Flow is the title of a new album featuring Belgian clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe wielding the less common basset clarinet. Invented in the 1770s by Theodor Lotz (who had previously created the basset horn), the purpose of the instrument was in part to extend the lower range of the clarinet.…
The post Annelien Van Wauwe – Flow appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
Yesterday evening’s Prom concert wasn’t specifically aimed at children, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it was while listening to Sally Beamish‘s new harp concerto, Hive. The work’s narrative is structured in a simple four-movement form, corresponding to the seasons of the year, beginning in winter. This opening movement isn’t…
The post Proms 2022: Sally Beamish – Hive (World Première) appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
Canadian composer Nicole Lizée‘s new percussion concerto, premièred last month in Ottowa, received its first European performance at the Proms last Friday evening. Its title, Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes, though somewhat strange at first, perhaps suggests the two main aspects of the work. The first…
The post Proms 2022: Nicole Lizée – Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes (European Première) appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
Sunday evening’s Prom included the European première (so nice to see Britain still regarded as being in Europe) of Missy Mazzoli‘s new Violin Concerto. Parenthetically subtitled ‘Procession’, the work is something of a response to the time of lockdown, examining, in Mazzoli’s words “how we use music and ritual to…
The post Proms 2022: Missy Mazzoli – Violin Concerto (Procession) (European Première) appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
In an artistic context, there’s an obvious world of difference between observation, taking inspiration from and / or seeking to emulate or analogise aspects of the natural world and human culture, and critique, taking issue with and / or seeking to highlight problems arising from or endemic within those same…
The post Proms 2022: Betsy Jolas – bTunes (World Première) appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
i headed up the M5 to Birmingham last Sunday for a concert given by the CBSO Youth Orchestra at Symphony Hall. For many people in the audience, i suppose the highlight would have been two works by Berlioz: the concert opened with the Roman Carnival Overture and closed with the…
The post Symphony Hall, Birmingham: CBSO Youth Orchestra appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
A composer i’ve been trying to get the measure of lately is Grażyna Bacewicz. Bacewicz died in 1969, but her output seems to be going through something of a rediscovery of late, with concert performances and new recordings now emerging with increasing regularity. It’s a generalisation, i know, but over…
The post Grażyna Bacewicz – Complete Symphonic Works Vol. 1; Piano Concertos appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
The experience of Christina Kubisch‘s electromagnetic walk around Oslo’s library had a counterpart in her new vocal work, Strømsanger (“electrical singers”), premièred by Trondheim Voices. The piece originated in the electromagnetic sounds made by Trondheim’s tram system; these became the basis for transcriptions that Kubisch developed further. Lasting around 40…
The post Ultima 2023 (Part 3) appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
The other conductor filling in the blanks in a symphony cycle is John Storgårds. With the Oslo Philharmonic, Storgårds has previously recorded four of Per Nørgård‘s eight symphonies (numbers 2, 4, 5 and 6) on a couple of discs released by DaCapo in 2016, which i explored at the time.…
The post Per Nørgård – Symphony No. 8 appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
As well as the intimacy demonstrated in several concerts at this year’s Sacrum Profanum festival in Kraków, many of the other performances provided opportunities for immersive listening, often within the context of large-scale durations. Two of these, both examples of primary colour, bargain basement minimalism, may well have been striving…
The post Sacrum Profanum 2023 (Part 2) appeared first on 5:4.
5:4 is on Patreon! Please consider supporting the blog by becoming a Patron from just $2 a month: https://www.patreon.com/5against4
