Richard Storrs Willis News
American composer of hymn music (1819-1900)
- United States of America
- journalist, composer
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2024-04-21
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2024-03-16 09:57:00
From Early Music to contemporary: the Royal Festival Hall organ is 70 and organist James McVinnie is celebrating with a Southbank Centre residency
[…] organ. Gillian Weir said that she enjoyed Messiaen on the hall's organ because of this clarity. Also, the organ gives the player a very immediate experience whilst playing it, it does what you tell it!James McVinnie at the Union Chapel with Nico Muly and Oneohtrix Point Never - Feb 2015Often, the organist has the worst seat in the house when it comes to hearing the organ. At the Union Chapel, there is an amazing Father Willis organ (dating back to 1877), but the organist is far removed from the sound in the room. At the Royal Festival Hall, you are right next to the organ. The sound does change as you go further back into the hall, the balance is different, but at the console, you still get a great picture. Whilst at the Royal Albert Hall, the organ there points in so many directions that you either have […]
2024-03-14 03:30:00
Recent Releases No. 72 (CD Reviews)
[…] dynamic contrasts for orchestra. A Magic Egg, however, was originally composed as part of the soundtrack for an animated short film in the 1970s, and here Mikadze has arranged it for his trio. Mikadze explains that “Georgian classical composers of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s were heavily influenced by the harmony and freedom of jazz music. Jazz was kind of taboo at the time, but the Georgian people would try to crack old radios to listen to [broadcaster] Willis Conover on the Voice of America.” He goes on to say, “I love the freedom that you have in the trio setting, especially when the musicians are super sensitive about every note. It has the intimacy of chamber music, but you can also achieve a massive sound. Besides, François and Raphael are simply amazing musicians.” The album includes a pleasant mix of tunes, all of them melodic and listenable. For a sample of Mikadze’s […]
2023-11-09 08:17:00
Remembering Keel Watson
Puccini, arr: Burke: Toscatastrophe! - Gwenneth-Ann Rand, Keel Watson - Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival 2018With the sad news of the passing of bass-baritone Keel Watson, I thought I would look over some of the remarkable and diverse roles that we have seen him in over the years, in everything from Gilbert & Sullivan to Wagner, he had a remarkable, Derek Hammond Stroud-like ability to inhabit a role whether it be comic or serious.One of my favourites moments was his wonderfully louche Scarpia in Tête à Tête's Toscatastrophe! in 2018, a comic reworking of Puccini's Tosca with Gwenneth-Ann Rand and Ronald Samm [see my review] and the last role we saw him in was also in the comic vein, a wonderfully pointed (and political) Private Willis in Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe at English National Opera last month [see my review], whilst in 2018 he managed to dominate proceedings as the Usher in Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial […]
2023-10-06 11:51:00
The flower fairies are back: Cal McCrystal's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe for ENO fills the London Coliseum with colour, movement & comedy
[…] production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe for English National Opera returned with many of the original cast (seen 5 October 2023). Chris Hopkins conducted with Samantha Price as Iolanthe, John Savournin as the Lord Chancellor, Catherine Wyn-Rogers as the Queen of the Fairies, Ellie Laugharne as Phyllis, Marcus Farnsworth as Strephon, Ruairi Bowen as Earl Tolloller, Ben McAteer as the Earl of Mountararat, Llio Evans as Celia, Bethan Langford as Leila, and Keel Watson as Private Willis. The designs are by the late Paul Brown.The production is as tight as ever and remains a prime example of how to make a modern production of a Gilbert & Sullivan opera work in the London Coliseum. The action is full of extra physical and visual gags, many of them to do with the physicality of theatre itself. The prime conceit for the fairies is the idea of the conventions of the Victorian theatre, […]
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