Tuesday 2 December 2014

Sweet Disorder

Pierre-Laurent Aimard - photo credit Marco Borggreve
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
photo credit Marco Borggreve
The London Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Vladimir Jurowski and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard will be giving the UK premiere of Sir Harrison Birtwistle's piano concerto Responses: Sweet disorder and the carefully careless at London's Royal Festival Hall on 6 December 2014. The work is a joint commission between the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Musica Viva, Casa da Musica Porto, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The concerto was written for Aimard and he was the soloist at the premiere in Munich last month with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Stefan Asbury. The concerto's title comes from an essay by the Princeton architect Robert Maxwell and the work continues Birtwistle's interest in the piano both as a solo instrument and in relation to others. The work's premiere in Munich got mixed reviews so it will be interesting to see whether Aimard, playing with a different orchestra and conductor, sheds new light on the piece.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle - photo credit Chlala Arena
Sir Harrison Birtwistle
photo credit Hanya Chlala Arena
Also in the concert is Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments and ballet Orpheus plus Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques. And before the concert LPO Soundworks, a collaborative arts project for young people, presents a performance on new music and dance. The concert is part of the South Bank Centre's celebration of Birtwistle's 80th birthday, In Broken Images which runs from 5 to 7 December 2014 and also includes concerts from the London Sinfonietta, and Colin Currie and Tamara Stefanovich.

Two days later, on 8 December 2014, the London Philharmonic Orchestra presents its annual free carol service at Waterloo in aid of Save the Children.

The orchestra has quite a busy season ahead with a tour to Germany with Jurowski, Iceland with Osmo Vanska and China with Bhezod Abduraimov and Vasssily Sinaisky.

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