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Tag:

symphony

  • PremièresRetrospectives

    The 10 Symphonies of Erkki-Sven Tüür – Part 4: Symphony No. 10 ‘ÆRIS’

    by 5:4 October 16, 2022 • 05:00
    October 16, 2022 • 05:00

    This text is an expanded version of the article originally published (in Estonian translation) by Sirp, 16 September 2022. Looking back through Erkki-Sven Tüür’s first nine symphonies, they exhibit a great deal of consistency, primarily with regard to the use of contrasting musical ideas, often presented as bold juxtapositions, sometimes…

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  • Retrospectives

    The 10 Symphonies of Erkki-Sven Tüür – Part 3: Symphonies Nos. 6-9

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

    This text is an expanded version of the article originally published (in Estonian translation) by Sirp, 16 September 2022. Having featured them prominently in his Fourth and Fifth symphonies, Erkki-Sven Tüür does away with soloists in Symphony No. 6 (2007), but he continues the more nuanced approach to juxtaposition heard…

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  • Retrospectives

    The 10 Symphonies of Erkki-Sven Tüür – Part 2: Symphonies Nos. 2-5

    by 5:4 October 10, 2022 • 10:56
    October 10, 2022 • 10:56

    This text is an expanded version of the article originally published (in Estonian translation) by Sirp, 16 September 2022. An extreme example of disorientation caused by juxtaposition – first glimpsed in Erkki-Sven Tüür‘s Symphony No. 1 (in both its original and revised versions) – occurs in the opening part of…

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  • PremièresRetrospectives

    The 10 Symphonies of Erkki-Sven Tüür – Part 1: Symphony No. 1

    by 5:4 October 7, 2022 • 05:00
    October 7, 2022 • 05:00

    This text is an expanded version of the article originally published (in Estonian translation) by Sirp, 16 September 2022. It’s surely true that no composers today – and very few composers historically – would give any credence whatever to the so-called “curse of the ninth”, the absurd superstition that, having…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Boris Lyatoshynsky – Symphonies

    by 5:4 August 23, 2022 • 10:12
    August 23, 2022 • 10:12

    While the answer to the question, “What is it good for?” continues to be “Absolutely nothing!” where war is concerned, there’s a tiny sliver of comfort to be gained from the fact that the ongoing outrage perpetrated by the Russian regime has thrown a spotlight onto aspects of Ukrainian culture…

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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

    James MacMillan – Symphony No. 5 ‘Le grand Inconnu’ (World Première)

    by 5:4 November 6, 2019 • 12:54
    November 6, 2019 • 12:54

    Symphonies – one minute you think that no-one’s really writing them anymore, and then suddenly three of them turn up in quick succession. Of course, in reality the apparent lack of them may well be more to do with the fact that composers today are reluctant to title a work…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2018: Per Nørgård – Symphony No. 3 (UK Première); Rolf Wallin – WHIRLD; Bushra El-Turk – Crème Brûlée on a Tree (World Premières)

    by 5:4 August 29, 2018 • 12:51
    August 29, 2018 • 12:51

    Quite apart from anything else they may embody, this year’s Proms premières have occupied pretty much the entire span of the profound—trivial continuum. At its most extreme, this has been exemplified by the most recent new works, which have ranged from a compositional exploration of infinity culminating in a state…

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  • PremièresThematic series

    Estonia in Focus weekend: Erkki-Sven Tüür – Symphony No. 9 ‘Mythos’ (World Première)

    by 5:4 February 10, 2018 • 05:00
    February 10, 2018 • 05:00

    i’m now turning my attention this weekend to Erkki-Sven Tüür, a composer whose work in many respects sounds distinctly different from a lot of Estonian contemporary music (and as i’ve previously mentioned, he remarked to me last year that he feels himself to be something of an outsider). To get…

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  • CD/Digital releases

    New releases: symphonies by Paul von Klenau, Peter Maxwell Davies, Andrzej Panufnik, Xiaogang Ye & Per Nørgård

    by 5:4 September 17, 2016 • 16:52
    September 17, 2016 • 16:52

    It’s high time i got back to appraising some of the more interesting new releases. No fewer than three contemporary pieces bearing the title ‘symphony’ were performed at this year’s Proms, and coincidentally quite a few of the CDs i’ve been sent have also featured 20th and 21st century symphonies.…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    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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  • 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 the antithesis of comfort.…

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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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  • 20th CenturyCommemorations

    In Memoriam: Hans Werner Henze – Symphony No. 5

    by 5:4 October 28, 2012 • 15:53
    October 28, 2012 • 15:53

    Yesterday brought the very sad news that the composer Hans Werner Henze has died. It’s not for me to attempt an obituary—i only know a little of Henze’s life, and have only really scratched the surface of his considerable output—but by way of a small tribute, here’s a performance of…

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2012: Per Nørgård – Symphony No. 7 (UK Première)

    by 5:4 August 18, 2012 • 11:17
    August 18, 2012 • 11:17

    Despite the understandable reluctance on the part of contemporary composers to use the word, there’s nothing quite like seeing ‘symphony’ on a concert programme to get one’s blood and expectations pumping. When the composer in question is Per Nørgård, as it was last week at the Proms, then the excitement…

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