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2024-03-28
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2023-07-23 08:07:00
No one thought there was a market for the Beatles
David Munrow is best known as an early music virtuoso but his genius knew no bounds. His producer at EMI Christopher Bishop mentored both Riccardo Muti and André Previn early in their careers, and therefore his view that had David Munrow not died tragically young he could have become a great conductor cannot be dismissed easily. That view was expressed by Christopher in the 2007 radio interview with me transcribed below - see footer photo taken at the time. There is a lot today's classical industry can learn from this interview: particularly Christopher's explanation that "I suppose we looked at [David Munrow] in a way that pop producers do. They don't ask 'is there a market for this?'; they say 'that's good, so we'll do it', and then the market is made. I don't suppose anyone thought there was a market for the Beatles when they first started; they just thought this […]
2022-06-15 06:38:38
Poul Ruders' Harpsichord Concerto
Poul Ruders Harpsichord Concerto; Mahan Esfahani, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Leif Sgestam; OUR Recordings Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani premieres a work written for him, a concerto that utilises the instrument with remarkable vividness & vibrancy The world premiere recording of Poul Ruders' Harpsichord Concerto has been issued as an EP by OUR Recordings with soloist Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord), Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, conductor Leif Segestam. The concerto, premiered in 2020, was written as the result of a commission from the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra specifically for a work for harpsichord and orchestra, and is here recorded live in Aarhus. Contemporary music for harpsichord and orchestra is not a new thing, since the instruments revitalising in the 20th century there have been composers willing to experiment from Manuel de Falla and Francis Poulenc to Joseph Horovitz and beyond. Ruders' takes quite a traditional approach, this is a three movement work, fast - slow - fast, lasting some 20 […]
2020-10-25 11:18:05
A Life On-Line: A Feast in the Time of Plague, an oboe concerto in time of war, an Arcadian Academy in Surrey
Sevak Avanesyan in the recently bombed Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi (Artsakh) Quite a busy column this week, as our short holiday in the West Country slowed things down somewhat and there was no column last week. We finally caught up with the London Mozart Players concert from Fairfield Halls as part of their Classical Club, originally broadcast on 15 October. Conducted by Mateusz Moleda, the orchestra performed Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony and Richard Strauss' Oboe Concerto with oboist Olivier Stankiewicz. The Mendelssohn was wonderfully lithe and propulsive; working with rather fewer strings that might be usual (owing to space constraints on stage) the balance was less string dominated than in some Modern Symphony Orchestra performances, and Moleda clearly fed off this and encouraged an impulsive and dynamic performance full of lovely instrumental detail. The second movement continued the sense of onward movement with a graceful flow to the third. […]
2020-08-03 05:08:00
Kernis: Color Wheel (CD Review)
Also, Symphony No. 4 “Chromolodeon.” Giancarlo Guerrero, Nashville Symphony. Naxos 8.5598.38. By Karl W. Nehring and John J. Puccio First, a word from Karl: A while back I reviewed a disc of compositions by Sessions and Panufnik. Both were in effect concertos for orchestra, and both were composed for the 1981 centennial of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After listening a couple of times to get a general sense of the music on this release of two compositions by American composer Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960), I then took a first look at the liner notes (written by Kernis himself) and discovered to my surprise that “Color Wheel was composed especially for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s opening concerts in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in 2001, and in celebration of the orchestra’s centennial.” […]
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