June 2018

Turnage Coraline takes the stage After a sell-out run by The Royal Opera in London, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new opera for family audiences travels on to Freiburg, Lille, Stockholm and Melbourne.

Neil Gaiman’s dark fantasy Coraline has found by Coraline’s Other Mother and Father is sinister in its a successful new guise as an opera for family controlling possessiveness.” audiences, composed by Mark-Anthony Turnage “The question for the composer is how dark to go. to a libretto by Rory Mullarkey. The Royal Opera’s Using just 16 musicians, Turnage finds endless resource, staging in March at the Barbican Theatre, especially in his ever piquant combinations of wind conducted by Sian Edwards, attracted capacity instruments. He is good at catching the busyness of audiences and is set to travel to Theater Freiburg humdrum suburban life in music that is entertainingly this month, Opéra de Lille in November, and frothy, and there are some spooky sounds emanating Folkoperan (Stockholm) and Victorian Opera from the other world beyond… In bringing it to life, The (Melbourne) in future seasons, performed with Royal Opera has not put a foot wrong… Aletta Collins, German, French and Swedish singing translations. the director, has delivered on all the story’s creepy Turnage was drawn to Neil Gaiman’s novella special effects. The runaway hand in the final scene because of its imagination, mystery and lively gets a gasp of delighted horror.” Financial Times characterisation: “The idea of a seductive alternative reality that is increasingly scary is very “Turnage’s opera captures interesting psychologically, allowing me to explore situations, ideas and emotions through my music. the spooky essence of Neil Also, crucially, this is an important story in having Gaiman’s Coraline…” a female lead – for me Coraline is a fantastic The Observer role model.” Photo: Royal Opera House/Stephen Cummiskey

“Terrific performances and special effects ensure children “Young and old alike were gripped every witch way by Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Coraline at the Barbican Theatre in London, staged by The Royal Opera. in the audience love Mark-Anthony Turnage’s take on the Mark-Anthony Turnage’s vivid fairy-tale opera... cult novella... Coraline’s exploration of her parents’ new Numerous accompanied children were present when I marvellous in their way... an extremely skilful score.” of Turnage’s Testament for soprano and , home takes her into a parallel world beyond a bricked-up attended, but plenty of unaccompanied adults too... a Sunday Times setting Ukrainian poetry by Taras Shevchenko, is doorway in her parents’ drawing room. The Other World real, moment-by-moment engagement with characters conducted by Kiril Karabits in November with the seemingly offers limitless comfort and enjoyment, but its and drama... There’s more than a tincture of middle- In addition to international performances of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, travelling on inhabitants mysteriously have buttons sewn over their period Stravinsky in Turnage’s writing. But the Coraline, next season brings a new production the following month for performances by the eyes, and it soon becomes apparent that the love offered reminiscences (superbly off-beam chording) are of Anna Nicole in Nuremburg. The world premiere Staatskapelle Weimar.

Other summer festivals with Bernstein highlights Kashperova include those most closely associated with the maestro. The Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Russian returns presents The Big Bernstein concert and a recreation of Bernstein’s momentous 1989 Boosey & Hawkes performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has announced the following the fall of the Berlin wall. The Pacific publishing of works by summer Music Festival celebrates the centennial of its the forgotten Russian founder in July with an all-Bernstein programme composer Leokadiya festivals and Halil conducted by in Kashperova (1872– Sapporo, Hiroshima and Tokyo. 1940). Known to date Keck) Photo: José Maria Mora (Archive Photo: © Alfred Eisenstaedt Photo: © Alfred only as Stravinsky’s 2019 is the bicentenary of the birth of Jacques teacher in This summer accelerates the festivities for the “Music can name Offenbach and the year also celebrates the 20th St Petersburg, centennial, with the birthday the unnameable and anniversary of the Offenbach Edition Keck (OEK), Kashperova is being itself celebrated on 25 August. American events published by Boosey & Hawkes, which has done reappraised as a are led by the Tanglewood Festival, which had communicate the so much to expand the performed repertoire by composer, including such a close relationship with the composer and the composer with award-winning editions. unknowable.” Leonard Bernstein her Symphony in conductor across half a century, from the time he The research by Jean-Christophe Keck, widely B minor which was attended the inaugural 1940 class as a protégé of regarded as the world’s leading expert on Bernstein at 100 programming continues into broadcast by the BBC Serge Koussevitzky to his final concerts in 1990 Offenbach’s music, has seen many forgotten the 2018/19 season with events including for the first time on with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and stageworks and orchestral scores performed a new staging by Barry Kosky of Candide at International Women’s Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. anew, and this is set to continue in the run-up the Komische Oper in Berlin – in the Royal

Photo: The Russian National Museum of Music Day in March. to 2019. The birthday celebration sees a host of National Theatre version – and concert Known primarily as a pedagogue and pianist, conducting talent sharing the Tanglewood podium performances by the London Symphony Two years after the success of Orpheus in the Leokadiya Kashperova was also active in St including Andris Nelsons, , Orchestra under and by the Underworld, Offenbach composed the three-act Petersburg as a composer of Romantic songs, Keith Lockhart, and John Seoul Philharmonic. An intriguing site specific opéra-bouffe Barkouf to a libretto by Scribe and chamber music and symphonic works. She had Williams, with performers including Audra concert will see Chichester Psalms return to Boisseaux. This bitter-sweet satire, with a dog in studied composition with Nikolay Solovyov and McDonald, Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, Susan Graham and Chichester Cathedral in the UK on 24 November, the lead role, receives its first performance using piano with Anton Rubinstein and was a favoured Thomas Hampson. In addition the Boston part of the city’s extended tribute to Bernstein. the new OEK edition in December at the Opéra interpreter of virtuosic new works by Glazunov and Symphony Orchestra will be augmented by This month sees the publication of Famous national du Rhin. The autumn also sees a new her friend Balakirev. She travelled internationally, players from numerous around the Father Girl, the new ‘memoir of growing up production of Le Roi Carotte at the Staatsoper playing twice at London’s Aeolian Hall in 1907, world with which Bernstein maintained close Bernstein’ by the composer/conductor’s eldest Hannover following its successful Lyon revival where she attracted positive reviews, as well as associations. daughter Jamie (Harper Collins 0062641352). in 2015, the first French staging of Les Fées performing her own piano in Berlin. In Europe, Bernstein is the most performed The broadcaster and filmmaker mines the du Rhin in Tours, and further performances of Stefan Herheim’s recent production of Kashperova’s compositions have come to light composer at the BBC Proms with eight major emotional depths of her childhood and invites Barbe-Bleu at the Komische Oper in Berlin. thanks to the scholarly endeavours of Dr Graham works including with the London us into her family’s private world. Griffiths, whose book Stravinsky’s Piano: Genesis Symphony Orchestra conducted by For full details of centennial events visit For full information visit of a Musical Language (CUP, 2013) explores the on the birthday itself. Other highlights include two leonardbernstein.com/at100. www.offenbach-edition.de. creative impact of Kashperova’s teaching upon her concert performances of with the piano pupil, . Stravinsky’s generally John Wilson Orchestra, Antonio Pappano disparaging remarks about his piano teacher led conducting Symphony No.1: Jeremiah with the Dr Griffiths to question the teacher-student Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Marin Alsop relationship, revealing that Kashperova was in fact conducting Symphony No.2: The Age of Anxiety Inside this issue… a highly talented and successful pianist-composer. with the Baltimore Symphony and pianist Her career fell foul of politics when she married an Jean-Yves Thibaudet. exiled Bolshevik revolutionary and they were 25 August is also a celebration day at the forced to flee Petrograd in the wake of the Russian Grafenegg Festival in Austria, with a Bernstein Revolution. Hommage concert featuring the Tonkünstler Music planned for the new publishing programme Orchestra conducted by Yutaka Sado providing includes Kashperova’s Symphony in B minor a survey of the composer’s oeuvre. Australia’s Dean Van der Aa MacMillan Einem (1905), two substantial cello sonatas and a birthday tribute is provided by the Queensland Interview on new US premieres of Reviews of new Centenary staging selection of piano works, song cycles and Orchestra in Brisbane with an all-Bernstein Cello Concerto for Sunken Garden Saxophone Concerto in Vienna of Visit choral works. programme conducted by Alondra de la Parra. Alban Gerhardt and for Amy Dickson of the Old Lady Dean Cello Concerto unveiled Brett Dean introduces his new concerto for cellist Alban Gerhardt, It’s familiar ground but there are also dangers What are the shape and soundworld of the to avoid, such as knowing what will be difficult concerto? with first performances over the coming months in Sydney, Berlin to play which could either inhibit or over-excite! It’s cast in a single movement and, while there and Amsterdam. And most importantly I have to be careful that any are discernible sections, it flows uninterruptedly knowledge of the vast string repertoire doesn’t across a 25-minute span. As a middle register for the instrument. After the Viola limit my fantasy as a composer. From a viola instrument within the orchestral space, the cello Concerto and The Lost Art of Letter Writing for perspective, the cello is a much bigger instrument has to be treated sensitively, with judicious care violin and orchestra, it seemed natural I’d write a in all senses, not only its dimensions but also the in what you can throw against it in terms of Cello Concerto. And it was fitting it should be for magnificent rich sound it can produce in most orchestral accompaniment and partnering. The Alban Gerhardt, as he has always been part of registers, which creates yet also concurrently scoring is pretty standard with my usual expanded my ‘musical family’ – I knew his father who played quells a certain ‘violist’s envy’! percussion section including some unconventional in the and his sister Manon, elements. The standout addition is my first use also a violist, and have played chamber music Do you see the concerto as a dramatic form? of a Hammond organ which responds to those with Alban for many years including recent string I certainly do. This is outwardly, even overtly the sections of the piece with a jazz funk flavour. It is quintet tours. case in a number of my concertos, where the sometimes used chordally but more often has a individual battles against the masses, for instance busy part with a dark, edgy groove. I’m intrigued How did the experience of playing alongside in my concerto Ariel’s Music, inspired to hear how it sounds at the premiere! Alban Gerhardt have an effect on the writing by a woman’s fight to raise awareness about of the concerto? the AIDS epidemic, or in my concerto Dean As well as admiration for him as a musician I’ve Dramatis Personae where the soloist acts out Cello Concerto (2018) 25’ also been impressed by his whole approach to different heroic roles. The Cello Concerto is at Commissioned by Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Berliner championing contemporary works. He has an the opposite extreme in that it is more concerned Philharmoniker, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, amazing ability to internalise the music which goes with collaboration than conflict, with ideas from Minnesota Orchestra, Amsterdam Cello Biennale, way beyond memorising new scores – a feat in the soloist being amplified by the orchestra. The Muziekgebouw Aan ‘t IJ itself. I’ve seen him perform concertos by Matthias Viola Concerto sits somewhere between, as there Pintscher and Unsuk Chin and he treats them with is no overt programme but rather what Birtwistle Performances with the same respect and enthusiasm as the standard might describe as a ‘secret theatre’, some of Alban Gerhardt including: repertoire of Dvořák and Elgar. When I wrote which is confrontational in nature and some of it Eleven Oblique Strategies for the Feuermann collaborative. 22/24/25 August 2018 (world premiere) cello competition in 2014, Alban agreed to test Opera House, Sydney it and we discussed technical issues for the Some of your concertos are titled ‘concerto’ while Sydney Symphony Orchestra/ instrument. That solo cello work turned out to be others have descriptive titles. How do you decide? David Robertson an important source for the concerto, and I’ve Choosing the title is important and this is linked to 4-6 October 2018 (European premiere) Photo: Bettina Stöß tried to make the challenges similarly stretching the nature of the work itself, usually from inception. Philharmonie, Berlin You’ve had a number of requests to write a cello but ultimately attainable. With Dramatis Personae the soloist’s theatrical role Berliner Philharmoniker/Sakari Oramo concerto over the past decade. What made the was central to the work, so it was never going to time right now? What influence does your being a string player be just a Trumpet Concerto. The premise of the 25 October 2018 (Dutch premiere) Photo: Kaupo Kikkas The number of cellists that have approached me have on writing for the cello? new work is concerned with music for music’s Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam is an indication of their hunger for new repertoire, As a violist, writing for strings has always seemed sake so Cello Concerto, pure and simple, seems Antwerp Symphony Orchestra/ partly a result of there being fewer available like a ‘home’ rather than an ‘away’ game for me. exactly the right title. Klaus Mäkelä (Cello Biënnale Amsterdam)

Bernstein A Quiet Place revisited Britten Gloriana staged in Madrid

Leonard Bernstein’s centennial year has brought is one thing he can do above all: transform complex The Teatro Real in Madrid won praise in April for a successful new production of his opera A Quiet feelings into melodies that sometimes wind around in its new production of Britten’s opera Gloriana, Place to Vienna and Budapest. This deeply free tonality, sometimes sound blues-like, or follow other directed by David McVicar. This was the first major personal score with a libretto by the composer patterns. The epilogue of the first act consolidates into staging of the work since the Britten Centenary and Stephen Wadsworth was Bernstein’s last a touching baring of souls.” in 2013, and the production is set to travel on stagework, revolving around a family grappling Die Presse to English National Opera and Flemish Opera in with communication in the wake of a funeral. The future seasons. Gloriana’s opening night acted Neue Oper Wien staging by Phillip M. Krenn “The music of this psycho-hell begins as a bustling- as prelude to the first World Opera Forum, where opened at the Wiener Kammeroper in March with agitated conversation piece. Many mourners verbosely discussions inevitably focused on ways to refresh Walter Kobera in the pit, travelling on to the and snappishly conceal their innermost selves. Leonard the repertoire. As Operawire noted, the Teatro Müpa in Budapest as a highlight of the city’s Bernstein ensnares the funeral party orchestrally with a Real led “a charge at bringing the opera back to Spring Festival. nervous stylistic mix of classic modernity. However, its the forefront… And it was a sensation.” angular stop-and-go play subsides gradually, according

The new staging employed Garth Edwin its place to a gentler, partly songlike pace…” “All the protagonists in Britten’s theatrical world are Real/Javier del Real Photo: Teatro Sunderland’s 2013 adaptation of the opera, bearers of a stigma and, in that sense, the character of Der Standard Britten’s Gloriana in David McVicar’s new production with small orchestra, already heard in Berlin, Elizabeth I does not escape the norm: her sin, her curse, at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Dortmund, Dresden and Montreal conducted “Bernstein, a melting-pot composer with a propensity for is power. The parable of Gloriana is, in the final analysis, by Kent Nagano. While the original full version dodecaphony and Mahler, for jazz and musical pathos, the solitude of power… The music is top quality, the already learned and tested in Peter Grimes and remains definitive, with the complexity of once again pulls out all the stops of his art... for composer reconstructing the Elizabethan setting without Billy Budd to reinforce the dramaturgy…” El Pais Bernstein’s later style surrounding his earlier jazzy Bernstein’s hundredth birthday A Quiet Place presents resorting to stylistic pastiche.” ABC Gloriana was the second in a planned series of one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti, the smaller version itself in magnificent form.” Wiener Zeitung “Britten, with his unparalleled dramatic genius, knew how Britten productions at the Teatro Real conducted by employing a reduced chamber orchestration offers A further production of A Quiet Place is staged by to create a constant transfer between the twin worlds of Music Director Ivor Bolton. It followed the success an alternative, more intimate experience. Trouble Opera Zuid in November, touring to 12 cities in the the Renaissance and the modern, alternating occasional of Deborah Warner’s Billy Budd last season, in in Tahiti is removed and some fine music is Netherlands in the full version including Trouble in music (ceremonial, courtesan) and dramatic music, an award-winning staging shared with the Opéra restored, including full arias for Sam and François. Tahiti. This version can be heard in the composer’s archaic music and modern music, external music and national de Paris, Opera di Roma, Finnish National “A strong evening with an excellent cast ... Bernstein recording of the 1986 Vienna staging, recently intimate music, harmony and discord, using resources Opera and The Royal Opera in London. moulds the text into a ductile parlando, comments on reissued as part of the new Complete Works box and interprets the dialogues in the orchestra – and there from Deutsche Grammophon. Shepherd Express Abstractionism Calder, Gerhard Richter, Wassily Kandinsky, Lee Krasner and Piet Mondrian. Observing how these artists presented and layered different ideas in raw forms on a canvas, the composer similarly organised the ideas in his orchestral work. Each of the four movements also focuses on natural phenomena: dense bubbles or the origin of life on earth, the rainbow inside a bolt of lightning, marble, and the sun or moon. “In the first movement, calling on the work of Alexander Calder, one could hear the airiness and perspective shifts of a turning mobile, combined with the mechanical grind

Photo: Jamie Kingham of its moving parts. Minuscule negative spaces aerated the burly second movement… The dark Sean Shepherd’s new orchestral work, Express hum conversing with the luminescence of high winds in Abstractionism, is a punning response to one of the final movement was stunning… a vital taste of the the 20th century’s greatest artistic movements. future.” Boston Globe Premiered in February by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, the work “…an attractive and colorful musical canvas… the work receives its first European performance with moves from searching calm to blazing intensity… Strings the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra on 31 shimmer, wood blocks and drums rumble, and cooing August, again with Nelsons at the helm. The English horn lines rise to the surface before dying away… two orchestras have gone beyond a shared Shepherd’s music effectively builds from gestural phrases music director, planning exchange visits, co- to powerful climactic moments.” Boston Classical Review commissioning and joint programming strands Next month sees the premiere of Shepherd’s new across a five-year collaboration. orchestral work Melt at the Grand Teton Music The first of the Boston-Leipzig commissions, Festival conducted by Donald Runnicles followed Photo: Armin Badel Shepherd’s 13-minute work draws inspiration by a performance at the Cabrillo Festival in August Bernstein’s A Quiet Place, staged by Neue Oper Wien at the Wiener Kammeroper. from five visual artists and their artwork: Alexander under Cristian Măcelaru. Photo: Dr Derek Goldfoot Photo: Adrian Myers Photo: Philip Gatward post-war Britain. BeatriceCenciwascompleted in London in1935 and triedtorekindle hiscareer in thwarted bythe Nazi risetopower. Hefledto gewaltige Hahnrei(TheMightyCuckold ), was the successfulpremiere ofhisfirstoperaDer Goldschmidt’s earlycareer inGermany, including recording ofBeatriceCenci . led byMichaelHaas,producer oftheSony Chronica, andadiscussiononthetheme ofexile a concertwithmusicfrom Goldschmidt’s ballet Philharmonic . EventsinBregenz alsoinclude SymphonyOrchestraVienna andPrague Erath isconductedbyJohannesDebuswiththe Festival inJuly. Thenewproduction byJohannes receives itsfirstAustrianstaging attheBregenz Berthold Goldschmidt’s operaBeatriceCenci Beatrice CencireturnsinBregenz Goldschmidt James MacMillan’s conducted byHarryChristophers. MacMillan Scottish dances…butthatdoesn’t begintodescribethe “The three-movement pieceisafantasyontraditional Gaelic psalmsinging.” reel andajig,plusrichheterophonies noddingto Scottish traditionalmusicforms–astrathspey, a “transforming and subverting seemingly innocuous recent years,asdescribedbyTheScotsman, composer’s mostdistinctivelyScottishworksof 15-minute SaxophoneConcertoisamongthe territory withthefolk-inspired material.The instrument, takingitintounusualgeographical before, thiswashisfirstconcertoforthe Though MacMillanhaswrittenforsaxophone Aurora Orchestra inafuture season. London premiere willbepresented bythe conducted byNicholasCarter, andthe and theAdelaideSymphonyOrchestra premiere followson17AugustwithDickson repertoire…” addition tothe “…a very popular Stabat Mater,performedintheSistineChapelby The SixteenandBrittenSinfonia in April.TheAustralian of JosephSwensen Orchestra underthebaton Scottish Chamber was premiered bythe saxophonist AmyDickson for Australiansoprano compact newconcerto James MacMillan’s Herald Saxophone Concerto

Wallfisch assoloist. on anewrecording from CPO with Raphael a fewyearsafter BeatriceCenci,issoontoappear The composer’s 1953CelloConcerto , completed in 1994. Berlin andabelatedstagepremiere inMagdeburg received concertperformancesinLondonand to killhiminrevenge. Goldschmidt’s opera subjects hisdaughtertoviolentabuse, sheplots father celebratesthemurder ofhissonsand Shelley’s playTheCenci.WhenBeatriceCenci’s Stendahl butdecidedtobasehislibretto upon Roman noblemanFrancescoCenciinanovellaby Goldschmidt firstcameacross theluridtaleof Berlin, andaseriesofrecordings onDecca. staged byHarryKupferattheKomischeOperin Rattle inBirminghamandDergewaltigeHahnrei including CiacconaSinfonicaconductedbySimon thanks toarunofprestigious performances again inthe1980sandenjoyedanIndianSummer Goldschmidt waspersuadedtostartcomposing reconstructed incollaborationwithDeryckCooke. No.10 inthecompleteperformingversionhehad BBC SymphonyOrchestra ofMahler’s Symphony conducting, includinga1960broadcast withthe In 1958heshiftedhisfocusfrom composingto performed. competition, buthisjoint-winningworkwasnot 1950 asanentryintheFestivalofBritainopera shivers downthespine.”TheTimes chordal clusterstoravishingcloseharmonies–sent plainsong tostratosphericsolos,andfrom whispersand MacMillan’s ferocious choraldemands–from austere with whichthe26professional singerstackled expression… utterlygripping…thepowerandpassion hardly breathe forfearofmissinganuance “…one ofthoseperformancesduringwhichyoucan by HarryChristophers. – byTheSixteenandBrittenSinfoniaconducted Foundation, wasperformed–asatitspremiere string orchestra, commissionedbytheGenesis experience. The55-minuteworkforchoirand providing apowerfulmusicalandvisual work tobelivestreamed from theSistineChapel, MacMillan’s StabatMaterintheVatican, thefirst April alsosawahistoricperformanceof lines oftheslowmovement.”TheScotsman full ofsubtlelusciouscolours,notleastinthekeening orchestra… Dicksongaveabeautifullynuancedaccount, with extraordinarily inventive,piquantwritingforhisstring “…a remarkably concentrated,punchy, pungentpiece, dawn.” TheTimes pure joyoftheceilidhhasdissipatedinharshlight strange, dislocated,dissonantandunresolved –asifthe giddily overajig…Yet theendingislefthanginginair, land ofenigma…withthesaxophonefreewheeling thefinale,however,contours… With weare backinthe congregation, pickinguponherGaelic-tinged repose andrelief: thesoloistascantor, thestringsas sardonic… Themiddlemovementdoesindeedprovide relentlessness ofShostakovichorProkofieff attheirmost first movement,forinstance,hasthemacabre, driven tensions andambiguitiesofthisabsorbingpiece.The

Photo: Hanya Chlala/ArenaPAL Michel vander Aa’s 3Dopera Van derAa Southbank Centre inLondon. the LibraryofCongress inWashington andthe Colin Currie,whohaveperformedtheworkat written forthetalentsofNicolasHodgesand miniature Intrada Other recent Birtwistlepremieres includethe in theworldofmoths. the newworkagainrecalls theirshared interest was remembered inTheMothRequiem,and with thelibretto forTheLastSupperandwho Robin Blaser, thewriterwhoprovided Birtwistle settings forsopranoandensembleofpoetryby The ThreeSongsfromtheHolyForestare gentle contrapuntalsong.” constructed whirlwindcanbeinterruptedby we are observingwildaction,thoughthis but stationary. We are notbeingtakenanywhere; suggests, ofamachinethatisinhecticactivity courses. There isasense,thecomposer the twopianosmeshingtogetheroronseparate programme note:“Speedsare generallyfast, and machines.AsPaulGriffiths observesinhis Birtwistle’s fascinationwithclocks,mechanisms The newscore isafurtherexplorationof October andBerkeleyinNovember. USA are scheduledinNewYork andChicagoin Aldeburgh premiere, firstperformancesinthe Followingits at theUniversityofCalifornia. Hall, KölnMusikGmbH,andCalPerformances commissioned byAldeburghFestival,Carnegie Laurent Aimard andTamara Stefanovich,co- ‘construction’ fortwopianoswrittenPierre- Keyboard Engineisanew15-minute Madrigales andSongsfromtheSameEarth. Io Passion,TheCorridorCureNeruda decades includingfirstperformancesofThe close relationship withthecomposerinrecent combines the2Dand3Dfilmwithasimplifiedset. semi-staged versionforconcerthallswhich performances inAmsterdam andEssenofa stagings inLondon,Amsterdam andLyon, and Cloud Atlas.TheDallasproduction followedfull existential themesfamiliarfrom hisnovelssuchas mystery andsci-fitofurtherexplore thekey to trapsouls.Thelibretto byDavidMitchellblends opera toenterasinistergarden thatisbeingused audience donning 3D glasses at the midpoint of the literally”, withthecharactersonstageand Garden As theDallasNewssummeditup,“Sunken under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Janine JansenandthePhiladelphiaOrchestra at DallasOperaandoftheViolinConcertowith March brought theUSpremieres ofSunkenGarden Avenue ArmoryinNewYork lastSeptemberand Blank OutwasstagedtoacclaimatthePark music inNorthAmerica.His3Dchamberopera season, spreading increased awareness ofhis prestigious premieres intheUSAoverpast Michel vanderAahasenjoyedaseriesof boundaries ofoperatocreate afantasyworldwhere “In in Aldeburgh Birtwistle , van der Aa moved outside the Sunken Garden,vanderAamovedoutsidethe takes opera into new dimensions – takes operaintonewdimensions– forpianoandpercussion, continues thefestival’s from theHolyForest.This complete ThreeSongs UK performanceofthe Engine andthefirst premiere ofKeyboard Knussen: theworld conducted byOliver on 18Juneinaconcert Birtwistle performances plays hosttoapairof The AldeburghFestival Sunken Garden

premieres intheUSA , initsUSpremiere stagingattheDallasOpera.

finally dancing”. aspects: firsthyper-lyricism, thenlament,and melody, explored inanumberofdifferent create awork“withthedramacomingthrough According tothecomposer, hisambitionwasto Philharmonic conductedbyClemensSchuldt. premiere inAprilManchesterwiththeBBC cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, whogavethe Simpson composedtheconcertoforrisingstar and Ifounditirresistible”. is acontemporarypiecewithpulsingheart Concerto endedwithadeclarationthat“this Pig.” Thepositiveresponse tothenewCello wrote 32variationsonthethemetuneofPeppa Immortal) andwouldprobably dolikewiseifhe that old-fashionedmonstertheoratorio(The already donewonderswith composer inassociation,has Philharmonic’s present firecracker, theBBC “This 29-year-old British composer’s CelloConcerto. world premiere ofthe Times initsreview ofthe conquer?” askedThe Mark Simpsoncannot format thatthecomposer “Is there nochallenging BBC Philharmonic. Concerto inManchesternextJunewiththe and theworldpremiere ofhisownClarinet Clarinet ConcertoattheBBCProms inJuly performances includingMagnusLindberg’s Simpson’s parallelcareer asasoloistbrings The Guardian time… nothingiseverquitewhatitseems.” immediately compellingandmysteriousatthesame over awebofdividedstringsatitscentre... Itisboth pivots abouttheanguishedlamentthatcellosings but clearlyfallsintoafast-slow-fastscheme,which most excitingyoungtalents...Itplayscontinuously The premiere confirmedhimasoneoftheUK’s “Mark Simpson’s CelloConcertoistotallyoriginal. New York Times heights ofpassionateexpression.” material from thesoloist,nowdrivingsoloisttogreater kind ofshiftingsynergy–nowtakingitscuesandmotivic accompanist orcombatantthanafullcollaboratorin with athleticease.Buttheorchestra islessan which, ofcourse,thecharismaticMs.Jansendispatches “Mr. vanderAa’s solowritingdemands extreme virtuosity, Vladimir Jurowski. the RoyalConcertgebouwOrchestra under Amsterdam, Essen,Bergenandarecording with Janine Jansen’s performancesfollowedthosein explores gestures withcollage-likeinterplay…” a “gleefullyrambunctiousconcertowhichfreely York, wasdescribedinthePhiladelphiaEnquirer as Philadelphia andtouredHallinNew toCarnegie Van der Aa’s ViolinConcerto,performedin Dallas Observer is filledwithsymbolismandallegory.” death wasespeciallypowerful…Thisdensestory as theplacebetweenlightanddark,life and avirtualone…DavidMitchell’s imageofdusk sorrow, andthechoicebetweenanauthenticlife The mostprominentguilt, examplesconcern the difficult questionsoflifecannotbeescaped… Cello Concerto Simpson with life…” kaleidoscopic, swirling “…music airborne, The Times

Photo: © Karen Almond Photo: Sim Canetty-Clarke

Einem Old Lady visits Vienna New publications

Gottfried von Einem’s centenary in 2018 has The score functions as a sonic red carpet for outstanding The Developing Robin Holloway brought major new productions of his stageworks singers, producing powerful music theatre.” Die Presse Classical Singer Sonata for Solo Cello in Austria and beyond. His operatic setting of “Keith Warner impressively stages this bitter and Songs by British and Playing score Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s classic drama Der Besuch oppressive parable about money and greed, love and American composers 979-0-060-13417-3 £16.99 der alten Dame (The Visit of the Old Lady), revenge. The dilapidated town of Güllen is presented in Soprano premiered in 1971, won applause Sonata for Solo Double Bass black, white and grey as the colourfully- 979-0-051-93458-4 £13.99 at the Theater an der Wien in March. Playing score dressed billionaire Claire Zachanassian beckons Mezzo-soprano Swedish mezzo Katarina Karneus took 979-0-060-13469-2 £7.99 with her entourage (including a black panther): 979-0-051-93459-1 £13.99 centre-stage in Keith Warner’s staging, it becomes colourful only through the money Tenor Sonata for Solo Violin relishing the role of the monstrous and consumption. Claire offers one billion 979-0-051-93460-7 £13.99 Playing score billionairess who returns after 45 years dollars for the death of Alfred Ill, who once did Baritone 979-0-060-13416-6 £14.99 to wreak revenge on her town by great injustice. Gradually, the townsfolk 979-0-051-93461-4 £13.99 demanding the death of her ex-lover. Johannes Kalitzke succumb to the lure of mammon; Ill’s fate is sealed, as the scenery is getting shriller, brighter Figuren am Horizont Die Deutsche Bühne praised a “high- for solo violin and six players

Photo: Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde WienPhoto: Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and more spectacular. Terrific!” Der Kurier tension, outstanding evening at the Full score Full score opera”, led in the pit by Michael Boder and “Einem’s tonal language is insistent and throbbing, the 979-0-051-09779-1 £76.50 979-0-2025-3482-3 £42.50 the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, instrumentation complex and dense with unexpected Johannes Boris Borowski Parts who “underlined the consciously ‘wrong’ notes accents, the often floating vocal lines clearly discernible... Miniaturen für Klavier 979-0-2025-3483-0 £72.50 which expose the idyll… unleashing the rhythmic His works were always a success with audiences, Piano score pounding of greed until it tears apart the thin veneer achieving a balancing act between musical surprises and Olga Neuwirth 979-0-2025-3490-8 £23.99 of Western morality. What is alarming is the fact that a tonality whose boundaries are only slightly scratched. in the realms of the unreal none of the collective murderers mind – they have On a renewed encounter his opera showed that Einem’s Sebastian Currier for all irrevocably allowed themselves to be bought: musical galaxies are still capable of unfolding their Blake Fragments Score and parts prosperity is on credit for a sacrificial victim.” impressive sonic attraction.” Wiener Zeitung Choral score 979-0-2025-3503-5 £74.99 “However defiantly ‘anti-modern’ the opera might have The , which Einem did so much 979-0-051-48447-8 £3.50 Jacques Offenbach sounded when it was written, it has since found an to rejuvenate after the Second World War, presents Leon Gurvitch Hommage à Rossini appreciated place within the diverse music theatre a centenary concert performance of his Kafka Poetic Whispers for cello and orchestra cultivated in the 20th century… That was demonstrated opera The Trial on 14 August, conducted by HK Piano score Reduction for cello and piano by the almost unanimous cheers in the Theater an der Gruber. Tulifant, Einem’s fairy tale opera ‘not only 979-0-2025-3506-6 £23.99 979-0-2025-3508-0 £24.99 Wien. For above all, Dürrenmatt’s parable about universal for children’ was staged by the Vienna Boys corruption has assured the opera its timeless validity... Choir’s theatrical company, the MuTh, in May. York Höller Monsieur Choufleuri Der Meister und Margarita restera chez lui Opera in two acts Opéra-bouffe in one act Vocal score Vocal score 979-0-060-13369-5 £55.99 979-0-2025-3476-2 £29.99

Leonard Bernstein New recordings Mass Kevin Vortmann/ John Adams Philadelphia Orchestra/ Naïve and Sentimental Westminster Symphonic Choir/ Music/Absolute Jest Yannick Nézet-Séguin Doric String Quartet/ DG 4835009 BBC Philharmonic/ Gottfried von Einem Peter Oundjian Philadelphia Symphony/Stundenlied Chandos CHAN 5199 Wiener Singverein// Violin Concerto Franz Welser-Möst Leila Josefowicz/ Orfeo C929181A St. Louis Symphony/ Elena Kats-Chernin David Robertson 60th Birthday Collection

Photo: Werner Kmetitsch Nonesuch 562756 including first recordings of The Visit of the Old Lady at the Theater an den Wien, staged by Keith Warner with Katarina Karneus in the title role. The Witching Hour/Big Rhap/ Leonard Bernstein Golden Kitsch with Clocks/ including 3 Symphonies, Wild Swans/Butterflying/ Mass, Chichester Psalms researches of his mentor, the composer and Unsent Love Letters and first recording of scholar Felipe Pedrell. An early musical distillation ABC Classics 377366 10CDs Anniversaries for Orchestra of this activity is Albada, Interludi i Dansa, a Baltimore Symphony/ Andrzej Panufnik three-movement suite for orchestra. Gerhard’s São Paulo Symphony/ Complete Symphonic Works beloved home city is the focus of his Soirées de Bournemouth Symphony/ Polish Radio Symphony Barcelone (1936–38), originally commissioned by Marin Alsop Orchestra/Berlin the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo under Leonid Naxos 8.508018 8CDs Konzerthaus Orchestra/ Massine. The folksongs and ritual dances are Lukasz Borowicz most frequently heard in a 20-minute suite Complete Works CPO 5551182 arranged by David Atherton, while the full Israel Philharmonic/ 55-minute ballet was restored in 1996 with London Symphony Orchestra/ editorial completions by Malcolm MacDonald. Michael Tilson Thomas/ Drumming With Franco’s impending victory in the Spanish Leonard Bernstein Colin Currie Group/ Civil War, Gerhard was forced into exile in 1939, DG 4829228 Synergy Vocals emigrating first to Paris and finally Cambridge. 26CDs, 3DVDs Colin Currie Records 0001 Photo: Boosey & Hawkes Re-establishing his career in the UK was The 50th anniversary of Roberto Gerhard’s death challenging during the Second World War, though in 2020 offers the opportunity to explore the music he did succeed in attracting a pair of dance of this 20th century master, rich in colour and commissions. Alegrías for Ballet Rambert was an Chapela Radioaxial premiere invigorated by lively dance rhythms. His creative ironic flamenco divertissement, originally for two Radioaxial was composed using both radial and output succeeded in reconciling his Catalan roots and reworked into a 13-minute suite for axial symmetric scales and chords.” with modernism, while his exile after the Spanish chamber orchestra. Pandora for Ballet Jooss was Civil War saw a long battle to renew his career. a modern take on the Greek myth with the themes “The evening opened with the premiere of Chapela’s Gerhard can be viewed as an archetypal creative updated for a totalitarian age. Gerhard’s score, 10-minute Radioaxial, which was accessible and colourful, figure caught up in the struggles of the last infused with Catalan themes, can be heard in a calling for large orchestra and a battery of percussion… Its century and capturing today’s ongoing searches 27-minute suite for small orchestra. hallmarks included thumping rhythms, chromatic themes for identity. and heavy repeating motives, especially in the tuba and Gerhard’s most ambitious stagework was The … The audience gave it an enthusiastic Most familiar of Gerhard’s orchestral works is Duenna (1945–47), combining Spanish and English

Photo: Dresdner Sinfoniker/Frank Hohler Photo: Dresdner reception.” Cincinnati Business Journal Dances from Don Quixote, an attractive 15-minute worlds through Sheridan’s sparkling drama and, suite drawn from his ballet premiered at the Royal like Don Quixote, perfectly blending folk themes Mexican composer Enrico Chapela has long held “Chapela’s work alternates moments of aural density with Opera House in London in 1950. Renewed with modernist techniques. Written without a a fascination for scientific and mathematical occasional pockets of streamlined lyricism. The string interest in the complete 50-minute ballet in the commission, the opera did not reach the stage until concepts, incorporating them as a source of players are at times asked to provide percussive sounds, 1990s, through orchestral performances 1992, more than 20 years after Gerhard’s death, expression in his music. His latest orchestral concert and the percussion players respond with the xylophone conducted by , Antoni Ros Marba thanks to the performing edition by David Drew. opener, Radioaxial, was commissioned by the and glockenspiel in passages of ethereal sweetness and and Victor Pablo Perez, revealed one of Gerhard’s The acclaimed premiere production was shared Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in celebration of its clarity... Chapela’s intriguingly inventive composition most significant and characteristic scores. between the Teatro Lirico Nacional in Madrid, the newly renovated concert hall and was premiered demands attention, and received an enthusiastic Cervantes’s knight errant had been a constant Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and Opera under the baton of James Gaffigan in April. ovation...” Seen and Heard companion for the composer through the 1940s, North in Leeds. A powerful theatrical postscript is The composer describes how “in music we find In complete contrast is Chapela’s mini-concerto for via a small-scale dancework, a radio play and a provided by Gerhard’s Camus setting The Plague two different types of symmetry. The first one is two and orchestra, Espresso Doppio, series of suites. Gerhard’s definitive version (published by OUP), part cantata and part radio called radial symmetry, and it’s found in scales premiered by the Cottbus Philhamonic Orchestra displays subtle characterisation, vivid colours, play, which is being staged at the Teatro Real in that when rotated over their radius end up earlier this year. This is the coffee that starts the dancing impetus and tender pathos. Madrid in the run-up to the 50th anniversary year. matching themselves without completing an entire composer’s day, providing an energising kick – The roots of Gerhard’s fascination with Spanish For further information on Roberto Gerhard, revolution. The second type is called axial short and intense. The first performance featured folk music can be traced back to his employment audio clips and a Spotify playlist, visit symmetry, and it’s found in scales that have an Alexander and Daniel Gurfinkel, who coupled the in the Catalan Library in the 1930s, continuing the www.boosey.com/gerhard2020. axis that divides them in two identical halves. Chapela with Bruch’s Double Concerto.

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