Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited

June 2012 2012/2 Lindberg Piano Concerto No.2 van der Aa Magnus Lindberg’s new concerto was premiered in May by spiralling bursts of runs and sputtering Included in this issue: pianist Yefim Bronfman and the New York Philharmonic arpeggios; cascades of double thirds; finger- 3D opera Glanert twisting counterpoint…” Interview about his new conducted by Alan Gilbert. Dutch composer With a full symphony orchestra at Lindberg’s Michel van der Aa’s opera Solaris in Bregenz disposal, Piano Concerto No.2 is a larger- and Berlin latest operatic project boned work than the composer’s first has been announced concerto, and though French models are still - a collaboration with apparent, the new score also embraces the the celebrated more muscular worlds of Bartók, Prokofieff, novelist David and even Rachmaninoff, to suit Bronfman’s Mitchell, author of wide-ranging repertoire skills. Lindberg has Cloud Atlas. The new commented that “if the first concerto looks film opera, Sunken to Ravel’s G major concerto, the second is Garden, will be a co- closer to his left hand concerto. I also production by English Photo: Marco Borggreve wanted it to survey my own pianistic National Opera, the experience, from Kraft in the mid-’80s Barbican Theatre, Toronto Festival of Arts, through Related Rocks to the present.” Culture and Creativity, Opéra de Lyon and “It took all of [Bronfman’s] technique and stamina the Holland Festival. to dispatch this monster concerto, a surging, Like its predecessors One, The Book of mercurial 32-minute work in three contrasting Disquiet and After Life, van der Aa’s new Britten sections that unfold continuously. The concerto stagework will employ a distinctive Coronation opera Gloriana opens with slowly emerging lines and chords in the low register of the piano and deep, quietly ominous combination of live action and video in Prague, Hamburg and projections to tell its story, and for the first London stirrings in the orchestra. Inexorably the strands coalesce into tense, swelling sustained orchestra time includes 3D film. Mitchell’s libretto tells harmonies and restless bursts of chords and quasi- an ‘occult mystery’ story involving a software crazed figures in the piano…. for all the shifts in engineer, a glamorous young socialite, a Photo: Chris Lee/New York Philharmonic language and style, the concerto comes across as neurotic film-maker and a gullible patroness Magnus Lindberg, Alan Gilbert and Yefim Bronfman take their bows after Piano Concerto No.2’s premiere. organic and inevitable.” New York Times of the arts. Each shares a dream of a ‘walled garden’ between life and death in which there Next season brings the first performances After a 20-year interval, Magnus Lindberg has The Financial Times described how “the is no guilt or grief. returned to the genre of the piano concerto celebrated Finnish composer shared his of Lindberg’s new commission for the with his new work for Yefim Bronfman, kudos with the virtuoso pianist Yefim Royal Concertgebouw, celebrating the The world premiere of Sunken Garden will be premiered in New York in May. The concerto Bronfman” whose “knuckle-busting solos 125th anniversary both of orchestra and hall. given by ENO at the Barbican Theatre on was the last major commission under [were] played with boundless energy… the The world premiere in Amsterdam is 12 April 2013, with further performances at Lindberg’s three-year residency with the New audience responded with instant cheers”. scheduled for 17 January conducted by the Holland Festival in Amsterdam in June York Philharmonic and, following the premiere The New York Times likewise hailed David Robertson, followed by the UK 2013. The production will be staged by conducted by Alan Gilbert, the orchestra Bronfman’s “brilliant and triumphant premiere by the BBC Symphony Orchestra Michel van der Aa, conducted by André de o toured the work to Los Angeles and San performance. He mastered every challenge: under John Storgards at the Barbican on Ridder and the cast includes Roderick Jenkins Francisco. thick chords that leap across the keyboard; 9 March. Williams and Claron McFadden. Further New choral work and the performances will follow in Toronto and Lyon London 2012 Cultural in future seasons. This October brings the Olympiad Australian premiere of After Life at the Melbourne Festival and the French premiere of van der Aa’s concerto for cello and film, Rouse Chin Up-Close, within the Nuit Blanche New York premiere celebrations in Paris. Unsuk Chin’s most residency recent work is cosmigimmicks, a Christopher Rouse has musical pantomime for Panufnik been named as the New seven instrumentalists, York Philharmonic’s new premiered in Amsterdam new website Composer-in-Residence, on 26 April by the A new website exploring Andrzej Panufnik for a term of two seasons Nieuw Ensemble beginning in 2012/13. (1914-91), the music and the man, has been Photo: Weonki Kim conducted by Celso launched at www.panufnik.com. 2014 is the Bernstein During his first year the Antunes. The 24-minute score extends orchestra will perform Polish-born composer’s centenary and the New production of Wonderful A new guide to the choral music of Benjamin further the imaginary theatre explored in her Photo: Jeffrey Herman three works by Rouse: a website provides a welcome overview for Town tours UK Britten has been released in anticipation of recent work Gougalo-n, here deployed for a world premiere of a concert opener entitled those researching repertoire for the the composer’s centenary in 2013. The guide smaller ensemble centred around the Prospero’s Rooms in April 2013, which will celebrations. consists of a CD sampler with 36 tracks and distinctive combination of guitar, mandolin also be toured to Europe; Phantasmata for over an hour of music, together with PDFs in and harp. The work was co-commissioned As well as details of Panufnik’s music and orchestra in February; and an earlier English and German containing a detailed by the Nieuw Ensemble, Southwest soundclips of his works, the website offers a Philharmonic commission, Seeing featuring survey of Britten’s choral works, written by Chamber Music and Wittener Tage für neue gallery of photographs, many never seen pianist Emanuel Ax, in June next year. Paul Spicer – the first to cover the Kammermusik. before, and detailed biographical information. Over the past 30 years the New York composer’s complete output. Social history and musical life intertwine in Philharmonic has presented twelve of Rouse’s Unsuk Chin describes how the “plucked Panufnik’s personal story: survival in wartime works, three of them commissioned by the Paul Spicer’s repertoire notes cover all choral instruments play the main roles, while the Warsaw and the Nazi occupation, political orchestra. The orchestra’s Music Director Alan genres explored by Britten: music for concert other instruments (prepared piano, violin, pressures under the Soviet-led regime, Gilbert has described how Rouse “is one of halls, church and school, for chamber and trumpet and percussion) disguise themselves escape to the UK, challenges in exile, and the the most important composers working today. symphony choruses, and for young voices in order to join in a play of masques and composer’s momentous return visit to I’ve recorded a lot of his music, and it has and church choirs. For each work there is a mimicry... At best, pantomime is able to Warsaw in 1990. practical commentary, including level of embrace both the sublime and the low in an been a very meaningful and a large part of my If you would like assistance with centenary difficulty and rehearsal tips for choral often baffling mixture of ritual and nonsense, musical life for a long time. He has a unique repertoire suggestions and details of directors. Links are provided to all sales of street and high art, of madness and voice and is one of the composers who truly recommended Panufnik interpreters please items. contemplation, of the tragic and the roughly hears what he writes. He doesn’t leave contact us on [email protected]. anything to chance: he actually shapes the The new guide is a collaboration between the comical.” sound and the emotional flow of his music in Britten-Pears Foundation and the three Other Chin highlights in the coming months a way that only great composers can.” publishers of Britten’s music: Boosey & include the US premiere of her opera Alice in Hawkes, Chester Music and Faber Music. If In addition to these performances, Rouse will Wonderland in a new reduced orchestration, you are a choral director, festival programmer advise on the orchestra’s new-music series, opening at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis or broadcaster and have yet to receive a CONTACT! The 2012/13 season features on 13 June. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts copy, or would like to inform us of your premieres of works by eight composers, her Violin Concerto with soloist Viviane Britten Centenary plans, please email us on including the North American premiere of Hagner and the Philharmonia Orchestra at [email protected]. Gougalo-n by Unsuk Chin, and a performance the Edinburgh Festival on 30 August and at of Counterpoise by Jacob Druckman. A new Britten 100 website is due to be soft- the Beethovenhalle in Bonn on 3 October. launched by the BPF in mid-June, including Chin was recently awarded the Ho-Am Prize, Rouse’s new trumpet concerto, Heimdall’s an overview of centenary performances the most prestigious within the arts sector in Trumpet, is premiered on 20 December by which can be added to by performing Korea, recognising “those who have made Christopher Martin and the Chicago organisations. The full site will go live to the outstanding contributions to the promotion of Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jaap public on Britten’s 99th birthday on 22 Culture and The Arts through their creative van Zweden. November. Visit www.britten100.org. efforts and accomplishments”. Jenkins

Detlev Glanert discusses his opera Solaris, Gods of premiered at the Bregenz Festival in July Olympus Glanert and travelling to the Komische Oper in Berlin next season. Karl Jenkins’s new work for choir and orchestra, Gods of Olympus, is premiered at the How did you first discover Much of the novel is add something to Lem’s description: the planet Royal Albert Hall in London Solaris? Was it the original philosophical in tone. slowly learns to speak, starting with unimportant on 8 July, providing a major highlight of the Cultural novel by Stanislaw– Lem or How have you vocalising, like a baby, then more sounds, names, Olympiad’s London 2012 Inspire programme. This is the film by Andrei transformed this for the syllables, little phrases. Nobody on stage reacts to the second commission from The Really Big Chorus Tarkovsky? dramatic stage? these sounds, it is something only perceived by the following their successful performances of Jenkins’s First I saw the Tarkovsky We condensed the novel audience. At the very end the qualities of Kelvin’s text The Armed Man and his Gloria, commissioned and movie, if I remember to the key scenes first to and the planet’s text become equal – but they don’t premiered in 2010. The Really Big Chorus has invited correctly, in 1979. I was establish a pure dramatic recognize each other. choral singers from its 30,000 membership to perform the premiere of the 20-minute work, conducted by completely fascinated by it line, and then added the Lem writes of how “man has gone out to explore and this prompted me to philosophical and Brian Kay, making it one of the largest music other worlds without having explored his own participation events linked to the Olympics. read the novel. The book historical reflections at labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers.” itself seemed to be a certain suitable points – Do you see parallels with modern opera in general? Karl Jenkins describes his exploration of Greek completely other Solaris but of course not at such Opera and music should never stop their mythology in Gods of Olympus: “I have based this story by Lem, even length as in the novel. experimentation to discover new forms, new piece on ancient Greece, birthplace of the Olympic stronger than the film! So Opera enjoys the gestures, new inventions to present the singers, games. The movements are inspired by four of the the novel started to overlay wonderful invention of the musicians and dancers in fresh stories and situations. twelve Olympians, the mythical Gods that dwelt on the impressions from the movie, which I progressively ‘aria’, where times stands still and we can look into the But here is the critical point: where, how and for Mount Olympus: Zeus, Ruler of Olympus; Hermes, forgot, except for three or four key scenes. thoughts and reflections of a character, so we naturally whom are we making these experiments? We must the Winged Messenger; Aphrodite, Goddess of Love; utilised this model. And then there is the remarkable Solaris is a many-layered book, embracing science be aware that it is for us – the people, and first we and Hephaestus, Blacksmith and Fire-God.” The ending, when Kelvin is flying to the planet and reality is fiction, mystery, broken romance, philosophy... What have to know ourselves. Lem is pointing out one of work follows Jenkins’s Songs of the Earth, also vanishing – here we used a lot from the last two pages is the centre of the novel for you and your librettist the central issues of our time: that the human being exploring Greek mythological themes, which was of the novel to create a dreamlike finale. Reinhard Palm? is no longer the centre of the universe. Instead, premiered by Welsh choral forces and the BBC For me and Reinhard the central point of focus for our Many of your operas trap humans in a sealed world strange dreams, the past, and vague theories about National Orchestra of Wales in the Music Nation opera is that the non-communication between the to explore their psychology – the court of Caligula, our surroundings are ruling our existence, and we weekend in March, providing an upbeat to this human characters is counterpointed with the non- The Wooden Ship, and here an orbiting spaceship. have to understand ourselves so as to protect our summer’s Cultural Olympiad events. communication with the planet Solaris, which Is this close to the expressionist tradition? very survival. Only then can we try to comprehend obviously betrays a certain intelligence. At the very I grew up with certain German traditions, one of endless space and eternity. Boosey & Hawkes and the Cultural Olympiad end of the story the scientist Kelvin speaks about the which is expressionism, but I don’t think that I’m a The London 2012 Cultural senselessness of searching for other intelligences, complete product of this. Musically I embrace Olympiad is the largest because the main reason is always that we look for different influences, for example impressionism and cultural celebration in the our ‘older brother’ who will protect us from evil, or put the 1980s idea of ‘new velocity’, which give me a history of the modern another way that we look for God who will protect us much wider palette of colours. The only thing which Olympic and Paralympic from being so alone in space. interests me on stage is the human being, and to Glanert Movements. Performances Solaris (2010-12) 135’ learn more about the person’s character, often in of new works published by As the scientists probe the planet’s ‘thinking ocean’, it extreme moments, so as to inform our view of the Opera in two parts after the Boosey & Hawkes include retaliates by recreating a figure from each of their world. Maybe this is seen as something typically novel by Stanislaw– Lem the premiere of James anguished memories. How do you view these doubles? German but I find the same fascination in creative MacMillan’s Gloria The planet always chooses apparitions from the past, Libretto by Reinhard Palm artists from many other nations, ever since the first (23 June) as part of Coventry Cathedral’s 50th connected to a guilty action by the characters on the Markus Stenz Conductor development of psychology 120 years ago. anniversary celebrations, featuring Ian Bostridge as spaceship: Kelvin’s ex-wife committed suicide because Moshe Leiser Directors tenor soloist. Patrice Caurier Photo: Iko Freese/DRAMA they could no longer communicate with each other; The sound of Solaris is described by Lem as a “low- Music by Mark-Anthony Turnage in the London 2012 Sartorius has a little dwarf behind him - an anti- pitched murmuring, which seemed to me the very 18/22/25 July 2012 (world premiere) Festival ranges from a new Titian-inspired ballet intellectual idiot; Snaut always sees his mother in a very voice of the planet itself”. How have you created this Bregenz Festival Trespass, staged by the Royal Ballet with humiliating and complicated relationship; Gibarian, who in music? Vienna Symphony Orchestra/ choreography by Alastair Marriott and Christopher killed himself before Kelvin’s arrival, had been I decided that Solaris will be represented by the opera Prague Philharmonic Choir Wheeldon (14 July), to Beyond This composed for the shadowed by a large African woman and we are led to chorus – hidden or only vaguely seen during the main Music in Prisons project (5 July). understand that he carried out chemical experiments drama, but perhaps glimpsed at the very end, when 19/25 May, 11/22/29 June 2013 (German premiere) upon her. Kelvin takes his flight to the planet. And I decided to Komische Oper, Berlin Scottish Ballet tours a new ballet by Martin Lawrence with John Adams’s Son of Chamber Symphony (19 June), the Barbican hosts the UK premieres of Wynton Marsalis’s Abyssinian Mass (13 July) and Swing Symphony (25 July), and Northern Ireland Opera stages Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in the Argento at 85 Bernstein Wonderful Town imaginative setting of Belfast Zoo (10 August). Dominick Argento’s 85th “Fifties musicals are back in vogue.” So noted The rhythm develops from staccato utterances in a style that anticipates West Side Story.” The Guardian birthday year has been Guardian hailing a new production of Bernstein’s celebrated with a major focus Wonderful Town that is currently touring the UK. “The music is irresistible, a Bernstein burn-up of jazz, jig, at the University of Maryland, Braham Murray’s staging emanated from an ballad, rag and tap. One triumphant number follows another including welcome stagings of imaginative collaboration among three of in snappy succession… Comden and Green’s lyrics are Manchester’s leading arts organisations, the Hallé smart as paint, even when plaintive — “Why O why O did Neuwirth two of his operas, the we leave Ohio” — and I especially enjoyed Ruth’s attempt to surrealist Postcard from Orchestra, the Royal Exchange Theatre and The Lowry arts centre, with Connie Fisher in the central interview conga-crazed Brazilian sailors about their view of Morocco and his Dickens- America while being thrown over their heads…” The Times at the Proms based Miss Havisham’s Fire. role of Ruth and choreography by Andrew Wright. The 10-day festival entitled The reviewer wrote how “…the great joy of the Bernstein’s multi-genre Mass is enjoying its 40th Olga Neuwirth travels to the Photo: Tom Berthiaume The Art of Argento also evening is hearing a 60-strong band, under Sir Mark anniversary this year, with a series of festival BBC Proms on 13 August for included performances of his most acclaimed vocal Elder’s baton, devoting itself to Leonard Bernstein’s presentations embracing the wider community. the UK premiere of her viola works including the orchestral songs Casa Guidi, the exhilarating, jazzy score. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Following his acclaimed Chandos recording, Kristjan concerto Remnants of monodrama A Water Bird Talk, the song-cycle Miss musical comedy rendered quite so richly.” Järvi conducted a new staging at the Adelaide songs... an Amphigory plus a Manners on Music and A Few Words about Chekhov Festival in March featuring Jubilant Sykes repeating preceding Portrait event with a guest appearance by mezzo Frederica von “…still speaking with freshness, his role of the Celebrant. Mass promises to be a introducing her music. Her highlight of the BBC Proms’s focus on youth on concerto has been hailed as a Stade – a singer long associated with Argento’s directness and wit…”Daily Telegraph music. A new set of Cabaret Songs received its 6 August, with massed Welsh choirs and orchestras major contribution to the Photo: Priska Ketterer premiere and is now published for sale. from primary school to professional, again directed by limited repertoire for the “The operative word is ‘comedy’, since this show belongs to Järvi. With recent performances conducted by Marin instrument and is performed at the Royal Albert Hall “Postcard From Morocco is an absurdist vignette of a group an age when Broadway musicals were sharp, literate and funny… Wit infuses every aspect of the book, music and Alsop in New York and at the Southbank Centre in by Lawrence Power with the Philharmonia Orchestra of travelers in a railway station, circa 1920: imagine the London, and in Salzburg, Munich and Vienna, this conducted by Susanna Mälkki. The work was characters from an Agatha Christie novel entangled in an lyrics. Bernstein responds brilliantly to each dramatic situation so that in Conversation Piece the music slowly unclassifiable work finally appears to be achieving premiered in Graz in 2009 by violist Antoine Tamestit, Ionesco play… the result is an often engaging chamber modern classic status. and has since travelled to Berlin, Tokyo, Melbourne opera, bristling with allusion and musical jokes, about the infiltrates stumbling dinner-party chat, and in Swing! the and Paris, with performances next season in Vienna way that people hide behind the shreds of identity they use New production of Wonderful Town touring the UK, with choreography by Andrew Wright. to define themselves to others.” Washington Post and Frankfurt with Mälkki. The concerto’s title, Remnants of Songs … an “Miss Havisham’s Fire is one opera everyone should see… it explores her story on two levels: the first, an inquiry into Amphigory, juxtaposes serious and light sides, pitting the causes of her death and the second, a series of a book by Ulrich Baer investigating how historic flashbacks describing the circumstances of her life. As the traumas affect creativity against a descriptive term for flashbacks come, the past and present seem to merge and nonsense poetry. Musical America wrote of the allow us to look past the odd trappings and come to know 20-minute score’s “fiendishly difficult solo part, the woman.” DCMetroTheatreArts breathtaking in its virtuosic range… The work is Argento’s operas have always attracted leading entirely original, astoundingly complex and, ultimately, singers because of the composer’s innate lyricism gloriously rewarding and uplifting.” The concerto is and his powerful projection of operatic characters vintage Neuwirth in the way it pits the individual through music on the stage. A case in point is Dallas against the collective, forging connections with Opera’s new production of The Aspern Papers, musical memories and diverse genres. scheduled for April 2013 to celebrate the 25th Neuwirth’s trumpet concerto, …miramondo anniversary of the premiere, with a starry cast multiplo…, written for Håkan Hardenberger, has been including Susan Graham, Carol Vaness and Nathan travelling widely this year in the recent version with Gunn. Argento’s skilful operatic version of the Henry ensemble, including its UK premiere with the London James novel will be directed by Tim Albery and Sinfonietta and performances in Vienna, Hamburg

conducted by Graeme Jenkins. Photo: Alastair Muir and Madrid by Klangforum Wien. Clyne Shepherd Britten Gloriana in Prague Night Ferry Blur premiere Sean Shepherd’s new work for Anna Clyne’s new 20-minute the Ensemble Intercontemporain, orchestral work for the Blur, was premiered under the Chicago Symphony baton of Susanna Mälkki in Paris Orchestra, Night Ferry – her in January, with a repeat most ambitious composition performance at the Philharmonie to date – was premiered in Cologne. The Ensemble will under the baton of Riccardo present the work’s Swiss Muti in February, before premiere at the Lucerne Festival

being toured by the Photo: Jamie Kingham on 18 August conducted by orchestra to California Pablo Heras-Casado. The music in Blur moves very including San Francisco. fast much of the time and the young composer has Taking the work’s context in described the new work as “a kind of romp: ebullient, a Schubert programme as a frenetic, insistent and joyful” in which “close to the starting point, Clyne surface, things fly by. Layers emerge, with objects engrossed herself with Photo: Todd Rosenberg appearing, moving and evolving at differing intervals poetry exploring the manic- and rates of change.” depressive states that affected the 19th century composer. The title was drawn from an elegy by “Blur by the American composer Sean Shepherd works its Seamus Heaney for Robert Lowell and the composer magic with a great cor Anglais solo and gossamer-fine full- describes the completed Night Ferry as a voyage moon Romanticism, which the ensemble either countered with expressionist twitching shadows in the style of the through “turbulent darkness with moments of light”. Photo: Hana Smejkalová/Prague National Theatre Schoenberg school, or surrounded with a Boulezian New production of Britten’s opera Gloriana at the Prague National Theatre “Clyne writes expertly and seriously for big, virtuoso luminous glitter of celesta, harp, xylophone and tubular orchestra. Her ear for sonority is acute, her ideas clear-cut bells.” Kölner Stadtanzeiger Benjamin Britten’s opera Gloriana, which received its Young and the opera returns to its birthplace in and expertly developed over a wide palette whose large v v Shepherd, who signed with Boosey & Hawkes last Czech premiere in April in Jirí Herman’s new Covent Garden on 20 June under the baton of Paul percussion battery includes Tibetan singing bowls lending production at the Prague National Theatre, is one of Daniel. Heading the cast in London are Susan Bullock delicate touches of Asian colour.” Chicago Tribune year, is enjoying an increasing international profile, with his latest works programmed by leading Britten’s operas most ripe for exploration during the as Elizabeth I and Toby Spence as the Earl of Essex. orchestras, ensembles and festivals. Blur was forthcoming centenary. Its not fully flattering portrayal Concert programmes for Britten’s 2013 celebrations “…a swirling evocation of dark Shepherd’s second large ensemble work, and the of Elizabeth I prompted official disfavour at its will feature the popular extracts drawn from the first, These Particular Circumstances, has been premiere at Covent Garden as part of Queen opera: the Symphonic Suite, the Courtly Dances and physical and mental seas…” Elizabeth II’s coronation pageant. But after decades the Choral Dances. Chicago Sun-Times travelling widely since its premiere by members of the New York Philharmonic. Oliver Knussen included its of neglect the work has enjoyed notable revivals in the UK premiere in his 60th birthday concert with the UK and USA since the 1990s, as directors and “Clyne opens the work with a tremendous outburst of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in May, and audiences have warmed to its complex treatment of energy – tailormade for this orchestra – and then, instead of he will conduct it again at the Tanglewood Festival in the monarch. As the Prague Post noted of the recent pulling back, the force of sound is sustained, even August. The work’s French premiere is scheduled for staging, “the queen is portrayed as a flawed character Adams increased. There are some beautiful, gorgeously dissonant, the Musica festival in Strasbourg on 27 September, struggling under the weight of her responsibility, and Straussian passages, but not the result of the transparent performed by Ensemble Linea conducted by Jean- Gloriana is ultimately a tragedy that reveals the calculation, the customary loud-soft variation. Rather, psychology hidden beneath the crown”. Absolute Jest everything in its logical, appealing place, carrying the listener Philippe Wurtz. “One of John Adams’ rarest and along irresistibly… And, most importantly in case of any new Following the success of his 2009 score Wanderlust, “Britten’s orchestration is brilliant, with fluttering woodwinds, ominous brass and sharp percussion supplying the drama most valuable gifts as a composer music, I want to hear it again, and soon.” Shepherd is also engaged with new orchestral San Francisco Classical Voice and tension… Individual instruments or sections of the is his sense of humour, an ability, works. His eight-minute concert-opener Blue Blazes orchestra are used to create mood, atmosphere and shared with Haydn and few Next January Anna Clyne returns to her birth city of was premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra emotion, often in clever, unexpected turns or phrases. And others, to be truly comical.” So London for the UK premiere of Night Ferry, with the in Washington under Christoph Eschenbach last the fluency the composer shows across genres is wrote the San Francisco Chronicle BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew month and will tour with the orchestra to São Paulo. remarkable, ranging from charming Renaissance dances to reviewing the premiere in March of sacred choral music to great, glowing Wagnerian fanfares.” Litton. Other recent orchestral works include a new The work reveals a concise progression from an Adams’s new work for string Prague Culture score for Houston Ballet, See(k), premiered last intrada, through a noble fanfare to a wild close, all Photo: Margaretta Mitchell quartet and orchestra, Absolute month in choreography by Nicolo Fonte. The first tinged with the sensual blue of Mediterranean seas. The centenary brings what promises to be a Jest, with the San Francisco Symphony conducted album of Clyne’s music, entitled Blue Moth, was His next major project is a new 20-minute work for significant new production of Gloriana by Richard by Michael Tilson Thomas. The ‘Jest’ of the title released on John Zorn’s Tzadik label in February, the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst, fruit Jones. Shared between The Royal Opera in London relates to the late scherzos of Beethoven, which for featuring a selection of chamber works including of his two-year Young Composer Fellowship with and the Hamburg Staatsoper, the staging is unveiled Adams blended ecstatic energy, humour and Roulette for string quartet performed by ETHEL. the orchestra. in Hamburg on 24 March 2013 conducted by Simone profundity, unique in history, providing him with the motivic source material for his new work. “The wedding between Floyd Wuthering Heights Auber string quartet and orchestra was masterly.” Wall Street Journal Carlisle Floyd’s 1958 opera Wuthering Heights received but condenses everything into the drama of the two bronze horse a long awaited European premiere in February in a new protagonists’ great unfulfilled love... The music illustrates the The St Lawrence String Quartet and the San production by Judica Semler at the Freiberg Theater. events which take place around the classic scenes between Francisco Symphony toured Absolute Jest around the Based on the Emily Brontë novel, the opera focuses on the two lovers. The couple has everything which makes for USA, as part of its American Mavericks series, visiting great opera: a wealth of emotions, passion, poetry. And set Chicago, Ann Arbor and Carnegie Hall in New York, the tormented love between Heathcliff and Cathy, set in a continual vocal-dramatic high tension... The applause against the bleak landscape of the Yorkshire moors. was strong and long for this worthwhile discovery of an attracting enthusiastic audience reactions throughout. In addition to Susannah’s continuing status as a American opera.” Freie Presse The UK premiere is scheduled for January 2013 with repertoire evergreen, notable Floyd stagings in recent the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican “With his music, the composer opens up emotional depths under the baton of the composer, again with the St years have included The Passion of Jonathan Wade at which cannot be experienced just by reading or watching… the Salzburg Landestheater and Of Mice and Men at With the rich possibilities of extended tonality, Floyd finds an Lawrence String Quartet who have exclusivity until Australian Opera directed by Bruce Beresford. astringent, strongly expressive melodic style, subtly March 2013. “Wuthering Heights has audience appeal. Floyd, who differentiated harmony, ingenious rhythms and a richly “Adams’ single-movement opus for string quartet and compiled the libretto himself, doesn’t forego the narrative, coloured soundworld.” Neues Deutschland orchestra is an audacious and affectionate riff on Beethoven’s scherzos. Dense, roiling and furiously inventive, Carlisle Floyd’s Wuthering Heights in its European premiere production at the Freiberg Theater it emerges as a gripping 25-minute sonic joy ride… You can

Photo: Thomas M Jauk/Komische Oper Berlin hear the echoes of Beethoven throughout the piece – Auber’s Le Cheval de Bronze at the Komische Oper in Berlin chopped, remixed, inside out and upside down, redistributed to the string quartet and throughout the Continuing its work of publishing new performing orchestra – and you can almost see the composer smiling at editions of important 19th century operas, Boosey & the results. Hawkes’s Bote & Bock edition has turned to Auber’s “Of particular interest is the way Adams writes for the ‘solo’ Le Cheval de Bronze. Returning to the original opéra string quartet – in this case, the phenomenally skilled, and comique version of 1835, the new edition was marvellously incisive St Lawrence String Quartet, for whom it created for the recent production at the Komische was composed. As soloists, they are often subsumed in the Oper in Berlin, directed by Frank Hilbrich. Evaluating orchestral sound. When they emerge, it’s bracing, magical, the primary sources, including the autograph score, with new vistas suddenly glimpsed in Adams’ fervent sound historic performance material, and the first printed world. Absolute Jest may be best described as a memory edition, has enabled a return to Auber’s original piece; in its final measures, it recedes in a slow fade, a backward glance to Beethoven’s majesty. Yet, for most of intentions when the stagework was premiered in Paris its length, it is quintessential Adams: restless, propulsive to instant acclaim. Plans are also underway for a new and, like most of this composer’s music, arrestingly edition of the later 1857 version. beautiful.” Musical America Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) was Adams’s newest work is his full-evening oratorio, The without doubt the most frequently-performed French Gospel According to the Other Mary, premiered in opera composer of his generation. His enormous Los Angeles last month conducted by Gustavo success was also thanks to an enduring collaboration Dudamel. A staged version by Peter Sellars will be with his ideally-matched librettist Eugène Scribe. Le presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Spring Cheval de Bronze was among the most successful of 2013 followed by an international tour. 2012 has seen Auber’s output of over 40 stageworks. It received the 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s diplomatic trip over 80 performances in the first year alone and in to Beijing and the 25th anniversary of Adams’s opera 1857 he reworked it into a through-composed ballet- Nixon in China. Productions have been staged at the opera to appeal to changing tastes. Only in the mid- Châtelet in Paris and San Francisco Opera, and 1880s did Gilbert & Sullivan’s Mikado overtake Le Adams conducts concert performances this summer Cheval de Bronze as the most popular Far East- at the BBC Proms in London and the Musikfest in

Photo: Detlev Müller/Freiberg Theater themed opera. Berlin with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Deliusat 150 New New The festival season brings high Recordings Publications profile Delius performances to celebrate the composer’s 150th Jack Beeson John Adams anniversary of birth. The BBC Dr Heidegger’s Fountain of Youth/Hello Out There El Niño Proms features Delius in both the Columbia Chamber Orchestra/Frederic Vocal score First Night and Last Night with Waldman/Thomas Martin 979-0-051-09675-6 £55.99 two Whitman settings: Sea Drift Albany TROY1312 with Bryn Terfel (13 July) and Dominick Argento Leonard Bernstein Cabaret Songs Songs of Farewell (8 September), with the BBC Arias and Barcarolles Symphony Orchestra and conductors Mark Elder and Vocal score v v Jane Bunnell/Dale Duesing/Seattle Symphony/ 979-0-051-93434-8 £11.99 Jirí Belohlávek respectively. The Edinburgh Festival is Gerard Schwarz launched in epic style with a sold-out performance of Naxos 8.559709 Leonard Bernstein Delius’s pantheistic Nietzsche oratorio A Mass of Life, West Side Story with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted Harrison Birtwistle Vocal selections with CD by Andrew Davis (10 August). String Quartet: 979-0-051-93435-5 £18.99 The Tree of Strings/ Recognitions of Delius’s anniversary range in scale 9 Movements Peter Pan from a UK postage stamp adorned with his portrait, to Arditti Quartet Vocal selections a full staging of his greatest opera, A Village Romeo aeon AECD 1217 979-0-051-93429-4 £11.99 and Juliet, at the Wexford Festival in October. The opera was also revived in a new production at the Unsuk Chin Michael Daugherty Karlsruhe Staatstheater in January, described by DPA Six Piano Etudes Ghost Ranch Focus as “a triumph for both Delius and the theatre”. Mei Yi Foo Full score The Shakespearean story is transplanted to a Swiss Odradek Records 1700302 979-0-051-09679-4 £29.99 rural community where young lovers are separated by Anna Clyne Photo: Detlev Müller/Karlsruhe Staatstheater Osvaldo Golijov farming families feuding over a strip of land. The Dark fits + starts/Rapture/1987/choke/Roulette/Steelworks Lúa Descolorida Fiddler, the rightful owner, is an ambiguous threatening A Village Romeo and Juliet at the Karlsruhe Staatstheater ETHEL/Benjamin Capps/Eileen Mack/Argeo Ascani for soprano and piano presence as fate unfolds to its tragic conclusion. Set once, twice, near to rapture. It gives the impression of Tzadik TZ 8084 Vocal score pieces include a dream wedding that can never be, emphasizing the melody, without the melody being truly 979-0-051-93428-7 £11.99 and the famous final interlude The Walk to the tangible – a sonic post-Wagnerian stream: engaging and Henryk Mikolaj– Górecki Paradise Garden. often heart-warming.” Opernwelt Concerto-Cantata/ Lúa Descolorida arr for violin and piano “A late Romantic sound, a hint of impressionism, exquisite A concert performance of A Village Romeo and Juliet Kleines Requiem für eine Polka colourings, chromatically seasoned, softly swaying, swelling takes place at the Southbank Centre in London on Carol Wincenc/Warsaw Score and part 25 September conducted by Ronald Corp. Other Philharmonic Orchestra/ 979-0-051-10639-4 £11.99 Delius events in the UK include features at the Antoni Wit Mariel Cheltenham and Three Choirs Festivals, a British Naxos 8.572872 for cello and marimba Library study weekend in September, and A Delius Lobgesang/Totus Tuus/ Playing scores Offenbach Celebration in October presented by Chetham’s Salve, Sidus Polonorum 979-0-051-10585-4 £18.99 School of Music with concerts in Manchester and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain/Mike Brewer composer’s birth city of Bradford. Delphian DCD 34054 Herbert Howells Grande-Duchesse Creep afore ye gang Karl Jenkins Choral score The latest publication in the acclaimed Offenbach The Peacemakers 979-0-060-12350-4 £1.99 Edition Keck is a new vocal score of La Grande- Chloë Hanslip/Lucy Crowe/ The Shadows Duchesse de Gérolstein, the composer’s entertaining Rundfunkchor Berlin/ Bettison Choral score satire on politics and militarism. The edition is the CBSO Youth Choir/ 979-0-060-12360-3 £1.99 result of many years of research by Jean-Christophe Livre des Sauvages Really Big Chorus/ Keck, including on-stage trials in numerous London Symphony Orchestra/ Karl Jenkins productions over the past decade. The staging by Reviewing the premiere of Karl Jenkins The Peacemakers Laurent Pelly in Grenoble and Paris, conducted by Oscar Bettison’s Livre des EMI Classics 843782 Vocal score Marc Minkowski with Felicity Lott in the title role, was Sauvages, the Los Angeles 979-0-060-12434-1 £13.99 also recorded on an award-winning CD and DVD by Times described him as a Elena Kats-Chernin “spirited composer with a sense Virgin Classics. Most recently, Grande-Duchesse has Fast Blue Village 2/Eliza Aria/ Simon Laks been staged in the OEK edition at the Staatsoperette of fun… who delights in crazy Anna Magdalena’s Notebook (String Quartets vol.1) percussion instruments with Concertino pour trio d’anches in Dresden, with further performances running Acacia Ensemble for oboe, clarinet and bassoon through the 2012/13 season. minds of their own”. Vexations840 1201 (download) Programmed with Cage’s Score and parts Concerto for Prepared Piano, Steve Reich 979-0-2025-2305-6 £21.50 Bettison’s work demonstrates Different Trains Sonata for cello and piano Photo: Denise Anderson distinct links with Cage’s love of Quatuor Diotima Score and part sound created from everyday objects. Its primitivist and Naïve V5272 979-0-2025-2299-8 £16.99 ritualistic world was inspired by an anonymous 19th String Quartet No.3 century book with simple pictographs supposedly Score and parts depicting Native American culture. 979-0-2025-2301-8 £22.99 Livre des Sauvages is cast in three movements in Maxwell Davies String Quartet No.4 fast-slow-fast form, based on three specific graphics Score and parts from the book, and the composer views the on Naxos 979-0-2025-2302-5 £22.99 30-minute work as a “kind of chamber concerto or String Quartet No.5 sinfonia concertante”. The ensemble is divided into Naxos has embarked on Score and parts two groups, with a large percussion battery in the an ambitious plan to make 979-0-2025-2303-2 £23.99 middle (consisting of conch shells, tuning forks, hotel newly available the series desk bells and a wrenchophone – a xylophone of recordings originally James MacMillan assembled from mechanical wrenches likened by the released on Collins Edinburgh Te Deum composer to a ‘hillbilly glockenspiel’). The score was Classics in the 1990s. This Choral score commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, follows the association 979-0-060-12321-4 £2.99 musikFabrik and Kunststiftung NRW and premiered in between composer and the Green Umbrella series in Los Angeles in April. label built through the “…an outrageously zany opus that fused the sounds of commissioning and recording of the ten Naxos String previous modernists into his own voice. And a unique voice Quartets and the release of an educational 2CD box it is: think Carl Stalling meets Edgard Varèse meets John on the composer Peter Maxwell Davies – a Portrait Sheet Music Downloads Zorn, while bouncing off a caffeine high. Starting with a (8.558191-92). Latest Sheet Music Download releases include a thumping rhythm that came crashing out of the gate, Livre First releases in the new series focus on Maxwell treasury of English 20th century songs from the des Sauvages pulsated with an irrepressible energy and archive, many drawn from the original Winthrop vitality, as well as brilliant craftsmanship.” bachtrack Davies’s symphonies with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by the composer. Symphony No.1 Rogers editions. Featured composers include Ireland The new edition combines the four possible versions Oscar Bettison, born in the UK in 1975 and now US- (8.572348) was premiered under the baton of the in the 50th anniversary year of his death, Bridge, of the opéra-bouffe, respecting both detailed resident, joined Boosey & Hawkes’s Emerging young Simon Rattle in 1978, when it was as startling Gurney, Howells, Stanford and Warlock. Composers programme in 2008. He studied in scholarship and practical performance issues. It draws for the composer’s unexpected adoption of Sibelius Visit http://boosey.epartnershub.com upon the complete autograph score manuscript, London and with Louis Andriessen at the Hague as a symphonic model as for the score’s vivid sketches, printed copies, copyists’ manuscripts and Royal Conservatory, and now teaches composition percussion colours depicting the harsh Orkney the original orchestral material. Many Offenbach at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. His largescale landscape of his adopted home. Symphony No.2, treasures are restored, including the original finale of works include O Death, performed and recorded by due for release this month (8.572349), is a virtuoso Ensemble Klang. His new commission for So Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited Act I with the Carillon de ma grandmère – described in translation of the ocean’s wave motion into musical Aldwych House, 71-91 Aldwych, Opera International as “an incredible madcap and Percussion, entitled Apart and scored for chromatic form. It is coupled on the disc with St Thomas Wake London WC2B 4HN galloping firework” – the Grand Duchess’s Méditation tuning forks, was premiered in April. which evokes the composer’s memories of wartime Telephone: +44 (0)20 7054 7200 and the original Conspiracy Scene. Manchester, transforming a John Bull pavan into a Promotion email: [email protected] Grande-Duchesse has long been a favourite for foxtrot for orchestra. Hire email: [email protected] Website: www.boosey.com/composers audiences with a subversive streak. Librettists The first complete critical edition of Offenbach’s Les Future releases of Symphonies Nos.3-6 are planned Meilhac and Halévy didn’t fight shy of poking fun at David Allenby Editor David J Plumb ARCA PPSTD Designer Contes d’Hoffmann, one of the composer’s greatest over the next 12 months, and in 2013/14 the Printed in England contemporary politicians and generals, even when stageworks, but one that suffered cuts and schedule turns to the concertos, including the the censor threatened to moderate their attacks. unwarranted revisions right from its premiere, is close Trumpet Concerto and the Strathclyde Concertos Statesmen flocked to attend performances in Paris, to completion. The new edition, a collaboration written for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Other wary that they might themselves become the next between Michael Kaye and Jean-Christophe Keck, works included in the Naxos plans range from the victims of ridicule. The ongoing topicality of the rise and between Schott Music and Boosey & Hawkes, complex musical permutations of Worldes Blis to the and fall story has helped the piece retain its dramatic will restore the work to the composer’s original tipsy festivities with bagpiper in An Orkney Wedding, relevance, aided by Offenbach’s sparkling and intentions, while providing full documentation detailing with Sunrise. Maxwell Davies’s 80th birthday is characterful music. performing options. celebrated in 2014.