Peter Keuschnig and Ensemble Kontrapunkte will première Alexander Zemlinsky’s Chamber Concerto – after the Trio Op. 3 for clarinet, cello and piano – in Richard Dünser’s arrangement for small orchestra tonight at the Musikverein in Vienna.
Pärt’s orchestration is exceptional and delves subtly into colors within the limited palette, for instance using open strings and harmonics to create shining, single-note highlights. The performance was a good one, breathing and luminous. (Timothy Mangan, The Orange County Register, 29 May 2016)
Together with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel performed the world première of Arvo Pärt’s Greater Antiphons for string orchestraon 28 May at the Mozart & Pärt festival in Los Angeles.
Read Timothy Mangan’s full review in The Orange County Register.
“It seems like the further one sinks inside the text, the further one becomes removed from the particulars of the story and instead gets involved with something deeper and more ambiguous to do with the inner experiences of a protagonist who is searching for … something.”
Rehearsals for David Fennessy’s Sweat Of the Sun are underway – the music theatre, which is based on German director Werner Herzog’s Conquest of the Useless, will be premièred by the Münchener Kammerorchester on 28 May at the Münchener Biennale.
Eric Satie was born 150 years ago today –joyeux anniversaire!
“Artaud’s theatrical work is not a historical drama; it is a phantasmagoria about ambivalence” (Wolfgang Rihm on Die Eroberung von Mexico)
In case you’ve missed the Oper Köln’s [German] introductory trailer for Wolfgang Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexico, you can watch it here:
Alejo Pérez conducts Peter Konwitschny’s production, which has already been shown at the Salzburg Festival. Further performances take place on 13, 20, 26 and 29 May.
Read Graham Rickson full review of Mikhail Korzhevs and Kenneth Woods’ “Krenek: Piano Concertos 1-3” on the arts desk.
This lecture-recital, accompanied by projections from the stage, will read between the ledger lines and unlock the secrets behind one of the Second Viennese School’s most passionate scores.
On Tuesday, 10 May, writer and broadcaster Gavin Plumley, the Quatuor Tana and soprano Julia Sitkovetsy will present Inside the Score, a lecture-recital that explores Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite.
Tickets are still available – or you can watch the live stream from the comfort of your own home.
Inside the Score: Berg’s Lyric Suite
It’s been 80 years to the day since the world première of Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto “In Memory of an Angel”.
In February 1935 Alban Berg was approached by the American violinist Louis Krasner with a request to write a violin concerto. The resulting concerto – the last work that Berg completed – was first performed on 19 April 1936 by Krasner and the Casals-Orchestra in Barcelona.
The first issue of the Universal Edition listening lab is dedicated to Berg’s Violin Concerto:
“Man hat es hier nicht mit einer Symphonie oder Suite zu tun, in deren Orchester auch ein Klavier verwendet und gelegentlich solistisch bevorzugt wird: Das Klavierkonzert von Wellesz ist ein richtiges Konzert, der Part tritt hervor und lebt sich in Toccaten-Sätzen aus.” (P. Stf., Musikblätter des Anbruch, 1934)
Kimbo Ishii leads the Oldenburgisches Staatsorchester in two performances of Egon Wellesz’ Piano Concerto (William Youn, pno) on 17 and 18 April at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater.
Ulrich Peters’ production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny was premièred on 9 April and is currently being staged at the Theater Münster.
Find a [German] review on Münstersche Zeitung:
The pseudo folkloristic character of some movements in Kantrimiusik, their double-hearted, vague folklore, should certainly not lead to double-hearted presentations. The piece purposely doesn't claim any authenticity with regard to sources, it rather works up the usual apocryph music. Every accurate musical interpretation ought to make clear how much parody and caricature or substantiated seriousness it contains. (Mauricio Kagel)
Under the motto “20 years of bilateral collaboration between Belgium and Lithuania” Vykintas Baltakas, the Het Collectief ensemble and LENsemble will be presenting a composer portrait of Mauricio Kagel. For more information and the full program book visit the website of Vykintas Baltakas.
Among the works performed will be Kagel’s Kantrimiusik:
Jenůfa and Katya and Makropulos are constructed like what I’d call in English “a well-made play”. They are linear stories with three acts: a beginning, a middle, an end. (David Pountney)
Tonight David Pountney’s production of Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa (cond. Ingo Metzmacher) returns to the Wiener Staatsoper.
It is obvious that if there remains any hope for the survival of folk music [...] an artificial erection of Chinese walls to separate peoples from each other bodes no good for its development.
A complete separation from foreign influences means stagnation: well assimilated foreign impulses offer possibilities of enrichment. (Béla Bartók)
Béla Bartók was born today 135 years ago.
The quote above is taken from a text by the composer on “race purity in music” – read more on our MusikSalon.
Possibly one of Mahler’s most passionate emotional outbursts and autobiographical creations, Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 is a fascinating journey, not only for performance aspects, but also for musicological and analytical ones, providing a deep psychological pathway into the genius that was Mahler – a mesmerising voyage for the composer, performer and conductor. (Michelle Castelletti)
On 24 March, John Storgårds will conduct the Finnish première of Michelle Castelletti’s arrangement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 in Korundi.
Read Michelle Castelletti’s full, extensive preface to the score
The latest issue of the MusikSalon is out now!
In an in-depth interview, Georg Friedrich Haas talks about his opera Morgen und Abend. Kasper Holten, Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, and Michael Boder, who conducted the world première, are also interviewed.
Furthermore, two important works from the UE catalogue will be presented: the violin concertos by Georg Friedrich Haas and Kurt Weill, for which we interviewed the soloists Ernst Kovacic and Benjamin Schmid.
You can watch the trailer here: