Hans Abrahamsen, 'let me tell you', from Berlin

[bluestateprommer]

Nice article from Gramophone on-line, about the new Hans Abrahamsen work let me tell you, which he wrote for Barbara Hannigan and which received its world premiere a few days ago in Berlin:

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/soprano-of-our-time-barbara-hannigan

You'll note this bit at the end:

"Exclusive offer: Gramophone readers can gain free access to the premiere performance of Abrahamsen's let me tell you at the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall on December 21. Simply visit the Digital Concert Hall and enter the voucher code GRAMDCHANN (offer valid until December 31)."

[amateur51]

That's a great spot, bsp - many thanks

[teamsaint]

Caught some of this performed by the CBSO tonight on R3on my cars radio, and it sounded absolutely brilliant.

Can't wait to hear it again on iplayer.

Everything I hear from Abrahamsen has something going for it, and this sounded special.



Hannigan's singing sounded quite amazing at times.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046cry9

[Beef Oven!]

Nice article from Gramophone on-line, about the new Hans Abrahamsen work let me tell you, which he wrote for Barbara Hannigan and which received its world premiere a few days ago in Berlin:

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/focus/soprano-of-our-time-barbara-hannigan

You'll note this bit at the end:

Thanks very much for the link

[Beef Oven!]

Caught some of this performed by the CBSO tonight on R3on my cars radio, and it sounded absolutely brilliant.

Can't wait to hear it again on iplayer.

Everything I hear from Abrahamsen has something going for it, and this sounded special.



Hannigan's singing sounded quite amazing at times.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046cry9

Sounds great ts, many thanks - I will have to check this out on iPlayer

[teamsaint]

Sounds great ts, many thanks - I will have to check this out on iPlayer

Sadly the free code on the mag has expired, but iplayer will have it up soon.........hopefully.......

Edit: available now.

[Roehre]

Caught some of this performed by the CBSO tonight on R3on my cars radio, and it sounded absolutely brilliant.

Can't wait to hear it again on iplayer.

Everything I hear from Abrahamsen has something going for it, and this sounded special.



Hannigan's singing sounded quite amazing at times.

A really nice piece, even with 35 minutes not too long (though the slow and continuing to be slow start might be a turn off)
I enjoyed it greatly, especially Hannigan's sporadic and delicate use of vibrato (especially where Abrahamsen explicitly seems to ask for it). Nice touches from Strauss' 4LL too, including bird song in the final episode.

I do however also think, that a mezzo or even an alto may be just as succesful, or perhaps even more so, than even a brilliant soprano as Hannigan in this piece.

[Beef Oven!]

Sounds like a 'must hear'.

[bluestateprommer]

I suppose this post should now read "Hans Abrahamsen, 'let me tell you', from Toronto", as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Barbara Hannigan just gave the North American premiere of the work at Roy Thomson Hall this evening. I just got back from it. While the overall running time of the music is very short measure for an evening's concert out, roughly an hour if one trusts the running times in the program notes (I didn't check my watch), with all the chit-chat from the stage and the rearrangements for the George Benjamin work, the end time ran more or less a full evening. Far from a full house, unfortunately, but solid music making all throughout.

The Chris Paul Harman work was OK, kind of "safe" modern music that was generally respectful of the harmonized chorales source material. Maybe a bit more "disrespect" would have helped. But the audience and orchestra gave Harman a warm reception. George Benjamin conducted the first half, with both the Harman work and his own Duet for piano and orchestra. I had not heard GB's Duet before, but I must say that I found the work very engaging, and the performance was utterly splendid, with excellent work from Ryan MacEvoy McCullough as the soloist. I honestly found GB's work much more gripping to listen to, but it's not because of any "cheap thrills" kind of music on GB's part, not at all. He noted in the pre-performance banter that he found the idea of a piano concerto intimidating, so that he ended up not writing a standard concerto. For the most part, it does seem to have the spirit of French "Impressionist" music in its bones, though sounding nothing like Debussy at all, for example. It shows a wonderfully light touch in the composition, but GB did pump up the volume more in the closing portion. It was interesting to hear RMM say in the intermission talk in the lobby, in response to the question of "did you feel intimidated with the composer there?", that in quite a few instances, it's actually more stressful for the composer than the performer, because hearing the music in 3 dimensions rather than just on the page might make the composer say "oh, I didn't realize it would sound like this. Let's change that bit".

Then, of course, the title work of this thread in the 2nd half. Peter Oundjian took the podium, and while I don't rate him that highly as a conductor, he did a fine job with the orchestra here. The sound was very much in the similar spirit of GB's work, in its general sonic ethos. Barbara Hannigan knows the work inside out, of course, but for some reason, her voice didn't completely carry over the orchestra as much as what one can hear on broadcasts. She seemed to blend in with the orchestra rather than stand apart from it. But she sang it very well, which almost goes without saying. The writer, Paul Griffiths, was in the hall, but unfortunately, Hans Abrahamsen took ill after arriving in Toronto, and couldn't attend the concert. Terrible shame there.

[Roehre]

For those interested in Abrahamsen: the latest H&N was (truncated and all) about his recent double concerto and orchestral arrangement of his First string quartet.

[teamsaint]

For those interested in Abrahamsen: the latest H&N was (truncated and all) about his recent double concerto and orchestral arrangement of his First string quartet.

Thanks Roehre.

Will definitely try to catch that. The first string quartet is a very striking work indeed.

[bluestateprommer]

2016 Grawemeyer Award to HA for 'let me tell you'

Nice news here for Hans Abrahamsen and his work let me tell you, on being announced as the winner of the 2016 Grawemeyer Award for composition:

http://grawemeyer.org/abrahamsen-wins-music-award-for-let-me-tell-you/

People might find it droll to read:

**Note: Due to a news embargo break, this information, originally scheduled for Nov. 30 @ 10 p.m., was announced ahead of schedule.**

Per the New York Times' ArtsBeat blog on the prize, there will be the first recording of the work released in January, featuring Barbara Hannigan (of course), the Bavarian Radio SO and Andris Nelsons. AN and BH are set to perform the work with the Boston Symphony in February.