the outer songs seek for an “immediate comprehensibility” and are also kept more or less simple in its accompaniment, the central songs aim at a deep expressiveness of the personal experience.’ The songs were commissioned by Anwen Walker and were premiered by acclaimed baritone Roderick Williams in Gloucester’s atmospheric Blackfriars Priory.
‘…elegant simplicity and directness of expression…’ ‘Rasch’s elegant simplicity and directness of expression put the words in sculpted relief, initially lulling the listener into a sense of security. This was soon dispelled when the dark night of which Housman warns reached a sudden peak in Lewis’s lines: “And Death the wild beast is uncaught, untamed.” This setting, from Postscript: for Gweno, had a startling potency. The frisson which came at the end of the cycle, with the gentle anguish of Housman’s line “And we were young”, was all the stronger for being an echo of Richard Sisson’s setting of the same poem, How Dead We Lie, in the opening cycle So Heavy Hangs the Sky.’ The Guardian (Rian Evans), 1 August 2013
‘An Angel…Retreating’ premiered in Baltimore In May Italian-American flutist Marina Piccinini, one of the world’s leading flute virtuosos, gave the world premiere of Rasch’s solo flute work An Angel…Retreating. at the Peabody Institute, Baltimore.
Tuning in
Matthew Hindson
Carl Vine
Matthew Hindson’s score for David Bintley thrills Tokyo audiences
Further praise for string quartet CD
Australian composer Matthew Hindson’s scintillating orchestral score to David Bintley’s ballet E=mc2 (2009) was described as ‘one of the best pieces of new dance music this side of Stravinsky.’ The production later secured The South Bank Show Award for Dance for Bintley and his company, Birmingham Royal Ballet. In April 2013, Bintley brought the high-octane ballet to Tokyo, where he is the outgoing Artistic Director of the New National Theatre Ballet. They gave five performances under his direction, with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra under Paul Murphy. Japanese audiences delighted in the 30-minute, four-movement work inspired by Einstein’s life, and by his famous equation. The composer travelled from his Australian home for the performances. UK audiences get the chance to hear E=mc2 again when BRB include it in their 2013 Autumn Tour, with eight performances in Birmingham, Plymouth, and London (Sadler’s Wells) starting 3 October. New National Theatre Ballet take Hindson’s second Bintley ballet, Faster, into their repertoire next season from 19-27 April 2014.
Phoenix Symphony commission Hindson has been commissioned by the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra to write a concerto for orchestra. The 25-minute work will be premiered under Michael Christie, from 28-30 March 2014.
Elias Quartet launch new commission The highly-regarded Elias String Quartet gave the first performances of Hindson’s String Quartet No 2, as part of a Musica Viva Australia tour in August and September this year. Commissioned for MVA by Julian Burnside (AO QC), the Elias Quartet gave 12 performances of the 20-minute work from 16 August to 5 September.
Darwin SO debut new work at Uluru A short orchestral commission is to be launched by the Darwin SO and Matthew Wood in front of the iconic Uluru/Ayers Rock in Australia’s Northern Territory. The DSO will be joined by didjeridu virtuoso William Barton, and trumpeter James Morrison for the concerts in October.
‘House Music’ in USA & Oz House Music is an outrageous flute concerto, commissioned for Canadian virtuoso Marina Piccinini and premiered by the London PO in 2006. It was given its enormously successful US premiere by Alexa Still at the National Flute Association Convention in Las Vegas in 2012. Now, Alexa Still performs the work again, with the Oberlin Orchestra and Raphael Jimenez, in Ohio, on 1 November. The work also received two performances in Australia on 21 and 22 August. Virginia Taylor joined the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Milton.
Carl Vine’s string quartets are some of his most personal and heartfelt music and it is no surprise that the Goldner Quartet’s disc of Vine’s complete quartets (released on ABC Classics) continues to attract much praise.
‘The full palette of Vine’s technical prowess and emotional intensity is on show on this album, the works stunningly interpreted by the Goldner String Quartet… String Quartet No. 5 was commissioned for them and it is a most uplifting piece… when you have those sublime slow sections of which Vine is such a master, such as in the String Quartet No. 3, every note is cherished and every note is placed with reverence. The juxtaposition of instruments, the respect of the players for each other as different members assume melodic dominance and the composition itself are all life-affirming… The complexity of Vine’s writing, his attention to detail in addition to the affectivity of his works, is what makes him one of Australia’s most revered composers.’ Music Forum (Mandy Stefanakis), Vol19/No3, Winter 2013
‘one of Australia’s most revered composers’ ‘Carl Vine writes for string quartet with an acute understanding of technical challenges, but equally importantly tonal colours. He can be gloriously lyrical on the one hand, and then acerbic on the other hands… The Goldner Quartet has delivered a landmark performance of this important Australian chamber music. It stands tall as a recording of such virtuosity and integrity, that it will have life in the repertoire for a long time to come.’ Fine Music Magazine (Barry Walmsley), March 2013
‘The Tree of Man’ – new version premiere The Tree of Man, a secular cantata which received unanimous praise at its premiere in 2012, will be performed in a new version for high voice and string sextet at this year’s Huntington Estate Music Festival (23 November), of which Vine is Artistic Director. Tenor Andrew Goodwin will perform the work along with some of Australia’s foremost string players.
Matthew Hindson - Selected forthcoming performances Symphony No 2: E=mc2
5-30.10.2013, UK tour (Birmingham, London, Plymouth): Birmingham Royal Ballet/ch. David Bintley/ cond. Paul Murphy
Maralinga
(UK premiere) 14.10.2013, Union Chapel, London, UK: Lara St John/ Ruthless Jabiru/Kelly Lovelady (Canadian premiere) 26.10.2013, Toronto Center for the Arts, Canada: Lara St John/ Sinfonia Toronto/Nurhan Arman
Siegfried Interlude No 2 15-18.10.2013, Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Ultimo, Sydney, Australia: Sydney Symphony Sinfonia
New work
(world premiere) 18-20.10.2013, Uluru/Ayers Rock & Darwin, NT, Australia: William Barton/James Morrison/ Darwin Symphony Orchestra/ Matthew Wood
House Music
1.11.2013, Finney Chapel, Oberlin, OH, USA: Alexa Still/ Oberlin Orchestra/Raphael Jimenez
New work
(world premiere) 28-30.3.2014, Phoenix, AZ, USA: Phoenix Symphony Orchestra/Michael Christie
Faster
(Japanese premiere) 19-27.4.2014, New National Theatre, Tokyo, Japan: New National Ballet/ch. David Bintley/ cond. Paul Murphy
Carl Vine - Selected forthcoming performances new work: Piano Trio
(world premiere) 20.3.14, Musica Viva Tour, Australia: Sitkovetsky Trio
Sitkovetsky Trio to premiere piano trio Vine is writing a new piano trio for the talented young Sitkovetsky Trio. They will perform the work on a Musica Viva tour around Australia in March-April with 11 concerts and 2 possible national broadcasts.
60th birthday in 2014 Carl Vine celebrates his 60th birthday in 2014 and a number of concerts and events are being planned. If you are interested in marking this occasion and would like to find out more, please contact: promotion@fabermusic.com.
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Selected forthcoming performances
Carl Davis
A Christmas Carol
‘…a magnificent and magical production…Carl Davis really does use every section of BRB’s orchestra in a sweeping score packed with beautiful themes… The score is simply a modern classic… I could envisage it being used as themes for other shows because of its rich content and melodic variety.’
9, 10, 11, 12.10.13, Theatre Royal, Norwich, UK: Northern Ballet/chor. Massimo Morricone
29, 30, 31.10, 1, 2.11.13, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, UK: Northern Ballet/chor. Massimo Morricone 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.11.13, Lyceum Theatre Sheffield, UK: Northern Ballet/chor. Massimo Morricone
Western Morning News (Su Carroll), 8 March 2013
‘Carl Davis’ score has cinematic sweep and touches of Ravel, with lots of scope for dancing.’
13, 14, 15, 16.11.13, Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, UK: Northern Ballet/chor. Massimo Morricone
The Independent (Zoë Anderson), 18 February 2013
19, 20, 21, 22, 23.11.13, Palace Theatre, Manchester, UK: Northern Ballet/chor. Massimo Morricone
‘Napoléon’ comes to London – ‘one of the world’s great cinematic experiences’
The Freshman
(revised 2013) (Italian premiere) 12, 13.10.13, Pordenone Film festival, Italy: Carl Davis/FVG Mitteleuropa Orchestra
The Last Train To Tomorrow (Czech premiere) 14.10.13, Municipal House, Smetana Hall, Czech Republic: Czech National SO/Carl Davis/ Children’s Opera Prague
Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio 8, 9, 10.11.13, Grenchen, Switzerland: Donau Sinfonieorchester Budapest/ Adalbert Roetschi
Ben Hur
29, 30.11.13, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany: NDR Sinfonieorchester/Stefan Geiger
Napoléon
30.11.13, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK: Philharmonia/ Carl Davis 29, 30.3.14, Barclays Center, Brooklyn, USA: Carl Davis
The Fireman / The Rink
(French premiere) 17, 18.1.14, Centre Culturel Voltaire, Déville, France: Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen/ cond. Mélisse Brunet
Safety Last
4.2.14, Capitol-Theater Offenbach, Germany: Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt 13.2.14, , Germany: Hamburger Symphoniker
The Strong Man
(American premiere) 14.2.14, Tobias Theatre, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA: Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra/ Kirk Trevor
Aladdin
20, 22, 23, 28.2, 1, 2.3.14, Wortham Theater, Houston, Texas, USA: Houston Opera/ch. David Bintley
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‘Aladdin’ is ‘a modern classic’ With its glittering new sets, its clean, classical choreography and its ‘full-blooded’ score, Aladdin – a collaboration between Carl Davis and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Director, David Bintley – has delighted audiences across the country. The UK premiere was given at the Birmingham Hippodrome in February, and the ballet then travelled to Salford, Plymouth, Sunderland and London’s Coliseum. Aladdin began life as a Scottish Ballet commission, but when David Bintley heard the music (he and Davis were working on Cyrano at the time), he decided to produce a new production of the ballet. The perfect opportunity arose in 2008 when Bintley was appointed Director of the National Ballet of Japan. He chose Aladdin to launch his first season there and it played to packed houses in Tokyo, sparking another Japanese revival in 2011. Having now wowed audiences in the UK, the work crosses continents once more for performances with co-producers Houston Ballet in February and March.
‘A full-blown piece of three-act splendour, originally choreographed by BRB director David Bintley in Japan in 2008, it looks absolutely astonishing; in fact its real star is set designer Dick Bird, who creates scene after scene of retina-ravishing beauty… Davis’s supple, fluid score resonates with Eastern influence.’ The Telegraph (Laura Thompson), 19 February 2013
‘…Carl Davis has produced a tub-thumping, fullblooded score…’ Sunday Express (Jeffrey Taylor), 24 March 2013
‘It tells the story from the Arabian Nights with gusto, packed with incident and full of dancing. The music, by Carl Davis… sounds big-scale, filmie and is never short of a resounding climax…’ The Sunday Times (David Dougill), 3 March 2013 photos: carl davis © trevor leighton birmingham royal ballet’s production of ‘aladdin’ © bill cooper
Carl Davis’s epic score for the 1927 silent film of Napoléon (directed by Abel Gance) is not only the longest ever composed, but also widely celebrated as one of the finest scores of its type. This autumn it comes to London. On 30th November Carl Davis will take to the stage of the Royal Festival Hall to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in a special screening. In this performance of the elaborately tinted and toned restoration by Photoplay Productions and BFI, music and film lovers will be given a rare opportunity to experience one of the greatest achievements in cinema history; a seamless blend of traditional material and Davis’s own unique creative genius. The last time this film and music pairing were performed – at San Francisco’s 2012 Silent Film Festival – the LA Times reported that ‘the audience had just lived through one of the world’s great cinematic experiences.’
‘The Last Train…’ travels to Prague The Last Train to Tomorrow re-tells the moving experience of the 1938-9 Kindertransport which saw over 10,000 Jewish children brought to the UK by train from Berlin, Vienna, and Prague. The work was premiered by the Hallé Orchestra and Childrens Choir last year and now, in a fitting and poignant move, the piece will be performed in Prague this October in a new Czech translation. The Czech National Symphony Orchestra will be joined by Children’s Opera Prague and Carl Davis himself will conduct.
Tuning in
Peter Sculthorpe
Malcolm Arnold
Peter Sculthorpe - Selected forthcoming performances Night Song
12, 15.10.13, Melbourne Recital Centre, VIC, Australia: Monash University Sinfonia/ Elizabeth Sellars
Port Essington
17.10.13, Great Hall, Blackheath Halls, London, UK: Trinity Laban String Ensemble/ Andrew Sherwood
Earth Cry
19.10.13, Uluru, Australia: William Barton (didjeridu)/ Darwin SO/Matthew Wood
My Country Childhood
23.10.13, Gent, Belgium: Royal Flemish Philharmonic/ Steven Verhaert
My Country Childhood
‘The Great South Land’ premiere
The 8th Malcolm Arnold Festival
This year’s Canberra International Music Festival featured the premiere of Sculthorpe’s The Great South Land, a vast set of ‘voyages’ for orchestra, choir and soloists, adapted from the composer’s 1982 television opera Quiros. The score journeys through an extraordinary array of musical styles.
The Malcolm Arnold Festival is going from strength to strength. Held annually each October in the composer’s hometown of Northampton, the festival offers the opportunity to celebrate some of Arnold’s most iconic works, as well as shedding light on unknown gems. The festival’s theme over the next two years is to explore Arnold’s very special concertos. These are some of the composer’s most characterful works and were all written for great players and friends. This year the programme includes concerti for organ, recorder, guitar, flute and Arnold’s much-loved 2nd Clarinet Concerto (played by the great clarinettist Julian Bliss). Events take place on 19 and 20 October at the Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton.
‘Based on the story of explorer Pedro Fernandes de Quiros, this programmatic work reprises Sculthorpe’s well-known devices – seagull calls produced by harmonic glissandi on unstopped strings, the ecstatic sonorities of “Sun Music”… Sculthorpe uses the entire palate of 20th century orchestral colours including sprechstimme, spoken rhythms and extended techniques for strings.’ City News (Judith Crispin), 12 May 2013
Tokyo Quartet choose Quartet No16 for their farewell tour Throughout his long career, Sculthorpe has been a prolific composer of string quartets, and also a composer very much concerned with current affairs. These two preoccupations coalesce in Sculthrope’s String Quartet No 16, a bleak, but beautiful work inspired by letters written by asylum seekers held in Australian detention centres. The piece was premiered by the Tokyo String Quartet in 2005 and the group chose to revive it for the farewell Australian tour earlier this year.
‘The music depicts the bleak inhumanity of man towards man in uncompromising terms… A loosely interpolated love chant from Central Afghanistan makes for a wistful central theme. What little light there is can be found in occasional bursts of bird song that flutter upwards towards the light… The TSQ… proved ideally suited to the austere beauties of this profound work.’ Limelight Magazine (Clive Paget), 28 May 2013
Concerto for Two Pianos at the Proms Pianists Noriko Ogawa and Kathryn Stott joined the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Barry Wordsworth for a lively performance of Arnold’s charming Concerto for Two Pianos (3 hands) at this year’s BBC Proms.
‘The Concerto for Two Pianos (three hands) showed how this composer’s best music is a poignant mix of humour and darkness, often realised with inventive orchestration… the volley of timpani and brash, percussive strokes of the pianos in the first movement displayed Arnold’s prowess as a descriptive film composer, while the slow movement reached depths of expression…
24, 25, 26.10.13, Antwerpen AMUZ, Belgium: Royal Flemish Philharmonic/Steven Verhaert
An Australian Anthem
3.11.13, Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Melbourne SO
Malcolm Arnold - Selected forthcoming performances Symphony No 7
28.9.13, St Barnabus Church, Ealing, UK: Ealing SO/ John Gibbons
Peterloo
12.10.13, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK: BBC PO/ Juango Mena 29.11.13, Dorking Halls, UK: Surrey County YO/Tom Horn 8.12.13, Oundle School, UK: Oundle School/Quentin Thomas 2.3.14, Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, UK: Birmingham Schools Concert Orchestra/ Bob Vivian 21.3.14, , UK: Brunel Sinfonia/ Mark Gateshill
Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra 13.10.13, Freie Waldorfschule Offenburg, Germany: Ines ThenBergh & Ines Lung/Dieter Baran/ Concertino Offenburg
Classical Source (Ben Hogwood), 1 August 2013 Four Cornish Dances
‘The soloists here made the most of the unusual sonorities, revelling in the brittle tintinnabulation that the pianos and percussion set up from the start. A melancholy slow movement and rumbustious rumba complete the short work.’
2.11.13, Royal Albert Hall, UK: Cornwall YO/Tim Boulton 16.11.13, QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane, QLD, Australia: Queensland SO/Giovanni Reggioli
The Telegraph (John Allison), 1 August 2013
21 photos: peter sculthorpe © maurice foxall malcom arnold © maurice foxall
new Works Stage works Dan Jones Hansel and Gretel (2013)
Gabriel Prokofiev Concerto for Cello No 1 (2013)
Silent film score. Duration 70 minutes. FP: 25.4.2013, Siri Fort Auditorium, Delhi, India: Bollywood Orchestra/Nishat Khan. Keyboards - sitar - tabla.
cello and orchestra. Duration 22 minutes. FP: 18.5.2013, St Petersburg: Alexander Ivashkin/ St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra/Sabrie Bekirova. Commissioned by Alexander Ivashkin. 2(I=picc).2.2(I+II=bcl).1.cbsn - 2.2.2.btrbn.1 - timp - perc(3/4) – strings. Ruthven’s Last Dance (2013) an arrangement of 2 dances from Dance Suite. Two dances for orchestra. Duration 6 minutes. FP: 11.8.2013, Sonsbeekpark, Arnhem, The Netherlands: Ricciotti Ensemble/Leonard Evers. Commissioned by the Ricciotti Ensemble. 2(II=picc).2.2.2asax.2 - 2210 - perc(2): drum kit/mcas/tamb/sleigh bells/ bottle - strings.
Gabriel Prokofiev Howl (2013)
Martin Suckling Release (2013)
Ballet in one act. Duration 100 minutes. FP: 8.5.2013, Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London, UK: The Royal Ballet/ch. Liam Scarlett. Enquiries to dance@fabermusic.com
Nishat Khan A Throw of Dice (2013)
ballet for electronics. Duration 24 minutes. FP: 9.3.2013, Lucerne, Switzerland: Tanz Luzerner Theater/ Maurice Causey.
Orchestra Thomas Adès Totentanz (2013) mezzo-soprano, baritone and orchestra. Duration 40 minutes. FP: 17.7.2013, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: Christianne Stotijn/Simon Keenleyside/BBC SO/Thomas Adès. Commissioned by Robin Boyle in memory of Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994) and of his wife Danuta. 3(I=picc, II=picc, III=picc & afl).3(III=ca).3(I in Bb & A=Eb, II in A=bcl, III in A=bcl with low C).3(II=cbsn, III=contraforte or cbsn with low A) - 4.3 in C (all=fl.hn).2.btrbn.contrabass tuba - timp(=rototoms) - perc(6/8) - harp pno (=cel) - strings. Text: Unknown (German).
orchestra. Duration 12 minutes. FP: 12.5.13, City Halls, Glasgow, UK: BBC SSO/Ilan Volkov. Commissioned by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. picc.2(II=picc).2.2(II=cl in A).bcl(=cl in Eb).2.cbsn - 4.3 in C.2.btrbn.1 - timp - perc(3) harp – strings (12.12.10.8.6).
John Woolrich Variation on ‘Sellinger’s Round’ (2013) string orchestra. Duration 4 minutes. FP: 24.8.13, BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall, London, UK: English Chamber Orchestra/Paul Warkins. Commissioned by Radio 3 for the 2013 BBC Proms, as a variation on the wellknown ‘Sellinger’s Round’ theme.
Chamber Ensemble Colin Matthews/Alban Berg Vier Stücke (2013)
Julian Anderson Harmony (2013)
Clarinet and 8 players. Duration 7 minutes. FP: 18.6.13, Aldeburgh Festival, Britten Studio, Suffolk, UK: BCMG.
choir and orchestra. Duration 5 minutes. FP: 12.7.13, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: BBC Symphony Chorus/BBC SO/Sakari Oramo. Commissioned by the BBC. 3(III=picc).2.ca.3(III=bcl).3(III=c bsn) - 4331 - perc(4) - harp - strings. Text: The Story of My Heart by Richard Jefferies (English).
David Matthews Skies Now Are Skies (2013)
ALEX BARANOWSKI Biafra (2012) Solo violin, piano, harp and string orchestra. Duration 2 minutes. FP: June/July 2012, Deutsche Grammophon recording sessions, Berlin, Germany: Daniel Hope/Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin/Simon Halsey Musica Universalis (2012) Two violins, piano and string orchestra. Duration 3 minutes. FP: June/July 2012, Deutsche Grammophon recording sessions, Berlin, Germany: Daniel Hope/Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin/Simon Halsey
Tansy Davies The Beginning of the World (2013) based on Sellinger’s Round. Duration 4 ½ minutes. FP: 24.8.2013, BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall, London, UK: English Chamber Orchestra/Paul Watkins. Commissioned by Radio 3 for the 2013 BBC Proms, as a variation on the well-known ‘Sellinger’s Round’ theme. Strings 86442.
Matthew Hindson Agitato meccanico (2009/2013) orchestral arrangement of Septet for chamber ensemble. Duration 5 minutes. FP: 23.5.2013, Llewellyn Hall, Canberra, ACT, Australia: Sydney Symphony Sinfonia/Jessica Cottis. This arrangement commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. picc.1.1.ca.cl in A.bcl.1.cbsn - 2110 - timp/perc(1 player): timp/ bongo/tamb/glsp - strings.
Howard Goodall More Tomorrows (2013) Anthem for orchestra. Duration 6 minutes. FP: 25.4.2013, Classic FM Live, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: Philharmonia Orchestra/Howard Goodall. Commissioned by Classic FM for Cancer Research UK. picc.2.2.2.2 - 4.2.2.contrabass trbn.1 - timp - perc(2/3) - strings.
Nishat Khan The Gate of the Moon (2012)
Tenor and string orchestra. Duration 18 minutes. FP: 31.5.13, Stratford Civic Hall, Stratford, UK: Simon Wall/Orchestra of the Swan/David Curtis. Commissioned by The Orchestra of the Swan. . DH Lawrence & EE Cummings (English).
Wind Band Nigel Hess March Barnes Wallis (2013) symphonic wind band. Duration 5 minutes. FP: 17.5.2013, ‘Friday Night Is Music Night’, Biggin Hill Airport, Kent, UK: The Central Band of the Royal Air Force/Duncan Stubbs. Score and parts on sale.
Instrumental Matthew Hindson Repetepetition (2013) flute and piano. Duration 3 minutes. FP: 25.5.2013, Newcastle Flute Society, Newcastle, NSW, Australia: Lamorna Nightingale/Jocelyn Fazzone. This version of Repetepetition was created for Lamorna Nightingale. Score and part on special sale from the Hire Library (hire@fabermusic.com)
David Matthews Four Portraits for Piano (2013) solo piano. Duration 14 minutes. FP: 14.6.13, Spitalfields Festival, London, UK: William Howard. Commissioned by William Howard for his 60th birthday and for David Matthews’s 70th with funds generously provided by the John S Cohen Foundation, the Fidelio Charitable Trust and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. Score on special sale from the Hire Library (hire@fabermusic.com)
John Woolrich Pianobook XIII (2013) piano. Duration 4 minutes. FP: 12.5.13, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Zech Holland, Wattenscheid: Tamara Stanovich. Score on special sale
Vocal David Matthews Three Dunwich Songs (2013)
Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra. Duration 45 minutes. FP: 13.8.2013, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: Nishat Khan/BBC National Orchestra of Wales/David Atherton. Commissioned by the BBC. 2(I=picc,II=afl).2.2.2 - 4.2.2.btrbn.0 - timp - perc(2): mar/tam-t/tamb/cyms/SD/BD/vib/ TD/t.bells harp – strings
Tenor and piano. Duration 8 minutes. FP: 24.08.2013, Presteigne Festival, St Andrew’s Church: Andrew Tortise/Chris Hopkins. Robin Leanse (English). On special sale.
David Matthews A Vision of the Sea (2013)
Torsten Rasch Four Songs (2013)
A symphonic poem for orchestra. Duration 20 minutes. FP: 16.7.13, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK: BBC PO/Juanjo Mena. Commissioned by the BBC. 3(III=picc).3(II=ca).3(III=bcl).2.cbsn - 4331 timp - perc(3) - harp - pno - strings. Double Concerto (2013) for violin, viola and string orchestra. Duration 16 minutes. FP: 7.7.2013, Cheltenham Music Festival, Cheltenham Town Hall, Cheltenham, UK: Lawrence Power/Richard Tognetti. Commissioned by the Presteigne Festival, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and The Cheltenham Music Festival (with funds provided by the Cheltenham Music Festival Society and with the support of the Ernst Von Siemens Music Foundation). vln. vla – strings.
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baritone and piano. Duration 9 minutes. FP: 30.7.13, Three Choirs Festival, Blackfriars, Gloucester: Roderick Williams/Susie Allan. Commissioned by Anwen Elizabeth Walker for the Three Choirs Festival 2013 at Gloucester. Ivor Gurney “The Songs I Had” and “Old Martinmas Eve” A. E. Houseman “Here Dead We Lie” Alun Lewis “Post-Script: for Gweno”. Score on special sale
new publications and recordings Choral Alexander L’Estrange Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose (2013) Cantata for spoken introduction, children’s choir, SATB chorus and band of 5 players. Duration 45 minutes. FP: 24.6.2013, Portsmouth Festivities, Portsmouth Guildhall, UK: Hugh Dennis (narrator)/ The Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir/The Portsmouth Grammar School Community Choir/ Portsmouth Festival Choir/The Portsmouth Grammar Junior School Choir/ St Jude’s Sc. Commissioned by the Portsmouth Festivities, in partnership with the Mary Rose Trust. Sponsored by Arts Council England, The Southern Cooperative, Portsmouth Grammar School and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. pno - drum kit - piano accordion - vln.amplified double bass (or electric bass). Trad; Joanna Forbes L’Estrange; Henry VIII; William Shakespeare (English). Vocal score on sale 0-571-53766-9, full score, chidlren’s score and parts for hire (hire@fabermusic.com) Zadok Rules - Hallelujah! (2013) A celebratory anthem for unison children’s choir, SATB chorus & chamber orchestra. Duration 8 minutes. FP: 6.6.2013, Arundel Cathedral, UK: massed primary school choir/Alresford Community Choir/Choristers from Arundel Cathedral/Hanover Band/Alexander L’Estrange. Commissioned by The Hanover Band to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, June 2013. 0201 - 0300 - timp - perc(2): SD/susp.cym) - harpsichord - strings. Alexander L’Estrange (English). Full score, vocal score and parts on hire, children’s score supplied under photocopying licence (together with mp3 learning track)
PeTer Sculthorpe The Great South Land (2013) oratorio. Duration 100 minutes. FP: FP: 11.05.2013, Albert Hall, Canberra, Australia: Andrew Goodwin, Alexander Knight, Christina Wilson, Dona Ana, ANU School of Music Chamber Choir, Oriana Chorale, Canberra Choral Society, Canberra Festival Orchestra, ANU School of Music Faculty & students. Commissioned by CIMF 2013.
new Publications Thomas Adès Tevot Orchestra. Full Score. 0-571-53674-3 £29.99
Julian Anderson Bell Mass SATB accompanied. 0-571-53696-4 £4.50
Malcolm Arnold String Quartet No.2 New Edition, Score. 0-571-53820-7 £9.99
George Benjamin Written on Skin Opera. Full Score. 0-571-53758-8 £79.99
Benjamin Britten Three Suite for Viola Score. 0-571-53597-6 £12.99
Tansy Davies Neon Score. 0-571-53821-5 £17.99
Carl Davis Last Train to Tomorrow Vocal score. 0-571-53757-X £14.99
Colin Matthews Monsieur Croche (Prelude 25) Score. 0-571-53024-9 £9.99
David Matthews Eight Duos Score. 0-571-52640-3 £9.99
Fifteen Fugues Score. 0-571-526411 £9.99
Wagner, R (arr. Matthews,D) The Shorter Ring Piano score 0-571-53822-3 £9.99
Ralph Vaughan Williams Nocturne: Whispers of Heavenly Death Score. 0-571-53260-8 £14.99
Carl Vine Piano Sonata No. 3 0-571-53749-9 £12.99
New Recordings George Benjamin Duet for piano and orchestra
Martin Helmchen/Junge Deutsche Philharmonie/Lothar Zagrosek Ensemble Modern Medien EMCD-018
Shadowlines
Marino Formenti Col Legno 20406
Viola, Viola
Hsin-Yun Huang (Viola), Misha Amory Bridge 9387
Benjamin Britten Complete works Various Artists Decca 001880900
Vocal Works Various Artists EMI Classics 151642
Cello Suites
Jamie Walton Signum Classics SIGCD336
Francisco Coll No sere you quien diga nada/In Extremis
Cor de la Generalitat Valenciana/Francisco Perales/ Jove Orquestra de la Gerealitat Valenciana/Manuel Galduf PMV Actual 009
Carl Davis The Lady of the Camellias
Czech National Symphony Orchestra/Carl Davis Carl Davis Collection CDC023
Jonathan Harvey Come, Holy Ghost St Paul’s Cathedral Choir/John Scott Helios 55445
Remember O Lord
Elora Choir of St John’s/Noel Edison Naxos 8572540
NIGEL HESS New London Pictures
(works for symphonic wind orchestra, including New Lodnon Pictures; Ladies in Lavender; TheLochnagar Suite; Monck’s March; Shakespeare Pictures; A Christmas Overture) The Central Band of the Royal Air Force Chandos CHAN 10767
MATTHEW HINDSON Technologic 135 Elektra String Quartet ABC Classics 476 5039
ALEXANDER L’ESTRANGE Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose
The Ahoy! Singers/The Call Me All Quintet/Various school choirs from Portsmouth & Guildford/Joanna Forbes L’Estrange Andagio CD003
David Matthews Fifteen Fugues/Three Studies/Winter Journey Peter Sheppard Skærved Toccata TOCC0152
GABRIEL PROKOFIEV Cello Multitracks
Peter Gregson (cello) NonClassical NONCLSS014
Carl Vine Pipe Dreams
Sharon Bezaly/Australian Chamber Orchestra/Richard Tognetti BIS CD 1789
String Quartets Goldner String Quartet ABC Classics ABC4765168
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Dan Jones commissioned by The Royal Ballet for Liam Scarlett’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Liam Scarlett’s first full-length narrative ballet for The Royal Ballet, Hansel and Gretel, launched on 8 May in the Linbury Theatre at Covent Garden. It features a newly-commissioned score by Dan Jones, recorded by the composer with the Orquesta Sinfonica da Galicia. Scarlett’s reputation as one of the UK’s leading young choreographic talents ensured that tickets were scarce for his dark reinterpretation of the Brothers Grimm tale (set in 1950s America). Jones’s score was widely praised by the press, and takes as its inspiration the music of Hitchcock’s classic thrillers, by composers such as Bernard Herrmann. The production will be revived at Covent Garden in early 2014.
‘Dan Jones’s commissioned score is magnificent, juxtaposing dramatic and dense piano chords with chiming percussion and tinkling xylophone melodies. The music is impelling, building tension and dissipating in complimentary ebb and flow to the choreography.’ The Stage (Katie Columbus), 9 May 2013
‘Dan Jones’s score was a large part of the success of the work, unrelenting, underscored and never missing a trick. The components interlock ingeniously, making a ballet that is both very different and very satisfying.’ Dance Europe (Maggie Foyer), August/September 2013
Nishat Khan: concerto debuts at BBC Proms, and silent film premiere Nishat Khan has premiered his first large-scale work for sitar and orchestra at the 2013 BBC Proms. Lasting some 40 minutes, The Gate of the Moon (Sitar Concerto No 1) was launched by Khan with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and David Atherton, on 12 August in London’s Royal Albert Hall. This was the third time that Khan had performed at the prestigious festival – the most recent was in 2008, when he performed a late-night event, alongside the BBC Singers. (More reviews to follow next issue.)
Morgan Pochin sign to Faber Music Ltd We are delighted to announce the signing of a publishing agreement with husband and wife writing team, James Morgan and Juliette Pochin. Composers, arrangers and producers - they have written for TV shows including The Kumars at No 42, as well as writing for artists such as Danielle De Niese, Katherine Jenkins, Joe McElderry, Craig Ogden and Alfie Boe. They also recently produced the music for Dustin Hoffman’s directorial film debut, Quartet, starring Dame Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins. They have just collaborated with renowned children’s author Michael Rosen, jointly creating The Great Enormo, a Kerfuffle in B Flat for orchestra, soprano and wasps! The work tells the story of Mr Enormo Biggins, who enlists the help of both orchestra and audience as he tries to find a theme tune to go with his new timetravelling theme park. The Great Enormo was premiered at the Brighton Festival to great success in May. There’s already huge interest in this new addition to the family concert repertory, with a repeat at the Spitalfields Festival in June, and it will be taken up by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in October.
‘… a very attractive work, and one animated by the virtuosity of Khan himself as soloist. The work dares to grow slowly, coiling outwards and upwards from a double bass ostinato that undulates through much of the first movement… It’s all mesmerically simple, rocking the listener back and forth until the sitar dances into the fray in a jangle of metallic brilliance. The second movement is brighter, lighter, picking up on the energy that emerged in the earlier exchanges between solo instruments and the sitar. Dance is dominant here, with gentle rhythmic games keeping our ears uncertain through the patterning and repatterning of the raga-like scalic themes… the final movement grows to a frenzied cadenza for sitar… It’s an appealing fusion…’ The Arts Desk (Alexandra Coghlan), 13 August 2013
A few weeks earlier, Khan was at the Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart, to give the European premiere of his live score to the Franz Osten silent film A Throw of Dice. He played and sang alongside an ensemble of keyboards, tabla and percussion.
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Howard Goodall – ‘More Tomorrows’ launches at Classic FM Live Howard Goodall’s new orchestral anthem, More Tomorrows, premiered in London’s Royal Albert Hall on 25 April, as part of the sell-out Classic FM Live extravaganza. Commissioned as part of his role as Composer-in-Residence at Classic FM and dedicated to the pioneering charity Cancer Research UK, the work is scored for symphony orchestra. Goodall himself conducted the Philharmonia. photo (above): Morgan Pochin © classic fm Photo (left): Nishat Khan
Penderecki/Greenwood project premiered in Italy The much-lauded Penderecki/Greenwoood project combines orchestral music by Jonny Greenwood with that of his hero, Krzysztof Penderecki (who conducts his own works). It launched in Poland in 2011, as part of the European Culture Congress, and has since been toured by AUKSO Chamber Orchestra to the UK and Poland (to an 80,000 crowd at Ope’nr Festival). It’s also recorded on the Nonesuch label. It’s just been toured to Italy too, with a date at Arco (Trentino) on 12 July, as part of the Contemporanea, Rassegna di Musica Nuova. The full-evening concert saw 50 strings perform beneath huge video screens amidst the stunning backdrop of a medieval fortress. Meanwhile, Greenwood has recently completed a new orchestral work. More next time…
Valgeir Sigurðsson: orchestral premieres in Holland and Poland Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurðsson has enjoyed two orchestral premieres this year. The BBC Scottish SO launched a new version of his Dreamland suite as part of a Dutch tour with Ilan Volkov. It toured to Eindhoven and Amsterdam on 4 and 5 June. Dreamland is also presented again as part of the Krakow Film Music Festival in Poland on 27 September. They will present the live orchestral score alongside a screening of a specially-edited print of the documentary film for which it was originally written. It’s a moving and saddening portrait that explores how Icelandic businessmen and politicians tried to lure aluminium production to the country with the promise of cheap hydro-electric power. The resultant environmental impact was the subject of widespread international criticism. Meanwhile, Sigurðsson is working on new commissions from the Crash Ensemble in Dublin, and from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
Gabriel Prokofiev – dance successes abound Gabriel Prokofiev’s music is a natural for dance. It’s no surprise that choreographers have seized upon it for use in creating new dance works. In November 2013, UK choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh unveils Strange Blooms, to a newly-commissioned electronic score by Prokofiev. Her company give performances in Exeter, Falmouth and in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. US choreographer Maurice Causey has created his second dance work to Prokofiev’s music. In his earlier Grim Eye (iMEE - Houston, 2011), he set the Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra. Causey has now commissioned a new 30-minute score for his latest work, Howl. It was premiered by Tanz Luzerner Theater on 9 March. Prokofiev’s string quartets lend themselves perfectly to dance too. Amongst the most recent choreographers to have taken them up are Tulsa Ballet in Oklahoma. Ma Cong used the String Quartet No 1 in a new ballet which premiered on 3 May and had 10 performances. On 5 September, Melissa Hough launches a new dance piece for Houston Ballet, also set to Prokofiev’s String Quartet No 1.
TWO L’ESTRANGE CHORAL PREMIERES ‘Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose’ - choral cantata premieres in Portsmouth From Alexander L’Estrange, the composer of Zimbe! (over 100 performances worldwide now) comes Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose. Commissioned to celebrate the opening of the new Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, the 45-minute cantata for narrator, unison children’s choir, SATB chorus and jazz band blends sea shanties, Tudor melodies and original music in a celebration of Henry VIII’s flagship. The work was premiered on 24 June as part of the Portsmouth Festivities, with guest narration by Hugh Dennis. The vocal score is now in print, and there’s a CD too. More at www.ahoymaryrose.com
‘Alexander L’Estrange has done it again! Following the success of Zimbe! he has created another brilliantly inventive cantata for massed choirs and band, incorporating catchy tunes, toe-tapping shanties and some touching musical moments which is engaging and accessible. Choirs of all ages will love performing this piece. I loved every second of it!’ Ben Parry, Composer & Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain
‘Sailing proudly in the wake of Zimbe!, Alexander L’Estrange has come up with a nautical winner in Ahoy!, full of good tunes to sing, vibrant rhythmic drive and (so important to all choral directors) music that will be fun to rehearse as well as to perform.’ Jonathan Willcocks
‘Zadok Rules – Hallelujah!’ Another new community choral piece was launched in Arundel Cathedral on 6 June. Commissioned by The Hanover Band, Zadok Rules - Hallelujah! is an 8-minute celebration inspired by the music of Handel, to a text that wittily traces the chronology of the British Monarchy. Local schools joined the Alresford Community Choir, Hampshire County Youth Choir and Choristers from Arundel Cathedral. The composer conducted. 25
POP Goldheart Assembly
Top of the Lake (Mark Bradshaw) Faber composer Mark Bradshaw composed a haunting score for Jane Campion’s extremely well-reviewed 7-episode mini series Top of the Lake, broadcast on BBC2 last July and August. Campion’s darkly meditative work, her first to be filmed in New Zealand since The Piano, stars Peter Mullen, Holly Hunter and Elizabeth Moss in a complex, dark crime story. The series had earlier gone out on Australia’s ATV and the Sundance Channel in the US (all seven episodes having earlier been screened together at a single sitting during the Sundance Festival). Top of the Lake is Mark’s second collaboration with Jane Campion following the equally well received Bright Star about the last three years in the life of the poet John Keats.
The latest addition to Faber Music’s nascent pop roster is the London five-piece Goldheart Assembly, led by writers James Dale and John Herbert. Named after a Guided by Voices song, Goldheart Assembly formed in 2008 through a shared love of harmonic, British pop music. Their new album Long Distance Song Effects was released on 1 July. Recorded in Luzern, Switzerland, the album was shaped over a period of two years with Swiss musician/producer Tobi Gmur. The album, the band’s second, has received many positive reviews. This is their second album, following the earlier Thieves and Wolves.
‘At heart the Assembly are still all about disarmingly beautiful harmonies, with an ethereal sense of melancholy that sees lonely souls crash into “desperate arms” while even sunlight provides only isolation.’ The Guardian (Dave Simpson)
‘The control and variety they display throughout Long Distance Song Effects shows that Goldheart Assembly have come into their own here’ Allmusic (Heather Phares) .
New Signing Faber Music are delighted to announce the recent signing of Sarah Warne to our roster of media composers. Sarah is a rising star in the world of film and television composition, having recently graduated from the National Film & Television School. At such an early stage in her career she already has an impressive range of credits to her name in various fields including short films, documentary and animation. Her recent work includes The Magnificent Lion Boy, which featured voice acting from Andy Serkis and Hugh Bonneville and was selected for the Cinéfondation category of films in competition at 2013’s Cannes Film Festival, the only UK film in this category. Sarah’s documentary work includes Vegas, from award winning director Lukasz Konopa,which was premiered at this year’s Hot Docs festival in Toronto, and a film for National Geographic on the Chinese Hajj. With a feature film already in development Sarah is set for every success in the world of film and television composition.
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Matthew Swinnerton The song True Romance, co-written by Matthew for the pop band Citizens!, has had extraordinary success in licensing terms. It has been used for two major advertising campaigns: a 1-year TV campaign for Mondadori in France; a campaign for O2 in the Czech Republic; and a campaign for Chanel’s The Little Black Jacket. The song has also been licensed for use in the French feature film Jeune et Jolie, released on 21 August, and in the cult US TV show Teen Wolf.
Other new signings Other additions to Faber’s pop roster since early 2012 include Joe McAlinden, Puzzle Muteson and electronicaartist Bruce Bickerton. This move into pop represents a serious attempt to build from scratch a high-quality catalogue that is suitable, above all, for media licensing.
PUBLISHING NEWS The Best of Times, the Worst of Times Only one year ago, we were delighted to announce the appointment of David Bobby as Faber Music’s Business Development Director. We were devastated therefore to announce the news of his sudden death only 9 months later. David was an exceptionally skilled and effective Director, a consummate professional, and possessed an extraordinary ability to enthuse, inspire and draw together both his own staff and others across the company, as well as more widely across the music business. Since his early days in the industry - from Boosey & Hawkes to Kevin Mayhew, then Faber Music, Trinity and finally Faber Music once more as a Director - he blended enthusiasm and a terrific sense of fun with utter professionalism, making and retaining deep friendships wherever he worked. In the short time he worked for Faber in his capacity as a Director he propelled the company’s sales business forward unbelievably rapidly, achieving in nine months what most could only achieve in years. As a result we have an amazing platform on which to build and are able to move forward with confidence thanks to David’s brilliant strategic work. Just two of the major initiatives launched this summer 2013, thanks to David and the wider team, are The Faber Teach & Play catalogue and the Faber Music Retailer Network.
Faber Teach & Play catalogue
‘remember there is no age at which we stop learning’ Dame Fanny Waterman
The Faber Teach & Play catalogue covers many important educational and pedagogical subjects through the eyes of some of Faber Music’s most distinguished authors, via a series of thought-provoking articles. This innovative approach aims to challenge the reader with a range of
concepts and ideas, and to provide stimulating reading that supports and enhances creative, proactive teaching and learning. The catalogue also highlights the publications that support this thinking and is therefore an invaluable resource to both teachers and learners.
‘teaching should be a positive, stimulating, imaginative and effective process’ Paul Harris Faber Music Retailer Network The newly launched Faber Music Retailer Network brings together the UK’s best printed music specialists, each of whom continually offer expert advice and exemplary service. Along with Faber Music’s enviable products and reputation as the number one music education publisher in the UK, we and the Faber Music Retailer Network have committed to work together to promote, consolidate and protect the printed music market over the coming years. By working in partnership with a committed network of knowledgeable and pro-active music retailers, we aim to ensure that the independent printed music industry is healthy and innovative and continues to provide a beneficial, personal and professional experience to its customers that cannot be found online. There has always been a fundamental, necessary link between education and printed music, and the Faber Music Retailer Network will endeavour to re-ignite the diminishing relationship between teachers and their local music stores, underpinning the importance of printed music in education. Faber Music will support each of these retailers with bespoke marketing, in-store events and workshops, training sessions for staff, and regular promotions; in return, the retailer will commit to holding a wide range of Faber Music’s catalogue. The retailer will also become one of our Specialist Choral Dealers, which forms part of our exciting new choral music strategy – offering choral music at affordable prices for choirs. If you would like to know more about the Faber Music Retailer Network and your nearest relevant store, or to receive a free copy of the Faber Teach & Play catalogue, contact marketing@fabermusic.com to register your details.
BOOKS ON MUSIC from faber & faber A Pianist’s A-Z by Alfred Brendel
Musorgsky and His Circle: A Russian Musical Adventure by Stephen Walsh
ISBN 9780571245628, Hardback £30.00
Alfred Brendel: ‘This book distils what, at my advanced age, I feel able to say about music, musicians, and matters of my pianistic profession.’ A Pianist’s A-Z brings together Alfred Brendel’s musical and linguistic eloquence and vast knowledge, and will prove invaluable to anyone with an interest in the technique, history and repertoire of the piano. It is the ideal book for all piano lovers, musicians and music aficionados: rarely has the instrument been described in such an entertaining and intelligent fashion.
ISBN 9780571301843, Hardback £14.99
Stephen Walsh, author of a major biography of Igor Stravinsky, has written an absorbing account of Musorgsky and his circle - Borodin, Cui, Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov - an extraordinary group of Russian composers who came together in St Petersburg in the 1860s. With little or no musical education they created works of lasting significance - Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Borodin’s Prince Igor and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade. Written with deep understanding and panache, Musorgsky and His Circle is highly engaging and a significant contribution to cultural history.
www.faber.co.uk
27
AN interview with john woolrich
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SALES Alfred Music Publishing Co. Customer Service P.O. Box 10003 Van Nuys CA 91410-0003, USA Tel: +1 (818) 891-5999 Fax: + 1 (800) 632-1928 Fax: +1 (818) 893-5560 Email: sales@alfred.com Cover photos Benjamin Britten © Britten Pears/Faber Music Back cover photo: John Woolrich © Maurice Foxall Written & devised by Sonia Stevenson Designed by Lis Lomas
John Woolrich – a much commissioned and frequently performed composer, a creative teacher and an original programmer – celebrates his 60th birthday in 2014. Ahead of this big year he talks to Sonia Stevenson about his career, his compositions and his passion for programming. This landmark birthday offers the chance to look back and reflect. What, for you, have been the highlights of your compositional career so far? “Some music — a lot of chamber music for instance — is private, you eavesdrop. Other music is more public: it comes off the stage towards you. My oboe concerto, I think, struck a balance between public and private. It’s wonderful to have your music played by superb professional musicians, but it’s equally wonderful to have it played by people who aren’t paid, who make music simply for pleasure. Luciano Berio (rather beautifully) dedicated his piece Accordo to the people who work all day in schools, factories and offices, and then make music in their spare time. I’m very pleased that my viola concertante, Ulysses Awakes, has been taken up this summer by the Buskaid Soweto String Project in South Africa.” You’ve spoken in the past about your feeling that perfection is death, that art comes in the cracks. Is this an idea that you still adhere to and how is it interpreted in your own music? “The idea that a work of art should be perfect, or even finished, should have died, with Beethoven and Goethe, a couple of hundred years ago. Perfection is a crazy, unrealizable, uninteresting ambition. The greatest moments in, for instance, Beethoven or Mozart are often the bits that don’t join up, the harmonies that don’t fit the melodies, the unexpected disruptions. In any act of creativity you concentrate on the rational and the conscious while leaving the door open for the gremlins to hop in. The really interesting things are those that the unconscious throws up. They can be dark, disruptive, unexpected and imperfect: messages from a stranger. I remember reading an interview in the paper with a colleague who said he only wanted to write masterpieces. But trying to evoke posterity is foolish: ‘Would you were present in flesh, hero!/ What wreathes and junketings’. Samuel Beckett makes more sense to me: ‘No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better’.” How important, or indeed inspirational, do you find the relationship between composer and performer? “I’ve had more commissions over the years from performers than from committees and institutions. That’s important to me: that the people who are going to play my notes have asked for them. Inspiration can come from anywhere, sometimes in the performing character of a musician. Stravinsky said that fingers are great inspirers. For me (sadly I’m not a performer) that can mean other people’s
fingers too. A commission can be a kind of portrait of the performer, both in terms of the special skills a musician might have or the limitations (a famous one-handed pianist gathered some interesting pieces).” Many of your works have been inspired by music of the past – ‘Ulysses Awakes,’ for instance, is a transcription of a Monterverdi aria. How do you translate older music and make it your own? “For me a transcription demonstrates what a composer loves in someone else’s music; it’s an intensification of an aspect of the original. So Ulysses Awakes shows what I like in Monteverdi. It’s partly a thinning out, a reduction, and partly an emphasis, an underlining. Stravinsky’s arrangements of two Hugo Wolf songs is an interesting example of that, particularly given that the musical languages of the two composers couldn’t be more different. All the notes are Wolf ’s, but there aren’t quite so many in Stravinsky’s version, the layout of the chords is Stravinskian and so is the colour of the instrumentation. It’s true to Wolf and true to Stravinsky.” You are widely regarded as an excellent programmer. Is there a secret to a good programme? I think programming is composing, it’s a creative act: you select and organise. You make shapes with material. That’s why often the very best programmers — Boulez, Knussen, Ades, Birtwistle, for instance — are composers. This is your last year as Artistic Director of Dartington International Summer School where you’ve done a marvellous job of bringing together professionals and amateurs, young and old, and perhaps most importantly, many different genres of music from baroque to contemporary, classical to jazz. How did you go about balancing these diverse aspects? We often forget the importance of how music feels to perform: how you feel Handel’s choral music in your body, how a Schumann piano piece feels under the fingers. A Haydn quartet or a madrigal are more for the performer than for the listener. There’s a danger that we will end up with a musical culture divided between professional performers and a passive amateur audience. We neglect the amateur music maker at our peril. Dartington has what William Glock described as the ‘fruitful symbiosis of professional and amateur’. I think it’s vital for young professionals and advanced students to rub shoulders with the amateur music lover. And it’s vital for us to cherish amateur music making.
For information on forthcoming Woolrich performances please see www.fabermusic.com