Friday 24 July 2009
Contemporary Music At The Proms 2009
[Note: This is a duplicate/archive of an article I published on Sequenza 21 on 14/07/2009]
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Yes, it's Proms season again here in the UK/GB (see link for the differences.) The "worlds greatest music festival" kicks off on Friday and I thought I would put together a vaguely 'contemporary' programme for those so inclined.
Included are composers who are still alive regardless of 'style', and a few 20th century composers I thought relevant (excuse my subjective and rather fuzzy criteria; Stravinsky and Bartók are included for instance, Debussy, Ravel and Shostakovich are not; feel free to berate me in the comments section.)
All the concerts listed will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and will be archived a week or so later on their website (for seven days only). Also, the BBC normally broadcasts quite a few live on TV (usually on BBC 2); these will be archived on their 'iPlayer' but unfortunately this is not accessible by those outside the UK (if you are not a native get your British friends to set their VCRs or whatever newfangled device people are using these days).
If you fancy making a personal appearance, most of the concerts will be on at the Royal Albert Hall in London with those from the 'Proms Chamber Music' series occurring at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea (listed below with the prefix 'PCM', Chelsea is also in London if you didn't already know.) The festival runs from Friday the 17th of July to Saturday the 12th of September.
If you are visiting from outside the UK this might be a good year given how weak the pound is currently (against the US Dollar and the Euro at least.) To buy tickets and to check availability please visit the Royal Albert Hall's tickets page.
Rather than list each Prom I thought composers in alphabetical order might be more helpful (taken from this page on the BBC site where you can access the full list, including Debussy, Ravel and Shostakovich et al), please click on the links to each piece to get more information about the specific concert.
A couple I am looking forward to are Prom 63 featuring two Xenakis pieces (Aïs and Nomos Gamma) and Prom 65 featuring Ligeti's Atmospheres and Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces (in it's 100th year) conducted by Jonathan Nott. Also it will interesting to see/hear some of the pieces by younger composers I have never heard anything from before such as Anna Meredith, whose piece Left Light is premiered at Prom 32 and Ben Foskett whose From Trumpet has its first outing at Prom 24.
Anyway, without further ado, here is the list... [EDIT: I've now added a link to a Google calendar with the dates and details of all the Proms in the list plus a few more I think, thanks very much to Jamie Bullock for putting it together.]
Link to a Google calendar version of the list, and an ical link.
Andriessen, Louis (born 1939)
The Hague Hacking (Concerto for 2 pianos & orchestra) - Prom 43
De Staat - Prom 58
Antheil, George (1900-1959)
Ballet mécanique (4 pianos and ensemble) - Prom 33
Arthurs, Tom (born 1980)
And Distant Shore (world premiere) - PCM 18
Bartók, Béla (1881-1945)
Dance Suite - Prom 15
Sonata for solo violin - PCM 8
Sonata for two pianos and percussion - Prom 33
Violin Concerto No.2 - Prom 44
Berg, Alban (1885-1935)
Chamber Concerto - Prom 49
Birtwistle, Harrison (born 1934)
Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum - Prom 27
The Mask of Orpheus - Act 2 - Prom 39
Silbury Air - Prom 27
Verses for Ensembles - Prom 27
Bondt, Cornelis de (born 1953)
Doors Closed (London premiere) - Prom 58
Casken, John (born 1949)
Orion over Farne - Prom 16
Chin, Unsuk (born 1961)
Cello Concerto (world premiere) - Prom 38
Crumb, George (born 1929)
Ancient Voices of Children - Prom 66
Night of the Four Moons - Prom 66
Vox Balanae (Voice of the Whale) - Prom 66
Davies, Peter Maxwell (born 1934)
Roma, amor - Prom 29
Solstice of Light - Prom 71
Violin Concerto No.2 (UK premiere) - Prom 70
Westerlings - Prom 71
Foskett, Ben (born 1977)
From Trumpet (world premiere) - Prom 24
Glanert, Detlev (born 1960)
Shoreless River (UK premiere) - Prom 46
Glass, Philip (born 1937)
Symphony No.7 (A Toltec Symphony UK Premiere) - Prom 37
Violin Concerto - Prom 37
Goehr, Alexander (born 1932)
Since Brass nor Stone - PCM 7
Goldie (born 1965)
Sine Tempore - Without Time (world premiere) Prom 21, and Prom 23
Golijov, Osvaldo (born 1960)
She Was Here (after Schubert) (UK premiere) - Prom 59
Greenwood, Jonny (born 1971)
Popcorn Superhet Receiver - Prom 39
Harvey, Jonathan (born 1939)
Come, Holy Ghost - Prom 8
Holliger, Heinz (born 1939)
(S)Irato (UK premiere) - Prom 26
Hosokawa, Toshio (born 1955)
Cloud and Light (UK premiere) - Prom 10
Jarrell, Michael (born 1958)
Sillages (world premiere) - Prom 25
Knussen, Oliver (born 1952)
Horn Concerto - Prom 30
Flourish with Fireworks - Prom 76
Ligeti, György (1923-2006)
Atmosphères - Prom 65
Lutoslawski, Witold (1913-1994)
Concerto for Orchestra - Prom 31
Variations on a Theme by Paganini for two pianos - Prom 32
Macmillan, James (born 1959)
Seven Last Words from the Cross - Prom 6
Martland, Steve (born 1959)
Beat the Retreat - Prom 58
McCabe, John (born 1939)
Horn Concerto 'Rainforest IV' (London premiere) - Prom 67
Study No.12 (Sonata) (world premiere) - PCM 16
Meredith, Anna (born 1978)
Left Light (world premiere) - Prom 32
Nyman, Michael (born 1944)
Six Celan Songs - Blume; Psalm - Prom 54
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover - Memorial - Prom 54
The Draughtsman's Contract - selection - Prom 54
The Musicologist Scores (world premiere) - Prom 54
Pärt, Arvo (born 1935)
If Bach Had Been a Beekeeper - Prom 21 and Prom 23
Saunders, Rebecca (born 1967)
traces (UK premiere) - Prom 56
Schnittke, Alfred (1934-1998)
Nagasaki (UK premiere) - Prom 52
Schoenberg, Arnold (1874-1951)
Five Orchestral Pieces, Op.16 - Prom 65
Simcock, Gwilym (born 1981)
Contours - PCM 18
Stravinsky, Igor (1882-1971)
Agon - Prom 57
Apollo - Prom 39
Concerto in D major - PCM 4
The Fairy's Kiss - Prom 34
The Firebird - Prom 16
Fireworks - Prom 1
Jeu de Cartes - Prom 30
Les noces - Prom 33
Orpheus - Prom 40
Petrushka (1947 version) - Prom 15
Pulcinella (complete) - Prom 20
The Rite of Spring (two piano version) - Prom 38
Scènes de ballet - Prom 28
The Soldier's Tale - Suite - PCM 18
Takemitsu, Tŏru (1930-1996)
Ceremonial - An autumn ode - Prom 10
Green - Prom 10
Thomas, Augusta Read (born 1964)
Violin Concerto No.3 'Juggler in Paradise' (UK premiere) - Prom 72
Tracey, Stan (born 1926)
Genesis Suite - Prom 3
Vivier, Claude (1948-1983)
Orion (UK premiere) - Prom 60
Weir, Judith (born 1954)
Ascending into Heaven - Prom 8
Widmann, Jörg (born 1973)
Con brio (UK premiere) - Prom 18
Wigglesworth, Ryan (born 1979)
The Genesis of Secrecy (world premiere) - Prom 8
Williams, John (born 1932)
Music from 'Jurassic Park' " 'Star Wars' - Prom 21 and Prom 23
Woolrich, John (born 1954)
Capriccio (World premiere) - PCM 4
Xenakis, Iannis (1922-2001)
Aïs - Prom 63
Nomos gamma - Prom 63
Zimmerman, Bernd Alois (1918-1970)
Dialoge - Prom 64
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