The Silver Tassie BBC SO Wigglesworth
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
★★★★★   The BBC Symphony’s Total Immersion weekend looked like a conceptual nightmare on paper – a contemporary music festival to commemorate the First World War? – but this centrepiece proved inspired programming. Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie, based on the 1928 anti-war play by Seán O’Casey, libretto by Amanda Holden, was written in the late 90s for English National Opera. It was soon taken up by companies in Ireland and Germany, but the most recent performance anywhere was the ENO revival in 2002. It is a big opera, and no doubt expensive to stage, but, as this performanc ..read more
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Visit to Teldex Studios Berlin
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
I’m just back from a weekend in Berlin, to interview Antoine Tamestit about his recording of Jörg Widmann’s Viola Concerto – look out for the feature in the February 2018 issue of The Strad. While there, I got the opportunity to sit in on recording sessions for the coupling on the CD, Tamestit’s arrangements of Widmann’s Violin and Cello Duos, some viola and cello, others for violin and viola. Much of my work involves writing and editing reviews of classical recordings, but most talk about the actual production process is speculative, so the visit to Teldex Studios proved very interesting ..read more
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Schnittke Studies – Second Review
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
I’ve just received another excellent review for our Schnittke Studies volume, this time by Ivan Moody in the Musicological Annual. Thanks Ivan for your perceptive reading and encouraging words, and for the contributions to my (still mercifully brief!) errata list. (The review can be found here in pdf for easier reading ..read more
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Schnittke Studies – First Review
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
I’m more used to reviewing than being reviewed, so I’ve been awaiting coverage of our Schnittke Studies volume with some trepidation. But if this first review is anything to go by, I needn’t have worried. It’s by Ian Power and appears in the July 2017 issue of Tempo (Vol. 71, Issue 281, pp. 114-115). Thanks to Ian for his sympathetic and perceptive reading. I’m particularly pleased that his judgement throughout is framed in relation to the book’s stated aims. I hope CUP don’t mind my reproducing the whole review here - if anyone from the publisher is reading this and does take issue, drop ..read more
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Between the Lands: Alexander Ivashkin Remembered – Conference Report
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
This conference was convened to celebrate the legacy of Professor Alexander Ivashkin, and its two days seemed woefully brief, given his huge range of interests and activities. We left with the feeling that even a week would have barely scratched the surface. Fortunately, the papers and recitals at least touched on every important aspect of his career, giving a good overview of his research and performing interests. The event was hosted by Goldsmiths, where Ivashkin served for many years as Chair of Performance and Postgraduate Studies as well as Director of the Centre for Russian Music ..read more
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NEW OPERAS IN 2017
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
A quick round-up of the new operas being presented by major houses in the year ahead. Some fascinating projects here. I’ll do my best to get to the British ones, and look forward to reading reviews of the others. If I’ve missed anything important, please post a link in the comments. Thanks. FEBRUARY Scartazzini: Edward II. Deutsche Oper Berlin Librettist Thomas Jonigk has adapted Marlowe’s Edward II for Swiss composer Andrea Scartazzini, and the result is an exploration of society’s attitudes towards homosexuality, in the 14th century and today. Expect atmospheric, minimalist stagecraft from ..read more
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Raskatov Green Mass London Philharmonic Jurowski
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 Raskatov: Green Mass (world premiere) Elena Vassilieva soprano Iestyn Davies countertenor Mark Padmore tenor Nikolay Didenko bass Clare College Choir, Cambridge Vladimir Jurowski conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra Alexander Raskatov (pictured above, image M.F. Plissart) is best known in the UK for his opera A Dog’s Heart, staged at ENO in 2010. The music there is anarchic, stylistically diverse and bleakly comical at every turn. But there is another side to the composer, a spiritual depth that informs his religious music, especially his choral works. The st ..read more
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BOULEZ IS DEAD
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
“To take a stand regarding Schoenberg?” So Boulez began the famous diatribe against his predecessor, written soon enough after his death to add a calculated sense of disrespect. Now Boulez himself has left us, and, just as in 1951, the event feels like the ending of an era: Whatever the manifold achievements of the two men, their greatest historical legacy is to have defined their times. But the difference in attitude is revealing. If we write “To take a stand regarding Boulez” no question mark is necessary. He made it his life’s work to define a polemic in which you were either wit ..read more
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Opera Looks Expensive
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
Opera is perceived as expensive, when actually it’s not. From out outreach perspective, it’s a lose-lose situation, and something the whole culture needs to address. Several bloggers have been writing on this subject recently, mostly in response to a television interview, in which Gavin Esler posed questions to Jonas Kaufmann based on the assumption of opera’s expense. @chaconato has done sterling work in demonstrating that opera tickets are not expensive, and that in fact they are relatively cheap.  So clearly this is an image problem. Bob Shingleton agrees. He thinks one of the culpri ..read more
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Lebrecht, Sokolov…and Sokolov’s wife
Orpheus Complex
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3y ago
Grigory Sokolov’s refusal of the Cremona Award, on account its having previously been presented to Norman Lebrecht, has generated much debate about the cause of their antagonism. Some have speculated that it’s a result of a blogpost Lebrecht wrote in 2013 questioning Sokolov’s greatness on the curious grounds of his not being willing to perform in the UK. But a reply to my previouspost on this story, from one ‘ADGO’, points to a more compelling reason. Here is the message in full: “As Lebrecht refused to post my comment on his blog Slippedisc, I will copy-paste it here for all to read. He c ..read more
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