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Proms

  • CommentFestivalsPremières

    Proms 2022: the premières – how you voted

    by 5:4 September 24, 2022 • 10:19
    September 24, 2022 • 10:19

    It’s been a little over two weeks since the BBC bafflingly decided, rather than to channel the Last Night of the Proms (the UK’s most shamelessly jingoistic occasion) into an evening both celebrating the life and commemorating the death of the Queen, that they would instead simply pull the plug.…

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    Proms 2022: Last Night cancelled

    by 5:4 September 9, 2022 • 08:49
    September 9, 2022 • 08:49

    Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the final two concerts of this year’s Proms season have been cancelled as a mark of respect. Therefore, the last of this year’s planned new works, James B. Wilson‘s 1922, will not now take place, effectively bringing to an end my coverage of…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Betsy Jolas – bTunes (World Première)

    by 5:4 September 6, 2022 • 14:16
    September 6, 2022 • 14:16

    In an artistic context, there’s an obvious world of difference between observation, taking inspiration from and / or seeking to emulate or analogise aspects of the natural world and human culture, and critique, taking issue with and / or seeking to highlight problems arising from or endemic within those same…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Thomas Adès – Märchentänze (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 30, 2022 • 11:01
    August 30, 2022 • 11:01

    A few weeks back in this year’s Proms season, Sally Beamish’s Hive gave the impression that the occasion was aimed at children, and it was much the same listening to Thomas Adès‘ Märchentänze, given its UK première last Friday. Adès is such a strangely unpredictable composer, capable of extremes of…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Mark-Anthony Turnage – Time Flies (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 17, 2022 • 15:50
    August 17, 2022 • 15:50

    i’m not sure whether to interpret the Proms’ decision to place Mark-Anthony Turnage‘s new orchestral piece in a concert alongside Vaughan Williams and Elgar as an attempt to imply some kind of genteel, ‘establishment figure’ status. Yet – would that be wrong? Now in his early 60s, Turnage’s music has…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Missy Mazzoli – Violin Concerto (Procession) (European Première)

    by 5:4 August 16, 2022 • 13:53
    August 16, 2022 • 13:53

    Sunday evening’s Prom included the European première (so nice to see Britain still regarded as being in Europe) of Missy Mazzoli‘s new Violin Concerto. Parenthetically subtitled ‘Procession’, the work is something of a response to the time of lockdown, examining, in Mazzoli’s words “how we use music and ritual to…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Hannah Eisendle – Heliosis (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 15, 2022 • 16:48
    August 15, 2022 • 16:48

    Does it matter if the way a composition sounds doesn’t bear any meaningful resemblance to the composer’s stated inspiration? That’s a question that often suggests itself when listening to contemporary music, and it has completely dominated my listening to Austrian composer Hannah Eisendle‘s new work Heliosis, which received its first…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Anna Thorvaldsdottir – ARCHORA (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 13, 2022 • 05:00
    August 13, 2022 • 05:00

    The relationship between Anna Thorvaldsdottir‘s music and nature has always been, to put it mildly, complicated. Far from being a composer merely setting out (as far too many have claimed far too often) to evoke the wildness of her native Iceland, Thorvaldsdottir has tended to be much more concerned with…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Matthew Kaner – Pearl (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 12, 2022 • 13:44
    August 12, 2022 • 13:44

    Voices returned to contemporary music at the Proms on Wednesday evening, with the first performance of Matthew Kaner‘s new vocal work Pearl. The piece, for baritone and orchestra, takes its title from the Middle English poem Pearl, written by the anonymous Gawain Poet, setting portions of the text from Simon…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Gavin Higgins – Concerto Grosso (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 10, 2022 • 15:34
    August 10, 2022 • 15:34

    Finally. Following six premières of, to say the least, wildly varying quality, this year’s Proms season finally struck gold on Monday evening in the form of Gavin Higgins‘ new large-scale work for brass band and orchestra, Concerto Grosso. First things first: it’s a bit of an odd title, as the…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Julian Anderson – Symphony No. 2 ‘Prague Panoramas’ (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 8, 2022 • 11:20
    August 8, 2022 • 11:20

    Almost exactly 10 years ago, i coined a new adjective, ‘Faberian’, in reference to Faber Music, to summarise what i later described as “the kind of thing one hears all too often in works from the more mainstream protagonists of that particular publishing house”. On that first occasion i elaborated…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Hildur Guðnadóttir & Sam Slater (arr. Robert Ames) – Selections from Battlefield 2042 (European Première)

    by 5:4 August 2, 2022 • 15:59
    August 2, 2022 • 15:59

    As part of the Proms’ inexorable slide away from concert works in an attempt to remain relevant, yesterday evening’s event was given over to orchestral arrangements and reworkings of music from videogames. They included the European première (following a performance by the LA Philharmonic late last year) of Robert Ames‘…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Nicole Lizée – Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes (European Première)

    by 5:4 August 1, 2022 • 14:31
    August 1, 2022 • 14:31

    Canadian composer Nicole Lizée‘s new percussion concerto, premièred last month in Ottowa, received its first European performance at the Proms last Friday evening. Its title, Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes, though somewhat strange at first, perhaps suggests the two main aspects of the work. The first…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Cheryl Frances-Hoad – Your Servant, Elizabeth (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 23, 2022 • 12:54
    July 23, 2022 • 12:54

    Last night’s Prom was a monarchist’s paradise, waxing lyrical in the Queen’s platinum jubilee year with an evening of music composed for royal occasions. Nestling among all the sonic bowing and scraping and forelock-tugging from the usual early 20th century shower was a short new choral work from Cheryl Frances-Hoad,…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Sally Beamish – Hive (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 22, 2022 • 17:56
    July 22, 2022 • 17:56

    Yesterday evening’s Prom concert wasn’t specifically aimed at children, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it was while listening to Sally Beamish‘s new harp concerto, Hive. The work’s narrative is structured in a simple four-movement form, corresponding to the seasons of the year, beginning in winter. This opening movement isn’t…

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Hildur Guðnadóttir – The Fact of the Matter (World Première)

    by 5:4 July 21, 2022 • 16:15
    July 21, 2022 • 16:15

    Last night’s Prom concert included the first of this year’s crop of premières. The Fact of the Matter is a 16-minute response to the current state of the world by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. In the pre-concert discussion, she spoke about the divisions between people, and the feeling that “we’re…

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  • CommentFestivalsPremières

    Proms 2021: the premières – how you voted

    by 5:4 September 28, 2021 • 11:22
    September 28, 2021 • 11:22

    Two weeks have passed since this year’s Proms season came to an end, so it’s time to take a look at how you responded to each of the new works in the annual 5:4 Proms première polls. i want to thank all of you who voted; there was a healthy-sized…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2021: Gity Razaz – Mother (World Première)

    by 5:4 September 12, 2021 • 12:38
    September 12, 2021 • 12:38

    What is there left to say about the Last Night of the Proms, a.k.a “Now That’s What I Call Classical Music”? Less a concert than a party, for many years now the occasion has begun with a première, presumably intended to act as a champagne cork ‘pop’ to get things…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2021: Unsuk Chin – Subito con forza (UK Première)

    by 5:4 September 8, 2021 • 15:27
    September 8, 2021 • 15:27

    The penultimate première of this year’s Proms took place yesterday evening, in the form of a short, entertaining concert-opener courtesy of South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. Composed last year as part of the commemorations marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Chin’s Subito con forza flirts with a number of…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2021: Grace-Evangeline Mason – The Imagined Forest (World Première); Samy Moussa – A Globe Itself Infolding (UK Première)

    by 5:4 September 7, 2021 • 14:05
    September 7, 2021 • 14:05

    As i may have said previously, i have a love-hate relationship with film scores. Being something of a movie addict, i’m obviously encountering them all the time, and at their best, i adore how they don’t merely accompany the on-screen drama but contain their own distinctive parallel narrative, interesting in…

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