Karl Rankl News
British composer and conductor
- classical music, twelve-tone technique, opera
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- conductor, composer, music director
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2024-04-25
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2024-01-31 08:20:00
Jedem Krieger sein eigen Heim: Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen and its original political inspiration
Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen: German news photograph from 1926 of the anti-war demonstration that inspired Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht's powerful pieceKurt Weill's piece for unaccompanied four-part male voice ensemble, Zu Potsdam under den Eichen was premiered in Berlin in 1929. Using a text by Brecht, the piece was part of their Berliner Requiem (premiered on Radio Frankfurt in May 1929), but the piece had an independent life, being performed in November 1929 in Berlin by the Schubertchor, conductor Karl Rankl.Brecht's poem directly refers to an historical event, an anti-war demonstration in 1926 by the Roter Frontkämpferbund (RFK), a far-left paramilitary organization affiliated with the Communist Party during the Weimar Republic (see the newspaper photograph above). According to newspaper reports, an artillery helmet, combat weapons and war honours had been placed on a coffin carried as part of the demonstration. The inscription on the coffin, which as can be seen in the photograph, […]
2021-10-03 11:37:00
As a Wagner conductor he has no equal
[…] other more experienced conductors, and the premiere on 7 June 1945 was a triumph, with both Britten and Goodall being lavishly praised by the critics.Goodall went on to conduct The Rape of Lucretia for Britten’s English Opera Group. But the most definitely heterosexual Goodall found Britten’s next opera, Albert Herring, ‘prissy’ and the composer himself ‘East Anglican’, and their working relationship cooled. In 1946 Goodall joined Covent Garden as assistant conductor to music director Karl Rankl, and Goodall conducted Britten’s Gloriana in, of all places, Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia in 1953. Later the same year Goodall replaced Britten as conductor for Peter Grimes at Covent Garden, and the excellent reviews he received set him on a path that took him from a footnote in musical history to legendary Wagnerian.Based on the success of Peter Grimes Goodall was given four performances of Walkure on tour. The first was in the suburbs […]
2021-07-22 08:32:44
Chamber-sized version of Mahler's epic Das Lied von der Erde launches a new ensemble supporting freelance performers
[…] in contrast to what has come before, like a shaft of light illuminating the darkness, the ensemble was founded by tenor Charne Rochford, who said "The Fifth Door Ensemble is an organisation that will stimulate live performances of major works on a small scale, offering the public opportunities to watch outstanding freelancers at work, whilst giving performance opportunities to freelancers, hardest hit by the pandemic." Also dating from the same period is Hans Eisler, Karl Rankl and Erwin Stein chamber arrangement of Bruckner's Symphony No 7 which was unperformed owing to the Society's closure in 1921, perhaps The Fifth Door Ensemble should think about this for their next concert! Full details from the Opera Holland Park website.
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Faces of classical music
2019-05-27 19:13:00
The best new classical albums: May 2019
[…] eight-minute overture just occasionally showing some kinship with Walton and Berners. It is based on J.M. Synge's play, The Tinker's Wedding and is a sort of obverse in mood to the fantastical melodious Sixth Symphony Sinfonia Tragica. It was also written in 1948 which may well have been a great year for Brian. The Sixth found its genesis in another Synge play, Deirdre of the Sorrows. The latter was also set by Healey Willan, Karl Rankl and Cecil Gray. Synge had impressed Brian as early as 1918. Clearly, his writings held long-term musical fascination because other Synge works have been written from the 1930s to 1990s by Vaughan Williams, Bernard Stevens and Marga Richter. The overture is in step with Brian's much earlier overture, Dr Merryheart.The two symphonies show contrasting aspects of Brian. The Seventh, seemingly inspired by Goethe, Strasbourg and its cathedral adopts an epic stance across four distinct […]
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