Johann André News
German composer
- piano
- opera
- Germany
- conductor, composer, publisher, music theorist, pianist
Last update
2024-03-24
Refresh
2024-03-23 15:27:00
R.I.P. Maurizio Pollini (1942-2024)
[…] the multiplicity of musical material: a new path taken following a period of compositional silence. That apparent simplification in itself inspired further ‘waves’ – lagoonal and sonic – in collaboration enshrined at the work’s heart, Nono’s purpose amplification rather than counterpoint. Dedicated to Maurizio and Marilisa Pollini, it operates on two acoustic planes: Pollini live and on tape. They merge, realized in the air through artistry of sound direction – first Nono himself; tonight, André Richard. Vibrations, shadows and resonances sustain and transform memories of loss suffered by composer and pianist. Ghosts of other sounds and works in Pollini’s repertoire are honoured and transformed. (Late, Venetian-themed works by Liszt, La lugubre gondola and R.W. Venezia, were performed at the 1977 premiere.) The moment of Schoenbergian hyper-expressivity – sometimes stark, sometimes on the edge of audibility, sometimes even falling into silence –compels active listening. Nono’s politics have not drowned; they […]
2024-03-11 03:30:00
Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony (CD Review)
by Karl Nehring Marc-André Hamelin, piano; Nathalie Forget, ondes Martenot; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Gustavo Gimeno, conductor. Harmonia Mundi 905336 Those relatively new to classical music who may be unfamiliar with the Turangalîla Symphony.by the late French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) are in for quite the ear- and mind-expanding experience when they first encounter this expansive, expressive, exhilarating 10-movement, 80-minute piece that is scored for piano, ondes Martenot, and orchestra. Nor may many music lovers reading this review be familiar with the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument with a sound similar to that of a theremin (more information here ). In general, Messiaen blends the sounds of the ondes Martenot and the piano with the sound of the orchestra rather than featuring either instrument in a concerto-like fashion, even though in concert performance, both instruments take their place in front of the orchestra, as they would for a concerto. There are passages, however, where Hamelin, one of […]
2024-02-20 09:27:00
La voix humaine: two different productions bring Poulenc's intimate drama to London
[…] performed in the venue for ten years. In April, Pegasus Opera Company is presenting Poulenc's La voix humaine in a double bill with Philip Hagemann's Roman Fever at the Susie Sainsbury Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music.Green Opera's critically-acclaimed production of Francis Poulenc's La Voix humaine returns for a strictly limited run, 14-16 March 2024 at the newly reconstructed purpose-built King's Head Theatre. New Zealand soprano Katherine McIndoe with Eleanor Burke as director and André Callegaro as music director, these latter two both Jette Parker Young Artists at the Royal Opera House.Green Opera is the first and only environmentally-sustainable opera company; for every £10 donated or ticket purchased, Green Opera plants a tree with Eden Reforestation Projects. So far they have planted over 2,000 trees! The March performances are in support of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance to whom 25% of the box office proceeds will be donated.Full details […]
2024-02-18 12:27:00
Wake up and listen to the music
[…] work is La Koro Sutro; this is a setting in Esperanto of the revered Mahayanan Buddhist Heart Sutra which contains the celebrated affirmation that "Form is emptiness, emptiness is only form". Smiles of the Buddha (Les sourires de Bouddha) is a setting for chamber choir by the Vietnamese composer Ton-That Tiêt (b. 1933) of verses by the 8th century Chinese poet Wang Wei. Tôn-Thất Tiết studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with André Jolivet and followed his teacher's dictum that music should be “a means to express ideas and not an aim in itself”. Despite being an agnostic the Mahayana Buddhism of his native Vietnam is, along with Hinduism, one of the influences on Thất Tiết's music. Edmund Rubbra had a life-long interest in comparative religion and metaphysics, and following a flirtation with Theosophy briefly practiced Buddhism before returning to Catholicism. In 1947 Arnold […]
or
- timeline: Composers (Europe). Conductors (Europe). Performers (Europe).
- Indexes (by alphabetical order): A...