Eclat Festival, Stuttgart, 2-5/2/17

[Richard Barrett]

So, this festival has just finished. I didn't attend all the concerts because of my own commitments, and some of those I did attend were quite disappointing, although it was striking that at least as many female as male composers were represented. I'm not going to dwell on the disappointments except to say that there seemed to be rather more of them than I'm used to at events like this. The standard of performance by such exponents as Nicolas Hodges and the SWR Vokalensemble and orchestra was of course as high as might be expected. And -

if you who are into such things ever get a chance to witness a performance of Steven Takasugi's Sideshow, an hour-long somewhat "theatrical" piece for eight amplified instruments and electronic sounds, don't hesitate to do so. I would travel a considerable distance to see it again. And the Mivos Quartet can be added to our roster of top-quality contemporary music quartets. Their performance of George Lewis's second quartet was completely gripping, and would probably have been even if the piece had been less of a fascinating thing than it in fact was.

edit: I've gone and done it again, overwriting my OP instead of replying to it. The link to the festival programme is: http://eclat.org/aktuell.html

[Richard Barrett]

.

[Bryn]

So, this festival has just finished. I didn't attend all the concerts because of my own commitments, and some of those I did attend were quite disappointing, although it was striking that at least as many female as male composers were represented. I'm not going to dwell on the disappointments except to say that there seemed to be rather more of them than I'm used to at events like this. The standard of performance by such exponents as Nicolas Hodges and the SWR Vokalensemble and orchestra was of course as high as might be expected. And -

if you who are into such things ever get a chance to witness a performance of Steven Takasugi's Sideshow, an hour-long somewhat "theatrical" piece for eight amplified instruments and electronic sounds, don't hesitate to do so. I would travel a considerable distance to see it again. And the Mivos Quartet can be added to our roster of top-quality contemporary music quartets. Their performance of George Lewis's second quartet was completely gripping, and would probably have been even if the piece had been less of a fascinating thing than it in fact was.

edit: I've gone and done it again, overwriting my OP instead of replying to it. The link to the festival programme is: http://eclat.org/aktuell.html

I had not previously noted the influence of George Benjamin in your postings here.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Interesting that it's looks as if (apart from 4th Feb) the male and female composers were kept segregated in the different concerts.

How did Everything ... / Nothing ... go, Richard. (And, more importantly - for me, leastways - any news about when is it getting a UK performance/broadcast?)

[Richard Barrett]

Interesting that it's looks as if (apart from 4th Feb) the male and female composers were kept segregated in the different concerts.

Yes, that was weird. And because of when I arrived and my work schedule, I was at far more male than female events, which is a shame since I ended up hearing a number of predictably uninteresting things rather than discovering something new and fresh behind numerous unfamiliar names. (If I ever see the name of Nicolaus A Huber on a programme again, I will stay away; I've given his work far too many last chances.)

As for my own participation: I felt the performance was very intense and engaging, but then I would. Unfortunately it opened the concert and was succeeded by a piece supposedly by Johannes Schöllhorn that turned out to consist completely of orchestral arrangements of songs by Massenet, which not only made me wonder how the payment of a commission fee could have been justified, but also caused me to think that at only 15 minutes my own piece wasn't weighty enough to survive being followed by a massive dollop of perfumed candyfloss. I had already more or less decided that the two existing parts should be joined by at least another three, to make something of "symphonic" dimensions, and this experience confirmed my decision - as soon as there's a chance to do so, which might of course not be any time soon.

The broadcast date of the concert is 21 April at 20.00 Eurotime. I think it will be streamed by SWR but if not I should be able to provide samizdat copies to interested parties. UK performance? <hollow laugh smiley>

Bryn, I have no idea what you mean but I was slightly in my cups last night if that explains anything.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes, that was weird.

Reminded me of a school I did supply work for some years ago - an old, Victorian building on the edge of Bradford with two main doors which had "Boys" and "Girls" carved into the stone.

(If I ever see the name of Nicolaus A Huber on a programme again, I will stay away; I've given his work far too many last chances.)

- I first encountered his work at a HCMF concert about fifteen years ago. I thought I was going to hear something by Klaus Huber, and couldn't work out how anybody who had produced this could also have taught Brian Ferneyhough. It was some years before I discovered the truth.

... at only 15 minutes my own piece wasn't weighty enough to survive being followed by a massive dollop of perfumed candyfloss. I had already more or less decided that the two existing parts should be joined by at least another three, to make something of "symphonic" dimensions, and this experience confirmed my decision - as soon as there's a chance to do so, which might of course not be any time soon.

If my Premium Bonds ever come up, that's what I'm commissioning (stuff "the complete symphonies of George Lloyd played by die Berlinerer Philterometer under Sir Simon Rattle").

Bryn, I have no idea what you mean but I was slightly in my cups last night if that explains anything.

A reference to GB's Palimpsest (as revealed on the Are Listening to my Bird? Thread. I was going to counter with a reference to Dillon, only to discover that the piece I've been referring to as "Uberschreiben" all these years isn't actually called that. (I'd be a very happy samizdat recipient, by the way.)

[Richard Barrett]

There's also a Palimpsest by Xenakis which is considerably better known to me than anything by George Benjamin.

Thanks in advance for the cash! but I would hope that the aforementioned commission is a little more likely than the admittedly eagerly-awaited Berlin/Rattle Lloyd symphony cycle.

[ahinton]

Thanks in advance for the cash! but I would hope that the aforementioned commission is a little more likely than the admittedly eagerly-awaited Berlin/Rattle Lloyd symphony cycle.

"Eagerly awaited" by whom, pray? I don't wish to pour cold water on George Lloyd for the sake of it (and I don't think that anyone in his/her right mind is "eagerly awaiting" such a cycle in the sense that it's already planned to be done before Rattle leaves BPO) but, in what I imagine to be the equally unlikely event that Rattle will end his days with BPO by conducting a complete cycle of symphonies by a British composer, there would surely be more deserving contenders, such as Robert Simpson, Humphrey Searle, Malcolm Arnold, your compatriot Daniel Jones or even D***d M*tt***s (one of whose symphonies Rattle's already premièred - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYxgJsHdA4k )?...

[ahinton]

If my Premium Bonds ever come up, that's what I'm commissioning (stuff "the complete symphonies of George Lloyd played by die Berlinerer Philterometer under Sir Simon Rattle")

!!! Mind you, I don't think that even you could commission a new symphony from Lloyd these days, Premium Bonds or no Premium Bonds...

[Bryn]

... A reference to GB's Palimpsest (as revealed on the Are Listening to my Bird? Thread. I was going to counter with a reference to Dillon, only to discover that the piece I've been referring to as "Uberschreiben" all these years isn't actually called that. (I'd be a very happy samizdat recipient, by the way.)

You've done it again. There are two of them, so Palimpsests, which is why, apart from the knowing dig, I picked them rather than the singular Xenakis work. Richard admitted that this was not his first offense. Oh, and Richard, please put me on the list, too.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

You've done it again. There are two of them, so Palimpsests, which is why, apart from the knowing dig, I picked them rather than the singular Xenakis work. Richard admitted that this was not his first offense. Oh, and Richard, please put me on the list, too.

Oh, beggurs.

[ahinton]

Oh, beggurs.

...can't be choosurs?...

[Richard Barrett]

Richard admitted that this was not his first offense.

It's a fair cop, ossifer.

[ahinton]

It's a fair cop, ossifer.

Never mind that; would you like to have the Rzewski Stockhausen LP? You'd be more than welcome if you would and if you cannot immediately source it elsewhere...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Some thoughts from Tim Rutherford-Johnson's Blog, The Rambler:

https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/a-little-more-on-eastman/