Next Monday's Radio 3 In Concert is to be a live broadcast from the Aldeburgh Festival of an interesting-looking concert to include the premiere of Birtwistle's Keyboardurd Engine[/I]. One of the main attractions for me, however, is an all too rare chance to hear a perfromance of Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis as rescued and edited by Boulez (not the 3 Chansons but the recitations with accompaniment of two flutes, two harps, celesta (it was the celesta part which Boulez reconstructed). On this occasion the reciter is to be Claire Booth.
Since the online Radio 3 schedule is rather short in information regarding this concert, here's an extract from the Festival brochure:
"In his eighties Harrison Birtwistle is as uncompromising, poetic and provocative as ever, and any new work from him commands attention. This concert has two, performed by close friends and collaborators: a major two-piano work written for Tamara Stefanovich and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and the first British performance of Three Moth Songs, settings of the poetry of the eminent American Robin Blaser. Oliver Knussen (dedicatee of one of these songs) directs a hand-picked ensemble. There’s also new music by Vassos Nicolaou (a wedding gift for the Aimard-Stefanovich duo) and two rarities; Debussy’s narrated mini-drama sets prose-poems to music of ravishing sensuality, and a rarely-heard collection of tributes compiled to mark Debussy’s death 100 years ago yields alluring piano miniatures from no less than Bartók and Stravinsky amongst others."
Contrary to what the online schedule claims, the performing group is the Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble, not the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Since the online Radio 3 schedule is rather short in information regarding this concert, here's an extract from the Festival brochure:
"In his eighties Harrison Birtwistle is as uncompromising, poetic and provocative as ever, and any new work from him commands attention. This concert has two, performed by close friends and collaborators: a major two-piano work written for Tamara Stefanovich and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and the first British performance of Three Moth Songs, settings of the poetry of the eminent American Robin Blaser. Oliver Knussen (dedicatee of one of these songs) directs a hand-picked ensemble. There’s also new music by Vassos Nicolaou (a wedding gift for the Aimard-Stefanovich duo) and two rarities; Debussy’s narrated mini-drama sets prose-poems to music of ravishing sensuality, and a rarely-heard collection of tributes compiled to mark Debussy’s death 100 years ago yields alluring piano miniatures from no less than Bartók and Stravinsky amongst others."
Contrary to what the online schedule claims, the performing group is the Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble, not the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
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