Category Archives: Anniversary

On this day – the first performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet ‘The Nutcracker’ in 1892

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by Ben Hogwood. Image by Charles Reutlinger, used courtesy of Wikipedia

On this day in 1892, the first performance took place of Tchaikovsky’s popular seasonal ballet The Nutcracker Op.71, a musical and staged interpretation of Alexandre Dumas’s French version of the E.T.A. Hoffmann fairy-tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse-King.

The premiere was staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, conducted by Riccardo Drigo, and found favour with the Czar, but not so much the public, who preferred the shorter Nutcracker Suite Tchaikovsky fashioned from the ballet.

Here is the full ballet, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin:

Published post no.2,752 – Thursday 18 December 2025

On this day – the first performance of Nielsen’s Sixth Symphony ‘Sinfonia semplice’ in Copenhagen

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by Ben Hogwood. Image of Carl Nielsen in 1917 – unknown credit, used courtesy of Wikipedia

On this day 100 years ago – the first performance of Carl Nielsen’s Symphony no.6, the Sinfonia Semplice, took place in Copenhagen.

To mark the anniversary, Linn Records made a very intriguing release in September of a special version of the symphony. As the page for the album states, “conductor Ryan Wigglesworth joins Royal Academy of Music’s outstanding young musicians to revisit the composer’s later period. This recording showcases two works by Nielsen in two spellbinding arrangements by fellow-Dane Hans Abrahamsen. The No 6 ‘Sinfonia semplice’, written during a period of declining health, is viewed by some as a strongly ironic work. However, its lightness is also deeply sincere. With its crystalline weightlessness, Abrahamsen’s chamber arrangement reclaims both the quizzical spirit and sense of fragility in the original.

You can hear the album on Tidal by following the link below:

https://tidal.com/album/446995399/u

Published post no.2,745 – Thursday 11 December 2025

On this day – the birth of Olivier Messiaen

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by Ben Hogwood. Image by Studio Harcourt – RMN, used courtesy of Wikipedia

On this day in 1908, the composer Olivier Messiaen was born…which gives Arcana the perfect excuse to post a performance of his remarkable seasonal composition for organ, La Nativité du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord or The Birth of the Saviour), completed in 1935.

To quote from my live encounter with the piece in 2019, “Nothing is ever done by halves with this particular French composer, and his response came in the form of a massive, nine-movement organ suite lasting just over an hour. For Messiaen, contemplation is achieved through massive added-note chords, complex rhythms and large structures. Each section in this 1935 work responds to images from the birth of Jesus, and it is one of the composer’s first works to use birdsong melodies and rhythms from India and Ancient Greece.”

You can enjoy the work in concert below, given by Richard McVeigh from York Minster – with the accompaniment of a score showing the organist’s markings:

Published post no.2,744 – Wednesday 10 December 2025

On this day – the first performance of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Rococo’ variations in 1877

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by Ben Hogwood. Image by Charles Reutlinger, used courtesy of Wikipedia

On this day in 1877, the first performance took place of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme Op.33.

Composed for solo cello and orchestra, the piece had a chequered history. The German cellist William Fitzenhagen, who gave the premiere in Moscow under the baton of Nikolai Rubinstein, made unsanctioned cuts and amendments to Tchaikovsky’s original, meaning the composer’s intended structure and phrasing went awry.

Here is the original version, with cellist Johannes Moser and Case Scaglione conducting the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France:

Published post no.2,734 – Sunday 30 November 2025

In Appreciation – Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield

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by Ben Hogwood Photo of Mani in 2009 by Katherine Barton, edited by Gaz Davidson. Used courtesy of Wikipedia

Yesterday we learned the sad news of the unexpected death of Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield. Mani was best known as bassist for Stone Roses, where he was a founding member, and Primal Scream, who he joined in 1996. An obituary can be found on the BBC website, but I wanted to acknowledge his contribution to some of the late 1980s and 1990s most notable albums.

One of the first musical sounds you can hear on the Stone Roses debut is the lumbering bass line with which Mani introduces I Wanna Be Adored, one the band’s calling cards:

Meanwhile Fools Gold steps up the tempo, with a funkier but equally brilliant contribution from the bassist:

Many people see the second Stone Roses album as a drop in quality…but when you hear the bass groove driving the superb Begging You those opinions are called into question!

For Primal Scream, you can watch Mani driving one of the band’s excellent mid-90s cuts, If They Move, Kill ‘Em, on live footage from Later…with Jools Holland:

Meanwhile here is one of his final contributions to Primal Scream, driving the energetic Can’t Go Back:

Published post no.2,675 – Thursday 2 October 2025