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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #195 on: 19:08:29, 25-08-2008 » |
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The Essay - Vaughan Williams in the BBC Archives
Three 15 minute broadcasts, R3, at 23.00 hrs on:
Monday, 25 August: RVW, 1950, talks about how Bach's music should be performed.
Tuesday,26 August RVW, 1954, pays tribute to his fellow composer, Gustav Holst.
Thursday,28 August RVW, 1955, talks about his teacher, Sir Hubert Parry.
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Antheil
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« Reply #196 on: 10:20:57, 30-08-2008 » |
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A cut and paste from the Controller's September newsletter:
"On September 20th, we are broadcasting Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with a cast including Susan Bickley and Sir Willard White, directed by H.K. Gruber, and the following Saturday the Mariinsky Opera with Valery Gergiev in a critically acclaimed performance of Szymanowski’s King Roger."
I don't know King Roger at all so am looking foward to that.
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #197 on: 10:28:30, 30-08-2008 » |
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You'll love the first act especially, Anty, for its recreation of a sort of Byzantine chant, (like the Rachmaninov Vespers on spice, maybe). The music goes in different directions thereafter, which may or may not have the same effect on you.
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #198 on: 13:25:56, 30-08-2008 » |
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Anty, I was introduced to "King Roger" in the late 70s when ENO gave - I'm treading on memory now - a limited number of performances sponsored by the Friends of...but, most of all, it was my entry into the world of Szymanowski. It is only a few months since I acquired a 4CD set which included King Roger, Sym 3 & 4, Violin Concertos, Orchestral Songs, Stabat Mater and Harnasie. King Roger conducted by Simon Rattle/CBSO: Thomas Hampson, Elzbieta Szmtka, Philip Langridge and Ryszard Minkiewicz - a distinguished gathering. The set was available at HMV for £15. The Met broadcast is now on my list.
I assume that the Mahagonny broadcast is a recording of the recent Edinburgh Festival concert
staging. Mixed reviews. "Sadly, Mahagonny turned out to be a dud, despite the topicality of its scabrous critique of capitalism at a time of economic crisis. Limply conducted by the maverick Austrian composer HK Gruber, the performance suffered from the woolly singing of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and a soft-grained Anglo-Saxon cast of soloists, unable to give Brecht and Weill's subversive songs the rasping edge they require." Perhaps I'll opt for my recording with Lotte Lenya! Her rasp is three dimensional.
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Antheil
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« Reply #199 on: 14:21:47, 30-08-2008 » |
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Ron and Stanley,
I have managed to have a bit of a listen to King Roger at Amazon and like the Byzantine opening particularly. Szymanowski I have to confess total ignorance of, might have a bit of a search to see if any bargains are about.
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #200 on: 15:01:55, 30-08-2008 » |
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I am listening to a very good program now.
Radio 3 Cadogan Hall, London. Presented by Suzy Klein.
Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques perform works of the French Baroque, with solo cantatas by Monteclair and Rameau reflecting the intimacy of chamber-music evenings at the court of Versailles as well as a touching 'air de cour' by Michel Lambert and Couperin's depictions of a nightingale.
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BobbyZ
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« Reply #201 on: 22:05:53, 30-08-2008 » |
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I assume that the Mahagonny broadcast is a recording of the recent Edinburgh Festival concert
staging. Mixed reviews. "Sadly, Mahagonny turned out to be a dud, despite the topicality of its scabrous critique of capitalism at a time of economic crisis. Limply conducted by the maverick Austrian composer HK Gruber, the performance suffered from the woolly singing of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and a soft-grained Anglo-Saxon cast of soloists, unable to give Brecht and Weill's subversive songs the rasping edge they require."
If that's a mixed review Stanley, I wouldn't like to get a poor one ! |
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Dreams, schemes and themes
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #202 on: 23:03:53, 03-09-2008 » |
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Primarily for Mary C, but also for anyone else with an interest in Britten's vocal music: after the Proms repeat tomorrow afternoon, there's a forty-five minute slot at 16:15 which ends with a performance of Winter Words sung by Robert Murray, the tenor who made such a great job of Our Hunting Fathers from scratch and at very short notice at last year's Aldeburgh Festival (or was it the year before?). On his showing in those awkward circumstances, definitely one to watch out for.
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time_is_now
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« Reply #203 on: 08:36:30, 07-09-2008 » |
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It is only a few months since I acquired a 4CD set which included King Roger, Sym 3 & 4, Violin Concertos, Orchestral Songs, Stabat Mater and Harnasie. King Roger conducted by Simon Rattle/CBSO: Thomas Hampson, Elzbieta Szmtka, Philip Langridge and Ryszard Minkiewicz - a distinguished gathering. The set was available at HMV for £15. Stanley, I had wondered about buying this. I have EMI's original single-CD issue of the instrumental works but I don't have King Roger. It might be worth it at that sort of price, despite the duplications. What booklet notes does the 4CD set contain? Does it also contain the original notes, or have they all been replaced by new material (I've a feeling Julian Anderson told me he'd written something for it, but I don't know if this was a supplement or a replacement)? Does it include the libretto for King Roger? |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #204 on: 17:58:49, 10-09-2008 » |
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Just a quick warning that tonight's Prom begins at 18:30, not the usual 19:30 (or even 19:00).
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stuart macrae
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« Reply #205 on: 18:10:02, 10-09-2008 » |
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Ta Ron, was meaning to record that one.
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #206 on: 19:20:46, 19-09-2008 » |
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# 203 Apologies, tinners, I've just read your message.
The 96 page booklet contains notes by Julian Anderson, 2008, covering the items in the boxset.
Additionally, full libretto for King Roger, Harnasie, Songs of a Fairy-tale Princess, Love Songs of Hafiz,
Stabat Mater, Litany to the Virgin Mary and Symphony No 3, Song of the Night.
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time_is_now
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« Reply #207 on: 21:06:11, 19-09-2008 » |
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Thanks, Stanley! Exactly what I wanted to know ... (And yes, I did wonder if you'd missed my post before! But all's well that ends well.  ) |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #208 on: 18:20:24, 07-10-2008 » |
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Tonight's Performance on 3 is the first of two concerts on successive nights from the LSO's Émigré series which I attended at the Barbican last month. tonight, Rachmaninov's 1st and 3rd symphonies; tomorrow, the 2nd.
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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Antheil
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« Reply #209 on: 19:58:54, 17-10-2008 » |
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This is from the email I get from Music Matters, it may be of interest to some but I did not wish to start a new thread about John Adams. If the Mods think enough interest they can move it.
"John Adams’ musical autobiography ‘Hallelujah Junction’ is published this month - and he joins me in the studio. This weekend sees a new staging of his opera Dr Atomic at the Met in New York - so does this mean Adams - the ultimate north Californian musical liberal, is now part of the establishment ? It seems not. Adams tells me he believes that, thanks to his controversial opera ‘Death of Klinghoffer’, he is now on a US homeland security list, which means he is taken away and questioned every time he checks in at an airport: ‘Many artists, and many thoughtful people in the country are being followed’, he says. It’s a wide ranging interview that also covers collaborators (including Peter Sellars), Adams’ battles with the musical avante garde, and his journey from the east coast (where he grew up) to the blue seas of the west. We also bring together a trio of authors - to discuss their own subject - and review each others books. David Huckvale has written a study of the musical radicals who wrote for the Hammer horror film studio; Adrian Wright is author of the first biography of William Alwyn, the prolific, successful, but ultimately bitter English composer - and Peter Dickinson’s subject is the flamboyant, eccentric writer, painter and composer Lord Berners"
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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