Julian Anderson is the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Composer in Residence, and his new, three movement orchestral work 'The Discovery of Heaven' is premiered on 24 March 2012.
The title of the work comes from a 1992 novel by Dutch author Harry Mulisch, and in this interview Anderson explores how a piece of music can reflect a book without having a direct narrative connection. He reveals how his own musical language absorbs the eclectic influences of Japanese Gagaku music, Mongolian overtone chanting, Gregorian chant and the battle between percussion and melody heard at the end of the first movement of Nielsen's Symphony No. 5.
The Discovery of Heaven was jointly commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and New York Philharmonic.
The March release on the LPO Label is of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe ballet, recorded in 1979 with Bernard Haitink and taken from the BBC archive. The podcast ends with a preview of the new CD.
We're listening to the 20th century.
Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival looks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music.
On 17 May the LPO's Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski conducts a programme of 1930s works written in the Soviet Union by Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. In this podcast he introduces Shostakovich's Symphony No 6, which he describes as 'absurd music for an absurb time'. We also include Shostakovich's letter to the Soviet General Assembly in 1948 in which he apologises for failing to write 'sufficiently uplifting and nationalist music'.
The new release on the LPO Label is of Mahler Symphony No 1, including the original fifth movement 'Blumine', recorded in concert in December 2010 with LPO Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski.
Find out more are www.lpo.org.uk/shop
LPO-0070 (£9.99 incl P+P)
Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.
We're listening to the 20th century.
Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival ooks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music.
Our concert on 27 April contains works by Webern and Berg, Bartók and Martinu, conducted by the LPO’s Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. It’s a fascinating programming as all works were written in the pre-war 1930s, and yet present a huge range of musical styles and influences as the composers reacted in different ways to the fear and angst of those years. In this edition of the LPO's podcast Vladimir Jurowski introduces the music and explains why he selected it for the concert.
The new release on the LPO Label is of Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 in a live concert recording from the BBC archive conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
LPO-0071, £9.99 from www.lpo.org.uk
Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.
We're listening to the 20th century.
Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival ooks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music.
In the 1920s, American composers began to break away from the confines of the European classical music tradition and to find a national voice, often incorporating jazz inspiration. In a concert given in February, conducted by Marin Alsop, the LPO presented the new voices of America - Ives, Scott Joplin, Gershwin and Copland.
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Copland's Piano Concerto in the concert, and this podcast gives you the chance to hear a pre-concert talk in which he explores the musical language of these two works. The interviewer was Christopher Cook.
Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.
We're listening to the 20th century.
Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival ooks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music.
The 1920s collaboration between Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht on The Threepenny Opera created one of the biggest musical hits of its time. The combination of 18th-century ballad texts, European swing and dance music and American jazz all conceived on an operatic scale successfully bridged the gap between mass entertainment and elitist high culture. The LPO's Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski introduces the work.
LPO bassoonist Gareth Newman talks about the famous solo opening of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, and principal percussionist Andy Barclay explains the huge changes in the use composers made of percussion in the orchestra during the course of the 20th century.
Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.
In 2007 US music critic Alex Ross published his first book The Rest Is Noise. Subtitled Listening to the Twentieth Century, Ross’s book tells the story of 20th-century music within its historical context, exploring how the events and ideas of the 20th century shaped the art that was created, and vice versa. Why did musicians write what they did? Why did the world react the way it did? Why, in some cases, were they silenced?
Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. Inspired by Ross’s book, The Rest Is Noise festival looks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music.
The LPO opens the festival on 19 January with a concert of Richard Strauss, and the Orchestra's Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski explains what makes Strauss's music the starting point for the yearlong musical journey. And two members of the Orchestra tell us why this concert is one of their highlights of The Rest Is Noise.
Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.
