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Proms 2015

  • CommentFestivalsPremières

    Proms 2015: the premières – how you voted

    by 5:4 September 27, 2015 • 18:05
    September 27, 2015 • 18:05

    Many thanks for all of your votes on this year’s Proms premières. Having closed the polls yesterday, i’ve crunched the numbers a few different ways and here’s a summary of what you, my esteemed readers, had to say about this year’s offerings.

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    Proms 2015: Eleanor Alberga – Arise, Athena! (World Première)

    by 5:4 September 13, 2015 • 15:42
    September 13, 2015 • 15:42

    New music at the Proms, and the season itself, came to an end at yesterday’s Last Night, with the world première of Jamaican-born composer Eleanor Alberga’s brief concert-opener Arise, Athena!, performed by the BBC Symphony Chorus with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop. According to the composer, the …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2015: B. Tommy Andersson – Pan; Guy Barker – The Lanterne of Light (World Premières)

    by 5:4 September 8, 2015 • 10:22
    September 8, 2015 • 10:22

    Homage, allusion and evocation have all been heavily foregrounded in many of this year’s Proms premières, and the most recent pair are in no way an exception. Swedish composer B. Tommy Andersson has turned to the Greek god Pan for inspiration in his eponymous latest work for organ and orchestra …

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    Proms 2015: Christian Mason – Open to Infinity: A Grain of Sand (UK Première)

    by 5:4 September 7, 2015 • 15:38
    September 7, 2015 • 15:38

    One of the smaller Proms premières, Christian Mason‘s Open to Infinity: A Grain of Sand was commissioned as a part of this year’s 90th birthday celebrations for Pierre Boulez. Fittingly, its world première was given by Boulez’s very own Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Lucerne Festival; its first UK performance at …

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    Proms 2015: Anders Hillborg – Beast Sampler (UK Première); Raymond Yiu – Symphony; Alissa Firsova – Bergen’s Bonfire (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 30, 2015 • 15:42
    August 30, 2015 • 15:42

    The latest spate of Proms premières have made for an interesting contrast in terms of abstract versus concrete ideas. At the former end of the continuum—where else would you find him?—was Anders Hillborg and his latest orchestral piece Beast Sampler; at the latter end was Raymond Yiu‘s Symphony, a large-scale …

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    Proms 2015: Michael Finnissy – Janne (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 18, 2015 • 17:27
    August 18, 2015 • 17:27

    Three years ago i remarked how the performance of Michael Finnissy‘s Piano Concerto No. 2 was only the composer’s second appearance at the Proms, opining that “one can only hope he will be much better represented in years to come; he is truly one of our best”. It’s therefore wonderful …

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    Proms 2015: Bertram Wee – Dithyrambs (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 16, 2015 • 21:55
    August 16, 2015 • 21:55

    If there’s one thing that pretty much all of the new works at the Proms tend to suffer a lack of, it’s humility; that’s not to suggest this is down to their respective composers (in most cases), but the act of presenting a première usually finds itself festooned in generous …

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    Proms 2015: Jonathan Newman – Blow It Up, Start Again; Eric Whitacre – Deep Field (European Premières)

    by 5:4 August 15, 2015 • 07:14
    August 15, 2015 • 07:14

    Composers say one thing; their music does something else. It’s nice when the two fit together, or at least fall broadly into the same conceptual and/or aesthetic ballpark. But they don’t always. Not by a long chalk.

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2015: Colin Matthews – String Quartet No. 5 (European Première); James MacMillan – Symphony No. 4 (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 14, 2015 • 08:00
    August 14, 2015 • 08:00

    At the start of last week, the Proms saw important premières from two veterans of new music, Colin Matthews and James MacMillan. Both composers have a demonstrative relationship with music from earlier times, producing work that often seeks to find a comfortable marriage of old and new, looking back and …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2015: Luke Bedford – Instability; Anna Meredith – Smatter Hauler (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 13, 2015 • 08:12
    August 13, 2015 • 08:12

    Stability, progression, continuity, predictability, coherence: these concepts jostle, intermingle and regularly find themselves redefined in a lot of new music. And in two recent Proms premières, they felt overtly prominent, Luke Bedford‘s Instability and Anna Meredith‘s Smatter Hauler. This prominence was partly deliberate and partly due to the extreme contrasts …

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    Proms 2015: Luca Francesconi – Duende – The Dark Notes (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 12, 2015 • 12:11
    August 12, 2015 • 12:11

    The concerto form is a popular one for new works at the Proms, and the most recent, Luca Francesconi‘s Duende – The Dark Notes (originally intended for the 2014 Proms), has, i think, set the bar higher than any of the last few years. ‘Duende’ is a somewhat complex Spanish …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2015: Betsy Jolas – Wanderlied (UK Première), Shiori Usui – Ophiocordyceps unilateralis s.l. & Joanna Lee – Hammer of Solitude (World Premières)

    by 5:4 July 31, 2015 • 13:59
    July 31, 2015 • 13:59

    Last Saturday’s Proms Matinee concert given by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, conducted by Franck Ollu, featured several world and UK premières, which together gave one pause for thought with regard to the relationship between surface materials and their deeper impulsion. Their respective points of inspirational departure were extremely varied, encompassing …

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    Proms 2015: HK Gruber – into the open …; Hugh Wood – An Epithalamion, or Mariage Song (World Premières)

    by 5:4 July 28, 2015 • 16:34
    July 28, 2015 • 16:34

    Proms premières come in all shapes and sizes, and last week’s new works from HK Gruber and Hugh Wood were larger and more aspirational specimens. Scale and stature are different things, though, and despite their respective composers’ demonstrative ambition (and experience, composing veterans both), each of these pieces were hobbled …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2015: Cheryl Frances-Hoad – From the Beginning of the World (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 27, 2015 • 19:52
    July 27, 2015 • 19:52

    Relatively few of the Proms premières include vocal elements, which makes Cheryl-Frances Hoad‘s new work From the Beginning of the World, first performed last Monday, a very welcome exception to the norm. Initially billed as ‘Homage to Tallis’, her piece was nestled amidst a concert otherwise dedicated entirely to the …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2015: Gary Carpenter – Dadaville (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 26, 2015 • 12:43
    July 26, 2015 • 12:43

    Right, let’s get (belatedly) cracking. For a few years, the annual Proms season began with a première, which was nice but reduced the piece (or, at least, reduced composers’ aspirations) to a mere curtain-raiser. Gary Carpenter‘s Dadaville, which received its first performance in the opening Proms concert last week, did …

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  • AnnouncementsFestivals

    Gigs, gigs, gigs: Proms 2015

    by 5:4 April 23, 2015 • 14:49
    April 23, 2015 • 14:49

    It’s that time again; the 2015 Proms season has today been unveiled, and once again offers more than a few treats for lovers of new music. That’s putting it extremely mildly; in truth, the amount of contemporary music in this year’s concerts is actually rather jaw-dropping, with no fewer than …

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  • About
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