BREAKING NEWS: Classical Music

The Metropolitan Opera co-produces the ENO’s new Ring cycle to be completed in 2025

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:31:20 +0000

English National Opera announces new staging of Wagner’s Ring cycle Directed by Richard Jones and conducted by Martyn Brabbins, The Valkyrie will form the first part of a complete Ring cycle over the next five years. English National Opera (ENO) is to bring Wagner’s Ring cycle to the London Coliseum, starting with The Valkyrie this Autumn, subject to any further ... Read more

English National Opera Announces Return To Live Performances With A Bang

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:30:00 +0000

Some might say tackling Richard Wagner’s four-part Ring Cycle during a pandemic is folly. English National Opera, announcing the plan on Wednesday, believes the opposite and wants to return to live performance with a bang. – The Guardian

The Berlin Philharmonic recreates ‘The Golden Twenties’ of Moka Efti brilliantly in an evening of jazz and cabaret

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 17:24:38 +0000

Weill, Wolpe, Seiber – ‘A night at the Moka Efti’: Dagmar Manzel (narrator/singer), Berlin Philharmonic / Michael Hasel (conductor). Performed at the Philharmonie Berlin and livestreamed via the Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall, 23.2.2021. (GT) Kurt Weill – Berlin Lit Up; Little Threepenny Music; Panamanian Suite Stefan Wolpe – Suite from the Twenties Mátyás Seiber ... Read more

Spotify Is About To Open In 85 More Countries

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 14:34:00 +0000

The move adds a billion more potential customers to the market for the audio streaming giant, which will now be available in 178 countries and will support more than 60 languages. – Variety

CD Spotlight. An Absolute Delight

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Volume three of Charles Koechlin's 'Les Chants de Nectaire' impresses Geoff Pearce. '... Nicola Woodward's playing is sumptuous, insightful and virtuosic when it needs to be, without ever being flashy.'

Bamberg Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 75th birthday and looks back to its origins in 19th century Prague

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 11:22:02 +0000

Next month, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 75th anniversary by re-creating the ensemble's first concert which took place in March 1946. On 18 March 2021, principal conductor Jakub Hrůša will direct the orchestra in a programme of three works by Beethoven, Overture 'Leonore' No. 3, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (with Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider) and Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'. In fact the symphony was not heard in 1946, it was planned but the American authorities did not allow it to be performed!

But whilst 75 might seem an impressive achievement, the orchestra's origins go back much further than that to the German Philharmonic Orchestra Prague, which dated back to the 19th century. Its final concert in Prague was in 1945, when the ensemble played Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 'Eroica', and then following the turmoil arising from the end of the war, many of the players from the orchestra found themselves in Bamberg, and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra was founded.

As no audience will be allowed in the hall on 18 March, the concert will be broadcast. It can be heard live on the radio on BR-KLASSIK, on television on ARD-alpha , and as a live video stream on the BR Klassik website. At the same time, it can also be seen on the BR-KLASSIK Facebook page.

Further details from the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra website.

Flexibility and dialogue: plans for the 2021 Dresden Music Festival

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 10:45:50 +0000

Jan Vogler, intendant of the Dresden Music Festival
(Photo Marco Grob)

Like most arts organisations, the Dresden Music Festival went on-line last year but this year the festival is able to adopt a more flexible format. Responding to events, intendant Jan Vogler has announced a mixed platform for the 2021 festival, which runs from 14 May to 12 June 2021.

Some concerts have been cancelled, some moved to the Summer, whilst others have been moved to larger venues or outdoors. Many will be live-streamed, and with limited audiences some concerts are being repeated to allow the maximum number of live audience members.

The festival's theme this year is Dialogues, a reference perhaps not only to the dialogues which take place in musical performance but to the constant dialogue needed between the festival team and politicians, artists and festival partners, and dialogue with the audience too as the festival programme itself is flexible and will need to respond to change.

Full details from the Dresden Music Festival website.

Track Premiere: TAK Ensemble’s Star Maker Fragments

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Microtonal electroacoustic experimentation meets sci-fi explorations of the universe and creation on TAK Ensemble’s latest album, Star Maker Fragments. Inspired by..

The post Track Premiere: TAK Ensemble’s Star Maker Fragments appeared first on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

Challenging and surprising: on 'arb', clarinet and bassoon duo, Zachary Good and Ben Roidl-Ward explore multiphonics

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 09:38:29 +0000

arb; Zachary Good, Ben Roidl-Ward; Carrier Records
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 23 February 2021 Star rating: 3.0 (★★★)
Recorded during lockdown last year, this disc from two Chicago-based instrumentalists explores the fascinating and insistent world of multiphonics

Zachary Good and Ben Roidl-Ward are two young instrumentalists based in Chicago. Both are interested both in expanding the repertoire of their instruments (Good plays clarinets and Baroque recorders, Roidl-Ward plays the bassoon) and extending the possibilities of the instruments. During lockdown last year, they recorded an album in their Chicago apartment.

arb, on Carrier Records, is a disc of original works for clarinet and bassoon, collaboratively composed by Zachary Good and Ben Roidl-Ward.

There are six tracks on the disc, 'Fairchild', '2pm front room', 'Guby', 'Rege', 'Prid', and 'Arb' which seem to tantalisingly hint at subjects behind the music, but the pieces themselves are resolutely abstract. Each piece features extensive use of multiphonics, with the players relishing the interplay between the two instruments.

Pitch and rhythm are almost unimportant here, the two performers place individual notes in the air and the music is often slow moving. It is the multiphonics that are the interest, the fascinating tonal and textural changes that these bring about in the sound. The result is highly textural; in convential classical music such multiphonics would be seen as disturbances but here the two performers concentrate so hard on the acoustical effects that they become the point of music. At times, it seems as if there are more than two performers, but the album isn't about acoustical tricks, but exploring the edges of what is possible on a reeded wind instrument.

The album's name, arb, requires some explanation. 'arb' is the nickname of the Oberlin Arboretum which is part of Oberlin College and Conservatory where both Good and Roidl-Ward studied (what their press release refers to as 'a magical time'). Whilst at college the two formed a duo, Arboretum, dedicated to creating new music for clarinet and bassoon. And the names of the individual pieces contain similar such references, 'Prid' refers the name of the apartment block they were living in during Lockdown, The Pridmore, whilst 'Guby' refers to Good's 1992 Buick Regal!

There is something delightfully nerdy in this disc's focus on a single issue, multiphonics, the single minded exploration of what could be seen as rather a limited aspect of wind instrument performance. But in this sheer focus, the two reveal some amazing detail. And the disc is also about the wider issue of friendship, the two have known each other and performed together for ten years, so the disc is a celebration both of friendship and of shared interest.

Zachary Good and Ben Roidl-Ward (Photo Deidre Huckabay)

The music requires quite a degree of adjustment in the listener, at first the sounds can seem insistent and jarring, but the performers sheer concentration makes you listen in detail. The different combinations of sounds prove to contain rich details which can prove surprising. This is a brave and challenging disc, not everyone will want to listen to nearly 30 minutes of multiphonics, but do give it a go.

arb - music for clarinet and bassoon by Zachary Good and Ben Roidl-Ward
Zarchary Good (clarinet)
Ben Roidl-Ward (bassoon)
Recorded on 7 June, 2020 in an apartment in Edgewater, Chicago. The album was mixed by Ted Moore and mastered by Matt Mehlan at the Stuudio. Original artwork by Ben Llewellyn.
CARRIER RECORDS 1CD [29:05]

Available from Bandcamp.

The blog is free, but I'd be delighted if you were to show your appreciation by buying me a coffee.

Elsewhere on this blog

I wonder as I wander: baritone James Newby in a stunning debut recital with pianist Joseph Middleton - CD review
Beyond Solidarity: Composer and Ivors Academy board member Daniel Kidane talks frankly about 2020 and a watershed moment for diversity in music - feature
To cope with the complexity of modern experience: composer Alastair White discusses the striking philosophical underlay of his opera ROBE, which is receiving its premiere recording - interview
A celebration of the art of transcription: Visions of Childhood from Kenneth Woods, English Symphony Orchestra and soprano April Fredrick - CD review
A reflection of a lifetime's performing: Benjamin Britten's complete folk-songs for voice and piano in a new recording from Mark Milhofer and Marco Scolastra - CD review
From a celebration of Leonardo da Vinci and the first moon flight to a sequence of O Antiphons, the organ music of Cecilia McDowall performed by William Fox - Cd review
Without discrimination, harm or transphobia: a look at transgender singers in classical music - feature
The Fire of Love & Songs of Innocence: two new works by Patrick Hawes, written for the American choir The Same Stream - Cd review
Anything but old and fusty: the young German baritone Samuel Hasselhorn talks about his recent Schumann disc, about lieder as an art-form and widening the audience - interview
Chant, improvisation and traditional instruments: Schola Cantorum Riga give us a taste of sacred music in Medieval Riga on Vox Clara on the Skani label - CD review
Out of the archive: Songbird brings together a group of recordings Margaret Marshall made for German radio in the 1970s and barely heard since - CD review
A Celtic Prayer: an imaginative survey of late 20th century and contemporary Scottish sacred choral music from George McPhee and the choir of Paisley Abbey - CD review
Home

Donor Cultivation Tracking Software Results

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 08:00:50 +0000

Thanks to everyone who submitted a response to last week’s survey on the pros and cons of donor cultivation tracking software. The results were interesting in that they were weighted in the opposite direction from what I tend to hear from development professionals when talking to them.

Do you use donor cultivation tracking software that is part of your organization’s CRM (Customer Relationship Management platform)?

Respondents that indicated they didn’t use a solution integrated with their CRM all used stand alone donor cultivation app/software. No one indicated using spreadsheet (yay!)

How satisfied are you with features provided by your CRM based solution?

By and large, users were a mix of satisfied and not. Interestingly enough,no one indicated being “very satisfied.”

This was a small enough sample size (36) it doesn’t represent a broad enough cross section to draw any meaningful conclusions. Having said that, it would be fascinating to see a larger sample to see what ratio of development pros are starting to consider options outside their CRM and why.

It would be equally fascinating to see what pros with 20+ years’ experience thinks of their CRM based options and if they’ve evolved at a reasonable rate to keep pace with demand. I’m also curious to take a deeper dive into why a third of respondents really seem to hate their current solution.

ENO announces bold plan to stage Ring Cycle from the autumn

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 07:01:02 +0000

Richard Wagner’s four-part opera epic will play at London’s Coliseum over several years

It is the Mount Everest of opera, with about 16 hours of music and an epic story of power, love and destruction which collectively represents the ultimate challenge for any company willing to take it on.

Anthony Hedges: Kingston Sketches for orchestra (1969)

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 06:00:00 +0000

One topographical work which is rarely heard, is the Kingston Sketches. This was also inspired by Hedges’s adopted hometown. The Marco Polo CD (see below) liner notes explain that in 1969, Hedges was one of several composers who were approached at short notice to generate sketches for the opening theme to a new television series. Hedges ‘jotted down’ two short ideas one evening. They were not accepted by the producers. Clearly, he felt that they were too good to lose, so Hedges extended them, and they became the ‘Waltz’ and the ‘March’ from the Kingston Sketches. Each of the three movements of this Suite is named after a Hull street. The opening ‘Waltz’ was called ‘Whitefriargate’. It is a pensive and graceful piece. The middle ‘Romance’, which was the final piece to be composed, was entitled ‘Silver Street’. These two thoroughfares feature old buildings that were not destroyed during the Hull Blitz. The city suffered more than 1000 hours of air raid alerts. It was the goal of the first daylight bombing raid and the last piloted air raid on Britain during the Second World War. The last movement of the Kingston Sketches is the cheerful but somewhat tongue in cheek ‘March’ called after the ‘Ferensway’. It is many years since I was in Hull, but if I recall, this road is effectively a commercial street with few historical buildings. The entire work is a delightful piece of ‘light music’ that deserves the occasional revival.

According to the liner notes, the Kingston Sketches were premiered during April 1971 by the BBC Northern Ireland Light Orchestra conducted by Havelock Nelson. However, another possible date for this first broadcast may be the 28 December 1972 when it was heard on Radio 3 and was played by the Orchestra of the Light Music Society conducted by Vernon Handley. This short Suite gained considerable popularity. It was to receive many more broadcasts and concert performances.

Reviewing the Marco Polo CD for The Gramophone (April 1998) Andrew Lamb felt that ‘The various sets of geographical impressions do ultimately tend to be rather similar in style and lacking in sharply defined characteristics. However, the disc as a whole should prove a welcome addition to the collections of more adventurous light music enthusiasts looking for something slightly different. With the composer at the helm, all is elegantly written , played and recorded.’

Discography
Anthony Hedges, British Light Music, Four Breton Sketches, Cantilena, Overture: Heigham Sound, Four Miniature Dances, Scenes from the Humber and the Kingston Sketches. RTE Sinfonietta/Anthony Hedges, Marco Polo 8223886, 1997

The Kingston Sketches has been uploaded to YouTube: I. Whitefriargate Waltz, II. Silver Street Romance, III. Ferensway March(Accessed 1 January 2021). Lots of adverts, alas.

He Invented New Instruments To Express The Soul Of His Troubled Homeland

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 19:58:00 +0000

Joaquín Orellana, one of Guatemala’s leading composers, calls his creations útiles sonoros (“sound tools”), and many of them are de-and-reconstructed versions of his country’s national instrument, the marimba. “The ingenuity of Orellana’s inventions,” writes Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, “often hovers between playfulness and cruelty.” – The New York Times

Tony and the Young Artists: Stephanie Wake-Edwards will leave you shaken and stirred by her cocktail of cabaret songs

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 19:34:06 +0000

Tony and the Young Artists – Alexandra Lowe (soprano), Stephanie Wake-Edwards (mezzo-soprano), Filipe Manu (tenor) and Sir Antonio Pappano (piano): Livestream from the Crush Room, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 19.2.2021. (JPr) Programme: Gluck – ‘Addio, o miei sospiri’ (Orfeo ed Euridice), performed by Stephanie Wake-Edwards Mozart – ‘Fra gli amplessi’ (Così fan tutte), performed by Alexandra Lowe ... Read more

Classical music news - Steven Gerber

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 12:00:00 +0000

The English Symphony Orchestra presents a Steven Gerber portrait concert

Rachvelishvili and Beczala lead an impressive Vienna ensemble as Bieito brings enhanced dramatic intent to Carmen

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 11:24:13 +0000

Bizet, Carmen: Soloists, Children of the Opera School, Chorus and Orchestra of Vienna State Opera / Andrés Orozco-Estrada (conductor). Performed at the Vienna State Opera and livestreamed (directed by Karina Fibich) on 21.2.2021. (JPr) Production: Director – Calixto Bieito Staging rehearsed by Calixto Bieito and Joan Anton Rechi Sets – Alfons Flores Costumes – Mercè ... Read more

5 Questions to Damon Davis (post-disciplinary artist)

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Social commentary, elements of mythology, and the creation of Black joy are themes that are present in the work of..

The post 5 Questions to Damon Davis (post-disciplinary artist) appeared first on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

I wonder as I wander: baritone James Newby in a stunning debut recital with Joseph Middleton

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 08:34:48 +0000

I wonder as I wander - Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler, Britten; James Newby, Joseph Middleton; BIS
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 22 February 2021 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
An exploration of the wanderer's constant sense of longing in this stunning debut recital

The figure of the wanderer, constantly in search of something, is at the centre of baritone James Newby and pianist Joseph Middleton's disc, I wonder as a wander, on BIS. The centrepiece of the recital is Beethoven's song-cycle An die ferne Geliebte, surrounded by songs by Schubert and Mahler, along with Britten's folk-song arrangements. The Beethoven cycle was the starting point for the programme, and there is a personal element too, Newby is currently a wanderer himself, away from his native land as an member of the ensemble at Staatsoper Hannover.

We open with two Britten arrangements, beautifully intimate, almost hushed accounts of I wonder as I wonder and There's none to soothe. These are very interior, highly personal performances, and this sense continues with Schubert's Der Wanderer, D 489 which starts quiet and dark, but intimate. Not that Newby and Middleton eschew drama, but at first it seems as if the wanderer cannot sustain these outburts for long, until the thrilling penultimate verse. Der Wanderer, D 469 is thoughtful and considered, not for this wanderer the sense of swagger and striding onwards. In Auf der Donau, voice and piano flow onward, disturbed by what the wanderer sees but constantly in motion. Im Freien again has that flowing sense, with Newby's thoughtful singer supported by the endless piano. Abendstern is hushed and profoundly musical, an intimate performance hinting us eavesdropping on just the wanderer and the star.

The Beethoven group begins with his best-known song, Adelaide. Newby and Middleton make the piece rather haunting, or perhaps a sense of the wanderer being haunted by his beloved. Despite the form of the poem, Beethoven eschews a strophic setting and the performers take full advantage of this to give full character to the song. Maigesang begins all engagingly vital, a celebration of May, developing into something rather ardent.

An die ferne Geliebte begins with the wanderer sitting on a hill, thoughtful and intimate, but more ardent, impulsive feelings keep pushing through only to die down, but ending rather bitterly. The second song, with its haunting refrain, continues the mood as Newby's voice takes on a lovely glow in the quieter passages. This is young man who is truly haunted by his beloved. The bright clouds in the third song have a bitter, almost sarcastic edge to them, whilst the fourth song lightens the mood delightfully. The fifth song is all light anticipation, as the wanderer pictures his beloved but by the end we realise that there is no hope, and for all the final song's melodic felicity we are in the realm of sadness and youthful melancholy with Newby fining his voice right down so that he and Middleton create something magical, until the final pages when the repetition of 'Was ein liebend Herz geweiht!' creates something intense and obsessive.

There is a sense of soldierly swagger to Mahler's Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz' but Newby and Middleton take the song steadily, and give it a thoughtful intensity which is almost operatic, really taking us into the mind of the doomed soldier. The performance manages to be at the same time profound, beautiful and disturbing. We are back with swaggering soldiers for Revelge, with the strangeness of the song gradually taking over with a terrific performance from Middleton and Newby really spitting out the words. The final Mahler song moves us into a different work, from the hectic intensity of the dead soldiers, we move to the mystical intentness of Urlicht.

Finally, the recital is rounded off with three more of Britten's folk-song arrangements, continuing the intimate, almost mystical world of the Mahler. Newby and Middleton treat these songs as Britten did, as art songs to be recreated today rather than emulating earlier folk-inspired performances. The two bring a remarkable combination of intensity and bitterness to The Last Rose of Summer, making me see the song in a completely new light, whilst Sail on finishes the recital with compelling simplicity and quietness.

James Newby

What impresses about these performances is Newby's attention to detail. He does not fear singing quietly and his mezza-voce his profoundly beautiful, but this is used in the service of the music bringing out the many subtleties, never have I heard such lovely singing sound so disturbing. His diction is also very fine, showing that a lovely sense of line does not preclude bringing out the words. The whole gives a real immediacy to Newby's performance and throughout, he is sensitively partnered by Middleton, so that from first to last the recital is imbued with a common sense of purpose, a feeling of haunted restlessness and intense longing.

Traditional, arr. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) - I wonder as I wander
Traditional, arr. Benjamin Britten - There’s none to soothe
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - Der Wanderer, D 489
Franz Schubert - Der Wanderer, D 649
Franz Schubert - Auf der Donau, D 553
Franz Schubert - Im Freien, D 880
Franz Schubert - Abendstern, D 806
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - Adelaide, Op. 46
Ludwig van Beethoven - Maigesang, Op. 52 No. 4
Ludwig van Beethoven - An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) - Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz
Gustav Mahler - Revelge
Gustav Mahler - Urlicht
Traditional, arr. Benjamin Britten - At the mid hour of night (Molly, my Dear)
Traditional, arr. Benjamin Britten - The last rose of summer (Groves of blarney)
Traditional, arr. Benjamin Britten - Sail on, sail on (The humming of the ban).
James Newby (baritone)
Joseph Middleton (piano)
Recorded at Potton Hall, Suffolk, UK, October 2019
BIS BIS-2475 1 SACD [75.26]

The blog is free, but I'd be delighted if you were to show your appreciation by buying me a coffee.

Elsewhere on this blog

Beyond Solidarity: Composer and Ivors Academy board member Daniel Kidane talks frankly about 2020 and a watershed moment for diversity in music - feature
To cope with the complexity of modern experience: composer Alastair White discusses the striking philosophical underlay of his opera ROBE, which is receiving its premiere recording - interview
A celebration of the art of transcription: Visions of Childhood from Kenneth Woods, English Symphony Orchestra and soprano April Fredrick - CD review
A reflection of a lifetime's performing: Benjamin Britten's complete folk-songs for voice and piano in a new recording from Mark Milhofer and Marco Scolastra - CD review
From a celebration of Leonardo da Vinci and the first moon flight to a sequence of O Antiphons, the organ music of Cecilia McDowall performed by William Fox - Cd review
Without discrimination, harm or transphobia: a look at transgender singers in classical music - feature
The Fire of Love & Songs of Innocence: two new works by Patrick Hawes, written for the American choir The Same Stream - Cd review
Anything but old and fusty: the young German baritone Samuel Hasselhorn talks about his recent Schumann disc, about lieder as an art-form and widening the audience - interview
Chant, improvisation and traditional instruments: Schola Cantorum Riga give us a taste of sacred music in Medieval Riga on Vox Clara on the Skani label - CD review
Out of the archive: Songbird brings together a group of recordings Margaret Marshall made for German radio in the 1970s and barely heard since - CD review
A Celtic Prayer: an imaginative survey of late 20th century and contemporary Scottish sacred choral music from George McPhee and the choir of Paisley Abbey - CD review
Never say Never: back in February 2020 I chatted to Selina Cadell & Eliza Thompson of OperaGlass Works, now their production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw is released on film - interview
Home

Here’s A Great Idea For Connecting To Your Community

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 08:00:23 +0000

If you’re looking for a way to connect with your audience that also demonstrates your organization’s commitment to the community, consider having musicians perform at vaccination centers. I’ve seen a few groups talking about this idea and with proper planning, it has the potential for becoming a real win-win scenario.

Connecting health and wellness to classical music is something groups have been exploring over the pandemic and this idea dovetails nicely with that approach. This should be an easy sell to donors and board members when it comes to funding for musician salaries and any safety related expenses.

Tip: when thinking about locations, consider mass vaccination centers. They provide more space (increased safety) and potentially better acoustics than small neighborhood and facility locations.

Do your due diligence, make health and safety of musicians and staff a priority, and don’t even think about structuring it as a fee-based service.

Celebrating Jeffrey Skidmore's 70th birthday

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 07:49:54 +0000

Jeffrey Skidmore

The conductor Jeffrey Skidmore, founder of the choir Ex Cathedra, is 70 this month and not surprisingly his choir is making the most of the celebrations despite lockdown.

On Saturday 27 February 2021, Ex Cathedra is releasing a free filmed concert, Ex Cathedra: Around the World, which celebrates Skidmore's varied interests with music from 1960s America and Latin America (where Skidmore has spent a lot of time researching music created during the Baroque era), alongside music from the French Baroque, the Italian Renaissance and Jacobean era, plus traditional favourites from Sweden and Scotland. The concert is being streamed on the ensemble's website, Facebook page and YouTube channel.

There will also be a chance to hear Skidmore talking about his career in an interview which is featured on BBC Radio 3's Early Music Show on Sunday 28 February. And this weekend Skidmore and Ex Cathedra are returning to the recording studio for Baroque Passion, a programme which will include Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater and Bach's Komm, Jesu, komm alongside Lenten music by Kuhnau, Lotti, Monteverdi and Purcell. The concert will be broadcast on Passion Sunday, 21 March, 4pm on the Idagio Global Concert Hall.

Further details from the Ex Cathedral website.

A celebrity concert and an auction for a private concert: Music Masters charity celebrates the work of its Ambassadors

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 07:28:44 +0000

The music education charity, Music Masters, is holding a fortnight of events to highlight the work of its Ambassadors. The charity's mission is to ensure that children from underserved communities enjoy the life-changing opportunities that flow from outstanding music education, and the charity's Ambassadors visit London primary schools to inspire the next generation of music-makers.

Events include an on-line concert, Ambassadors for Change, on 3 March 2021 which will feature performances from Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Randall Goosby, Hyeyoon Park, Benjamin Grosvenor, Nicola Benedetti, Elena Urioste, Tom Poster, and the Harlem Quartet and the event will end with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Elena Urioste, Tom Poster, Hyeyoon Park and Music Masters pupils performing Bha lá eile ann (‘There was a different day’) by Donald Grant arranged by Tom Poster. Further details of the concert from Music Masters' website.

From 3 to 10 March people will be able to bid for a private online concert and chat with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. The half hour experience can be enjoyed by the winning bidder and up to nine guests. Full details from the Music Masters website

The BEST Peter Grimes–Yes, The Best!

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 04:19:08 +0000

There is a handful of frequently recorded operas, all considered “challenging works”, that have never had a bad recording. One can come across, without searching too hard, a mediocre Bohème, an undercast Butterfly, a lackluster Cosi fan tutte, and an Aida or Don Carlo or Puritani featuring a soprano or tenor or bass not up […]

A LIVE from London concert that confirms the stature of Stile Antico beyond any doubt

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:05:58 +0000

LIVE from London SPRING – Miserere: Renaissance Lamentations: Stile Antico. Streamed from the VOCES8 Centre, London, 21.2.2021. (CC) Byrd – Cantiones sacrae: Miserere mei Plainchant – Ad te Rex summe Tallis – Purge me O Lord de Monte – Super Flumina Babylonis Plainchant – Rogamus Deus Allegri – Miserere Plainchant – Tibi fatemur Sheppard – I ... Read more

Long Beach Opera Hires James Darrah As New AD

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 22:28:00 +0000

During the pandemic, Darrah’s affinity for film allowed him to pivot to digital content with ease. Over the last six months, the director has worked with LA Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, Boston Lyric Opera and others to produce visually compelling screen experiences hailed by the New Yorker as “arresting” and by the Boston Globe as “ambitious and spectacular.” – Los Angeles Times

Will Robin's Industry

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 19:12:22 +0000

I've known Will Robin since his sophomore year in college, when he asked me to sign a copy of The Rest Is Noise at an event in Chicago. That summer he asked if he could do any work for me as an assistant; he ended up helping me hugely with Listen to This, my second book, and with Wagnerism in its early stages. In the ensuing decade, as I continued to grind away at the same book, Will went to graduate school, became an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, married, fathered an adorable baby boy, and completed his own first book. He's become a valued colleague and a close friend; I now feel I learn more from him than he does from me. All this by way of saying that I feel personal joy at the arrival of Industry: Bang on a Can and New Music in the Marketplace, which Oxford University Press publishes today. At its heart, Industry is the story of the emergence and evolution of the Bang on Can ensemble, but it goes much wider, examining struggles within new music to find a footing as Reaganism dismantled arts funding. There were gains and losses in the course of that "marketplace turn," as Will calls it, and despite his close contact with the Bang on a Can leaders he doesn't shy away from delineating compromises with the gig economy and other aspects of neoliberal culture. What I find most admirable in the book is the balance it strikes between historical narration and critical analysis: such balance is hard to achieve. Will has a book launch "at" the 92nd Street Y tonight: he'll converse with Allan Kozinn, who covered the rise of Bang for the New York Times. The following day, he chats with Anne Midgette. Heartiest congratulations!

New Possibilities As Classical Music Explores Music By Black Composers

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 18:14:00 +0000

Somewhere, in an attic or a music library or maybe hiding in plain sight, are pieces by non-white-male composers that, with the right kind of attention, will open our ears to genius. – Philadelphia Inquirer

Jazz Is Dying During The Pandemic

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 17:31:00 +0000

The pandemic has wrecked an already vulnerable jazz industry by forcing live music shows to halt. Musicians and club owners have turned to online fundraisers for survival, and point to the music’s connection to civil rights as a need to keep its legacy alive. – Axios

Wild Up's Darkness Sounding festival

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 16:47:38 +0000

Before dawn in Griffith Park. Wind Songs. The New Yorker, February 22, 2021.

Los Angeles Group Plays Its Way To Diversifying The Orchestra

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 15:00:00 +0000

The Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles is the largest Black-majority orchestra in the country. But it doesn’t want to be alone. The ICYO founder’s mantra “is that there needs to be an inner city youth orchestra in every city where there’s an NFL team.” – NPR

Bringing The Joy Back To New York, Through Pop Up Music

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:30:00 +0000

As the leader of “NYPopsUp” explains, “This is what I like to call ‘social music.’ … You can use music to minister to so many sectors of society.” This summer, that means 100 days of scattered, mostly unannounced street performances across the state. – Washington Post

Ensemble. Lolita in Jerusalem

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Elena Stikhina in Teatro alla Scala's new production of 'Salome' by Richard Strauss impresses Giuseppe Pennisi

George Lewis’ The Recombinant Trilogy Reimagines the Boundaries of Experimental Music

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

A renowned member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, legendary composer, illustrious scholar, and..

The post George Lewis’ The Recombinant Trilogy Reimagines the Boundaries of Experimental Music appeared first on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

The Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano and Orchestra

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 08:57:04 +0000

In 2019, I was able to attend recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios where Belgian-American pianist Tedd Joselson, the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Arthur Fagen (musical director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) were recording an intriguing new work for piano and orchestra. [See my report from the recording sessions].

The Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano and Orchestra is the brainchild of Dr Susan Lim (a pioneer in the field of transplantation, robotics and stem cell research) with project co-creative director Dr Christina Teenz. They commissioned composer Manu Martin to write a work which explores concept of an inanimate-human companionship in music.

The recording has now come to fruition and is being issued on Signum Classics in April 2021.

Daniel Kidane: Beyond Solidarity

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 08:25:51 +0000

Daniel Kidane (Photo Kaupo Kikkas)

Composer and Ivors Academy board member Daniel Kidane talks frankly about 2020 and a watershed moment for diversity in music.

2020 was a challenging year, not only because of a global pandemic but also because it was a year that vividly highlighted the racial inequalities that still exist in the UK. Learning that black and minority ethnic groups are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to people of white ethnicity filled me, as a person of mixed black and white heritage, with real alarm. It was further worrying to learn that the increased likelihood of death was linked to societal inequalities and discrimination. Delving into Health Foundation analysis, the extent to which black and minority ethnic groups make up a disproportionately large share of high risk ‘key workers’ was eye opening (a point I’ll revisit). Then came the slaying of George Floyd in America, which ignited Black Lives Matter protests across the globe.

Fast forward to the start of 2021, when I had the chance to look at UK Music’s latest Diversity Report. Examining the figures relating to ethnic minorities in music related workforces, Black, Asian and ethnic minority representation descends the higher up the job ladder one goes: 42.1 percent at apprentice/intern level, 34.6 percent at entry-level, 21.6 percent at mid-level and 19.9 percent at senior level. I could not help but draw comparisons between the glass ceilings faced by Black, Asian and ethnic minority people in employment and demographic, geographical and socioeconomic inequalities. For me, the coronavirus pandemic brought the inequalities in my own industry into sharp focus.

As a young composer I remember attending a talk given by a senior figure from a prominent British music publisher. The talk was specifically about how to get published and advice was given to the group of eager listeners as to what they should be doing to have a shot at being published. Have your works performed by respected orchestras, collaborate with well-known conductors and be recognised in your field, were all points that were mentioned. Some years later, I learnt that this publisher had published the work of a very successful stock market investor, who adhered to none of the mentioned requirements. It was at this point that the nepotism within the industry, that never really gets talked about openly when you’re a student, truly hit home. On the flipside, I am continuously being invited to talks, debates and symposiums relating to the lack of diversity in classical music. What we should really be genuine about are the current bad practices in place that ensure that any attempts at promulgating diversity within the music industry are challenged. One cannot be inclusive if the only space you are willing to include minoritised communities is in conversations about inclusion.

The toppling of the statue to the slaver Edward Colston in Bristol, amid the Black Lives Matter protests, was among last year’s most potent images. Reading the views of some colleagues on social media, one of whom is a pedagogue at a London conservatoire, about the way change was being affected was illuminating. It was astonishing to see the number of people who were totally unwilling to understand the reasons why people around the world had had enough. The debates that ensued regarding statues being a mark of history, was to me a weird one, perhaps because I can relate to people being affronted by a statue of a slave trader standing in a UK city in 2020. Yet, when we look at the debate around Brexit and the difficulties it has brought about for many touring musicians, the resounding response from most colleagues is a negative one towards the constraints now in place. But if we look back to a time before the current situation, many a centre-left musician failed to confront the increasingly toxic discourse around migration until it was too late. The point I am trying to make is that if we want classical music to survive and thrive moving forward, it is crucial that the industry becomes more inclusive and representative at all levels now, not tomorrow.

Some organisations are taking the call to change seriously and have started taking tangible action. Last year I joined the Ivors Academy Board after composer Stephen McNeff made the conscious decision to stand down from the Board, to support the Academy’s commitments to championing equality, diversity and inclusion. PRS Foundation’s Power Up initiative launched to specifically tackle anti-Black racism in music and Hal Leonard Europe announced the appointment of an external advisory group to focus on equality, diversity and inclusion. As with all things, time will be the judge of the success of these initiatives, but they definitely feel more genuine than posting black squares on social media along with catchy hashtags.

I increasingly believe that making it is finding the voice to fight for your art, even if you have to step on a few eggshells along the way. The sooner that gatekeepers realise we are all in this together and that we need to sort out our issues relating to equality and diversity now, the faster we can work toward other issues and stop allowing our collective culture to be trod on.

This article originally appeared in PRS for Music's M Magazine

Daniel Kidane studied privately with Sergey Slonimsky, and at the Royal Northern College of Music with Gary Carpenter and David Horne; he is currently undertaking a doctoral degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, supervised by Julian Anderson. His piece Woke was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Sakari Oramo at the Last Night of the Proms in September 2019. You can hear Daniel Kidane in conversation with Donald Macleod on BBC Radio 3's Composer of the week, originally broadcast in 2016.

The blog is free, but I'd be delighted if you were to show your appreciation by buying me a coffee.

Elsewhere on this blog

To cope with the complexity of modern experience: composer Alastair White discusses the striking philosophical underlay of his opera ROBE, which is receiving its premiere recording - interview
A celebration of the art of transcription: Visions of Childhood from Kenneth Woods, English Symphony Orchestra and soprano April Fredrick - CD review
A reflection of a lifetime's performing: Benjamin Britten's complete folk-songs for voice and piano in a new recording from Mark Milhofer and Marco Scolastra - CD review
From a celebration of Leonardo da Vinci and the first moon flight to a sequence of O Antiphons, the organ music of Cecilia McDowall performed by William Fox - Cd review
Without discrimination, harm or transphobia: a look at transgender singers in classical music - feature
The Fire of Love & Songs of Innocence: two new works by Patrick Hawes, written for the American choir The Same Stream - Cd review
Anything but old and fusty: the young German baritone Samuel Hasselhorn talks about his recent Schumann disc, about lieder as an art-form and widening the audience - interview
Chant, improvisation and traditional instruments: Schola Cantorum Riga give us a taste of sacred music in Medieval Riga on Vox Clara on the Skani label - CD review
Out of the archive: Songbird brings together a group of recordings Margaret Marshall made for German radio in the 1970s and barely heard since - CD review
A Celtic Prayer: an imaginative survey of late 20th century and contemporary Scottish sacred choral music from George McPhee and the choir of Paisley Abbey - CD review
Never say Never: back in February 2020 I chatted to Selina Cadell & Eliza Thompson of OperaGlass Works, now their production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw is released on film - interview
Margaret Catchpole: Two Worlds Apart - Stephen Dodgson's final opera on disc at last and revealed as a work full of character and richly emotive music - CD review
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Give Your Dreams Wings To Fly

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 08:00:36 +0000

In addition to lining up guests and topics, I managed to complete a proper promotional video for the podcast’s YouTube channel.

Thanks to everyone who took the time last week to submit ideas, there are some great suggestions and the good news is the idea box never closes!

Topics*
Guests*
Name Positon
Your Name*
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Your Email*
I only need this to reach out if I have trouble finding contact info for your guest suggestions or have questions about topics.

Mitsuko Uchida’s Second Beethoven Concerto Cycle

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 07:08:25 +0000

Mitsuko Uchida’s slightly-under-the-radar cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the artless Kurt Sanderling (Philips/Decca) is one of my favorites for its almost self-effacing musicality and the orchestral precision that translates into lightness without sacrificing oomph. On Classicstoday.com Jed Distler praised the “Emperor” as ranking “with Schnabel, Solomon, Kempff, Arrau, […]

Piotr Anderszewski’s Revelatory Bach Pianism

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 06:49:24 +0000

For his latest Bach outing, Piotr Anderszewski has selected a well-contrasted and intelligently programmed group of twelve Preludes and Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book II. His Bach pianism is a revelation in many respects. For starters, vocal music and dance idioms inform Anderszewski’s tempos. While many interpreters play the E-flat Fugue in a heavy, […]

Thomas Søndergård debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic in a magnificent concert of ‘The Golden Twenties’ music

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 00:08:55 +0000

‘The Golden Twenties’ – Prokofiev, Sibelius, Weill: Berlin Philharmonic / Thomas Søndergård (conductor). Performed in the Philharmonie Berlin and streamed on the Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall, 20.2.2021. (GT) Prokofiev – The Love for Three Oranges: Suite, Op.33 bis Sibelius – Symphony No.6 in D minor, Op.104 Weill – The Rise and Fall of the City ... Read more

JACK Quartet brings Helmut Lachenmann to the Miller Theater

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 00:01:08 +0000

Lachenmann: JACK Quartet (Christopher Otto & Austin Wulliman, violins; John Pickford Richards, viola; Jay Campbell, cello), Miller Theater at Columbia University, New York, 16.2.2021, and streaming (Concert Link). (DS) Lachenmann – String Quartet No.3 ‘Grido’; ‘Pression’; ‘Toccatina’ Deep within the pandemic, music continues to find its way into our homes. This new concert experience – ... Read more

The British Family Providing Lockdown Relief With Musical Parodies

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 21:30:00 +0000

The Marsh family of Faversham are dealing with Britain’s lockdowns by performing parodies. “This six-voice choir, with its sweet harmonies and the occasional wobbly note, is creating songs that dramatize the mundane moments of lockdown life, from too much screen time to the horrors of remote learning.” – The New York Times

A Reckoning With Racism In Canada’s Country Music Industry

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 21:00:00 +0000

There’s no Indigenous Artist of the Year award in Saskatchewan this year, and when a committee was discussing why not, well: “Somebody made a comment about ‘why should we give them an award when they’re just going to pawn it off anyway?'” That’s led to a reckoning about anti-Indigenous and other racist (and homophobic as well) attitudes in Canada’s country music communities. – CBC

San Francisco Opera to mount a virtual Ring Festival in March

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 18:25:49 +0000

San Francisco Opera’s Ring Festival There is nothing in music quite like a Ring Festival. As with a cricket test match or a baseball World Series, the four-day sequence of Wagner operas stands as a pinnacle of the form, draws the attention of aficionados from near and far, and often plays out with ancillary events ... Read more

Steuart Bedford obituary

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 15:51:37 +0000

Conductor acclaimed for his insightful interpretations of Benjamin Britten’s work

Though most closely associated with the works of Benjamin Britten, the conductor Steuart Bedford, who has died aged 81 after complications from Parkinson’s disease, was able to turn his professionalism and interpretative talents to great advantage in a range of other repertory too. The operas of Mozart elicited from him an authoritative response over a number of years at Garsington Opera while it was based in Oxfordshire.

Having launched his professional career with The Beggar’s Opera at Sadler’s Wells theatre in 1967, he went on to conduct his own edition of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Royal Academy of Music (1969), following that with the first modern British performances of Donizetti’s Belisario, also at the RAM (1972). During the years of Britten’s final illness in the early 1970s, Bedford came to the fore as a reliable and insightful interpreter of his works. Having already assisted on the 1966 Decca recording of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he was asked in 1970 to take over rehearsals for the filming of the TV opera Owen Wingrave while the composer recovered from a hernia operation.

As Radvanovsky hits new heights in Paris, Aida is not the museum piece Lotte de Beer thinks it is

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 13:05:47 +0000

Verdi, Aida: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Opéra national de Paris / Michele Mariotti (conductor). Livestreamed (directed by Francois-René Martin) from Opéra Bastille, Paris, 18.2.2021. (JPr) Production: Director – Lotte de Beer Set design – Christof Hetzer Visual artist – Virginia Chihota Costume design – Jorine van Beek Lighting design – Alex Brok Dramaturgy – ... Read more

The Music And Life Lessons Of Piano Teacher Cornelia Vertenstein

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Vertenstein, a Holocaust survivor, was 93 when she died earlier this month. She “began giving lessons at age 14 in war-torn Romania. She did not stop for nearly 80 years. Toward the end, adapting to the pandemic, Ms. Vertenstein gave lessons on FaceTime from her home in Denver.” – The New York Times

CD Spotlight. Enigmatic yet Fascinating

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Music by Rued Langgaard for violin and piano, heard by Gerald Fenech. 'The conclusion of a visionary cycle that is worthy of serious attention.'

A Life On-Line: the 'wrong' Xerxes, RVW in Australia, Ash Wednesday at Wigmore Hall, and Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 11:25:54 +0000

Richard Tognetti and Australian Chamber Orchestra at Sydney Town Hall (ACO StudioCasts)

When Puccini announced his intention of writing an opera based on the story of Manon Lescaut, this caused some controversy because Massenet's opera, based on the same source, was already popular. This sort of overlap in subject matter, somewhat controversial in the late 19th and 20th centuries, was an everyday occurrence during the Baroque era. Some of Metastasio's librettos seem to have been reused 1000s of times, and librettos would be rewritten and reworked over time. A number of Handel's operas are based on 17th-century Venetian librettos (he seems to have had a fondness for this style of opera), though with the comic business and subsidiary action removed. In 1738, Handel presented his opera Serse; it wasn't a success. Based on a libretto originally written in the mid-17th century, Handel kept in a comic character and the tone of his opera is more varied than the heroic, morally uplifting tales that his aristocratic audiences expected.

Handel had based his opera on a libretto created in 1694 for Giovanni Bononcini, which in turn was based on one written for Cavalli. Cavalli's Xerse was premiered in Venice in 1654, but in 1660 he travelled to Paris to write an opera for King Louis XIV's wedding. This opera, Ercole amante was famously delayed and in the meanwhile Cavalli presented a revised version of Xerse in Paris. A year later the king's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin died and King Louis took over reigns of government personally. There was an anti-Italian push-back (Mazarin had been Italian), Italian singers and composers (including Cavalli) were sent packing and French tragedie lyrique was born.

The fame of Handel's Serse has rather knocked Cavalli's opera from the running so chances to see it are rare. Marcio da Silva and his Ensemble OrQuesta were due to be staging Cavalli's Xerse this year, but that has been delayed. In the mean while, to tempt us, the ensemble gave a concert performance of the Paris version of Xerse live-streamed from the Cockpit.

For anyone familiar with Handel's opera, Cavalli's offers a slightly disturbing element, the right words with the 'wrong' music. But Cavalli's approach is very different. For a start, there are more characters and more plot. Serse has one comic servant, whilst this version of Xerse had three servants, an ambassador and Amastre's elderly uncle. Each major character has a minor one to confide in, and the minor characters also interact. This is the style of the full versions of Monteverdi's late operas, and the music is still in that world. The opera is mainly recitative, highly expressive and fleet, which flowers into brief arioso and aria at key moments. This is very much a play set to music, and was intended to be enjoyed as such.

Though this was a concert performance the cast all seemed to enjoy the lively drama. Nathan Mercieca was Xerse, Sophie Levi-Roos was Romilda, Alexander Pullinger was Arsamene, Helen May was Amastre, Celena Bridge was Adelanta, Hugh Cutting was Elviro, Thomas Kelly was Ariodate, Sarah Parkin was Eumene, John Holland-Avery was Periarco, Kate Dobson was Clito and Marcio da Silva was Aristone, with an instrumental ensemble of two violins, cello, theorbo, and two harpsichords let by da Silva from the harpsichord.

With no dramatic action, a little of the comedy of the piece got lost, but we were able to appreciate the liveliness and sheer character of Cavalli's music, the way it responds to the words in quicksilver fashion. The characters seemed rather more pointed and edgier than in Handel, Xerse had moments of sheer nastiness and there was a real edge to Adelanta's scheming, whilst Amastre seemed rather less confident than her Handelian incarnation, yet there were some lovely duets for the lovers Arsamene and Romilda, whilst Xerse has a touching aria at the end when he realises he has lost Romilda. I certainly look forward to the staging, in the meanwhile the performance is available on-demand until 27 February [Ensemble OrQuesta]

The Australian Chamber Orchestra, artistic director Richard Tognetti, has launched a season of on-line concerts, ACO StudioCasts, each beautifully filmed to create a visual and aural experience. The first, Rapture and Revolution, was filmed in the late 19th-century Centennial Hall of Sydney Town Hall by Matisse Ruby, Tyson Perkins and Drew English. The result his highly dramatic and a long way from plain concert presentation. The programme features three of Tognetti's adaptations of chamber repertoire alongside an RVW classic. Things began with Schubert's Quartetsatz in C minor, and then we moved on to a very successful string orchestra arrangement (by composer Adam Johnson) of RVW's The Lark Ascending. Tognetti was a dramatic and impulsive soloist, making the violin line very much his own. The Cavatina from Beethoven's String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.130 followed, beautiful in itself but I rather longed for the whole quartet. The real meat of the programme was Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, Op. 133 and here the string orchestra arrangement took wing as the work is definitely one which pushes the bounds of string quartet repertoire. [ACO StudioCasts]

Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, and Andrew Carwood and the Cardinall's Musick gave a lovely lunchtime recital, Shriven and Forgiven, at Wigmore Hall with music which reflected the period. This wasn't a service reconstruction, instead a selection of 16th century works on themes arising from Ash Wednesday. Andrew Carwood lucidly introduced the music and we heard pieces by Byrd, Tavener, Tallis, Weelkes, Mundy, Farrant, and Tye ending with the pair of settings of words from Psalm 136 (Vulgate) by Philippe da Monte and William Byrd, evidently written as complementary pieces. [Wigmore Hall]

We stayed in the same world for the Marian Consort's programme, Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. Rory McLeery directed the ensemble of 12 singers in music that was written during the early part of the reign of Queen Mary I, William Mundy's magnificent Vox patris coelestis paired with Thomas Tallis' early Gaude Gloriosa, which was probably modelled on the Mundy. It was lovely to hear this large-scale pieces of late Tudor polyphony, works which look both forward and back. Interleaving them were smaller pieces, Tye's Peccavimus cum patribus and the anonymous Ballad of Joy along with actor Nicola Harrison reciting popular rhymes and nursery rhymes which are link to Mary's reign. A fascinating idea, beautifully executed [Marian Consort]

There was more words and music from the Wigmore Hall on Friday, when mezzo-soprano Alice Coote and pianist Christian Blackshaw were joined by actor Ralph Fiennes for a programme of Tchaikovsky songs interspersed with readings from poems by Alexander Pushkin (on whose writings Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Mazepa and Queen of Spades were based), Mikhail Lermontov (whose words Tchaikovsky set in The love of a dead man), Afanasy Fet (Tchaikovsky had a particular fondness for Fet's poetry and set a number including the first song in the recital), plus the composer's own letters. The selection of these seemed to bring out quite how much of a misery guts he was. An illuminating and fascinating programme. [Wigmore Hall]

The Lantivet Duo (Anna Brigham, violin and viola, Brendan Musk, pianist and trumpeter) has begun its Spring Series with the first of a lively series of recitals, with music varying from Beethoven to Martinu to music from Russia, Japan and Columbia, and much more [Lantivet Duo]

Compose Yourself!

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 08:40:48 +0000

Today’s guest post has been written by Lindsey Berwin and Alison Mathews; two composers who have recently established a new online Piano Competition Festival. It’s a pleasure to highlight such an exciting venture, and I’m delighted to be one of the featured composers. Over to Lindsey and Alison…

Compose Yourself! is a new and exciting online Piano Composition Festival, created by Alison and myself to reflect our passion for encouraging creativity in students from an early age. From many years of experience we are aware how beneficial composing can be, and in a variety of ways. For some pupils it provides a means of opening doors to self-confidence in a way that playing never has, and for all pupils it brings together different aspects of musical learning. It gives an opportunity to introduce important techniques in a creative way, those such as form and structure, transposition, use of motifs and their development, dissonance, harmony and ostinato, all contributing to the development of a complete musician.

Knowing your student

Lindsey Berwin

My approach to the introduction of composition, like Alison’s, depends on the particular students we are teaching. Some are natural explorers or improvisors, while others are less confident. Here are a variety of ways which we have found to be effective:

For some, it is free exploration of the piano, often producing abstract pieces.
For others, it is choosing a subject, such as an animal or a sport, and experimenting with ways to describe this musically.

These two methods are excellent for students to be able to experiment with the instrument’s tonal possibilities, and to choose which effects they feel work well. Use of different registers, glissandi and both pedals can make a myriad of descriptive sounds. A mysterious sound world of underwater or outer space has often been the result!

A third method which has proved to be especially effective for pupils who are less confident is to provide a structure:

Using a certain piece that they have played, or a particular style, as inspiration. The latter could be, for example, a theme and variations, minimalism, jazz or even fugue for an extremely able pupil!
Basing the piece on one or more scales, for instance the pentatonic, blues, whole tone, chromatic and modes.
Creating a storyline to act as a framework.

Feedback and encouragement

Alison and I both regularly entered many pupils for the annual European Piano Teachers’ Association Composers’ Competition, happy to give them an opportunity to receive constructive feedback from an eminent adjudicator. The recent demise of this event has left a gap in the world of young pianists’ composition, so we decided that we would like to fill it. As a result, we are delighted to be launching this new online festival, which we aim to run as an annual event.

Instrumental and classroom teachers

Both of us very much hope that other teachers and their pupils will choose to take part, as it will provide the perfect opportunity for all young pianists to be involved in composing as part of their learning journey, promoting creativity, musicianship and self-expression. It could perhaps be a goal for those learning how to compose for the piano in a classroom setting, as well as for those receiving individual lessons? Indeed I am delighted to have discovered that a head of a school music department is encouraging pupils to enter the festival as a project for lockdown!

Involving contemporary composers

Alison Mathews

Compose Yourself! will include both competitive and non-competitive classes, and each entrant will receive an encouraging comment sheet from the composer June Armstrong, this year’s adjudicator, along with a certificate. One particularly exciting aspect of the festival is the involvement of a wonderful group of leading contemporary composers. All entrants will receive a piece of music specially written by one of these composers to suit their performance level. We hope that this will help inspire pupils to continue composing and is an extension of the idea of sharing music-from student to published composer.

Sponsorship and support

We have also been very fortunate to have the support of publishers in giving music as prizes, such as Faber Music and Trinity College London, and the generous sponsorship of The European Piano Teachers’ Association.

Compose Yourself! information

The Compose Yourself! website has articles and free printable resources to support teachers wanting to introduce composition to their pupils in a simple and engaging way. For more information on how to enter and to register your interest please visit https://www.composeyourself.net

My publications:

For much more information about how to practice piano repertoire, take a look at my piano course, Play it again: PIANO (published by Schott Music). Covering a huge array of styles and genres, the course features a large collection of progressive, graded piano repertoire from approximately Grade 1 to advanced diploma level, with copious practice tips for every piece. A convenient and beneficial course for students of any age, with or without a teacher, and it can also be used alongside piano examination syllabuses too.

You can find out more about my other piano publications and compositions here.

It's Not British, but...In the Age of Debussy: Music for flute and piano

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 06:00:00 +0000

This remarkable CD of French flute and piano music presents original works and some arrangements. I listened to the CD in order, except that I grouped the two pieces by Debussy together.

Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) has composed an interesting work that looks forward to the musical style of ‘Les Six’ as well as taking a backward glance towards Debussy. D’un matin de Printempswas originally conceived for violin and piano and dates from the spring of 1917. Arrangements for violin, cello and piano as well as the present version followed immediately afterwards. In the last weeks of her life, she transcribed it for full orchestra. This was her final musical offering before her early death. D’un matin de Printemps is a fresh and vibrant work that evokes the springtime in a manner that both Debussy and Francis Poulenc would have approved of.

It is unfortunate that Paul Dukas is recalled only for his The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1897), brought to a vivid life of its own by Walt Disney in Fantasia (1940). Compared to other composers, Dukas’s catalogue is not huge, but includes an excellent Symphony, the opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue, the ballet La Peri and a superb piano sonata. His musical style straddles romanticism and modernism, and sometimes touches on impressionism. La Plainte, au loin, du Faune(1920) was written for inclusion in the dedicatory Tombeau de Claude Debussy. This volume was commissioned in 1920 by Henry Prunières, director of the Revue Musicale. It featured contributions from the great and good of contemporary European music. These included Albert Roussel, Maurice Ravel, Eugene Goossens, Manuel de Falla and Igor Stravinsky. Dukas’s number incorporates several quotations and allusions to Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. The original version of La Plainte was for piano solo, but the present arrangement allows the flute to explore the ‘many decorative phrases in the [piano’s] higher register’. It works exceptionally well.

A few weeks ago, I reviewed a chamber ensemble arrangement of Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (DACOCD 842). I noted there that several versions of this masterpiece had been created by various hands. These included the composer’s own arrangement for two pianos (1895), an arrangement for the ‘Pierrot Ensemble’ of flute, clarinet, violin and cello and the reworking by Carl-Oscar Østerlind and Kristoffer Hyldig for violin, cello, piano and clarinet. The present version for flute and piano was made by the French composer and writer, Gustave Samazeuilh (1877-1967) in 1925. It is an enjoyable and effective transcription, but is it necessary? For me, the orchestral original is just sheer perfection.

My big discovery on this CD was Bilitispour flute. This work has an involved history. In 1897, Debussy set three poems by Pierre Louÿs for female voice and piano. It was published as Les Chansons de Bilitis. During 1900-01 Debussy ‘expanded’ this into an instrumental piece with two flutes, two harps and celesta. It was designed to accompany a narrator reading 12 poems from Louÿs’s collection. Three of these were arrangements of the original songs. It is understood that this score was lost. In 1914, Debussy recalled elements of this music in his Six Épigraphes antiqueswritten for piano duo. The present recording is a transcription for flute and piano of these Épigraphes. In 1939 an orchestral arrangement was devised by Ernest Ansermet.

The listener should bear in mind the pastiche nature of the songs, the titles and the music. Pierre Louÿs managed to fool classicists into believing that he had discovered poems by the Greek poet Bilitis, a friend of Sappho, in a lost tomb in Cyprus. The music has an artificially developed archaic feeling, created by ecclesiastical modes, whole-tone scales and arabesques. The entire score is timeless in its impact. I never tire of hearing this music in any version. This arrangement for flute and piano is particularly satisfying.

André Caplet (1878-1925) was a French composer and conductor. For better or worse he is now recalled only for his orchestrations of some of Debussy’s works including Children’s Corner, the ever popular ‘Clair de lune’ from the Suite bergamasque and The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. Several of his many original pieces have appeared on record in recent years. The 2 Petites pièces for flute and piano were written in 1897 whilst Caplet was studying at the Paris Conservatoire. The ‘Reverie’ and ‘Petite Valse’ look to Fauré for their inspiration and charm but also present some wayward harmonies and modulations on their own account.

I am not sure why Gabriel Fauré’s Sonate pour violon No. 1[in A major] op. 13 (1875-76) has been ‘arranged’ for flute. It does not appear to have been sanctioned by the composer. This large and impressive work is presented in four movements. This Sonata is usually credited as the composer’s earliest success and is characterised by a romantic mood, vibrancy and passion. Highlights here are the thoughtful ‘andante’ and the vivacious ‘scherzo.’ Although I am happy with this reworking for flute and piano, I think that I will stick with the original incarnation. That said, the wind instrument certainly cut the mustard with the ebullient ‘Scherzo’. Finally, it is not stated in the liner notes who made this arrangement.

Ransom Wilson (flute) and François Dumont (piano) give splendid performances of all this music. The sound quality is well balanced throughout. The programme notes by Roger Nichols are ideal. They give each work concise, but wholly relevant, details. There are the usual biographies of the two soloists. The cover painting, La Rue Saint-Lazare, temps lumineux (1893) by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) sums up the ethos of this disc.

I enjoyed this all the music on this innovative CD. The three ‘arrangements’ are interesting experiments, that will be of interest to aficionados of Fauré’s and Debussy’s music. I felt that Bilitispour flûte was a major addition to the repertoire. On the other hand, I will stick with the originals of Gabriel Fauré’s Sonate pour violon No. 1 and Claude Debussy’s voluptuous Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune.

Track Listing:
Lili BOULANGER (1893-1918) D’un matin de printemps (1917/18)
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Bilitis pour flûte (1914)
Paul DUKAS (1865-1935) La Plainte, au loin, du Faune...(1920)
Claude DEBUSSY Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune L86a (1894) 8.52 Transcription for flute by Gustave SAMAZEUILH (1877-1967)
André CAPLET (1878-1925) 2 petites pièces (1897)
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924) Sonate pour violon No. 1 op. 13 (1875)
Ransom Wilson (flute), François Dumont (piano)
Rec. Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK. 21-23 March 2019
NIMBUS NI 6407
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.

More DG ‘Musical Moments’: Baillieu is one of our foremost piano accompanists and Matshikiza is a real talent

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 23:54:30 +0000

Hahn, Fauré, Obradors, Puccini, Dvořák: Pumeza Matshikiza (soprano), James Baillieu (piano). Recorded in Berlin from Tanzaal an der Panke. Streamed via DG Stage (click here) on 19.2.2021. (CC) Hahn – Venezia (1901) Fauré – Trois Mélodies (1878), Op.18 Nos.3 (Automne) and 1 (Nell); Poème d’un jour (1878), Op.21 No.2 (Toujours); Three Songs (1871), Op.8 No.1 ... Read more

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