It was being whispered last week at the first of the two Berlin Philharmonic appearances at the Proms that attendance across the board this year has been 94%. If this is true, and is maintained to the end, it is a staggering achievement. Every year for the last fifteen or so, the press office at [...]
Archive for the ‘journalism’ Category
Record attendance at the Proms
Posted in journalism on 19 September 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Proms preview
Posted in BBC Singers, journalism, Uncategorized on 9 July 2010 | Leave a Comment »
What with all the talk of cuts, and the Proms being a show case for the BBC house ensembles, I imagine this year’s season might be a time for each to put their best foot forward. I imagine, in fact, that there must be some talk in rooms that used to be smoke-filled of scrapping [...]
Chopin: the First Romantic
Posted in journalism on 31 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The following appeared as the lead article in the Arts section of the Spectator, dated 30th January: The year 1810 may seem a little late to look for the beginning of the Romantic movement in music, but with the births of Chopin, Schumann and S.S.Wesley one could make a case. Think of the difference in [...]
Music as Zeitgeist
Posted in journalism on 23 November 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This article appeared in the Spectator dated November 14th Stravinsky once said that music was powerless to express anything at all. Leaving aside the niceties of whether a rising scale can at least represent something hopeful or aspiring, his music, like so much music, does nonetheless have the capacity to express the spirit of an [...]
Singing or conducting?
Posted in journalism, works on 15 October 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This article will appear in the Spectator magazine dated October 17th Someone somewhere recently asked me in a public forum whether I would prefer to be a singer, the conductor or a member of the audience at the concerts we give. He himself was of the opinion that he would rather be a singer, saying [...]
Phillips on Cardus
Posted in journalism, works on 13 August 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The following book review will appear in the autumn issue of the Musical Times. Cardus – Celebrant of Beauty A Memoir by Robin Daniels The Elusive Mr Cardus Letters and Other writings edited by Bob Hilton Neville Cardus has been a hero for many people for a long time now. From his deprived upbringing in [...]
Music for spaces?
Posted in journalism on 9 July 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This weekend I shall be conducting the winning entries in a new composition competition, to be broadcast at a future date on BBC Radio Three’s Early Music Show, from York Minster. Why it is thought appropriate to air the works of a 16- and 23-year-old on this particular show beats me, except that they will [...]
Moving on
Posted in journalism on 21 June 2009 | 1 Comment »
In the current anniversary-fest the musical world has awarded itself there is an omission which dwarfs the lot of them. This is the invention of what many people still call ‘modern music’. For it was in 1909 that Schoenberg wrote his Five Orchestral Pieces and the monodrama Erwartung. These were early atonal works which used [...]
Out of harmony
Posted in journalism, works on 8 May 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The current exhibition at the Tate Modern (‘Rodchenko and Popova: Defining Constructivism’, until 17 May) is rich in cultural reference, apart from any reference to music. Here we have Popova collaborating with theatrical producers and designers, Rodchenko working alongside film-makers and poets (especially Mayakovsky), and everyone in a headlong dash away from easel work towards [...]
When is it acceptable?
Posted in journalism, works on 16 April 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Someone needs to write a history of vibrato. Clearly this should be Roger Norrington: to judge from his words on Radio Three recently he has given the topic much thought and come up with some historically-based conclusions. I suspect he isn’t going to do it though because, like me, he is too busy chiselling out [...]
