Category Archives: Anniversary

Wigmore Hall news – A season-long celebration of Fauré begins this September

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Véronique Gens (soprano), Fleur Barron (mezzo-soprano), Laurence Kilsby (tenor), Stéphane Degout (baritone), Susan Manoff (piano), Julius Drake (piano) – all performing on Friday 13 September 2024 at the Wigmore Hall

The Gabriel Fauré Centenary Celebrations open with a song gala involving some of Fauré’s finest contemporary interpreters, who explore the composer’s output at various stages, and all of whom share in the performance of his cycle La bonne chanson.

The concert will take place on Friday 13 Sep 2024, 7.30pm (click here for tickets) – and marks the start of a celebration which will cover the French composer’s celebrated chamber music.

You can read about the celebrations at the Wigmore Hall website, where you will find details of the five-day festival planned and curated by Steven Isserlis and friends, running from Friday 1 November to Tuesday 5 November. The programme will include all of Fauré’s chamber music, put in context of his friends and contemporaries. It will also give us the rare opportunity to hear both of the piano trios by his good friend Saint-Saëns.

Published post no.2,288 – Thursday 29 August 2024

Playlist – Charles Villiers Stanford (died 29 March 1824)

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by Ben Hogwood

This is a playlist to mark the contribution to classical music of the Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford, who died on 29 March 1924.

If you are a first-time listener to Stanford, the playlist gives a first indication of the strength of his output – though there is much more to enjoy should you wish to go further!

The Irish Rhapsodies have a lot of melodic charm…while the Piano Concerto no.2 is a fine work that is a late Romantic equivalent to Rachmaninov. Stanford was a fine choral and vocal composer, too – there are glimpses of that here – while for sheer positivity and generosity of melody, his Symphony no.6 takes some beating

You can enjoy all of those below! Arcana intends to return to Stanford’s music in more detail later in the year…

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/63d3bb6b-62eb-477d-aaa8-4ba287d6c0cd

Published post no.2,135 – Monday 1 April 2024

Playlist – Bedřich Smetana (born 2 March 1824)

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by Ben Hogwood

This month we mark 200 years since the birth of Czech composer Bedřich Smetana in Litomyšl, east of Prague, on 2 March 1824.

Smetana is fondly regarded as the father of Czech music, his output spearheaded by the remarkable cycle of six symphonic poems Má vlast (My Country), containing vivid descriptions not just of the Czech countryside but also its architecture and history.

A new recording of the cycle has just been issued by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and their conductor Semyon Bychkov, on the Pentatone label, and it is included on the playlist below. However – as I hope you will find – there is a lot more to Smetana than this wonderful sequence alone.

The String Quartet no.1, subtitled From My Life, is a poignant tale of the composer’s life and subsequent deafness, unforgettably portrayed in the finale by the first violin. Also worth investigating in the composer’s chamber music output are the Second String Quartet and Piano Trio, while the inclusion of Richard III shows a depth of Smetana’s orchestral writing that is yet to be fully exploited in concert or on record. Make a note, too, of his contribution to Romantic piano music, in a series of attractive polkas.

Smetana’s contribution to opera is perhaps his principal legacy. Two works in particular stand out – The Bartered Bride, from 1866, and Dalibor, completed two years later. While very short excerpts from these are included in the playlist, I have included links to complete performances so that you can become acquainted with them.

Hopefully Smetana’s music will be celebrated in the concert hall as the year progresses, for it is generously melodic and passionate. The more you hear, the more rewarding it becomes!

Published post no.2,108 – Tuesday 5 March 2024

Playlist – Josef Suk (born 4 January 1874)

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by Ben Hogwood

Today marks 150 years since the birth of Czech composer Josef Suk in Křečovice, south of Prague, on 4 January 1874.

Over the last 25 years or so, Suk, has enjoyed a mini-musical renaissance, thanks in part to the advocacy of conductors such as Libor Pešek and Sir Simon Rattle. Yet he remains a composer whose music still doesn’t get out that much.

Closer inspection reveals an innovative musical mind, proud of his Czech ancestry but taking in influences from the likes of Brahms as well as Dvořák, who, as well as being Suk’s teacher, became his father-in-law when he married daughter Otilie.

Suk wrote evocatively about nature and the seasons, but a good deal of his music was inspired by family connections, such as the piano suite About Mother, or Czech / Bohemian heritage and history, as in the large orchestral work Praga.

Hopefully 2024 will see more performances of Suk’s music, so that attached Tidal playlist will help set the scene. It introduces the orchestral works for which he is best known, but also some fine chamber and piano compositions. Get a flavour for the music for Suk below:

https://embed.tidal.com/playlists/a43b1560-a91d-48ed-8dd4-e0bb1393ba7e?layout=gridify

In appreciation: Coralie Hogwood

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by Ben Hogwood, editor

Here is a personal blog for Saturday 22 July – as on this day, my mother Coralie would have been 80 years old.

I owe my mum and dad a huge debt of gratitude, not just for bringing me up in the way they did but for playing music to me when I was young, and encouraging my love of classical music (they didn’t know about the prog rock and techno until a good deal later!)

As a thank you to Mum, who we still miss greatly, I have picked out some of her favourite classical pieces. She loved guitar music, and few pieces made her smile more than Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, with its bright first movement:

Another fresh-faced favourite was Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, a set work that she studied at ‘O’ level but one that stayed with her:

Scotland held a special place in Mum’s heart, and while her favourite places were Oban and Mull, one piece that never failed to move was the wonderful Farewell To Stromness by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies:

Happy birthday Mum – and thank you.