Archive for October, 2009
27 October 2009 at 10:09 pm
· Filed under Concerts ·Tagged Amber Priestley, Chung Shih Hoh, Claudia Molitor, Exaudi, Gwyn Pritchard, Ignacio Agrimbau, James Weeks, Linda Catlin Smith, Stephen Chase
EXAUDI makes a rare appearance in London this week with an eight-voice programme of the newest contemporary music – much of it to be premiered at this performance. EXAUDI are a staggeringly good choir and not to be missed: if you need some persuasion, here’s what I said about their performance last year at the Spitalfields Festival.
The concert is part of Sound and Music’s The Cutting Edge series and takes place at the Warehouse, next Thursday, at 7.30pm.
Chung Shih Hoh: mantra:imagine (2007, UK premiere)
Stephen Chase: from Jandl Songs (2007-)
Gwyn Pritchard: Luchnos (2007, UK premiere)
Ignacio Agrimbau: The Humanist (2009, world premiere)
Amber Priestley: Unloose to the Murmur (2009)
James Weeks: from Mala Punica (2008-9)
Linda Catlin Smith: Her Harbour (2004, UK premiere)
Claudia Molitor: Lorem ipsum (2007)
Concert details
7.30pm, Thursday 29 October 2009 The Warehouse, Theed Street, London SE1 8ST Tickets: £10 on the door or £7 online by following the ‘Book tickets’ link here: http://www.soundandmusic.org/activities/events/exaudi-exposure-09.
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21 October 2009 at 12:39 pm
· Filed under Concerts ·Tagged Richard Barrett, Elliott Carter, ELISION, Evan Johnson, Chris Dench, Aaron Cassidy, Michael Finnissy
ELISION’s next visit to King’s Place is drawing closer: Sum Over Histories features music for two clarinets by the British composers Richard Barrett (a new piece), Chris Dench and Michael Finnissy, the young Americans Aaron Cassidy and Evan Johnson, and the old American Elliott Carter, all performed by Richard Haynes and Carl Rosman.
Haynes and Rosman are two of the best new music clarinettists on the planet, and you can bet that the pieces in this concert will push their skills to the limit. A couple of the pieces were broadcast by ABC in Australia last year and you’re in for a treat: I’m particularly looking forward to hearing Johnson’s Apostrophe 1 (All communication is a form of complaint) – a fragile, fluttering thing – in the flesh. Don’t be dissuaded by this being almost entirely a clarinet duo recital – the range of sounds and colours will be huge.
Here’s a full programme (not currently available at the King’s Place site):
Elliott Carter – Hiyoku (1984) for two clarinets
Chris Dench – sum over histories (2006) for bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet
Richard Barrett – Hypnerotomachia (2009) for two clarinets
Aaron Cassidy – ‘I, purples, spat blood, laugh of beautiful lips’ (2003 – 2006) for voice with live computer-generated pitch material
Michael Finnissy – ‘Marrngu’ (1982) for solo E-flat clarinet
Evan Johnson – Apostrophe 1 (all communication is a form of complaint) (2008) for two bass clarinets
Date: Monday 2 November
Time: 20:00
Venue: Hall Two
Price: From £9.50 (the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket)
Online booking here.
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20 October 2009 at 3:09 pm
· Filed under Concerts, Reviews ·Tagged Darragh Morgan, Frank Corcoran, Gerald Barry, Mary Dullea, Musical Pointers
My review of Darragh Morgan and Mary Dullea playing new Irish music for violin and piano is now online at Musical Pointers:
The first of two concerts of new Irish music for violin and piano brought the leading duo in the field, Darragh Morgan and Mary Dullea, to King’s Place for a selection of works from the more experimental and modernist fringes.
Apart from Gerald Barry’s 1998 the works were mostly short, and they made a varying impression. Frank Corcoran again convinced me that he is a composer who deserves to be better known in this country. Something about his brambly music reminds me of Maderna – not so much in its style, but in its absolute assurance in teasing lyrical forms from its knotty exterior. Quasi una preludio was precisely poised and, even with the introduction of a sean-nós melody at the end, never watered down its acid bite.
Read more here.
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7 October 2009 at 8:59 am
· Filed under Concerts ·Tagged Andrew Hamilton, Benjamin Dwyer, Darragh Morgan, Frank Corcoran, Gerald Barry, Jennifer Walshe, John McLachlan, Mary Dullea, Raymond Deane
This Monday Darragh Morgan and Mary Dullea bring a concert of contemporary Irish works for violin and piano to King’s Place. It’s the first of two violin and piano concerts devoted to new Irish music at the venue (the second, by Ioana Petcu-Colan and Michael McHale, is on 16 November) and promises a wide stylistic mix from the serial to the experimental. As well as Gerald Barry’s ‘feverish stream of consciousness’ 1998, the concert includes world premières by Frank Corcoran, Raymond Deane and Andrew Hamilton, and recent pieces by Benjamin Dwyer, John McLachlan and Jennifer Walshe.
Gerald Barry 1998 ca’20
Raymond Deane New Work ca’5 world premiere
Benjamin Dwyer Movimientos 1 ca’6 UK premiere
John McLachlan Ghost Machine ca’6 UK premiere
Andrew Hamilton violin/piano ca’11 World premiere
Jennifer Walshe Theme from ca’8
Frank Corcoran Quasi Un Preludio (solo violin) ca’2 world premiere
More details and booking info here.
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1 October 2009 at 11:27 am
· Filed under Music ·Tagged Krzysztof Penderecki, Richard Taruskin
I just took delivery of the paperback reprint of volume 5 of The Oxford History of Western Music. You may remember me mouthing off some time ago about Richard Taruskin’s portrayal of Penderecki. Well, I’m very happy (and a teensy bit proud) to report that the offending page has been corrected (with an acknowledgment) in the reprint. You can’t say fairer than that. Thumbs up.
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