Scottish Chamber Orchestra in December - another world premiere

By -
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra starts December with a seasonal treat: a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio conducted by popular SCO guest Richard Egarr (Queen’s Hall Edinburgh: 1 December; City Halls Glasgow: 2 December). Bach’s oratorio was written for performance on six feast days of Christmas during the winter of 1734 and 1735. The Orchestra will perform four of the work’s six cantatas: the first tells of the birth of Jesus; the third of the adoration of the shepherds and the fifth and sixth of the journey and adoration of the Magi. Egarr, who is widely recognised as one of the worlds’ finest Bach interpreters, leads a magnificent cast of British singers: soprano Mhairi Lawson, mezzo Clare Wilkinson, tenor Andrew Staples and bass Andrew Foster-Williams.

Egarr commented: “The Christmas Oratorio, like all of Bach’s cantatas, contains his most personal and most colourful music. Every time I explore a new one of the over 200 cantatas, I’m amazed at the world that Bach creates in these pieces. You can always discover wonderful musical cores with the Christmas Oratorio cantatas, all 6 of them are fantastic and very different.”

Composer Haflidi Hallgrimsson – born in Iceland but long a resident of Edinburgh – celebrates his 70th birthday this year. His links with the SCO stretch back over many years: he was Principal Cellist with the Orchestra for 6 years until 1983, and, since he turned to composition full-time, it has premiered a number of his works and recorded his Cello Concertos with the great Norwegian soloist Truls Mørk. To mark his 70th, the Orchestra is joined by Jennifer Pike, BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2002, for the world premiere of his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Op 46 (commissioned by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra). Spanish conductor Enrique Mazzola frames the new work with two Nordic treasures: Sibelius’ atmospheric and very successful theatre score for King Kristian II and Grieg’s youthful Symphony in C. The concerts take place at St Andrews’ Younger Hall: 7 December, Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall: 8 December and Glasgow City Halls: on 9 December.

Hallgrimsson said: “In my new violin concerto the soloist is as ‘busy as a bee’, gradually introducing a string of varied ideas that are later revisited and made to ‘bloom’ whenever possible. The orchestra supports the soloist by providing a climate of rich and finely graded harmonies, but makes its presence felt now and then in short sonorous tuttis. In short; a virtuosic violin concerto written specially for a young brilliant soloist in a form, best described as a large ‘fluid rondo’.”

The Orchestra spreads some pre-Christmas joy in its final concerts of the year, with a delightful celebration of the music of Mozart directed by Alexander Janiczek (Glasgow City Halls: 16 December, Edinburgh Queen’s Hall: 17 December). A native of Salzburg who has lived and breathed this music from an early age, Janiczek brings an extraordinary stylishness and musicality to this repertoire. He is reunited with SCO Principal Viola Jane Atkins for the Sinfonia Concertante, a musical pairing which drew considerable acclaim when they last performed together

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Acclaimed Fauré Quartett returns to Deutsche Grammophon with their first recording of Brahms

By -
Image
The Fauré Quartett continues to add authoritative recordings to the chamber music catalog with their new recording of two Brahms quartets, available from Deutsche Grammophon on January 12, 2010. These large, some say symphonic, works test the limits of technical and musical capabilities, and the Fauré Quartett once again proves why they are one of the most acclaimed ensembles performing today. Within a short period of time the Fauré Quartett has conquered the great concert halls of London , Paris , Berlin , Amsterdam , Brussels , Geneva , Hamburg , Frankfurt, Milan , Buenos Aires , Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere. “They attract superlatives wherever they go,” wrote The Strad following a concert at London ’s Wigmore Hall, while the Süddeutsche Zeitung praised them for a performance that “brought tremendous pleasure by highlighting interpretative details that had scarcely ever been heard before”. The Fauré Quartett strives to achieve a unique sound for Brahms (as indeed for every work)
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more