Messiaen
London Symphony Orchestra, Rattle, Barbican HallTuesday, 08 March 2011
Sir Simon Rattle's intriguing return to the London Symphony Orchestra podium after years away threw up a curious thought: what happens after Berlin? The fate of six of his eight predecessors at the Berlin Phil has been death on the job. Was... Read more... |
These Go To Eleven: The Problem of Noisy OrchestrasSunday, 03 October 2010
“Last summer we played a gala performance at the London Coliseum which included extracts from Spartacus, and most of the brass players wore earplugs because the music was relentlessly loud,” says Paul Murphy, Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet... Read more... |
London Sinfonietta, George Benjamin, QEHMonday, 08 February 2010
To find a single completely successful piece in a contemporary music programme is rare enough. The sieve of time has yet to separate the wheat from the chaff. But to find complete satisfaction in all five pieces programmed, and for all five pieces... Read more... |
Joanna MacGregor, Howard Assembly Room, LeedsSunday, 20 December 2009
Joanna MacGregor walks on stage purposefully, clutching a manuscript of paving-slab dimensions, promptly sits down and starts to play, smiling. The opening measures of Messiaen’s Regard du Père steal in gently, and for the next 120 minutes we are... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Composer George CrumbSunday, 29 November 2009
George Crumb (b.1929) is one of the great American experimental composers of the 20th century. His delicate scores are characterised by a child-like sense of wonder and an array of instrumentation that appears to have hitched a ride from outer... Read more... |
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