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orchestra

  • Advent CalendarPremières

    Maria Rostovtseva – Calcium Cooke 1959 (World Première)

    by 5:4 December 9, 2024 • 06:00
    December 9, 2024 • 06:00

    i’ve heard many wonderful things during my numerous trips to Estonia during the last decade, but today’s Advent Calendar piece is one of the most memorable of them all. That may seem strange considering it’s done and dusted in under four minutes, but its brevity is one of the prime …

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  • Advent CalendarPremières

    Electra Perivolaris – A Forest Reawakens (World Première)

    by 5:4 December 2, 2024 • 06:00
    December 2, 2024 • 06:00

    It might seem a bit seasonally early, but the title of today’s Advent Calendar piece is, i suspect, to be taken figuratively. A Forest Reawakens by Electra Perivolaris is a short but potent orchestral work that articulates what one could read as the beginnings of a process of rebirth or …

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  • Advent Calendar

    C Duncan – Dance from a Distance

    by 5:4 December 1, 2024 • 06:00
    December 1, 2024 • 06:00

    It’s 1 December, and the festive season is distantly hoving into view, the perfect time for another 5:4 Advent Calendar, featuring 25 days of sonic wonders, curiosities, trifles and delights. The first of these baubles is Dance from a Distance, a miniature orchestral bit of fun from one of my …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    AFEKT 2024 (Part 1)

    by 5:4 November 11, 2024 • 16:19
    November 11, 2024 • 16:19

    While the theoretical theme of this year’s AFEKT festival was music theatre, in practice what was projected strongest was intimacy, in terms of one-to-one communication. This was due to the fact that the festival focused primarily on solo performances given by, among others, members of Ensemble Musikfabrik, and even in …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Rolf Wallin – Five Seasons / Whirld / Stride / Spirit

    by 5:4 October 14, 2024 • 09:53
    October 14, 2024 • 09:53

    i recently had cause to remark on the pro / con nature of portrait discs, and here we are again, with a new album of music by Norwegian composer Rolf Wallin. i’ve often been impressed by Wallin’s work, never more so than in his large scale collaborative work The Otheroom, …

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  • AnnouncementsPremières

    Leif Segerstam – Symphony No. 344 “Saluting a royal soul…”, bordercrossingly… (World Première)

    by 5:4 October 10, 2024 • 12:47
    October 10, 2024 • 12:47

    i want to pay a brief tribute to Finnish conductor and composer Leif Segerstam, who died yesterday at the age of 80. As i noted a few years ago, i’m not a conductor fanboy, but Segerstam was one of the few who consistently got me excited every time he was …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2024: the premières (Part 3)

    by 5:4 September 23, 2024 • 11:42
    September 23, 2024 • 11:42

    It was only a few weeks ago that i was exploring music that took its inspirational origin from grandparental reminiscences. Then, the subject matter was dead fishermen, whereas this time it’s … cows. That might not seem a particularly promising starting point for a new song cycle, and yet Laulut …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2024: the premières (Part 2)

    by 5:4 September 20, 2024 • 06:00
    September 20, 2024 • 06:00

    Thomas Adès has always tended to be as qualitatively erratic as he is consistently overhyped, but his new orchestral piece Aquifer finds him back on the right side of accomplishment. The title refers to a subterranean stratum through which water can flow, and it’s a superb descriptor for both the …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2024: the premières (Part 1)

    by 5:4 September 17, 2024 • 11:44
    September 17, 2024 • 11:44

    Wow, what a shitshow. Something occurred to me, while spending time with the first cluster of noxious specimens being given world, European or UK premières at this year’s Proms. In contrast to the notion of lying by omission, conveying a falsehood via things we don’t say, i realised that to …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Bára Gísladóttir – Orchestral Works; Growl Power

    by 5:4 September 3, 2024 • 15:52
    September 3, 2024 • 15:52

    Portrait albums can be a double-edged sword. They’re obviously a great opportunity to present a showcase of someone’s work. Hardly surprising, then, that for many composers, securing that first album devoted to their music is regarded as an important, even vital step on the path toward something that might approximate …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Grażyna Bacewicz – Complete Symphonic Works Vol. 2; Orchestral Works, Vol. 1

    by 5:4 June 14, 2024 • 11:54
    June 14, 2024 • 11:54

    It was a little under a year ago that the CPO label brought out the first volume in their new series exploring the Complete Symphonic Works of Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz. As i pointed out in my review, they effectively jumped into her music halfway through, beginning in the early …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Baltic & Estonian Music Days 2024 (Part 3)

    by 5:4 May 26, 2024 • 09:10
    May 26, 2024 • 09:10

    The opening weekend of this year’s Baltic & Estonian Music Days featured the final concert of their annual Young Composer competition, now in its tenth year. It was encouraging to witness that most rare of phenomena: the genuinely best works being the ones receiving the awards. All of the music …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Gloria Coates – Time Frozen – Works for Chamber Orchestra

    by 5:4 April 19, 2024 • 16:34
    April 19, 2024 • 16:34

    This time last year I was deeply immersed in the music of Gloria Coates. preparing for the Dialogue we were planning to record in July. It still fills me with deep sadness that Gloria’s cancer got to her before we could get together, but it’s been nice to see a …

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  • InterviewsThe Dialogues

    The Dialogues: Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes

    by 5:4 April 10, 2024 • 09:29
    April 10, 2024 • 09:29

    i’m thrilled to be presenting the latest instalment in my occasional series The Dialogues. On this occasion, i’m sitting down with Estonian composer Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes, whose music i’ve been marvelling at ever since first contact at the 2017 Estonian Music Days. We got together at my rented apartment in Tallinn’s …

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  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Allan Pettersson – Complete Edition: Final works, 1979-80

    by 5:4 March 30, 2024 • 06:00
    March 30, 2024 • 06:00

    Symphony No. 16 (1979) Allan Pettersson’s final completed work shares some similarities to Violin Concerto No. 2, inasmuch as it blurs the distinction between symphony and concerto. Pettersson went as far as to describe the concerto as “a symphony for violin and orchestra”, and it’s tempting to regard Symphony No. …

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  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Allan Pettersson – Complete Edition: Symphonies Nos. 14-15, 1978

    by 5:4 March 26, 2024 • 06:00
    March 26, 2024 • 06:00

    Somewhat incredibly, for a man crippled by rheumatoid arthritis and essentially confined to his apartment (four floors above ground level without an elevator), Allan Pettersson managed to begin and complete his next two symphonies within a single year.

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  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Allan Pettersson – Complete Edition: Symphony No. 13, Violin Concerto No. 2, 1976-77

    by 5:4 March 22, 2024 • 06:00
    March 22, 2024 • 06:00

    Symphony No. 13 (1976) In the first part of this Lent Series, i remarked on the sorry fact that most of the admittedly sparse commentary on Pettersson’s music has invariably adopted the stance that it is all bleak, tragic and full of despair. Several of the preceding works i’ve explored …

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  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Allan Pettersson – Complete Edition: Symphony No. 12, Vox Humana, 1973-74

    by 5:4 March 18, 2024 • 06:00
    March 18, 2024 • 06:00

    Symphony No. 12 “De döda på torget” (1973-1974) When Allan Pettersson began work on his Twelfth Symphony, it had been nearly 30 years since he had set text to music (in the 24 Barfotasånger, completed in 1945). He turned to the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, selecting nine poems that would …

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  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Allan Pettersson – Complete Edition: Symphonies Nos. 10-11, Symfonisk sats, 1971-73

    by 5:4 March 15, 2024 • 06:00
    March 15, 2024 • 06:00

    Symphony No. 10 (1971-1972) Not since Harrison Birtwistle’s Exody have i had so much trepidation writing about an orchestral piece. Pettersson’s Symphony No. 10 picks up the baton from No. 9 and doesn’t just run with it, but positively sprints for a full 25 minutes. That in itself makes the …

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  • CD/Digital releasesLent Series

    Allan Pettersson – Complete Edition: Symphonies Nos. 8-9, 1968-70

    by 5:4 March 11, 2024 • 06:00
    March 11, 2024 • 06:00

    Symphony No. 8 (1968-1969) Allan Pettersson’s previous two symphonies, though structured as single movements, both featured what amounts to two distinct sections. Symphony No. 8 is the same, though here Pettersson explicitly divides the work into two movements. This is an interesting decision, as it can easily be argued that, …

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5:4
  • About
    • Other writings
  • Patrons
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    • Listening History
    • Complete List of Ratings
    • Compositions explored on 5:4
    • Albums and EPs reviewed on 5:4
    • Festivals reviewed on 5:4
    • Best Albums of the Years
    • The Proms premières – Poll results
  • The Dialogues
  • Mixtapes
    • Mixtapes
    • The Isolation Mixtapes
    • Mystery Mixtapes
    • Podcasts
  • Contact
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