Tag Archives: Piano

In appreciation – Pierre Boulez

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by Ben Hogwood

Today marks the centenary of the birth of composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, a towering figure in 20th century classical music.

There are so many recordings conducted by Boulez that I thought it best to share a playlist centred on memories of concerts I saw him conduct, largely from the 1990s and 2000s.

My first encounter with him was a rare appearance with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. There he conducted Bartók’s Piano Concerto no.1 with customary clarity, soloist Krystian Zimerman delivering a memorable performance of percussive drive as he does here. On the second half of the concert was Stravinsky’s Petrushka, well-represented here by Boulez’s recording for DG in Cleveland.

Another South Bank visit in the 1990s brought an unusual appearance for Schoenberg’s monodrama Erwartung, sung memorably by soprano Jessye Norman. I remember vividly several visits to the Barbican to see Boulez conduct the London Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s, and one performance that particularly stands in the memory was that of Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales, a colourful yet brisk performance that danced with a glint in its eye.

One other eyeopener, which I will never forget, was Boulez conducting Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite at the Barbican – a work he never recorded. Simultaneously on the bill was Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto no.1. Here was a composer Boulez seemingly re-evaluated later in his life, recording the concerto with violinist Christian Tetzlaff for DG.

From the recorded side I have included Maurizio Pollini’s pioneering account of Boulez’s own Piano Sonata no.2, a challenging piece that I must admit I have not yet conquered – but whose importance is clear.

To finish, my favourite Boulez recording, which finds him back in Cleveland conducting Debussy’s Nocturnes, a recording notable for its ideal pacing, beautiful colouring and immaculate rhythmic direction.

You can listen to this selection on Tidal by clicking on the playlist link below:

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/3632d2ec-3ba7-4c0f-9654-569aff5dfb1d

Published post no.2,485 – Wednesday 25 March 2025

Jingle All The Way – new music for BBC Radio 2

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by Ben Hogwood

It has been a big week on UK radio.

If you’ve been near any social media platform in this country, you’ll have surely worked out why, as BBC Radio 2 is undergoing an overhaul on its daytime schedule. You will probably have been blasted by the massed choirs heralding the arrival of Scott Mills on breakfast…but I would argue that the real star of the show so far has been Trevor Nelson.

On the evidence of the shows I’ve heard so far, his transition from late evenings to afternoons has been a seamless one – helped by bringing the ’5 Seconds To Name’ feature quiz with him and bolstering it with the superb ‘Old School Run’.

Yet there is another factor to his early success – his new jingle. Trevor has been fortunate with jingles – he had a couple of crackers on the Rhythm Nation show – but this one, co-written and sung by Zoe Birkett, is a proper ‘diva moment’. Listen to the jingle and watch its recording here:

@mrs.zoe.birkett

📻ITS OUT !!! Waghhhhh!! 📻 Buzzing to have recorded the vocal jingle for Dj Trevor Nelson @DjSpoonyofficial new radio show on @BBC Radio 2 I had so much fun with the writer in the studio, I was given a brief 2 days before recording but when I got into the booth the writer let me go loose vocally to pop my own spin on it , they were all so supportive and loved what I gave , and I can’t wait to tune in tonight to hear Spoonys jingle as hearing them LIVE on radio is there first time I’ve heard them ! Did anyone hear it ? ☺️ #singer #radio #bbcradio2 #fy

♬ original sound – Zoe Birkett

From personal experience, writing such a short piece of music is anything but easy. The Darkness singer Justin Hawkins, no less, started out in music writing adverts for IKEA and Yahoo. He and his contemporaries deserve so much more credit than they get, for everyone recognises the old start-up for Microsoft Windows, the double, slightly stuttered chord that brings the start of another Netflix show, or even the cosmic flash with which ITVX is introduced.

Trevor’s jingle has a lot going on. Birkett – who finished fourth in the original Pop Idol competition – has gone for broke with a killer vocal, her convictions backed up by some spicy harmonies and a production suggesting big room funk from the 1980s, with an especially big cadence that brings the likes of Parliament to mind.

Birkett hasn’t stopped there either, delivering a similarly classy jingle for DJ Spoony’s Good Groove show. Proof that the art of the jingle is alive and kicking – those writers and performers deserve a good deal of credit!

In concert – CBSO Winds / Nicholas Daniel: Anna Clyne ‘Overflow’ & Mozart ‘Gran Partita’

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CBSO Winds / Nicholas Daniel (oboe, above)

Clyne Overflow (2020)
Mozart Serenade no.10 in B flat major K361 ‘Gran Partita’ (1781)

Town Hall, Birmingham
Sunday 26 January 2025 (3pm)

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

An interesting and worthwhile strand in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s current season is the series of Sunday afternoon programmes focussing on each of the orchestra’s sections. Last November brought the strings for a perceptive account of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, as arranged by Dmitry Sitkovetsky and the present recital duly centred upon the woodwind in what was dominated – not unreasonably so – by a performance of Mozart’s epic Gran Partita.

Still the finest and probably longest work ever composed for wind ensemble, it also remains the canniest example of ‘functional’ music raised to a level such as transcends its immediate purpose. Not the least of its virtues is the way in which its orchestration – comprising pairs of oboes, clarinets, basset horns and bassoons along with four horns and double-bass – suggests timbral and textural possibilities as profound as they are far-reaching. Put another way, this is ‘Harmoniemusik’ which makes of a localized and even provincial genre something universal.

Such a quality was rarely less than present in this performance. Right from its trenchant yet never portentous introduction, the opening Allegro found an enticing balance between poise and impulsiveness matched by that between tutti and ensemble passages. The first Menuetto was notable for the winsome elegance of its second trio, then the ensuing Adagio yielded no mean pathos without risk of sentimentality at a flowing tempo abetted by that effortlessness of dialogue which proved a hallmark of this movement as of the performance taken overall.

Although less overtly characterful than its predecessor, the second Menuetto did not lack for personality and while the Romanze feels the least essential part of the overall conception, it still made for a pertinent entrée into the Tema con variazioni. This longest and most varied movement also encapsulates the work overall in its expressive contrasts which were to the fore here – the last variation preparing unerringly for a final Allegro whose relative brevity was belied by a drive, even forcefulness that propelled the whole work to its decisive close.

It was a testament to the excellence of these musicians that one never suspected the absence of any guiding hand, for all that guest first oboist Nicholas Daniel could be seen encouraging the players whenever his part permitted. Neither was there any sense of the latter being other than integral to the overall ensemble, such was the underlying felicity and finesse with which it conveyed the depths of what must surely rank among its composer’s greatest achievements. Not a bad way, moreover, for the CBSO’s woodwind to savour its occasion ‘in the spotlight’.

The programme had commenced just over an hour earlier with Overflow, a short but eventful piece where Anna Clyne draws inspiration from Emily Dickinson’s poetry (and, in turn, that by Jelaluddin Rumi) in music which treads an audibly viable balance between the ruminative and capricious. It made an understated showcase for the CBSO woodwind, whose brass and percussion colleagues are heard in the next of these recitals when Alpesh Chauhan directs a varied programme climaxing in Pictures at an Exhibition arranged by the late Elgar Howarth.

List of players: Marie-Christine Zupancic and Veronika Klirova (flutes), Nicholas Daniel and Emmet Byrne (oboes), Oliver Janes and Joanna Paton (clarinets), Anthony Pike and Steve Morris (basset horns), Nikolaj Henriques and Tony Liu (bassoons), Elspeth Dutch and Neil Shewan (horns), Julian Atkinson (double bass)

For details on the upcoming CBSO Brass & Percussion concert, heard to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra website. Click on the names for more on Nicholas Daniel and composer Anna Clyne

Published post no.2,426 – Wednesday 29 January 2025