91Èȱ¬ Proms 2007
New music: 91Èȱ¬ commissions
Sam Hayden: Substratum
Sam Hayden (born 1968) completes his first commission for
the 91Èȱ¬ with Substratum, a 15-minute piece with a "massive
sound" using lots of bass instruments.
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In naming a piece
Hayden says, "I try and find a metaphor that says something
meaningful about the structure of the piece itself … In
Substratum there's a sense of there being an underlying layer
of material, on top of which everything else is generated, and
is related to, in some fundamental sense".
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The world premiere
is given by the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra under David
Robertson.
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17 July (Prom 5).
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Brett Dean:Vexations and devotions
Brett Dean (born 1961) sets out to strike a blow at reality
television, the dehumanisation of modern society and the
warped language of corporate jargon. Lasting 35 minutes and
scored for large orchestra, adult choir and children's chorus,
Dean has dubbed this work a "sociological cantata."
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After
movements about all these "vexations," the children sing a
setting of a Michael Leunig poem about things that really
matter: relationships between people, respect for animals ... "these are the things that lead to the path to your door to find
out who you really are."
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The 91Èȱ¬ co-commissioned the work
with the Perth Festival and it gets its European premiere from
the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Chorus and Orchestra under David
Robertson, who are joined by the young voices of Australia's
national youth choir, Gondwana Voices.
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22 July (Prom 13)
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Aaron Jay Kernis: New work for violin and piano
Aaron Jay Kernis (born 1960), one of America's leading
composers, has not only won composition's highest prize (the
Grawemeyer Award), but also a Pulitzer prize and is much
recorded and performed.
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This, his first 91Èȱ¬ commission and
the first time his music has been heard at the Proms, is for the
Proms Chamber Music series and will be performed by James
Ehnes (violin) and Eduard Laurel (piano).
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It is one of two
premieres for the composer this year: his New Era Dance gets
its UK premiere from the National Youth Orchestra of Great
Britain under Mark Elder on 4 August.
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23 July (PCM 2)
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Judith Bingham: Fanfare – 'Ziggurat'
Judith Bingham (born 1952) has written a fanfare
commissioned especially for Brass Day. It will be played by
various forces at different points during the day and will get its
actual world premiere on the South Steps of the Royal Albert
Hall (a first!), before being played twice more (in changing
guises) on the stage.
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28 July (Proms 20 & 21 – Brass Day)
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Peter Wiegold: He is armoured without
Peter Wiegold (born 1949) is a pioneer of the creative
workshop, inspiring people of all ages and backgrounds in
practical music-making. This commission builds on previous
ambitious Proms creative projects, Violins!! (2005) and The
Voice (2006), when hundreds of amateur and professional
musicians came together to create new music and perform it
as part of a main evening 91Èȱ¬ Proms concert.
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He is armoured
without is part composed, part improvised and will bring
together huge brass forces, including members of the 91Èȱ¬
Philharmonic, traditional musicians from Uzbekistan, military
fanfare trumpets and 200 amateur and student brass players
from Manchester and London, as part of a day-long
celebration of all things brass.
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28 July (Prom 21 – Brass Day)
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Esa-Pekka Salonen: Piano concerto
Salonen (born 1958) received widespread acclaim for his
Piano Concerto following its world premiere in New York
earlier this year.
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The work's dedicatee, pianist Yefim Bronfman
(who played it then and who gives the European premiere
here), describes it as "one of the most difficult pieces I've ever
come across," while the New York Times talked of the half-hour
work as "arresting" and "excitingly original."
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The composer
conducts the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra in one of the biggest
new works of the season.
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30 July (Prom 23)
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Sir Harrison Birtwistle: Neruda madrigales
Conductor Susanna Mälkki makes her Proms debut with this
32-minute 91Èȱ¬ co-commission first performed at the
Aldeburgh Festival in 2005 by the 91Èȱ¬ Singers and London
Sinfonietta.
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31 July (Prom 25)
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Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Four poems of Thomas Campion
Stephen Jackson conducts the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Chorus in a 13-
minute work written especially for them by Sir Richard
Rodney Bennett (born 1936).
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5 August (Prom 30)
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Guto Puw:' ... Onyt agoraf y drws ... '(' ... Unless I open the door ... ')
Guto Puw (born 1971) has made a huge impact on Welsh
music in recent years and takes a story from the Welsh epic
Mabinogion as a starting point for his first 91Èȱ¬ Proms
commission.
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A group of warriors back from Ireland feast "for
seven years in Harlech" with the severed head of their former
leader at the table. It's only when they go 'feasting for a further
eight years in a hall with three doors in Penfro' that they
remember the terrible things that happened in Ireland.
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The
work lasts 15 minutes and will have music played from three
Royal Albert Hall boxes to symbolise the three doors.The
91Èȱ¬ National Orchestra of Wales, with which Guto Puw is
Resident Composer, perform under David Atherton.
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9 August (Prom 36)
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John Adams: Doctor Atomic Symphony
Derived from his recent
opera Doctor Atomic,
about J. Robert
Oppenheimer and the
making of the first atomic
bomb, this new
Symphony is given its
world premiere by the
91Èȱ¬ Symphony
Orchestra and the
composer himself.
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"To me,"
Adams says, "the Los
Alamos story and the
bomb in particular is the
ultimate American myth. It
constellates so many of
the defining themes of our American consciousness. Industry
and invention leading to 'triumph' of science over nature; the
presumption of military dominance on behalf of what we
perceive as the 'right' values... "
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Among the music
incorporated and reworked into this 35-minute symphony are
passages from the overture, Oppenheimer's Baudelaire
soliloquy, the electrical storm music, "Batter my heart," and the
culminating "Countdown" music.
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21 August (Prom 50)
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Rachel Portman: H2hOpe: The water diviner's tale
Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman and poet/novelist
Owen Sheers tackle global warming in a specially composed
50-minute "dramatic musical piece for people of all ages." The
story, says Portman "focuses on water because water tells the
story of climate change."
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With echoes of the tragedy of New
Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, it tells of children lost in a
terrible storm which has swept away their homes, though, the
composer promises, "it ends hopefully."
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Alongside five
professional singers and a narrator (the Water Diviner), the
work calls for a 40-strong group of children, including four
young soloists, and a large youth choir.
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91Èȱ¬ New Talent
undertakes a nationwide search to cast the children's roles.
Denni Sayers directs the staging and David Charles Abell
conducts the 91Èȱ¬ Concert Orchestra in a Bank Holiday
special which promises to be one of the highlights of the
season.
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27 August (Prom 57)
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Thea Musgrave: Two's company
Scottish composer Thea Musgrave, 79 this year, has written a
double concerto especially for percussionist Dame Evelyn
Glennie and oboist Nicholas Daniel.
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Thinking of the two
players' great differences she has created a dramatic piece in
which, she says, she thinks of the oboe and percussion as "two
people and the piece charts a kind of relationship between
them."
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It's a competitive relationship which comes good at the
end with a vibrant duet with excellent partners in the 91Èȱ¬
Symphony Orchestra and Jiřà Bĕlohlávek.
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31 August (Prom 63)
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