As you have probably heard, the Greek composer and synthesizer maestro Vangelis has very sadly died at the age of 79.
Over his illustrious career, Vangelis has given us some of the very best and most recognisable film scores, not to mention productive projects in pop and classical music. A pioneer right through his musical life, he signed off with a typically ambitious piece of work, the Juno to Jupiter album for Decca.
A celebration of his career would not be complete without the inclusion of his timeless, majestic score to Blade Runner, a game-changer when it appeared in 1982:
Perhaps his best-known film work dates from the previous year, the soundtrack to celebrated film Chariots of Fire:
Meanwhile his pop projects included a strong connection with Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, which brought among many things I’ll Find My Way Home:
Meanwhile the Juno to Jupiter project mentioned above was a late work, featuring soprano Angela Gheorghiu:
One of the most-shared videos in the light of Vangelis’ passing has been Aegean Sea, a track from the 666 album released under his Aphrodite’s Child pseudonym in 1972:
It is with some sadness that we have learned of the death of Simon Preston, a great English organist, at the age of 83.
From the warmth of the tributes paid to Preston on social media, it is clear he was well liked:
It is with sadness that we have learned this evening of the death of Simon Preston.
Organist, conductor and composer, Simon was originally a chorister at King’s, later returning as Organ Scholar. His contributions to music were extraordinary, and he will be greatly missed.
— King's College Choir (@ChoirOfKingsCam) May 15, 2022
We are very saddened to hear the news that our friend and former colleague Simon Preston passed away last week. Simon was Organist and Master of the Choristers here @wabbey from 1981-87, having been Sub-Organist 1962-67. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. pic.twitter.com/Z2thY0yISf
— Choir of Westminster Abbey (@WAbbeyChoir) May 16, 2022
I was fortunate enough to interview Simon back in 2008 for the Classical Source website, where we spoke about the music of J.S. Bach, promoting an all-Bach concert in that years BBC Proms festival. It was a chance to thank him for some wonderful recordings made for Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, some of which we present below.
There is only one place to start – his impish recording of Charles Ives’ riotous Variations on America, which sounds like one of the most fun pieces to play! Also included are Preston’s exploits as a conductor, which are often overlooked, We have included his account of Vivaldi’s Gloria in a playlist that includes Bach (naturally) but also a few of his more Romantic offerings recorded for Decca:
The ever-inventive Third Coast Percussion have another album in the bag – and they are ready to share Perspectives with us in two weeks’ time.
Furthering the ensemble’s links with Cedille Records, the new album contains four new works, headed by a new four-movement Percussion Quartet from Danny Elfman. This substantial 20-minute work was written for Third Coast Percussion at the behest of Philip Glass, whose Metamorphosis no.1 is next up in an arrangement by the quartet themselves. Electronic composer Jlin has been commissioned to write a new piece, Perspective, a large-scale suite comprising seven contrasting viewpoints. Finally Rubix, a collaboration with flute duo Flutronix, signs off the album with its three sections, Go, Play and Still.
Have a listen to the latest edition of the Cedille podcast, where Third Coast Percussion’s Robert Dillon talks through the album and plays clips from it:
Arcana will cover the album in full next month…but before then you can read more about it and hear short clips on the Cedille website
How heartening it is to report on the announcement of a full-to-bursting BBC Proms season once again. The festival, now in its 127th year, is able to spread its wings post-pandemic, reaching out to the four corners of the British Isles to include large orchestral concerts and overseas artists once again.
There are of course far too many concerts to mention in full here, but some deserve an extra thick highlighter pen. From the small scale (Sir András Schiff playing Beethoven‘s last three piano sonatas) to the large (Sir Simon Rattle leading us and the London Symphony Orchestra from death to life in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony) there looks to be something for almost everyone.
Concerts are spread much further afield this year, and an especially welcome move is the multi-region approach to the weekly chamber concerts, which will be broadcast from Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Truro. Outside of those appealing concerts, there really is such a huge variety
At a glance, the most appealing events include a tribute to Aretha Franklin curated by Jules Buckley, the wholly appropriate choice of Public Service Broadcasting to celebrate the centenary of the BBC in a newly commissioned piece, This New Noise, and concerts that bring centurion George Walker to the fore.
Lovers of British music will not be disappointed either. John Wilson conducts his Sinfonia of London band in Bax, Walton, Vaughan Williams, Elgar and the new Flute Concerto by Huw Watkins. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Omer Meir Wellber will compare and contrast the Fourth Symphonies by Tippett and Vaughan Williams. Dame Ethel Smyth and Doreen Carwithen will get long-overdue appraisals – the Glyndebourne production of Smyth’s opera The Wreckers looks set to be essential, but so does her Mass in D major and Concerto for horn and violin. Meanwhile Carwithen’s String Quartet no.2 and Bishop Rock are welcome, though we could perhaps have done with one more piece from her.
Visitors from Germany (Berlin Philharmoniker), Austria (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra), Finland (Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra) and Norway (Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra) provide four must-see concerts. To them we can add the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who will perform Florence Price‘s Symphony no.1.
The music of Shostakovich will surely take on greater poignancy this season in the light of the awful tragedies unfolding in Ukraine – the Fifth, Tenth and Fifteenth Symphonies will all be loaded with extra meaning. The establishment of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, however, will trump even these when they play the music of recently exiled composer Valentin Silvestrov, his Symphony no.7. Brought together by the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and the Polish National Opera, the brand new orchestra will by led by Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson and will include recently refugeed Ukrainian musicians, Ukrainian members of European orchestras and leading musicians from Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa and elsewhere in Ukraine.
This is just a flavour of the season, from which you will see that from first night Verdi to final night Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lise Davidsen, there is so much to appreciate. Get over to the BBC Proms websiteand start planning!
We bring news of an exciting new festival coming to Glasgow this week. The Bridge Festival, originally scheduled for May 2020, is bringing some of Europe’s finest string-playing ensembles together for a four-day program of inspiring music.
Hosting the event are the Scottish Ensemble, who will be joined by the Trondheim Soloists, Ensemble Resonanz and the Estonian PLMF Music Trust, a talent development organisation offering opportunities for musicians without setting age limits.
The concerts are fascinating. Thursday 21 April will see a combined opening concert, all ensembles joining for a programme of Nachtmusik at the Barrowland Ballroom, with music from Hildegard von Bingen to Jonny Greenwood by way of two world premieres. These are commissions from Mica Levi (Flag) and Erkki-Sven Tüür (Deep Dark Shine), and the works are complemented by Penderecki’s Polymorphia – for 48 solo strings – and Greenwood’s 48 Responses to Polymorphia.
On Friday 22 April a lunchtime concert from the PLMF Music Trust showcases their home country. The trust, now nearly 20 years old, supports the development of talented professional musicians by organizing master classes, opportunities to perform and by introducing them internationally. Estonia! will include more Tüur (Symbiosis) and the Concerto for Chamber Orchestra from Jaan Rääts, while looking at the Estonian classical heritage through the eyes of Artur Lemba’s String Sextet and Heino Eller’s Five Pieces for Strings.
Later that day the Scottish Ensemble will perform Anna Meredith’s Anno at Tramway, with performances at 6pm and 8pm. Anno was written for the group, after an observation by the ensemble’s artistic director Jonathan Morton that Meredith’s style had similarities to Vivaldi. In response she wove an original work into Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, a clever interpolation that provides an invigorating live experience. The performances will be complemented by work from visual artist Eleanor Meredith, the composer’s sister.
Later still – at 9.30pm – there will be a chance to enjoy Ensemble Resonanz’s club night urban string, which will transform the Glad Café into a hotbed of minimalism. Music by Lou Reed, John Cage, Julia Wolfe and Glaswegian DJ Charlie Knox is promised.
Saturday 23 April offers what looks like a special concert of Nordic music old and new, given by the Trondheim Soloists. The ensemble will bring with them more traditional Nordic classical fayre – Grieg’s Two Nordic Melodies and Peer Gynt Suite, with the latter in a version featuring the sounds of the Norwegian national instrument, the Hardingfele. Sibelius’s Valse Triste will also appear, contrasted with Britta Byström’s A Walk To Gade.
Finally, on Sunday 24 April, comes a fascinating musical melting pot in Saint Lukes at 8pm. Ensemble Resonanz will be joined by guest performers including Hamburg-born bağlama player and vocalist Derya Yildirim and duduk player Deniz Mahir Katal. Twelve composers were asked to write a new work, with new compositions incorporating traditional Turkish, Anatolian, Kurdish and Greek songs, as well as new works for Derya’s voice, the bağlama (a Turkish stringed instrument, similar to the lute) and the string players of Ensemble Resonanz.
The result is a new, trans-cultural song cycle, combining old folk songs and new music, performed in modern cultural settings and creating a new experience of music from across Europe and across the centuries.
It should be a fascinating and inspiring four days of music – and for more information and tickets for each of The Bridge Festival concerts, you can head to the dedicated website
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