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  • About
  • Patrons
  • The Lists
    • List of compositions reviewed on 5:4
    • List of albums and EPs reviewed on 5:4
    • Festivals reviewed on 5:4
    • Best Albums of the Years
    • The Proms premières – Poll results
    • Complete list of ratings
  • Mixtapes, etc.
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Submission Contact Form
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Festivals

  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: John Luther Adams – In the Name of the Earth (European Première); Louis Andriessen – The Only One (UK Première); Freya Waley-Cohen – Naiad (World Première)

    by 5:4 September 9, 2019 • 18:45
    September 9, 2019 • 18:45

    The latest crop of premières at the Proms have encompassed extremes of scale and duration. John Luther Adams‘ In the Name of the Earth received its first European performance at the Royal Albert Hall yesterday by no fewer than eight choirs, comprising 700 singers. At a little over three quarters of…

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2019: pre-première questions with Freya Waley-Cohen

    by 5:4 September 9, 2019 • 06:00
    September 9, 2019 • 06:00

    This afternoon’s Prom, the last of this season’s concerts at Cadogan Hall, features the newly-formed Knussen Chamber Orchestra. Alongside various works by the man himself, there’s also the world première of a short new work by one of Knussen’s former students, Freya Waley-Cohen. In preparation for that, here are her…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Dobrinka Tabakova – Timber & Steel; Linda Catlin Smith – Nuages (World Premières)

    by 5:4 September 3, 2019 • 20:04
    September 3, 2019 • 20:04

    i’ve often wondered whether, in music today, energy and complexity tend to be mutually exclusive. The whole ‘clocks and clouds’ dichotomy: regularity versus ambiguity, pulse versus drift, clarity versus obfuscation. This is certainly one of the considerations that arises from the latest pair of Proms premières: Dobrinka Tabakova‘s Timber &…

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2019: pre-première questions with Linda Catlin Smith

    by 5:4 September 1, 2019 • 06:00
    September 1, 2019 • 06:00

    This evening’s Prom concert, given by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov, opens with the world première of a new work, Nuages, by US composer Linda Catlin Smith. In preparation for that, here are her answers to my pre-première questions, plus the programme note for the piece.…

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2019: pre-première questions with Dobrinka Tabakova

    by 5:4 August 31, 2019 • 06:00
    August 31, 2019 • 06:00

    This evening’s Prom concert, given by the BBC Concerto Orchestra, is another tribute marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Wood, founder and first conductor of the Proms. In addition to various piece premièred or orchestrated by Wood, the concert includes the world première of a new work,…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Jocelyn Pook – You Need to Listen to Us; Alissa Firsova – Red Fox; Ryan Wigglesworth – Piano Concerto (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 29, 2019 • 16:53
    August 29, 2019 • 16:53

    A few weeks back, when critiquing Hans Zimmer’s short work Earth, i almost held back from writing about the piece as it was taking place in a concert for children. i couldn’t help wondering to what extent it was fair to hold up something so intentionally superficial to critical scrutiny.…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Dieter Ammann – Piano Concerto (“Gran Toccata”) (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 23, 2019 • 13:05
    August 23, 2019 • 13:05

    None of the premières so far at this year’s Proms has left me with a more conflicted first impression than Dieter Ammann‘s new Piano Concerto, given its first performance on Monday by Andreas Haefliger with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo. The basis for that reaction is wrapped…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Errollyn Wallen – This Frame is Part of the Painting; Joanna Lee – At this man’s hand; Jonathan Dove – We Are One Fire (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 21, 2019 • 15:09
    August 21, 2019 • 15:09

    Three of the last four world premières at the Proms have been vocal works, two of them for unaccompanied choir, the other for voice and orchestra. One of the choral works, Jonathan Dove‘s We Are One Fire, was commissioned as a birthday present for the 90th anniversary of the BBC…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Pictured Within: Birthday Variations for M. C. B. (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 20, 2019 • 19:22
    August 20, 2019 • 19:22

    A week ago, the Proms saw the world première of a new work by no fewer than 14 composers. Conceived by conductor Martyn Brabbins as a 60th birthday present to himself, the piece is inspired by, and modelled on, the structure and character of Elgar’s Enigma Variations. For this new…

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2019: pre-première questions with Joanna Lee

    by 5:4 August 17, 2019 • 06:00
    August 17, 2019 • 06:00

    This afternoon’s Prom moves away from the Royal Albert Hall to Holy Sepulchre church, for a concert given by the BBC Singers. The programme is an all-English selection of works, finishing with the world première of At this man’s hand by Joanna Lee. In anticipation of that, and to provide…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Benjamin Beckman – Occidentalis (European Première); Detlev Glanert – Weites Land (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 13, 2019 • 17:20
    August 13, 2019 • 17:20

    Until last Sunday, among the new works premièred at the Proms there hadn’t been what we’re all used to hearing: namely, a short, ebullient romp that gets a concert up and running. And then, a couple of days ago, the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, directed by Antonio Pappano,…

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  • ConcertsFestivals

    Summartónar 2019 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 August 12, 2019 • 15:56
    August 12, 2019 • 15:56

    As i previously remarked, one of the most (and one of the only) disappointing things about my first experience of the Faroe Islands’ Summartónar festival was the almost complete lack of music by Faroese composers. The inclusion of Kristian Blak – artistic director of the festival – mitigated that to…

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2019: pre-première questions with Benjamin Beckman

    by 5:4 August 11, 2019 • 06:00
    August 11, 2019 • 06:00

    This morning’s Prom concert, given by the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, features the first European performance of Occidentalis by one of the orchestra’s Apprentice Composers, Benjamin Beckman. To provide some background and context, here are his answers to my pre-première questions, along with the programme note for the piece.…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Huw Watkins – The Moon (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 10, 2019 • 18:33
    August 10, 2019 • 18:33

    There are times when it seems the Proms is incapable of commissioning a new work without foisting upon the composer some theme or connection that they are required to incorporate into the piece. The festival’s ongoing theme commemorating the 50th anniversary of the moon landings was brought to bear on yet…

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  • ConcertsFestivals

    Summartónar 2019 (Part 1)

    by 5:4 August 7, 2019 • 16:26
    August 7, 2019 • 16:26

    When did you last listen to music from the Faroe Islands? Who’s your favourite Faroese composer or group? For many, i suspect, those questions would likely be impossible to answer, and until recently – with the big exception of Eivør, one of my very favourite singers – i would have been…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Outi Tarkiainen – Midnight Sun Variations (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 6, 2019 • 12:55
    August 6, 2019 • 12:55

    Composers generally tend to shy away from admitting their music to be overtly autobiographical, but in the case of the latest Proms première, by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen, the piece is a clear extension – a manifestation, even – of the composer’s way of experiencing the world. In her answers…

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  • FestivalsInterviews

    Proms 2019: pre-première questions with Outi Tarkiainen

    by 5:4 August 4, 2019 • 06:00
    August 4, 2019 • 06:00

    This evening’s Prom, given by the BBC Philharmonic, includes the world première of Midnight Sun Variations by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen. In anticipation of that, here are her answers to my pre-première questions, along with the programme note of the piece. Many thanks to Outi for her responses.

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Peter Eötvös – Alhambra; Tobias Broström – Nigredo: Dark Night of the Soul (UK Premières)

    by 5:4 July 30, 2019 • 17:23
    July 30, 2019 • 17:23

    The last two premières at the Proms have both been concertos: Alhambra, the third violin concerto by Peter Eötvös, and Nigredo: Dark Night of the Soul, a double-trumpet concerto by Swedish composer Tobias Broström. It’s been interesting to note how their overall approach to narrative is, at a fundamental level…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Anna Þorvaldsdóttir – Metacosmos (UK Première)

    by 5:4 July 29, 2019 • 17:10
    July 29, 2019 • 17:10

    Performed last Monday by an orchestra combining students from the Royal Academy of Music and the Juilliard School, conducted by Edward Gardner, Anna Þorvaldsdóttir‘s Metacosmos is a work i know quite well. Anna and i discussed it at length during our Dialogue together, and i explored the piece further following…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Hans Zimmer – Earth; Alexia Sloane – Earthward (World Premières)

    by 5:4 July 26, 2019 • 11:52
    July 26, 2019 • 11:52

    The most significant love-hate musical relationship of my life has been – and continues to be – with film scores. Few idioms have the power to elevate, charm, horrify, astonish and amaze us more while at the same time displaying the irresistible propensity to eschew all originality and imagination in…

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Nils Henrik Asheim: Lydkilder Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices Music Beyond Airports: appraising ambient music Simon Cummings | 間 Studies vol. 6

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