Category Archives: News

In appreciation: John Wallace

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood Picture courtesy of Wikipedia / Thechisholm

Last week we heard the sad news of the death of trumpeter and conductor John Wallace, at the age of 76. There have been a number of affectionate obituaries for John that refer to his character, musicianship and academic influence among many other positive qualities. Wallace was principal trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1976 to 1995, and along the way blossomed into an international soloist of considerable repute.

In 1981 he played at the wedding of Price Charles and Princess Diana, joining soprano Kiri te Kanawa in a performance of Handel’s Let The Bright Seraphim:

He also formed The Wallace Collection in 1986, an influential brass ensemble whose flexible approach brought brass music to new audiences. Several composers wrote for Wallace, among them Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Sir James MacMillan and Robert Saxton.

Arcana has put together a playlist in honour of John Wallace, featuring the concertos written by Arnold and Maxwell Davies, along with the latter’s Litany for a Ruined Chapel between Sheep and Shore, written for Wallace to perform solo in 1999.

Wallace also features as soloist in Haydn’s much-loved Trumpet Concerto, Prayer of St Gregory by Alan Hovhaness and a commanding performance by the Wallace Collection of Berlioz’s Grande Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphale. There is also a pop nugget, Wallace playing piccolo trumpet on The Alan Parsons Project’s Don’t Let It Show, from the album I Robot.

Listen, enjoy, and appreciate the ability of a wonderful player whose presence will be greatly missed

In appreciation: John Wallace

Published post no.2,774 – Wednesday 21 January 2026

New music – Daphni: Good Night Baby / Talk To Me (Jiaolong)

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood, with quotes taken from the press release

Daphni recently announced his first album since 2022’s Cherry, which Arcana reviewed here. The Dan Snaith pseudonym – which he somehow operates alongside Caribou – will release Butterfly on 6 February via Jiaolong. To give fans a couple more tasters ahead of the album, having already shared Waiting So Long (feat. Caribou) and Lucky, today he releases two new tracks, Good Night Baby and Talk To Me.

Good Night Baby has enjoyably skittish beats and a warm, playful side. Snaith says it is “a good illustration of how far a finished track can end up from its origin / of how rudderless I am when making music most of the time. This one started out more like the mostly drums only track that you hear towards the end… but somewhere along the way turned into a big mushy loved up track with all the feels.”

Talk To Me is very different, with a slightly sinister vocal that speaks of AI gone wrong. Snaith calls it “the polar opposite of Good Night Baby. It’s rare that I manage to keep my tracks as sparse and spare as this one—just wubs, drums, voices and occasionally a little synth melody. I didn’t think that this was done until I played it out but on a big soundsystem it struck me that this was all it needed.” Minimal is the word here, though there is still plenty going on with the beats and lightly ethereal backdrop.

Adding to the single releases, Snaith has prepared a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix under his Daphni pseudonym, premiering on 17 January. It will feature music from Miles Davis, Liquid Liquid, Floorplan, Underworld through to MPH, Flava D, Champion, Mala and unreleased music by Daphni himself.

Daphni will also be hosting three radio shows on NTS leading up to the release:
21 January, 1-2pm GMT
28 January, 1-2pm GMT
6 February, 4-5pm GMT

Listen / Buy

You can listen to all the available audio from the Butterfly album below:

Published post no.2,765 – Monday 12 January 2026

New music – Whitelands: Blank Space (Sonic Cathedral)

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood, taken from the press release

London shoegazers Whitelands have released Blankspace, the fourth single from their forthcoming album Sunlight Echoes, due from Sonic Cathedral on 30 January.

There is an impressive depth to this track, for as the press release recognises there is “some real grit underpinning the melody. Unsurprising, as it’s about a particularly dark period in singer Etienne Quartey-Papafio’s life. “I was faced with mortality and very difficult things,” he says. “I’m still not sure how to talk about it.” “It’s about coming face-to-face with death, grief and mortality,” expands bassist Vanessa Govinden. “This one song became a way to carry all of that heaviness.”

You can watch the striking visualiser by Whitelands’ guitarist Michael Adelaja below:

Published post no.2,764 – Sunday 11 January 2026

In appreciation – Chris Rea

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood, photo courtesy of Wikipedia (c) Dutch Simba

There was only one way Arcana could sign off for Christmas 2025 – with a tribute to the sadly departed and much-missed Chris Rea.

Before the inevitable finale, I wanted to share a couple of favourites from his considerable collection of excellent songs – this beauty from 1983:

The song Josephine has become something of a Balearic anthem, and is a sun-soaked beauty:

Speaking of sunshine, I had to include On The Beach, another dreamy song that proved versatile enough to be worked into a late 1990s trance hit:

And of course, finally, the ubiquitous Driving Home For Christmas, one of the staple Christmas songs with its wistfulness, charm…and patience!

With many thanks to all Arcana readers this year for your input and support, as well as gratitude for our fine writing contributions from John Earls and Richard Whitehouse. Arcana will return in the first full week of the New Year, but for now have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas, and all very best wishes for 2026 when it comes.

Ben Hogwood, editor, Arcana

Published post no.2,758 – Wednesday 24 December 2025

News – Guy Johnston to give the world premiere of Joseph Phibbs’ Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on 16th January

Posted on by
Reply

from the press release, published by Ben Hogwood

On 16 January 2026, Johnston will give the world premiere of Joseph Phibbs’ Cello Concerto at the Barbican with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Clemens Schuldt.  In 2021,Johnston previously premiered Joseph Phibbs’ Cello Sonata, partly based on an Elizabethan pavane found in the archive of Hatfield House.

Phibbs (below) says about the work:

“This concerto is in five movements, the first and last scored for cello and strings only. The work opens softly with a short Invocation – a type of prayer – which leads without a break to an ebullient and at times abrasive Aubade, the cello moving from its lowest to highest range. The subdued central Elegy hones in on the celebrated lyrical qualities of the cello, before an agitated Notturno presents an unsettled, ever-shifting dialogue between the cello and orchestra, with a virtuoso cadenza featuring towards its close. A short Vocalise, adapted from a sonata Guy commissioned several years ago, ends the work on a note of resolution.

As one of the very finest cellists of his generation, I wanted to bring out Guy’s extraordinary expressive qualities as well as his dazzling technical prowess. The result was music which is often lyrical and emotionally direct sitting alongside that which is harder-edged, and at times frenetically virtuosic.”

This concerto appearance is part of a wider cello odyssey to record the major British cello repertoire. Following the digital release of the Bliss Cello Concerto with the RLPO on Onyx Classics in July 2025, Guy recorded Tavener’s The Protecting Veil with Britten Sinfonia in St Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral in October 2025 to be released on Signum in 2026. Early 2027 will see a physical release of the Britten Cello Symphony coupled with the earlier recording of the Bliss Cello Concerto with the RLPO on Onyx Classics. Also to be released in 2027 are recordings of Walton’s Cello Concerto and Barber’s Cello Concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

The 2025-2026 season coincides with Johnston’s returns to the Royal Academy of Music as a Professor of Cello. This role will see him offer bespoke tuition to cello students throughout the year. Johnston started out as a professor at the Academy in 2011, later becoming visiting professor. The appointment follows Johnston’s recent relocation back to the UK following his tenure at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, from 2018 to 2024.

Friday 16th January, 07.30pm

Barbican, London

Tchaikovsky Fantasy-Overture, ‘Hamlet’

Joseph Phibbs Cello Concerto

Mel Bonis Ophélie

Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier Suite

Published post no.2,755 – Sunday 21 December 2025