Category Archives: News

Switched On – Theo Parrish mixes the next instalment of !K7’s DJ Kicks series

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by Ben Hogwood

DJ Kicks, the jewel in !K7’s crown, is one of the longest running series of mix compilations – and in the last year they have enjoyed stellar contributions from Disclosure, Jessy Lanza and Cinthie. However they are set to go one better than even that, with a rare guest appearance from Theo Parrish, who has carved a creative homage to his home city in the form of Detroit Forward.

Parrish himself says, “Detroit creates. But rarely imitates. Why? We hear and see many from other places do that with what we originate. No need to follow. Get it straight. In the Great Lakes there’s always more under the surface – more than what appears to penetrate the top layer of attention and recognition. What about those that defy tradition? Those that sidestep the inaccurate definitions often given from outside positions? This is that evidence. Enjoy.”

The 90-minute mix will include Ian Fink’s Moonlite, which you can hear below to get a flavour of the compilation:

DJ Kicks: Detroit Forward will be released on 28 October on !K7 – and you can be sure to read more about it on these pages! In the meantime, you can preorder your copy here:

Download / stream tracklist:

01: De’Sean Jones & Ideeyah – Pressure

02: Donald Roland II – Simba’s Theme

03: Meftah – When The Sun Falls

04: Theo Parrish & Duminie DePorres – Real Deal

05: Specter – The Upper Room

06: Deon Jamar – North End Funk

07: Ian Fink – Moonlite (Duality/Detroit Live Version)

08: John C & Meftah – Full

09: Monica Blaire – aGain (T’s Edit)

10: De’Sean Jones – Psalm 23

11: Raybone Jones – Green Funk

12: Jon Dixon – Wind Drifts (Instrumental)

13: Whodat – Don’t Know feat. Sophiyah E.

14: KESSWA – Chasing Delerium feat. Nova Zai

15: Raj Mahal – Hudsons

16: De’Sean Jones – Flash Spain

17: Jason Hogans – Surrounded By Trees

18: Howard Thomas – Experiment 10

19: Sterling Toles – Janis

2CD tracklist:

1/01: De’Sean Jones & Ideeyah – Pressure

1/02: Donald Lee Roland II – Simba’s Theme

1/03: Meftah – When The Sun Falls

1/04: Theo Parrish & Duminie DePorres – Real Deal

1/05: Specter – The Upper Room

1/06: Deon Jamar – North End Funk

1/07: Ian Fink – Moonlight (Duality/Detroit Live Version)

2/01: John C & Meftah – Full

2/02: mBtheLight – aGAIN (T’s Edit)

2/03: De’Sean Jones – Psalm 23

2/04: Raybone Jones – Green Funk

2/05: Jon Dixon – Wind Drifts (Instrumental)

2/06: Whodat & Sophiyah.e – Don’t Know

2/07: KESSWA – Chasing Delerium feat. Nova Zai

2/08: Raj Mahal – Hudsons

2/09: De’Sean Jones – Flash Spain

2/10: Jason Hogans – Surrounded By Trees

2/11: Howard Thomas – Experiment 10

2/12: Sterling Toles – Janis

Triple vinyl tracklist:

A1: De’Sean Jones & Ideeyah – Pressure

A2: Donald Lee Roland II – Simba’s Theme

A3: Jason Hogans – Surrounded By Trees

B1: John C & Meftah – Full

B2: Meftah – When The Sun Falls

B3: De’Sean Jones – Psalm 23

C1: Ian Fink – Moonlight (Duality/Detroit Live Version)

C2: KESSWA – Chasing Delerium feat. Nova Zai

D1: Specter – The Upper Room

D2: Raj Mahal – Hudsons

E1: Raybone Jones – Green Funk

E2: Whodat & Sophiyah.e – Don’t Know

F1: Howard Thomas – Experiment 10

F2: mBtheLight – aGAIN (T’s Edit)

F3: Sterling Toles – Janis

* All tracks exclusive to ‘DJ-Kicks: Detroit Forward’, aside from ‘Real Deal’ by Theo Parrish & Duminie DePorres

Leif Ove Andsnes records Dvořák’s Poetic Tone Pictures

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Leif Ove Andsnes – picture (c) Gregor Hohenber

by Ben Hogwood

We all love a bit of Dvořák, don’t we?

That might be a bit of a sweeping statement – and don’t worry if you haven’t heard of him! – but the 19th-century Czech composer is much loved and admired for his winning way with a melody. His symphonies, concertos, chamber music and increasingly the vocal works are all part of the main body of classical repertoire.

Yet a part of Dvořák’s work is consistently overlooked, and that is his substantial body of piano music, that is hardly ever played. Leif Ove Andsnes, in a new album for Sony Classical, is looking to put that right. This is Dvořák’s Spring Song, taken from the 13-part cycle Poetic Tone Pictures, published in 1889:

The Poetic Tone Pictures are, as Leif explains briefly here, a ‘cycle of many stories’:

Happily we will be discovering much more of this music in the next month, from Leif himself. Stay tuned!

Preview – Oxford Lieder Festival 2022

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by Ben Hogwood

In three weeks’ time, the 21st Oxford Lieder Festival will be underway – and this is a short piece to show you why it’s worth going!

Arcana first attended this festival in 2018, and were really taken with its layout, friendly atmosphere, and intimate (or breathtaking!) venues. This is before we even get to the music, which is imaginatively chosen and programmed, and performed by some of the best singers and pianists available. Not only that, but festival director Sholto Kynoch and his team place the music in the context of interesting talks and features to place the songs in the context of the wider arts climate.

This year’s festival is Friendship In Song: An Intimate Art, and its aim is to ‘explore friendships between composers, poets and performers, recreate the intimate atmosphere of the salon, and generally enjoy a festive spirit of conviviality and shared experience. World-renowned artists mingle with the best of the new generation, and the great works of the song repertoire are complemented by new music and new discoveries’.

You are encouraged to head to the festival website to explore the concerts and artists, but Arcana would like to point you to a couple. On Saturday 15 October the songs of Richard Strauss come under the microscope. Until recently this aspect of the composer’s output was not greatly considered, lying in the shadow of his orchestral works and operas, but more recent explorations have shown just how inventive he could be as a songwriter.

On Sunday 16 October Claire Booth & Christopher Glynn perform songs and piano works by Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, and later that evening Patricia Petibon & Susan Manoff make their festival debut in a typically imaginative programme. If you have not seen these two live before, they are a brilliant double act, bringing their songs to life, as Arcana discovered at the Wigmore Hall back in 2015.

Tuesday 18 October sees the beginning of a mini-series devoted to this year’s most prominent festival composer. Vaughan Williams: Perspectives will examine some of RVW’s most memorable songs and cycles, including Songs of Travel (William Thomas & Anna Tilbrook) and Four Last Songs (Ailish Tynan and Libby Burgess). As a considerable bonus Alessandro Fisher, William Vann & the Navarra Quartet will perform On Wenlock Edge together with a complementary work, Portraits of a Mind by British composer Ian Venables.

Wednesday 19 October finds soprano Lotte Betts-Dean and pianist Natalie Burch performing Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, a late night slot for his Quiet Songs – and then on Sunday 23 October a day devoted to Schubert will revel in concerts from Birgid Steinberger & Julius Drake (Schubert and the Sounds of Vienna), then Werner Güra and Christoph Berner (Schubert ballads)

The Swedish Nightingale is a recital themed on the legendary Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, whose life and musical contacts will be explored by soprano Camilla Tilling and pianist Paul Rivinius on Tuesday 25 October. The next day, father and son duo – Christoph Prégardien and Julian Prégardien – will give a concert with Michael Gees, which promises to be a memorable encounter. Finally, regular festival guest Carolyn Sampson will give Music For A While on Friday 28 October, with her regular partner Joseph Middleton, while the festival will close with Dame Sarah Connolly singing music by Brahms, Schumann, Strauss and Mahler, alongside pianist Eugene Asti.

What a memorable three weeks it promises to be!

In Memoriam Queen Elizabeth II

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As a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, here is a small part of the deeply meaningful music from her funeral service at Westminster Abbey this morning, which also included new works from Sir James MacMillan and the Master of the King’s Music Judith Weir.

Two English works, by Sir Hubert Parry and Vaughan Williams, are included below. My Soul There Is A Country is the first of six Songs Of Farewell by Parry, for unaccompanied choir, written towards the end of the First World War.

O taste and see is a short motet that Vaughan Williams completed in 1953 for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It is a short and beautiful piece:

News – Maria Marica wins the 2022 George Enescu International Competition, Violin Section

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Maria Marica (above centre), won the 2022 George Enescu International Competition Violin Section after a Final in which she performed the Violin Concerto in D major Op. 77 by Brahms. The violinist also received a special award from the IMK Vienna Association, represented by jury member Igor Petrushevski: a concert as a soloist with the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 2023 in Prague.

Maria Marica will perform, together with cellist Benjamin Kruithof – who won the cello section of the Enescu Competition – the Double Concerto in A minor Op.102, also by Brahms. The Violin Final of the Enescu Competition took place on Tuesday 13 September at the Romanian Athenaeum. Romanian violinist Ștefan Aprodu was second, with Frenchman Grégoire Torossian third. The audience enthusiastically embraced the three orchestral concerts in which soloists performed some beloved violin works.