Fortissimo Autumn 2019

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Matthew Hindson Forthcoming performances Arrival 16.9.19, Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra, ACT, Australia: National Carillon/Lyn Fuller/Dr Thomas Laue Light Music 5.10.19, Joan Hammond Hall, ABC Southbank, Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Orchestra Victoria String Quartet No.2 UK and Spanish premieres 14.10.19, Wigmore Hall, London, UK; 16.10.19, Two Moors Festival, Chagford, UK; 17.10.19, Leicester International Music Festival, UK; 19.11.19, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain; 25.11.19, Penrith, UK: Elias String Quartet Rush 3.12.19, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, UK; 4.12.19, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, UK: Craig Ogden/ Manchester Camerata Malcolm Arnold Forthcoming performances Peterloo 8.9.19, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK: Chetham’s School of Music/ Stephen Threlfall (choral version) 22.9.19, Christchurch Town Hall , New Zealand: Burnside High School Orchestra/Helen Renaud 16.11.19, Chester Cathedral, UK: Chester Philharmonic Orchestra/ Marco Bellasi 23.11.19, Blackpool, UK: Blackpool Symphony Orchestra/Helen Harrison 9.5.20, Scarborough, UK: Scarborough Symphony Orchestra/ Shaun Matthew Concerto for Clarinet No.2 15.9.19, Miyaji Gakki Koganei Shop, Tokyo, Japan: Hiromi Takahashi/ Ensemble Grune/Kazuki Wada 10.11.19, Die Glocke, Bremen, Germany: Orchester Musikfreunde Bremen/Matthias Reckhardt 1.2.20, Mote Park, Maidstone, Kent, UK: Emma Johnson/Maidstone Symphony Orchestra/Brian Wright The Turtle Drum 12.10.19, Malcolm Arnold Festival, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, UK: Hilary Davan Wetton Four Irish Dances 29.10.19, LaGrange College, LaGrange, GA, USA: LaGrange Symphony Orchestra/Richard Prior Matthew Hindson Saxophone Concerto premiere Amy Dickson premiered Matthew Hindson’s Soprano Saxophone Concerto, a commission from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, on 25 August in Hobart. Benjamin Northey conducted. The 22-minute work in three movements was broadcast on ABC Classic FM radio. Elias tour 2nd Quartet in Europe A stunning musical depiction of an exploding supernova, Hindson’s String Quartet No.2 is one of his finest works in the medium. It was commissioned by Musica Viva Australia for the Elias String Quartet, who will perform it in the UK and Spain later this year, including the London premiere at the Wigmore Hall on 14 October. ‘A work of great initial dynamism laced with memorable effects – power-packed glissandi, slithering sul ponticello, bow-bouncing and cheeky pizzicato passagework… The still, quiet, central section is handled with masterful control and concentration, conjuring up the vastness of space itself… music of compelling, heart-breaking beauty.’ Limelight (Clive Paget), 20 August 2013 ‘A skilful depiction of a supernova exploding, building from silence to chaos in an adrenalin-rush of notes… tough and rangy, packed with ideas which hatch and morph at dizzying rates.’ The Sydney Morning Herald (Harriet Cunningham), 20 August 2013 ‘Requiem for a City’ wows audiences in Spain Hindson’s Requiem for a City for symphonic wind band was co-written with renowned Australian DJ Paul Mac in 2015 and has since been taken up by numerous ensembles. Moreover, the 16-minute work was immediately recorded for Naxos. In recent months it has been performed – in a slightly reduced version – in Buñol, Spain at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Annual Conference. It was presented by its original commissioners, the Sydney Conservatorium Wind Orchestra conducted by John Lynch, who also performed it in Sydney in May. Malcolm Arnold Arnold Centenary In 2021, the centenary of Malcolm Arnold’s birth provides the ideal opportunity to reassess this fascinating and indispensable figure in 20th century British Music. There can’t be any professional musician trained in the UK who is not familiar with the engaging and directly communicative qualities of Arnold’s work, but behind the popular image of Arnold is a much more complex personality, with a remarkably diverse output to match. Arnold’s symphonies, works into which the composer poured his most serious and compelling musical statements, not to mention some of his most personal and emotional music, have for too long been unjustly overlooked. His Seventh Symphony, completed in 1973 is a startlingly original work (arguably the most deeply personal of all Arnold’s nine symphonies) and now boasts four separate commercial recordings. Peterloo Overture at the BBC Proms Malcolm Arnold’s dramatic Peterloo Overture received a thrilling account at this summer’s Proms from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Ben Gernon. The 9-minute work was last heard at the Proms in 2014, when a new choral version with lyrics by Sir Tim Rice featured as part of the Last Night. The overture powerfully portrays the terrible events of the Peterloo Massacre but, after a lament for the killed and injured, it ends in triumph, in the firm belief that all those who have suffered and died in the cause of unity amongst mankind, will not have died in vain. Revisiting: the concerto for 3 hands Commissioned 50 years ago for the 1969 BBC Proms, Arnold’s vibrant Concerto for Two Pianos (3 hands) was written for the husband and wife team of Phyllis Sellick and Cyril Smith. Unashamedly popular and direct in style, this concise 13-minute work contrasts dark tragedy with melting romantic melodies, closing with a brilliantly witty and uplifting rumba. 14 PHOTOS: MATTHEW HINDSON; MALCOLM ARNOLD
TUNING IN Torsten Rasch John Woolrich A new opera for Dresden The unique expressive make-up of Rasch’s music – his fluency, assurance on the largest scale, and his uncanny ability to spin a vivid and personal sound-world around the ghosts of others – makes him a natural composer for the stage. His first opera Rotter (2007) was adapted from a play by the East German dissident writer Thomas Brasch, whilst a second, The Duchess of Malfi (2010), saw him join forces with the radical theatre company Punchdrunk for a critically acclaimed immersive adaptation of John Webster’s gripping revenge tragedy. Die Formel – an ambitious interdisciplinary work for singers, actors and orchestra – followed last year at Konzerttheater Bern. Rasch is now at work on his next opera: Die Andere Frau for the Semperoper Dresden. To a libretto by writer Helmut Krausser exploring the biblical story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, the work will both offer an exciting love story and trace the origins of the Abrahamic religions. What’s more, Immo Karaman’s production will literally place the audience in the middle of the action: on the stage of the Semperoper itself. Roland Kluttig will conduct. Seven As well as providing the libretto for Rasch’s next opera (and inspiring his dramatic Violin Concerto Tropoi), Helmut Krausser has also been pivotal in a new work commissioned by the RIAS Kammerchor. Scored for SATB choir and solo cello, and setting texts by Krausser, Seven takes the form of interpolations in the St Luke Passion by Heinrich Schütz. The choir will premiere the 17-minute work with cellist Anna Carewe at the Schütz Musikfest, Weißenfels, in October. ‘Schütz’ Lukas-Passion is a masterwork of austerity and expressiveness’ writes Rasch. ‘According to the Secrets of Enoch (from the apocrypha), man was created using seven consistencies: Earth, Dew, Sun, Stone, Clouds, Grass and Wind. Within the Lukas-Passion there are statements that correspond to these elements and Helmut wrote poems dealing with them. My aim was to be expressive; to elevate, construe and enhance the Passion within the context of these new poems. Trumpet Concerto for Alison Balsom From Ulysses Awakes, his iconic reworking of Monteverdi, to his much-loved Viola Concerto, John Woolrich has consistently made his own work a fascinating echo chamber for musical voices from the past. In May 2020, a new work for trumpet and chamber orchestra – Hark, the echoing air – will be premiered by Alison Balsom and the Britten Sinfonia. The new commission will be heard alongside Woolrich’s characterful, pungent, transcriptions of Scarlatti keyboard sonatas. Revisiting: the Violin Concerto The Britten Sinfonia will also take Woolrich’s music to Romania this summer, where they will be joined by the winner of the Enescu Competition and conductor Andrew Gourlay for a performance of the Violin Concerto. When the 21-minute work was premiered at the 2008 Aldeburgh Festival by Carolin Widmann and Northern Sinfonia conducted by Thomas Zehetmair, the Guardian found in it ‘a wilful intensity’ and praised its ‘flights of imagination and lyrical soul-searching.’ Conceived as a single movement, the concerto begins in medias res and it quickly becomes apparent that its character and internal dramaturgy fit no existing mould. ‘I’ve never done the 19th-century virtuosic thing of pitting the soloist against the orchestra, trying to get the soloist to shut it down’ says Woolrich. ‘With my Viola Concerto everything is pianissimo, supported by flute and harp. The Cello Concerto alternates between solo and tutti, or solo with hushed tutti. But the Violin Concerto is full of ensemble playing, because the violin is on top so it can sing out more easily. It’s exciting to find a way of keeping the poetry of this uneasy balance between the one and the many. All the ideas that come out of that thought become the beginning of how you think about the concerto.’ View a score of John Woolrich’s Violin Concerto at scorelibrary.fabermusic.com Torsten Rasch Forthcoming performances Seven World premiere 13.10.19, Heinrich-Schütz-Musikfest, Weißenfels, Germany: Anna Carewe/ RIAS Chamber Choir Die andere Frau World premiere 3-24.6.20, Semperoper Dresden, Germany: Marquardt/Herlitzius/ Pucalkova/Deyhim/Sinfoniechor Dresden/Staatskapelle Dresden/ Roland Kluttig/dir. Immo Karaman John Woolrich Forthcoming performances Concerto for Violin Romanian premiere 19.9.19, George Enescu Festival, Bucharest, Romania: winner of the Enescu Competition/Britten Sinfonia/ Andrew Gourlay Pianobooks II, VI, VII, IX, XII, XIV, XV 2.11.19, Homerton College, Cambridge, UK: Clare Hammond A Book of Studies Set 2 7.11.19, Royal Academy of Music, London, UK: RAM students The Turkish Mouse 14.3.20, Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; 15.3.20, Berlin Konzerthaus, Germany: Ensemble/Ben Voce Three Capriccios 29.3.20, Folkestone, UK: Melinda Maxwell Hark, the echoing air*/Scarlatti Sonatas Set 2 *world premiere 14.5.20, Milton Court, Guildhall School, London; 16.5.20, Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, UK: Alison Balsom/Britten Sinfonia PHOTOS: TORSTEN RASCH © MAURICE FOXALL; JOHN WOOLRICH © MAURICE FOXALL 15
Page 1 and 2: FABER MUSIC NEWS — AUTUMN 2019 fo
Page 3 and 4: HIGHLIGHTS Martin Suckling Forthcom
Page 5 and 6: HIGHLIGHTS Kopatchinskaja and Gabet
Page 7 and 8: TUNING IN David Matthews Ninth Symp
Page 9 and 10: TUNING IN Carl Vine Hymns to Earth,
Page 11 and 12: TUNING IN Jonathan Harvey …toward
Page 13: TUNING IN Tom Coult New piano piece
Page 17 and 18: TUNING IN Carl Davis 40 years of Na
Page 19 and 20: TUNING IN Julian Anderson Revisitin
Page 21 and 22: TUNING IN ‘The opera fascinates,
Page 23 and 24: NEW PUBLICATIONS AND RECORDINGS Sol
Page 25 and 26: EDUCATIONAL, MEDIA AND BÄRENREITER
Page 27 and 28: Keaton Henson’s ‘Six Lethargies

Fortissimo Autumn 2019

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