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Proms 2016

  • CommentFestivalsPremières

    Proms 2016: the premières – how you voted

    by 5:4 September 29, 2016 • 13:48
    September 29, 2016 • 13:48

    Many thanks to all of you who expressed your views on this year’s Proms premières, it’s always fascinating to compare my own responses with those of so many others, particularly when we disagree! Since closing the polls a few days ago, i’ve fed the results (938 votes) into what has …

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    Proms 2016: Tom Harrold – Raze (World Première)

    by 5:4 September 11, 2016 • 15:25
    September 11, 2016 • 15:25

    Quite apart from the manifold inherent issues with which the occasion has long been afflicted, the Last Night of the Proms hasn’t exactly acquitted itself with particular brilliance as far its annual opening world premières are concerned. Consider the last few years’ efforts from Eleanor Alberga, Gavin Higgins, Anna Clyne, …

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    Proms 2016: Paul Desenne – Hipnosis mariposa (UK Première)

    by 5:4 September 10, 2016 • 13:25
    September 10, 2016 • 13:25

    Continuing the idea i mentioned before about the Proms premières becoming more delicate and simple, Venezuelan composer Paul Desenne, in a homage to late singer Simón Díaz, has drawn on one of Díaz’s children’s songs, ‘El Becerrito’, about a cow called Butterfly who has a calf (also known as ‘La …

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    Proms 2016: Julian Anderson – Incantesimi (UK Première)

    by 5:4 September 10, 2016 • 13:15
    September 10, 2016 • 13:15

    As the end of the Proms draws nigh, the new works seem to have been taking on an increasing delicacy. And, to a large extent, simplicity, Julian Anderson‘s Incantesimi taking inspiration from the orrery, a mechanical reproduction of the the solar system, showing the position and motion of its planets …

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    Proms 2016: Thomas Larcher – Symphony No. 2 ‘Kenotaph’ (UK Première), Sally Beamish – Merula perpetua; Bayan Northcott – Concerto for Orchestra (World Premières)

    by 5:4 September 4, 2016 • 11:54
    September 4, 2016 • 11:54

    Following on from Emily Howard’s Torus, two further Proms premières have continued the relationship with the orchestral concerto archetype: Bayan Northcott’s Concerto for Orchestra and Thomas Larcher‘s Symphony No. 2, which began life as one but developed in a different direction. Larcher’s symphony was commissioned to commemorate the 200th anniversary …

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    Proms 2016: Piers Hellawell – Wild Flow; Emily Howard – Torus (World Premières); Marlos Nobre – Kabbalah (UK Première)

    by 5:4 September 3, 2016 • 13:31
    September 3, 2016 • 13:31

    The most recent Proms premières have demonstrated particularly keenly the highly differentiated approaches being taken by this year’s crop of composers, and while some works at first glance appear to be nothing but effervescence and froth, closer examination proves otherwise. In the case of Piers Hellawell‘s new orchestral work Wild Flow, dedicated …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2016: Georg Friedrich Haas – Open Spaces II, Gérard Grisey – Dérives (UK Premières), Mica Levi – Signal Before War; David Sawer – April \ March (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 25, 2016 • 11:09
    August 25, 2016 • 11:09

    Finally. Five weeks into this year’s season, the Proms at last finds its way, Red Riding Hood-like, away from the safe, well-trodden path into the unfamiliar terrain of the avant-garde. Twice, in fact; first thanks to the London Sinfonietta, whose afternoon concert at Camden’s Roundhouse last Saturday (there’s presumably a …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2016: Malcolm Hayes – Violin Concerto; Huw Watkins – Cello Concerto; Charlotte Bray – Falling in the Fire (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 16, 2016 • 10:25
    August 16, 2016 • 10:25

    Three Proms, three world premières, three concertos, one for violin, two for cello, all lasting around 25 minutes. The similarities between them go little deeper than these most basic facts, though, each occupied with a very particular soundworld, aesthetic, and relationship between soloist and orchestra. The results were similarly mixed.

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    Proms 2016: Helen Grime – Two Eardley Pictures (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 12, 2016 • 16:32
    August 12, 2016 • 16:32

    A pair of paintings by Scottish artist Joan Eardley constitute the starting point of Helen Grime‘s new two-part work, premièred last week at the Proms, Two Eardley Pictures. The paintings are of the same place, the Scottish coastal village of Catterline (where Eardley lived and worked), painted from similar but subtly different viewpoints, …

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    Proms 2016: Jörg Widmann – Armonica; Reinbert de Leeuw – Der nächtliche Wanderer (UK Premières)

    by 5:4 August 5, 2016 • 12:12
    August 5, 2016 • 12:12

    The latest pair of premières at the Proms have shared a leaning towards, not abstraction exactly, but a kind of elusive vagueness that seeks more to hint and evoke rather than aiming at direct statement. Both, however, got there via quite specific starting points. Dutch composer Reinbert de Leeuw turned …

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    Proms 2016: Lera Auerbach – The Infant Minstrel and His Peculiar Menagerie (Symphony No. 3) (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 1, 2016 • 22:31
    August 1, 2016 • 22:31

    Hot on the heels of one new violin concerto at the Proms, here comes another, this time courtesy of Russian-born, US-based composer Lera Auerbach. But no ordinary concerto, as it’s also subtitled a ‘symphony’, her third, and the involvement of a mixed chorus lends it the quality of both a …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2016: Michael Berkeley – Violin Concerto (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 29, 2016 • 16:41
    July 29, 2016 • 16:41

    Violin Concertos are a regular feature among the new works premièred at the Proms, and the first of this year’s came from Michael Berkeley, given by violinist Chloë Hanslip with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Jac van Steen. Berkeley’s work remains somewhat underappreciated in the UK, despite his prevalence over the years …

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    Proms 2016: Anthony Payne – Of Land, Sea and Sky (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 27, 2016 • 11:28
    July 27, 2016 • 11:28

    There were paradoxes at play throughout Anthony Payne‘s new work for choir and orchestra, Of Land, Sea and Sky, given its première at last night’s Prom by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Andrew Davis. Well, paradoxes is one word for them: inconsistencies and/or anachronisms would be another equally …

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    Proms 2016: Magnus Lindberg – Two Episodes (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 25, 2016 • 12:58
    July 25, 2016 • 12:58

    Last week, i finally got round to watching a concert i’d recorded last year celebrating the music of film composer John Williams, featuring highlights from throughout his long career. For better or worse, i couldn’t help recalling that concert again and again during last night’s world première at the Proms of …

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  • Festivals

    Proms 2016: Galina Ustvolskaya – Symphony No. 3 ‘Jesus Messiah, save us!’

    by 5:4 July 19, 2016 • 12:01
    July 19, 2016 • 12:01

    Just when you’ve concluded the Proms are little more than schmoozing, emollience, accessibility and tradition, along comes Valery Gergiev and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra with Galina Ustvolskaya‘s Symphony No. 3. Regarded superficially – and, tragically, this is the way the majority of commentators regard her work – Ustvolskaya’s music is …

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  • AnnouncementsFestivals

    Gigs, gigs, gigs: Proms 2016

    by 5:4 April 21, 2016 • 13:00
    April 21, 2016 • 13:00

    i’ve recently returned from a trip to Tallinn to experience some of the annual Estonian Music Days (my reviews can be read over on Bachtrack). In a bit of spare time one afternoon, i finally got around to examining the forthcoming Proms season, and i don’t think it’s entirely due …

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  • About
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