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2024-03-28
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2024-01-22 04:30:00
Peter Jonatan: Psalms Symphony (CD Review)
by Karl NehringJasper Soffers, piano; Aram Kersbergen, bass; Martijn Vink, drums; Metropole Orkest conducted by Jukka Lisakkila; Netherlands Radio Choir conducted by Benjamin Goodson. CD available here, also available on streaming platformsThe Jakarta-born, Boston-based composer and pianist Peter Jonatan, has long been drawn to hybrid forms of jazz and classical music, and the Metropole Orchestra is considered by many in the industry to be the gold standard for performing such music. Vince Mendoza, its former director, was a major artistic influence on Jonatan – you can read our review of a Mendoza release here. This new composition takes as its subject matter four chapters from the Bible’s Book of Psalms, which Jonatan chose for their expressive and musical potential. Broadly speaking, the work’s four movements follow standard symphonic form: I. “God, the Magnificent King” (Psalm 29) - a big opening theme and variations; II. “God, the Merciful” (Psalm 136) - an adagio; III. “God, the Protector” (Psalm 121) […]
2023-12-25 04:30:00
Our Favorite Christmas Recordings (CD Reviews)
One of the most delightful dimensions of Christmas is the music that attends the season. From the most devotional church music to familiar carols to popular Christmas songs, music fills the air at this time of the year. At this most wonderful time of the year, we at Classical Candor thought it might be fun to share a few of our favorite Christmas recordings. Karl Nehring’s Christmas Favorites: Essential Carols: The Very Best of King’s College Choir, Cambridge. (CD1) Hark! the Herald Angels Sing; The First Nowell; While Shepherds Watched; I Saw Three Ships; Ding Dong! Merrily on High; King Jesus Has a Garden; In Dulci Jubilo; Unto Us Is Born a Son; O Come, All Ye Faithful; Away in a Manger; O Little Town of Bethlehem; The Holly and the Ivy; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; See Amid the Winter's Snow; Past Three O' Clock; Invitatory; Adam Lay Ybounden; Gabriel's Message; (CD2) Once in Royal David's City; Sussex Carol; Rocking; Rejoice and Be Merry; The Cherry Tree Carol; The Three Kings; As with Gladness Men of Old; A […]
2023-12-19 09:41:00
Nevill Holt refocuses as a multi-arts festival for 2024 under guest festival director James Dacre.
Plans have been announced for the 2024 festival at Nevill Holt with Nevill Holt Opera being refocused as the Nevill Holt Festival. Whilst music and the arts have always been a feature of the present incarnation of the Nevill Holt estate (bought and restored by David Ross in 2000 following years as a prep school), the performance presentation has undergone a number of incarnations. Initially a temporary theatre was created in the courtyard of the historic 17th century stables and opera seasons presented in collaboration with Wasfi Kani's Grange Park Opera. Then in 2013, a new company was launched, Nevill Holt Opera, with director Oliver Mears and conductor Nicholas Chalmers. In 2018 the temporary theatre was replaced by an award winning new one by architects Witherford Watson Mann and then in 2021 the festival was held in the open air [see my review of Mozart's Don Giovanni]. This year's festival had something […]
2023-12-12 10:07:41
Handel with Hammond organ and hand claps. Scatting and swing. Five saxophones – this is Messiah, but not perhaps as you know it. Marin Alsop’s Gospel Messiah had its European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall on 7 December, ahead of a broadcast on BBC Radio 3 tonightThirty years ago conductor Marin Alsop was chatting with friends in New York. “They asked what I was up to,” she says. “I told them, ‘Handel’s Messiah’. They said ‘The one where the audience stand up for the Hallelujah Chorus at the end? I like that bit but it takes too long until that happens!”Why not try an update, thought Alsop. “I had always wanted to reimagine it – it lends itself to lots of different feels, and I wanted new audiences to hear the piece.” The 1741 work has been endlessly embellished, tweaked and reimagined, even by Handel himself. Mozart was commissioned […]