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BIRTWISTLE
Antiphonies
Following the performance of Sir
Harrison Birtwistle's highly inventive
and complex work Antiphonies
(given by the Philharmonia Orchestra
with Christoph von Dohnányi
conducting and Pierre-Laurent Aimard
as soloist) at Birtwistle
Games, the festival in honour of
the composer's 70th birthday, the
work then received its second ever
German performance just a few
days later, on 12th November in Cologne.
Stefan Asbury conducted
the WDR Symphony Orchestra,
with soloist Nic Hodges, in both
the concert and a studio recording.
Considered to be the composer's
own response to some of the musical
ideas in Gawain, Antiphonies is
no conventional piano concerto,
but rather a drama from which the
piano ultimately emerges triumphant.
The first ever performance
of this work was given in 1993 by
the Philharmonia and Boulez, with
Joanna MacGregor as soloist.
Mines of Sulphur
Glimmerglass Opera 2004
BENNETT
Mines of Sulphur
In July and August 2004 Glimmerglass
Opera, New York, staged a
new production of Richard Rodney
Bennett's atmospheric thriller The
Mines of Sulphur. This opera was
widely acclaimed at its première in
London in 1965, and productions in
Berlin, Stockholm, and at La Scala
in Milan soon followed.
Musical America said of the Glimmerglass
production, Bennett's
music is very much the servant of
the drama, and the result is gripping
musical theater.
The New York City Opera will present
the work in 2006.
reviews
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