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Home , Clarinet concerto, Danel Quartet, George Enescu Festival, Justin Fleming, Lera Auerbach, Masquerade (Clyne)

October 2019

MacMillan choral symphony The premiere of James MacMillan’s new Symphony No.5: ‘Le grand Inconnu’ provided a powerful finale to his 60th birthday feature in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh International Festival’s focus on looks “likely to join MacMillan epics such as St James MacMillan in his 60th birthday year John Passion and Stabat Mater in gripping the demonstrated the range of the ’s ears, spearing the heart and moving the soul… output: from the satirical organ A Scotch The world needs more like MacMillan: Bestiary, through intimate chamber and choral powerful, communicative composers who never works, to a new version of his large-scale cantata hide where they come from, what they believe in, on themes of conception, birth and rebirth, or what they feel.” Quickening, with the solo vocal parts reimagined “…a meditation on the nature of the Holy Spirit – the for the six voices of The King’s Singers. The final ‘great unknown’ of Catholic theology. It is cast in three concert culminated in the world premiere of sections representing breath, water and fire. The work MacMillan’s new choral symphony exploring the opens on whispered breaths, the sound coalescing into mysteries of the Holy Spirit. chanting of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin words for breath amid mysterious rustlings in the . “… an otherworldly Later this explodes into a series of dramatic, ecstatic climaxes… MacMillan’s writing for voices is utterly contemplation of the assured.” The Guardian Photo: Marc Marnie Photo: Marc Holy Spirit…” Financial Times “…there was no mistaking the outflow of ecstatic passion that drove the compositional process. It opens in Tudor era. At the end the living fire flickers and fades… on 14 October, with The Sixteen joined by surreal territory, amorphous intakes of breath that turn to The feeling lingers that MacMillan is searching his Commissioned by the Genesis Foundation, Britten Sinfonia, coupled with the UK premiere specific words, eventual pitched sounds punctured by subconscious in a way he has not before… This Symphony No.5: ‘Le grand Inconnu’ saw the of The Sun Danced written for the centenary microtones and harmonics paving the way for a turbulent numinous symphony will surely reward other audiences extended choral forces of The Sixteen and Genesis of the Fátima shrine in Portugal. The Sixteen three-movement adrenalin rush of all that MacMillan is prepared to listen with the patience and concentration Sixteen joined by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia reunite in New York on known for.” The Scotsman it deserves.” Financial Times under the direction of , attracting 7 November for the US premiere of MacMillan’s a standing ovation from a full capacity Usher Hall. “At the end of the second part a memorable passage The premiere of Symphony No.5: ‘Le Stabat Mater in ’s White Light The Times described how the 50-minute symphony has the divided into 20 parts, harking back to the grand Inconnu’ takes place at the Barbican Festival.

Sikorski joins Glanert Concord total immersion Photo: Bettina Stoess Photo: © Priska Ketterer Photo: © Nora Feller The BBC Symphony Orchestra presents a Total Sofia Gubaidulina Lera Auerbach Immersion day devoted to Detlev Glanert on Under a landmark agreement, Sikorski Music 6 December at the Barbican in London, culminating Publishing has combined with Concord Music in the UK premiere of his largest concert work to Publishing’s Boosey & Hawkes division, bringing date, the Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch. Created together two giants of Russian and Soviet era for the 500th anniversary of the Dutch painter in classical copyrights. German-based Sikorski is Jenkins Miserere premiere and CD 2016, the apocalyptic work imagines the artist home to the repertoire of such major figures as facing his judgement day accused of the seven deadly sins. Shostakovich, Prokofieff, Khachaturian, Karl Jenkins’s latest work for chorus and orchestra, The text is largely sung in Latin and English but Kabalevsky and Schnittke, plus ongoing Miserere: Songs of Mercy and Redemption, is the word ‘mercy’ (in the sense of compassion) Scored for speaker, soloists, chamber choir, full relationships with composers including Sofia revealed this month on disc and in concert. is also heard in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek chorus and orchestra, the score combines the Latin Gubaidulina, and Lera Auerbach. Selections from the score are included in the (the languages of the Holy Land of Biblical Requiem Mass with texts drawn from the Carmina Sofia Gubaidulina (b.1931) is acclaimed as the composer’s sold-out 75th birthday concert at the times), as well as present-day Arabic. The final Burana collection. BBC forces are conducted in leading living Russian composer of her generation. Royal Albert Hall on 13 October, and the complete movement sets a text by Carol Barratt drawn London by Semyon Bychkov, a committed This season brings the world premiere of God’s 45-minute work is unveiled by Iestyn Davies, from sayings on ‘mercy’ by Rumi, the admired advocate of Glanert’s music, who directs three Wrath for orchestra, at the Salzburg Easter Festival Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia under Stephen 13th century Muslim and Persian poet and further performances in Prague in March with the under Christian Thielemann, the German premiere Layton at Grayshott Concerts on 29 November philosopher. Czech Philharmonic. with a broadcast on Classic FM. The same line-up of her third concerto Dialogue: I and You, In addition to Miserere, Decca Records also The summer saw the world premiere of Glanert’s features on the first recording of Miserere, released with and the Leipzig Gewandhaus releases this month a collection of classic Jenkins new Concerto for and Orchestra, written by Decca Records to coincide with the Royal Albert under Andris Nelsons on 5 December, and the UK recordings including Stabat Mater, The in tribute to Oliver Knussen, at the Tanglewood Hall concert (481 8580). premiere of her by the BBC Peacemakers, Gloria and Te Deum, and Stella Festival under the baton of Andris Nelsons. The Philharmonic on 14 December. First German Miserere: Songs of Mercy and Redemption is Natalis. Miserere receives its North American concerto featured the Boston Symphony’s principal performances of her oratorio On Love and Hatred scored for (or mezzo soprano), mixed premiere at on 20 January, with trumpet Thomas Rolfs as soloist and “grabbed the take place next year at the chorus, solo , strings, harp and percussion, Distinguished Concerts International New York listener by heart and mind and never let go” Elbphilharmonie and in a Berlin Konzerthaus which includes instruments indigenous to the under the baton of Jonathan Griffith. (Boston Musical Intelligencer). Orchestra residency under Christoph Eschenbach. Middle East: riq, darbuca, zarband, bendir. Also Her 90th birthday is celebrated in 2021. heard are the mey, an ancient double reed Lera Auerbach (b.1973), the multi-talented -like instrument from the region, and the composer, pianist, poet and visual artist, was born qanun, a kind of large zither from the Arab world. Inside this issue… in Russia and emigrated to the West in 1991. Her The composer writes that “Miserere: Songs of 100 compositions range from chamber music to Mercy and Redemption is dedicated to all who the ballet The Little Mermaid choreographed by have suffered or perished during the tragic . Recent months have seen conflicts of the Middle East over the last 70 years. Auerbach’s orchestral Icarus at the BBC Proms As we are only too well aware, the violence, horror and Berlin Konzerthaus and a portrait concert at and destruction have not been limited to that the Festival in Bucharest. Her geo-political area. Miserere is the Latin imperative Whitacre Shostakovich Reich Monk Goetia. 72 – In umbra lucis, built from a list of for ‘have mercy’ and is often used as a title for Interview charts Choreographies by First European New staging of demonic names, is toured by the Netherlands Psalm 51, which provides a focus for the work composition of Alexei Ratmansky performances of ATLAS triumphs Chamber Choir and Danel Quartet in the New Year. as a whole.” The Sacred Veil travel widely Reich/Richter in Los Angeles

Whitacre The Sacred Veil travels to Europe

Eric Whitacre introduces his new large-scale choral work How did you build, order and vary the When you compose, do you have an idealised 12-movement work? choir in mind? The Sacred Veil, receiving first European performances in The opening movement, ‘The Veil Opens’, is It’s almost inevitable that I have the and London and Amsterdam this season. structurally germinal for the entire work. The poem performers in mind when I write, and there’s no has thirteen lines within it that are the seeds for doubt that The Sacred Veil is written for talented, with her illness, her passing and the unbelievably each movement that follows, either rhythmically, sensitive singers and ensembles, led by the Los challenging years that followed. Some ten years melodically or mystically. Some of the movements Angeles Master Chorale who became lead after her death, Tony was staying with me and left came more easily than others. ‘Home’ is the commissioners, gave the premiere and will record a poem on my . He had finally been able to moment that describes the start of Tony and the work. Other pieces I’ve written have been speak about his grief in the best way he knows Julie’s relationship when they were at the beach deliberately crafted to be performed by choirs of all how, through poetry. That poem, ‘The Veil Opens’, having a picnic and Tony looked at her and said, ages and abilities but The Sacred Veil – perhaps a is the first of twelve movements that deal with their “you feel like home”. ‘You Rise, I Fall’ paints the little like The City and the Sea or When David Heard life, love and loss. The piece is undeniably moment of Julie’s passing in such an honest and – needs a little more experience and skill. The personal, but Julie is unnamed in the text as the raw way. subject matter is very demanding too, of course. story is universal. I had imagined having a soloist, percussion and What projects do you have coming up? Unusually, you crafted the text in tandem with other instrumentalists but, as I wrote, I realised And now for something completely different. I’m poet Charles Anthony Silvestri. How did this that the work was becoming so intimate that the currently ‘in the cave’, working on a chamber collaboration work? forces and soundworld needed to reflect that, and based on the story of The Gift of the Magi We have tried just about every possible it’s scored for just chorus, piano and cello. and a new, sparkling orchestral piece called combination of working together you could Bounce for premiere in 2020/21. imagine. We’ve worked side by side like a Did the subject matter and the work’s scale lead song-writing team and have even tried exchanging you to explore new areas of expression? Whitacre roles, with Tony writing the music to one of my Absolutely, but it’s hard to define how. The The Sacred Veil (2018) 52’ poems! This time I was moved to start writing Sacred Veil is a story for us all – everyone has a for SATB chorus, solo cello and piano almost the second I saw his first poem – the place of pain that we can hardly bear to touch. music was there in Tony’s text. We started to talk It’s our hope that through the piece we help Commissioned by Los Angeles Master Chorale, Monash Photo: Marc Royce Photo: Marc about the ribbon of energy between the world of people go to that place, face it, cope with it University and NTR ZaterdagMatinee for the Netherlands Radio Choir What led you to create a work based on the the living and those who have passed beyond, and support them in coming to terms with it. themes of love, loss, grief and solace? and how very thin that ribbon or veil becomes at So many examples of music that help us deal 25 October 2019 (European premiere) I have worked with the historian, poet, artist and moments of birth and death. This text for The with grieving involve singing, from hymns St John’s Smith Square, London my good friend Charles Anthony Silvestri (Tony) Sacred Veil is more collaborative than any other through to the great Requiems. It can create Jeffrey Zeigler, vlc/Christopher Glynn, pft/ many times, but this is our largest project to date we’ve worked on before: Tony created poetry, I the common sense of sharing the experience Eric Whitacre Singers/Eric Whitacre and our most sensitive and intimate. Tragically, wrote some of the material and we even included and opening ourselves up to these feelings. 28 March 2020 (Dutch premiere) Tony’s wife Julie died of ovarian cancer. Julie, Tony some of Julie’s blogs, taking her powerful posts If The Sacred Veil helps just a little we would Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and their two beautiful young children had to cope word for word. be humbled. Netherlands Radio Choir/Eric Whitacre

Shostakovich ballets by Ratmansky Monk ATLAS returns to the stage may today be largely composed in 1930-31, with a new two-act acclaimed as a symphonist but he was also an choreography. Centred around a Soviet factory, instinctive man of the , most apparent in the ballet describes the struggles between the the early decades of his career. Alongside , heroic working class and counter-revolutionary operettas, incidental music and music-hall shows, figures including a saboteur, a priest and a he was actively engaged as a ballet composer petit-bourgeois clerk. Shostakovich’s music is rich between 1929 and 1935 working with in parody and dance numbers, progressing with a experimental choreographers such as Fyodor cartoon-like energy. Lopukhov, and his fascination with dance music continued even when he withdrew from stage composition. Russian choreographer Alexei “…a fascinating, thrilling, Ratmansky has explored the legacy of Shostakovich’s ballets, leading to a special bewilderingly, ambiguous engagement with his music and the creation evocation of life in of new choreographies drawing upon his stage and concert works. Shostakovich’s Russia.” New York Times on Shostakovich Trilogy In 2003 Ratmansky first revived The Bright Stream for the Bolshoi Ballet, composed by Shostakovich between 1934 and 1935 but banned the following In 2009 Ratmansky joined American Ballet year. The title of the ballet is that of the collective Theatre as Artist in Residence, soon being hailed farm deep in the Soviet countryside, where the in New York as the finest Russian choreographer workers are entertained by a visiting ballet troupe, since George Balanchine. He created three new with inevitable romance, intrigue and a humorous Shostakovich ballets, Symphony #9 (2012), denouement. Ratmansky’s new choreography Chamber Symphony and No.1 successfully captured the work’s poster paint (2013), which have been combined to acclaim as colouring as well as its satirical edge, providing the Shostakovich Trilogy. This award-winning triptych Bolshoi with a production that has toured to the has also been staged by San Francisco Ballet, Met in New York and the Royal Opera House in touring to Sadler’s Wells in London this summer,

London, most recently this summer. and by Dutch National Ballet. Though without a Photo: Craig Mathew/Mathew Imaging for the LA Phil narrative, the three ballets together offer a portrait Following the success of The Bright Stream, of Shostakovich and what he represented to the Meredith Monk’s ATLAS in Yuval Sharon’s new production in Los Angeles. Ratmansky worked as artistic director of the Soviet people, in emotional and political terms, Bolshoi between 2004 and 2008. It was in this embedding a form of resistance deep within Meredith Monk’s 1991 opera ATLAS enjoyed a “Monk’s elaborate style of vocalization, be it squeaks and period he restored Shostakovich’s The Bolt, his works. spectacular revival in Los Angeles in June – its first grunts or crystalline song, express what words only hint staging in over a quarter century – in a landmark at. Her mastery of rhythmic pulse, of natural melody that new production by Yuval Sharon. Paolo sounds less composed than plucked from the air, and Bortolameolli conducted the LA Phil New Music imaginative vocal and instrumental character from the Group, with a specially selected cast chosen by chamber orchestra provide a remarkable degree of Monk and Sharon. The significance of the staging communicability… ATLAS here achieves a new glory.” was also that it was the first time Monk has Los Angeles Times allowed another artist to produce her work but, as the San Francisco Chronicle noted, “the truth is that ATLAS is strong enough to withstand many “…a combination of different approaches and performances. In the future, if the world proceeds as it should, this is a sophistication and childlike piece that will be done again and again.” wonder… radiant.” In Sharon’s re-telling of ATLAS, the character of New York Times Alexandra takes a metaphorical journey through her imagination and is drawn into a quest through “After all this time, the piece emerged once again with all inner space, uncovering truths about herself and its artistic virtues – its expressive generosity, its the world. The centrepiece of the production was unmistakable musical lexicon, the gentle tug of its a large sphere designed by Es Devlin that dramatic arc – gloriously intact… Her musical language, functions not only as a projection screen but also a suavely ingratiating blend of quasi-minimalist repetitions as a vessel for the performers to interact within – it and vocal techniques rooted in body work, is unlike was the largest set piece ever to grace the stage anything else on the musical landscape.” of Walt Disney Concert Hall. San Francisco Chronicle

Substantial work on the 28-year-old opera “ATLAS is one of the great operas of the late twentieth included revising and reconstructing the century, and it deserves to travel as widely as its performing materials to match the 1991 heroine.” New Yorker production in Houston and New York. Monk also re-orchestrated the score, which now features a “...an opera that’s somehow simulataneously bustling larger roster of instrumentalists, to create a and meditative, calm at its core as action and music

Photo: San Francisco Ballet/Erik Tomasson Photo: San Francisco Ballet/Erik Tomasson definitive edition of ATLAS which should swirl... an operatic masterpiece.” Piano Concerto No.1 from Alexei Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy with San Francisco Ballet. encourage future performance. New York Times

Reich Praise for Reich/Richter Clyne Simpson Whitacre The Sacred Veil travels to Europe Scottish residency Concerto

The Scottish Chamber Mark Simpson was in the Orchestra launches Anna spotlight in June, both as Clyne’s new Associate composer and soloist, at the Composer role on world premiere of his Clarinet 7 November with two of Concerto in Manchester her pieces performed in conducted by Ben Gernon. Edinburgh, the city where This vivid new work was the she was a music student. latest in a series of The first commissioned commissions within score is Sound and Fury, Simpson’s ongoing a 15-minute work for Composer in Association role Photo: Jennifer Taylor

chamber orchestra, to be with the BBC Philharmonic. Photo: Sim Canetty-Clarke premiered under the direction of Pekka Kuusisto. The programme also includes Clyne’s double Cast in four compact movements, the 18-minute Prince of Clouds, with Kuusisto concerto is a showcase for Simpson – as much in the expressive as the technical realm. The Photo: Stephanie Berger, Courtesy The Shed Photo: Stephanie Berger, joined as soloist by Benjamin Marquise Gilmore. composer was fully aware the clarinet “is very adept Reich/Richter in its premiere run of over 200 performances at The Shed in New York. The title Sound and Fury is drawn from the at performing tricks and flips” so focused instead famous soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Macbeth on exploring the “inner depth of the music”, drawing “Steve Reich has responded to the art of Gerhard Using a computer image of a 1990 abstract starting “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and upon his wide repertoire experience. This Richter with a wonderfully lively yet melancholy painting, Richter progressively divided and tomorrow”, which is heard during Clyne’s work. demonstrates a similar approach to that in his new composition.” So wrote the Sunday Times mirrored the canvas. The result is an image that Her other source of inspiration was Haydn’s recent for Leonard Elschenbroich, reviewing the premiere of the new collaboration becomes a series of increasingly dense patterns, music for the play Le Distrait, which found its which receives its German premiere next March between composer and artist, which travels to and eventually solid bands of colours. The film way into his 60th Symphony ‘Il Distratto’, also on with the Bremen Philharmonic. Europe for the first time this season. The world reverses the order of the book (starting with solid the SCO programme. Elements from the Haydn premiere in April was a highlight among opening bands of colours and moving towards the are viewed through Clyne’s lens, with “layering, Simpson’s ghostly oratorio The Immortal gained its events at The Shed, a stunning new inter- complete painting). stretching, fragmenting and looping”. US premiere at the Cincinnati May Festival disciplinary arts space in New York, with over 200 conducted by Juanjo Mena, following his The composer describes how her “intention performances of Reich/Richter shared between As Reich describes, “what really got me involved performances at the Manchester International with Sound and Fury is to take the listener on a Ensemble Signal and International Contemporary was the very beginning of the film with the Festival and BBC Proms. Baritone Rod Gilfry sang journey that is both invigorating – with ferocious Ensemble. pulsating, color shifting, glowing stripes. Instead the role of protagonist Frederic Myers, reaching string gestures that are flung around the of dividing, mirroring, and repeating, the film was out via the paranormal to contact his long-lost orchestra with skittish outbursts – and serene multiplying and repeating. In computer terms, the childhood sweetheart, with Roomful of Teeth “…tender energy, and reflective – with haunting melodies that initial stripes were made with 2 pixels. Then they and the May Festival Chorus summoning up emerge and recede”. and an undercurrent gradually grew to 4, 8, 16, 32, and so on… the spectral forces.

The structure of the music would be tied to the of melancholy…” Sound and Fury receives further performances “...the vocal sang swooping, overlapping, structure of the film. That was the basic idea… New York Times by co-commissioners the Orchestre National de disembodied phrases representing messages from those I think that they’re very much mutually reinforcing.” Lyon under Leonard Slatkin next January, and who have departed this earth... a sudden pianissimo Scored for six winds, two percussionists, two “A two-note motif builds to complex, rhythmically agile the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in a future season. Lacrimosa was a stunning touch.” and , Reich/Richter receives brightness, then gradually recedes back into blur as we Other Clyne highlights this autumn include the Classical Voice North America its European premiere in two concerts at the watch Richter’s bands seem to rush by at light speed, Australian premiere of her arrangements for The Mark Simpson combined dual duties as composer Barbican in London on 23 October with Britten fervently oscillating, at the finale.” New York Times Nico Project at the Melbourne Festival featuring and clarinetist at the Leicester International Festival Sinfonia conducted by Colin Currie. Performances actress Maxine Peake. “With each change on screen, the music responds: last month where Nicholas Daniel led the Oboe follow in Luxembourg, Paris, Tallinn and Oslo with As the colors differentiate into intricate shapes, This season sees an explosion of performances Quartet, and has also completed a clarinet test Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Estonian thunderous piano basses and descending clarinet for Anna Clyne across four continents. This piece for the prestigious ARD Competition in National Symphony and the Oslo Philharmonic. melodies emerge… As the visual changes ramp up, Midnight Hour, an orchestral exploration of Munich. This season sees him touring with the Reich created his 37-minute work to be heard Mr. Reich’s music becomes more raucous and nocturnal imagery, is programmed 23 times, while Danish National Symphony in the Nielsen concerto alongside a new film by Gerhard Richter and syncopated… The effect is exhilarating.” her dance-inflected concert-opener Masquerade and continuing composition of a new concerto for Corinna Belz, based on Richter’s Patterns series. Wall Street Journal receives 17 performances in seven countries. Sean Shibe as electric guitarist.

Turnage Coraline opera abroad Van der Aa akin

and with first Swedish performances scheduled building upon the composer’s experiences by Folkoperan in Stockholm next February. A new working with both soloists in the past. Van der Aa production featuring conservatoire singers was writes of how he “was drawn to an image of presented in Saarbrücken in April and Zürich identical twins, inseparable and thinking in a Opera gives 14 performances in a new staging related manner to all outward appearances but by Nina Russi opening in November. perhaps with different personalities beneath”.

“Although akin is a purely instrumental composition, it “For this dark tale, somewhere between Alice in also contains theatre… Van der Aa’s musical universe is Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel and L’Enfant et les one of reflections and splits, in which instruments sortilèges, Turnage responds with a consonant but develop into each other’s alter egos through clever personal style, creating a modern classicism that is not interchanges of motifs and gestures. In akin Van der Aa afraid to sully the score with popular contributions, drives this duplication process with a compelling tension including jazz with muted brass and dances…” Diapason that leads to a blistering battle of strings to the rhythm of “Coraline deserved its energetically celebrated pounding toms and sharply striking percussion…

Photo: Astrid Karger premiere… it tells of adolescent needs, overbusy High-quality, vintage Van der Aa.” NRC Handelsblad parents and childish curiosity, inventiveness, courage, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Coraline in Saarbrücken. “Jubilation was sparked by the world premiere of Michel ultimate trust and the overcoming of fears – timeless van der Aa’s two movement double concerto… this is themes embedded in comfortably age-old and bizarre Recent seasons have brought performances of all not about a contest between the soloists to command

horror.” Saarbrücker Zeitung Borggreve Photo: Marco four of Turnage’s full-length operas, including the airspace above the orchestra, but rather a portrait of Greek in Edinburgh, London, Munich and Boston “Typical of Neil Gaiman is a mixture of irrational Michel van der Aa’s new double concerto two intertwining concertante instruments working in and an acclaimed concert performance of The imagination, excitement and eccentric humour. Turnage was summed up as “mysteriously beautiful harmony… With appropriately explosive soloists this Silver Tassie presented by the BBC Symphony has found an idiosyncratic language for Coraline that and wonderfully exhilarating” by the reviewer in piece has what it takes to join the repertoire.” Orchestra in London. Following its German transcends the boundaries of jazz, classical and popular De Trouw at its first Dutch performance in May. Neue Musikzeitung premiere in Dortmund, Anna Nicole was staged in music.” SWR ‘Kunscht’ This followed the work’s world premiere at The North American premiere of akin was given in Nuremburg last year and a new production opens Cologne’s ‘Eight Bridges’ festival by the Royal June by the Vancouver Symphony and a further in Wiesbaden in February 2020. Last month saw first performances of Turnage’s Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Refugee by tenor Allan Clayton and Britten Peter Eötvös, introducing the latest commission Canadian performance follows in March with the His most recent opera, Coraline for family Sinfonia, at the George Enescu Festival in under Van der Aa’s composer residency with NAC Orchestra in Ottawa. This month brings high audiences, has been travelling widely in Europe Bucharest and the Barbican in London. The the orchestra. profile performances of Van der Aa’s clarinet with The Royal Opera’s original production by new 25-minute song cycle combines poetry concerto Hysteresis, for soloist, ensemble and Aletta Collins receiving German and French by Emily Dickinson, Benjamin Zephaniah, The new work, titled akin, was written for violinist soundtrack, at the Venice Biennale and the Beijing premieres at Theater Freiburg and Opéra de Lille W.H. Auden and Brian Bilston. and cellist Sol Gabetta, Music Festival.

Further events at the Festival d’Automne include presentation, and a new combination is offered Vivier Paris to Amsterdam chamber works with Trio Catch and a programme at Potsdam Winter Opera in November. Frederic This season brings Claude Vivier’s music to major combining Journal performed by Les Cris de Wake-Walker stages Lonely Child in tandem European cities including Paris and Amsterdam. Paris, Shiraz for piano and a screening of the with Schubert’s oratorio fragments Lazarus Following the success of last year’s Festival opera Kopernikus, staged by Peter Sellers and with Kammerakademie forces conducted by d’Automne Vivier feature, a second series of Paris filmed at last year’s festival. Journal was Trevor Pinnock. concerts has been planned for 2019, launched last composed in 1977 following Vivier’s journeys to The Asko|Schönberg ensemble, which has month with the French premiere of Hiérophanie. the Orient, but as the composer notes, rather than enjoyed a long association with Vivier’s music This 40-minute music theatre work received a being a travel diary, the 45-minute work for choir, spearheaded by conductor Reinbert de Leeuw, spatial staging at the Philharmonie from Silvia soloists and percussionist records the “attracting presents a series of concerts from February in Costa, with soprano Marion Tassou and the forces of my childhood (or maybe better, the one Amsterdam, Utrecht and Arnhem. Highlights Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by I always wanted to have!)”, passing through four include a ZaterdagMatinee programme with Matthias Pintscher. The same forces travelled phases: Childhood, Love, Death and After Death. Wo bist du Licht! and Lonely Child and a concert to the Saal in Berlin for a second The other-worldly and visionary nature of Vivier’s built around the urban colours of Vivier’s last

Photo: J A Billard performance. music makes it ideal for imaginative theatrical completed work Et je reverrai cette ville étrange.

Kats-Chernin Whiteley in New publications

Elena Kats-Chernin’s music took the most in the artist’s world... Kats-Chernin’s score is delicate, The Encores James MacMillan prestigious Australian stage in July for the always allowing the singers to shine effortlessly over it…” in 27 new pieces for Horn and Strings premiere of her opera Whiteley at the Sydney Australian Stage Violin and Piano score Reduction for horn and piano Opera House. Charting the turbulent life 979-0-051-10793-3 £40.99 979-0-060-13515-6 £22.99 and death of iconic artist “...inventive orchestration, kinetic rhythms, and his vivacious wife Wendy, the opera evocative yet slightly astringent sound-world Saxophone Concerto saw Leigh Melrose and Julia Lea and quirky character... the dazzling succession Responses Study score Goodwin in the leading roles with Opera of images reminded us of the sheer brilliance Study score 979-0-060-13619-1 £19.99 Australia conducted by Tahu Matheson. and imaginative breadth of Whiteley’s talent... 979-0-060-13618-4 £42.50 Reduction for saxophone a stimulating, rewarding and moving tribute to and piano a remarkable Australian artist.” The Australian In a New York Times interview Kats- Photo: Bruria Hammer The Woman and the Hare 979-0-060-13620-7 £39.99 Chernin described how she wanted to Full score “...a major artistic triumph for underappreciated create “something modern, something that people 979-0-060-11848-7 £39.99 Serge Prokofieff composer Elena Kats-Chernin. And with the vibrant can still relate to – somebody who has actually Cello Concerto in E minor visual palette that brings Whiteley’s arresting work to life, lived, somebody who people have actually met.” Detlev Glanert Study score it’s a piece of theatre at once utterly fresh and At the opera’s close, after the artist’s tragic death, Orlando Lieder 979-0-060-13485-2 £32.99 refreshingly familiar... It moves at breakneck speed, a Rosenkavalier-like trio of female voices including for countertenor (or mezzo) possessed by Kats-Chernin’s craggy orchestrations and the artist’s wife offered a reflective finale, made Vocal score (with piano) Chant symphonique jagged rhythms. The music, so smartly, is like a Whiteley all the more poignant at the curtain call when a 979-0-2025-3201-0 £29.00 Study score canvas: vividly coloured with latent power.” Daily Review spotlight picked out the real-life Wendy Whiteley Vocal score (with guitar) 979-0-060-13305-3 £26.99 in the audience. 979-0-2025-3202-7 £29.00 “…there are riches to be Mark Simpson “Kats-Chernin’s finely-crafted score of variegated mood, Robin Holloway Lov(escape) texture, tone and style... an opera not only about genius found in Kats-Chernin’s Sonata for Solo Viola Clarinet and Piano score but also about the troubled birth of something new in score, colourful and Playing score 979-0-060-13589-7 £15.99 Australian artistic consciousness, in which it became 979-0-060-13415-9 £12.99 relaxed in its sensuality, transfigured by its beauty propulsive...” Limelight Magazine Mark-Anthony Turnage and deeply troubled by inner contradictions... Remembering for orchestra This was an opera about Sydney…” Following her operatic success in Sydney, TEMPUS FUGIT for orchestra Study score Sydney Morning Herald Kats-Chernin travels to Berlin in November Study score 979-0-060-13634-4 £39.99 “The opera proceeds through a series of fragmentary for the premiere of her new children’s opera 979-0-060-13588-0 £46.99 episodes in the artist’s life, a fragmentation mirrored in commissioned by the Komische Oper, based Contusion the linguistically condensed libretto by Justin Fleming, on the award-winning book by Michael Ende, Violin Concerto No.2 for string quartet and with spectacular success in David Freeman’s Jim Knopf and Lukas the Engine Driver. Her new Study score Study score direction... He saturates the stage space with Whiteley’s operatic version of Kenneth Grahame’s classic 979-0-060-13630-6 £39.99 979-0-060-13608-5 £26.99 paintings, often fracturing even these by superimposing The Wind in the Willows receives its premiere Reduction for violin and piano Parts them on moving flats, and thus immerses the audiences at the Staatstheater Kassel in June 2020. 979-0-060-13631-3 £39.99 979-0-060-13609-2 £35.99

New recordings Karl Jenkins Zilver/Garden of Eros/ Miserere: Songs of Disco/Double/Elegy Mercy and Redemption Orlando Festival musicians Iestyn Davies/Abel Selaocoe/ Etcetera KTC 1657 Britten Sinfonia/Polyphony/ Stephen Layton Harrison Birtwistle Decca Records 481 8580 Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Christian Tetzlaff/ James MacMillan London Symphony Orchestra/ One Equal Music/ Simon Rattle Miserere/Blow the LSO Live LSO3066 trumpet in the new moon/ Blu-ray & DVD To my successor/ Ave maris stella/Cecilia virgo Qigang Chen The Elysian Singers/ La joie de la souffrance Sam Laughton Maxim Vengerov/ Signum SIGCD575 Shanghai Symphony Orchestra/ Long Yu Ned Rorem DG 483 6606 Concertino da Camera

Photo: /Prudence Upton Jory Vinikour/ Opera Australia’s premiere production of Elena Kats-Chernin’s Whiteley at the . Chicago Philharmonic/ Oblique Strategies Scott Speck Andrei Ionita Cedille Records 2021 centenary tango Orchid ORC100096 CDR 90000188 Piazzolla Berthold Goldschmidt Mark-Anthony Turnage Beatrice Cenci A Constant Obsession/ with jazz and classical elements, which made him Christoph Pohl/Gal James/ Three for Two/Four Chants/ a highly controversial figure in his homeland, while Dshamilja Kaiser/Christina Bock/ A Slow Pavane/ winning him acclaim in the USA and Europe. Prague Philharmonic Choir/ Grazioso! Milongón Festivo is an effervescent six-minute Vienna Symphony Orchestra/ Nicky Spence/ orchestral work, ideal as a concert-opener, with Johannes Debus Chamber Domaine/ high-octane and vibrantly coloured outer sections C Major 751408 Thomas Kemp surrounding seductive dance music at its centre. It Blu-ray & DVD Resonus RES10106 shows Piazzolla effectively blending tango with Stravinsky, Bartók and jazz. The original version is with three bandoneons, and alternatives are with a single bandoneon or orchestra alone. The work is New books recorded by Chandos with Gabriel Castagna at MacMillan & Andriessen the helm of the Württemberg Philharmonic. Two new James A further MacMillan MacMillan books were book, collecting Photo: Ullstein Bild/ArenaPAL Piazzolla created incidental music for an acclaimed 1986 staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at released this summer essays on his music The centenary of tango master Astor Piazzolla falls the Comédie-Française in Paris by Jorge Lavelli, to co-incide with his by leading writers in 2021, and a number of his works are now which was recorded with Richard Galliano as 60th birthday. The first and musicologists, available for programming in new orchestral bandoneonist. A new 17-minute tango-infused in-depth study of the is in preparation by versions, including the concert-opener Milongón orchestral suite has been arranged by Hywel composer’s life and Cambridge University Festivo and his music from A Midsummer Night’s Davies, leading from an overture through a works, written by Press. Dream. Phillip A Cooke, is sequence of dances and music for Puck and Writing to Louis published by Boydell Born in Mar Del Plata in Argentina, Piazzolla grew Oberon. Also available are stage versions for a Andriessen by Rose Press (9781783273706). up as a migrant in Manhattan’s Lower East Side quartet of accordion, guitar, piano and double bass Dodd, published by Idea The Music of James where he learnt the bandoneon and immersed or for a quintet of clarinet, alto saxophone, guitar, Books in celebration of MacMillan traces his himself in the jazz and classical music the city piano and double bass. his 80th birthday, development from early offered. At the age of sixteen he returned to collects perspectives on Other Piazzolla from Boosey & Hawkes includes successes through to his current position Argentina, performed with tango in his aesthetics and two arrangements by for violin and as one of the most prominent British Buenos Aires and eventually earnt enough to take oeuvre. Commentaries and archive material are chamber orchestra – originally created for Gidon composers of his generation. composition lessons from Ginastera. In the 1950s Kremer – of the Tango from La Mufa and Todo combined with contributions from composers and he studied in Paris where Nadia Boulanger Buenos Aires. Publications include arrangements Birlinn has published a collection of MacMillan’s performers of the next generation influenced by encouraged him to focus on his unique of tangos for piano or solo instrument and writings bearing the title A Scots Song: A Life of Andriessen including Donnacha Dennehy, Julia bandoneon-centred compositions. He developed keyboard, and collections titled Vuelvo al Sur Music (9781780276175), including a range of articles Wolfe, Christopher Fox, and Ian the tango nuevo style, infusing traditional tango and La viaje. on artistic, political, social and theological issues. Pace (9789462263079).

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