The sound of space, the go-to toolbox for Hollywood composers, the home of a hymn to Englishness... Peter Quantrill on the conflicting identities of an orchestral classic
Mars sets the tone for any Planets, live or on record. Under the composer's baton in 1926, it establishes aggressive intent from bar one. War is not on the horizon, but advancing over the next hill. By contrast, the recent BRSO/Harding version (BR-Klassik) builds up menacingly, around a fifth slower, towards an implacable evocation of a war machine.
English conductor Sir Andrew Davis stood in for his colleagues at the last minute and saved the day on many occasions, remembers Peter Quantrill. But who will be able to take his place?
On the 20th of August, there will be an empty space - spiritual, if not physical - at the centre of the Royal Albert Hall. At time of writing, the replacement for Sir Andrew Davis had not been announced, but whoever takes on the task, I hope they keep the programme unchanged. Rather than fulsome speeches of tribute, this would be the most humble act to perform in his memory.
Autobiography, revolution, angst and transcendence: music was never the same after the scandalous premiere of the Second Quartet. Peter Quantrill explores its history
There are pieces where you can hear the world - of music, of art, of human history - turning on its axis. Arnold Schoenberg's Second Quartet is one of those pieces. At the premiere in December 1908, one newspaper critic sensed and feared this (r)evolution in sound, saying it was 'like a convocation of all the neighbourhood cats'.
A century-old legend of suspicion and exceptionalism continues to haunt attitudes towards English music, says Peter Quantrill - and it appears that it's the English who won't let it go
The spring cleaning of schedules at BBC Radio 3 took its listeners by surprise, to judge from comments both within and outside the media. The 'shop window' of Record Review on a Saturday morning moved to the first floor, in the afternoon. The spoken-word programmes were shunted off to Radio 4, while Friday Night Is Music Night has resurrected an antique Radio 2 title. The channel's once-serious coverage of new and contemporary music is almost entirely effaced under the controllership of Sam Jackson, who formerly headed up Classic FM.
A jealous husband, a young nun, a cunning father... late-style lightness of touch is the key when it comes to this still-underrated masterpiece of verismo, says Peter Quantrill
By rights, every major opera company should be mounting Il trittico in this Puccini anniversary year, marking the centenary of his death. Yet they will likely revive the reliable house-fillers of Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot, and the reasons are not hard to find. Trittico lacks a true diva role. It demands instead a tightly knit company cast of diverse talents, and a conductor and director who both believe in the unity of the whole as its composer did.
This month we review: Orch National de France/MAcelaru, Sol Gabetta/Bertrand Chamayou, Michael Spyres, Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset, and Stéphany, Spence, Foster-Williams, Gabrieli Consort et al/McCreesh
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With programme notes now written and translated by chatbots, and record covers created by image generators, can the first classical AI recording be far behind? Peter Quantrill thinks not
It was the word homotonal that caught my eye. Surely no one writes like that in 2024, I wondered to myself. I read on. ‘Similar to Plato’s ideas of the imprint of moral virtues onto the human soul through music…’ – eh? Bear in mind I was reading a booklet note to accompany a new album of Mozart’s piano sonatas. I flipped the page to look for the author’s credit. No name given.
This month we review: Christina Landshamer, Akademie für das alte Musik Berlin/BERNHARD Forck, Yomiuri Nippon SO/Skrowaczewski, Asmik Grigorian, and
Christophe Rousset
Centuries ahead of his time, Kraus was the master of Scandi noir, says Peter Quantrill, in a catalogue of symphonies and theatre pieces crying out for wider recognition
The title is neither original, nor strictly accurate. Born five months after Mozart in June 1756, Kraus grew up in the German town of Buchen im Odenwald. His father was a clerk who (not unreasonably) regarded music as an unstable profession and pressed his son into a law degree. The plan failed, and by the age of 20 Kraus had composed pieces for the church including a Te Deum, a Requiem and a Passion oratorio [see Essential Recordings, opposite].
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