Today Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Arnold Schönberg's rarely-performed choral blockbuster Gurre-Lieder. This enormous work, a medieval love-tragedy, is an early masterpiece in
which Schönberg's late-romantic voluptuous style attains a radiant
C-major apotheosis.
Augmenting substantial BBC forces, Jukka-Pekka Saraste welcomes two guest
choirs. An impressive international solo line-up is headed by New Zealand
tenor Simon O’Neill as Waldemar, the cursed king. German soprano Angela Denoke
makes her Proms debut as Tove and Swedish mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus
returns as the voice of the Wood-Dove.
Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3
Richard Farnes conducts the première of the new production of Leoš Janácek's The Makropulos Case at the Edinburgh International Festival by acclaimed director Tom Cairns, with an exceptional cast of soloists.
Voicing
Pierrot
A
practical, analytical and personal guide to the vocal part of Schönberg’s
Pierrot Lunaire
Jane Manning’s new book is a practical and highly personal view of the work, based on her 47 years’ experience.
The book is a wide-ranging an insightful guide for the potential performer, and a CD of the instrumental parts is provided to aid practice.
“… a precious gift of experience: mandatory reading not only for all future performers of the work but for lay listeners who seek insight into vocal artistry in general …” (Bayan Northcott, 2012)
Jane
Manning
Voicing Pierrot
First published in 2012 by
Southern
Voices
38 Diamond
Street
Amaroo, ACT
2914
Australia
UK contact address
45 St. Vincent Crescent
Glasgow G3 8NG
Available
from
Alba Musick
55 Otago Street
Glasgow G12 8PQ
www.albamusick.co.uk
Not to be missed at this year’s dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel: a subtle and impressive sound installation by the Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller called “Forest (for a thousand years)” using Arvo Pärt’s choral piece Nunc dimittis.
Two other UE composers always present in Kassel are Gustav Mahler and Ernst Krenek, immortalised by the steps either side of the State Theatre.
Baldur Brönnimann conducts Karol Szymanowski’s opera Hagith and Schönberg’s Erwartung at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
Read Jorge Aráoz Badí’s review in La Nacion – fascinating to read that the Argentine première of Erwartung 53 years ago was coupled with Luigi Dallapiccola’s Volo di notte.
Here is an interview with Baldur Brönnimann on the Clarín website.
Happy Birthday David Fennessy!
A real discovery! (Neue Musikzeitung)
A new CD with orchestral songs by Hans Sommer (1837–1922, born 175 years ago this month) has been emphatically received by the world’s music press.
Elisabeth Kulman, mezzo-soprano
Bo Skovhus, baritone
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Sebastian Weigle
A coproduction with Bavarian Radio
The CD contains Hans Sommer’s Sapphos Gesänge Op. 6, the Goethe-Lieder and other orchestral songs. See our page on Hans Sommer for all the works available, including audio excerpts.
Selected press reviews are available on Elisabeth Kulman’s website.
Happy 85th Birthday Michael Gielen (20.07.2012)
Watch Michael Gielen talking about his relationship to the music of Gustav Mahler in our video interview (in German).
This Sunday
on ARTE TV: Liszt and the Organ
The programme features a performance of Liszt’s Ad nos, ad salutarem undam in the arrangement for organ and orchestra by Marcel Dupré which is published by UE.
Martin Haselböck edited the work for our new edition, and he conducts the performance with Christian Schmitt at the organ and the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern.
If you’re in ARTE territory, you can watch online up to seven days after the broadcast.
The Stiftung pro Musica e Cultura in St. Moritz, Switzerland, is holding a Lied Master Class with Wolfgang Rihm this September.
Visit the Stiftung pro Musica e Cultura website for more information, and download their flyer (PDF) in English and German.
The Kurt Weill Edition has just released its latest volume, Johnny Johnson (Series I, Volume 13), edited by musicologist Tim Carter of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Johnny Johnson marked Weill’s first contribution to the American musical theater. The anti-war musical opened in November 1936 on Broadway, where it enchanted audiences and critics alike. Lee Strasberg directed, and the cast included a young Elia Kazan.
More details about the new edition of Johnny Johnson
In the latest instalment of his Guide to Contemporary Classical Music in the Guardian, Tom Service presents the music of Richard Rodney Bennett.
The image shows the piano reduction of Bennett’s opera Mines of Sulphur.
See also the previous articles on Harrison Birtwistle and Arvo Pärt.
Now available!
Luke Bedford’s new portrait CD has just been released by col legno.
The CD, supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, contains an excellent cross-section of the composer’s output to date.
Listen to excerpts here
Tracklisting
1. Wonderful Two-Headed Nightingale (2011)
for violine solo, viola solo and 15 players
Jonathan Morton (violine), Lawrence Power (viola)
The Scottish Ensemble
2. into Johannesburg:
By the Screen in the Sun at the Hill on the Gold (2008)
für 18 players
Ensemble Modern, conductor: Sian Edwards
3. Chiaroscuro (2002/2005)
for violin, violoncello and piano
Fidelio Trio: Darragh Morgan (violin), Robin Michael (violoncello) and Mary Dullea (piano)
4. Man Shoots Strangers from Skyscraper (2002)
for eight players
Ensemble Modern, conductor: Franck Ollu
5. Or Voit Tout en Aventure (2005–2006)
for soprano and 16 players
Claire Booth (soprano), London Sinfonietta, conductor: Oliver Knussen
Vykintas Baltakas’ music theatre work Cantio will be performed at the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin in January 2013.
Cornelia Heger will direct the stage production, and the composer himself will conduct the Lithuanian Ensemble Network. The production is a cooperation between K&K Kulturmanagement & Kommunikation Berlin, Ultraschall and the Konzerthaus Berlin.
Read more on the composer’s website and download a PDF file of our brochure.