Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2016 i Limelight

This month’s issue gives me special pleasure. In recent years I’ve got to know Richard Gill, first as one of the more human faces of classical music in Australia, then as a passionate advocate for music education, and finally as a contributor to Limelight, a role I set out to inveigle him into the day I became editor. Two things strike you immediately on meeting Richard. The first is his undeniable authenticity. He’s a man who exudes concern for his passions: music and education being just the two most instantly apparent. The second is his directness – his pugnacity, some would say. We’ve called our feature ‘The Great Agitator’, not just because he’s a committed lobbyist, but because he has a habit of agitating his opponents. When he sees a…

THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING Guy Noble’s Soapbox (August Issue) was subtlety humorous, but it did raise a serious note worth thinking about, that is, are things really as bad as we are told? Journalists love disasters, they love bad news. But, as Guy asks, has the modern world lost its sense of proportion? We have been told that we live in the best country in the world (or second best to Norway if you believe the polls.) But that doesn’t sell newspapers. Essentially, we must stop accepting the opinions of all the Jeremiahs. No, Mister Gloomy, things ain’t that bad. It seems to me the best thing we can add to our daily diet is a large grain of salt. Or two. Dr. James Prior, Sylvania Waters, NSW THE…

“Sometimes the art of leaving things out is as important as putting them in” In Adelaide recently for concerts with the fine Adelaide Symphony, I drove up to see the Hans Heysen house in the Adelaide Hills. Heysen built himself a cosy studio with natural light, and this has been kept almost as it was when the landscape artist died in 1968. You have the feeling, as you walk around examining his tubes of paints and old bottles of turpentine, that he might just have popped out for tea and be back any minute to create another painting of ghost gums or his beloved shady pool at the bottom of the property. Seeing such places gets us that little bit closer to the miracle of creation. The Picasso museum in…

 What made you fall in love with the violin? “BACH HAS WIT BUT IT’S EMBEDDED IN SOMETHING DEEPER, MORE COMPLEX AND VERY PROFOUND – IN A WAY, MORE GERMAN. VIVALDI IS SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN!” I grew up in a musical family, so there was always music around. Both my parents sang a lot. My father was a choral scholar at King’s, Cambridge as a boy and then later as a tenor while my mother grew up playing instruments and singing. They formed a choir so there were often rehearsals at home. One day we were watching Blue Peter – a UK children’s show – and these kids were playing the violin. They were Japanese and learning the Suzuki method, walking around playing the Bach Double. I was three and…

At the first rehearsal with the chorus on Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, I said that if by the end of the read they feel they have not died and gone to choir heaven there is something seriously wrong with them! What I meant by this comment was that even though this is arguably his first large-scale work, which took him the better part of six years to complete, the choral writing is utterly skilful, gracefully melodic and remarkably enjoyable to sing. Added to this is the new approach to orchestration gleaned by his three weeks working with Ravel who complimented him by saying that he was the only student of his who did not try to imitate him. And then there is the achievement – a work that is…

It might be a tired cliché, but as history has repeatedly taught us, the greatest geniuses are often the most troubled. Tortured by their singular gifts yet capable of mind-blowing paradigm shifts, great visionaries can be destined to live either in the spotlight or the shadows, embraced by an adoring public or relegated to the fringes of society. In the world of ballet, there is one particular figure, whose titanic contribution to the art form – particularly with regards to the role of men within dance – is matched in scale only by his tragic personal catastrophe: dancer and choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky. The Russian-Polish iconoclast was one of the first male dancers to be truly regarded as a star, almost single-handedly reviving the waning public appetite for ballet at the…

ORCHESTRAL MASTERY Glazunov never seems to have had any trouble with orchestration. His attempt to get to grips with various wind instruments in 1885 is typical of his attention to detail. Fellow composer Taneyev was reluctant to accept his help with instrumentation, but succumbed in the end. A TALENT FOR DANCE Like Tchaikovsky, Glazunov had a way with lilting, memorable waltz themes – and not just in the ballets. Dance movements surface in unexpected places, like the spangled sixth movement of the 1895 Coronation Cantata. His scherzos scintillate, and he is not afraid to use unusual metres – probably a legacy of Rimsky-Korsakov’s folk-based experiments. MOOD MUSIC An instinct for atmosphere comes in useful for the nature-inspired symphonic poems – The Forest (1887) and The Sea (1889) – as well…

HEARMAN ON HUMPHRIES VISUAL ART Louise Hearman has won the 2016 Archibald Prize with a portrait of Barry Humphries – entertainer, satirist, painter and “manager” of Dame Edna Everage. Hearman said she had admired Humphries since she was a young girl in Melbourne and heard stories about him from her mother. Known for her dark, dreamlike paintings, the oil on Masonite portrait took Hearman so long that she told her partner, photographer Bill Henson, it would be her last portrait. SONDHEIM LETS SLIP THEATRE Stephen Sondheim has revealed that he hopes his latest musical may premiere off-Broadway at New York’s Public Theater next year. He let slip the comment during an onstage discussion at the Glimmerglass Festival. The musical, which Sondheim has been working on for several years with American…

High-Rise Released: August 18 Genre: Science Fiction/Satire Duration: 119 minutes Tom Hiddleston was recently tipped to be “the next James Bond” thanks to the burnished aplomb he brought to his role as a UK spy in UK teleseries, The Night Manager, based on a John le Carré novel. His choosing to star in an outré JG Ballard adaptation directed by the offbeat Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers) suggests the accomplished actor isn’t afraid to mess with his suave public image when the role is interesting. I say “interesting” because it best sums up the very mixed success of this bizarre story about a doctor, Robert Laing, who moves into a luxury apartment block in 1970s Britain and witnesses his neighbours gradually descending, Lord of the Flies-like, into degradation, violence and…

To celebrate its fifth anniversary season, the Australian World Orchestra is presenting two exciting concerts at the Sydney Opera House this September, broadcast live by ABC Classic FM. The AWO’s Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Alexander Briger will conduct September 28th’s bold programme, which will include Ravel’s popular Bolero, the world-premiere of Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin’s The Witching Hour, commissioned by AWO, and Tchaikovsky’s sweeping Symphony No 5. The AWO’s extraordinary double bass section will have the chance to shine in Kats-Chernin’s piece, a work that calls for eight double basses. Stanley Dodds will lead the AWO for the first time on September 29. An Australian, Dodds is Principal Conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and violinist with the Berlin Philharmonic. Dodds will conduct Beethoven’s Symphony No 7 and Dvorÿák’s…

FINE MUSIC 102.5 Fine Music 102.5 (previously 2MBS) is Australia’s first FM radio station, broadcasting a mix of classical, jazz and contemporary music. To listen, tune in to 102.5FM or stream online at finemusicfm.com 3MBS 3MBS is a fine music community radio station in Melbourne. 3MBS passionately supports fine music, especially Melbourne musicians and composers, and is the only locally-based classical music radio station in Victoria. To listen, tune in to 103.5FM or stream online at 3mbs.org.au 4MBS One of Australia’s premier classical radio stations, 4MBS has received many awards for the promotion of young and emerging artists in Australia. Based in Brisbane. To listen, tune in to 103.7FM to listen or stream online at 4mbs.com.au 5MBS While mainly a classical station, Adelaide’s 5MBS also broadcasts a wide selection of…

1. Which naturalised French composer, conductor, music critic, diarist and salon singer was one of Marcel Proust’s lovers? 2. Which bird links Camille Saint-Saëns with Jean Sibelius and Orlando Gibbons? 3. Which Weimar composer wrote a song about the joys of mussels from Margate? 4. Who created nine of the patter leads for Gilbert and Sullivan as well as writing The Diary of a Nobody? 5. Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and his oratorio Samson are based on the works of which great English poet? 6. The American Minimalist composer Philip Glass wrote a trilogy of operas between 1975 and 1983 about which three historical ‘heroes’? 7. Which of Balakirev, Borodin, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky wasn’t one of the group known as The Mighty Handful? 8. Andrew…

GREG KEANE VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Greg Keane has been a Limelight contributor since 2008. He is a copywriter and has also lectured in music appreciation in the adult education sector. He has a prodigious collection of LPs and was previously a producer (aka the Dark Lord of Vinyl) of ABC Classic FM. ANDREW ARONOWICZ JAYSON GILLHAM Andrew Aronowicz is mostly a composer, but sometimes writes words. He has had performances with the Tasmanian and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, and was a 2013 Australian Youth Orchestra Fellow, which is how he met the lovely people (his words) at Limelight. ALBERT EHRNROOTH JERUSALEM Musicologist and multilingual journalist Albert Ehrnrooth has written for numerous international publications, including The Guardian (UK), De Telegraaf (NL) and Svenska Dagbladet (SWE). He currently resides in the UK from which…

PAV DUMPS ON TRUMP Luciano Pavarotti’s family is the latest in a string of musicians, including the Rolling Stones and Adele, to ask Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to stop using their music at his rallies. Pavarotti’s widow and daughters object to Trump using the tenor’s recording of Nessun Dorma saying “the values of brotherhood and solidarity which Luciano Pavarotti expressed throughout the course of his artistic career are entirely incompatible with [Trump’s] world view”. CASTRATO’S SECRET OUT Castrati sang with the voices of angels but at what cost? University of Padua researchers have studied the exhumed skeleton of Gaspare Pacchierotti, a famous Italian male mezzo-soprano born in 1740. Like most castrati, Pacchierotti was unusually tall, standing over six foot, with spindly legs and a large, barrel-shaped chest. Despite osteoporosis…

1. Our Man in Havana was described at the time as “the most promising first opera by an English composer since Peter Grimes.” How do you think it has stood up since then? Our Man in Havana has to be the best, least-performed 20th-century opera there is. It is a brilliant black comedy/spy thriller/ Caribbean-dance-musical of an opera. It’s a terrific story arranged with a tour-de-force libretto set to exceptional and accessible but uncompromising music. Havana is ready to take its place amongst the other great postwar operas. The story, libretto and music are just as fresh today as they were in 1963. 2. Why is it so rarely staged? Havana’s languishing can be attributed entirely to its composer’s very public downfall. It was a professional and personal collapse on…

Thomas Adès’ new opera The Exterminating Angel has been generally hailed a great success after premiering at the Salzburg Festival. The British composer based the opera on Luis Buñuel’s 1962 surrealist film about a group of people at a dinner party who find they cannot leave. Directed by Adès’ librettist Tom Cairns, the production featured a 22-strong cast including Anne Sofie von Otter and Thomas Allen along with three live sheep. It will be staged at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in April 2017 and later at the Met.…

The Witching Hour is a concerto for eight double basses and orchestra based on the famous Russian story Vasilisa the Beautiful. It will be premiered by Kees Boersma, Timothy Dunin, Alex Henery, Matthew McDonald, Kirsty McCahon, Max McBride, Robert Nairn, Ciro Vigilante and the Australian World Orchestra conducted by Alexander Briger. The four movements of the concerto each correspond to an episode in the story which is full of enchantment, drama and strength. Vasilisa is a tale from my childhood, I always loved the idea of this little girl who can achieve despite the biggest obstacles, defying the odds. The story centres around Vasilisa who is renowned for her fair beauty. She is given a little wooden doll by her mother which turns out to have magic powers. The doll…

“I THINK THAT THE ARTS COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA HAS BEEN VERY SUPPORTIVE OF ME AND HAS ALWAYS WANTED ME TO DO WELL” Jayson Gillham had been on the competition circuit for ten years when he finally won big in 2014. He had just given an outstanding performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto at the Montreal International Music Competition. “There were six of us in the final of the Montreal Prize,” he tells me over the phone from his homebase in London, “and we were backstage. Then we had to listen to the names being announced in reverse order.” Unlike other competitions where the results are revealed in advance, Gillham received a genuine surprise when his name was announced as the winner. “It was just a dream,” he says. Since then,…

As a young student I read the diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky in the version that was edited by his wife, Romola. Even though she sanitises things quite a bit, it is still this bizarre and extraordinary tome. That inspired me to find out more about Nijinsky’s career, which led me to reading other biographies about him, and you quickly find that there were two Nijinskys. Firstly there’s Nijinsky: the legend. You hardly have to spend that much time around ballet before people talk about Nijinsky and the Ballet Russes. There’s a sort of mythic quality to his story, which does paint him as this almost supernatural visionary. He is one of those figures as a male dancer that you have to look towards. Before Nijinsky, the male dancer didn’t really…

Violin Concerto Nicola Benedetti, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Kirill Karabits DECCA 4788758 Glazunov’s bold, colourful violin concerto stunningly performed alongside Shostakovich’s. The Symphonies Royal Scottish National Orchestra/José Serebrier WARNER CLASSICS 2564664674 (7CD) An acclaimed set of all nine approachable symphonies that also includes Glazunov’s concertos. The Seasons, Raymonda Suite Philharmonia/ Yevgeny Svetlanov WARNER CLASSICS 6783982 (2CD) Opulent, classic accounts of Glazunov’s most inventive ballet music. String Quartets Nos 3 and 5 Utrecht String Quartet MDG6031236 This album is as good a place as any to discover Glazunov’s tuneful, technically adept string quartets.…

“Previn’s Vaughan Williams contains performances that remain unsurpassed” Two highly enjoyable reissues of English music top this round-up. Both are from Sony Music, though they originated elsewhere. First, André Previn’s set of the complete symphonies of Vaughan Williams with the London Symphony Orchestra. Recorded for RCA between 1968 and 1972 at the height of the LSO’s love affair with Previn, this collection contains performances that remain unsurpassed: a beautiful No 3 (Pastoral) featuring soprano Heather Harper is perhaps the finest, but Nos 2 (London), 5, 8 and 9 are all exceptional. Previn has a way with the atmospheric Seventh, Sinfonia Antartica, and this is my favourite recording of that chilly work. For some reason the producers decided to record the introductions Vaughan Williams’ appended to each movement, spoken by Ralph…

Power Plays A theatrical tasting menu of some of Australia’s finest writers. Their mission: to write a satirical 20-minute play on the theme of power. Sydney Theatre Company, Sep 17-Oct 22 The Drover’s Wife A taut thriller of our pioneering past, with a black sting in the tail, The Drover’s Wife reaches from our nation’s infancy into our complicated present. Belvoir, Sydney, Sep 17-Oct 16 Disgraced Kat Stewart and Mitchell Butel star in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that proves politics and dinner parties are never a good mix. Melbourne Theatre Company, Aug 19-Oct 1 You Got Older Mae returns to her childhood home to confront her family, her history, and her wild fantasies involving a mysterious cowboy. Red Stitch, Melbourne, August 31-October 1 Echoes A provocative and brutal tale of…

Collage and assemblage from the collection Presents some of the key pioneers of the genre in Australia as well as more recent practitioners. Art Gallery of NSW, September 17-November 13 John Olsen: The You Beaut Country An unparalleled opportunity to examine Olsen’s consummate place in Australian art history. National Gallery of Victoria, September 16-February 12 New York Mythic Marco Luccio returns to his favourite subject from a new, aerial perspective; a multi-faceted homage to NY. fortyfive downstairs, Melbourne, September 13-October 8…

MONDAY - FRIDAY 6am Classic Breakfast There is no better way to start your day. Music from Scarlatti to Sculthorpe and everything in-between 9am Mornings New releases, classic performances plus the latest news and stories from the world of music 12pm Midday Interview guests share their stories and choice of music 1pm Afternoons Featuring major classical performers and highlights from our exclusive collection of Australian concerts 4pm Classic Drive A journey through classical sounds to relax your mind and soothe your soul 7pm Evenings Concerts from Australian and international ensembles 12am Overnight Featuring Australia’s finest musicians, all night long SATURDAY 6am Weekend Breakfast The relaxing way to wake up to your weekend 9am Saturday Morning Three hours of wonderful music to accompany your Saturday morning 12pm Music Makers Exploring the…

Matilda the Musical made history at the 2016 Helpmann Awards when it won an unprecedented 13 Bobbies, taking out everything for which it was nominated. The only other musical to get a look-in was Queensland Theatre Company’s Ladies in Black, which won Best New Australian Work. Brisbane Baroque’s production of Handel’s Agrippina was another big winner, taking home four awards including Best Opera, despite the fact that many artists who appeared at the Festival are yet to be paid. Opera Australia took home just two awards: Best Director of an Opera for Sir David McVicar’s The Marriage of Figaro and Best Female Performer in an Opera for Nicole Car in Luisa Miller. Best Symphony Orchestra Concert went to Sir Simon Rattle Conducts the Australian World Orchestra, while the Australian Brandenburg…

Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream LSO/Britten DECCA 4256632 (2CD) I’m listening to this genuinely authentic recording of this opera now because it’s a (beautiful) urgency for me. Glyndebourne asked if I could replace an indisposed colleague. I agreed and had to learn the piece in a matter of days. A fantastic occasion! Janáÿek Taras Bulba Philharmonia Brno/ František Jílek SUPRAPHON SU38872 Recordings by Anrerl, Mackerras and others are very dear to me, and top quality. Universal Edition is preparing a new edition of this masterpiece. The editor asked me to be an advisory force so I’m listening to plenty of recordings, including mine. Janáÿek The Excursions of Mr Broucek BBC SO/Belohlávek DG 4777387 I woke up in the middle of one night and stared in the darkness in amazement: how…

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA 1928 – 2016 Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara has died at the age of 87. A prolific composer, he wrote a great number of works spanning various styles from Neo-Classical and 12-tone serialism to the Neo-Romantic and Mystical, with angels a recurring image in later works. Born in Helsinki in 1928, Rautavaara’s father was an opera singer and cantor, his mother a doctor. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helskini, coming to international attention while still a student when he won the Thor Johnson Contest for his 1954 composition A Requiem in Our Time. Sibelius was so impressed he recommended him for a scholarship to study in at Julliard. During a long career, Rautavaara wrote eight symphonies, nine operas and 14 concertos among other works, the famous of…

Rachmaninov’s First Symphony in D Minor is today celebrated as a dynamic representation of the Russian symphonic tradition, full of sweeping melodies and nationalist sentiments. Public opinion, however, was very different following its disastrous premiere on the evening of March 15, 1897 in Saint Petersburg. While perhaps it is unfair to label one single person responsible for the work’s calamitous first performance, many have pointed the finger of blame at the evening’s conductor, the composer Alexander Glazunov. Rachmaninov’s teacher at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Glazunov made many bewildering changes to the score and orchestration, all exacerbated by insufficient rehearsal. Rachmaninov repeatedly attempted to voice his concerns in the lead-up to the symphony’s performance, but the gung-ho Glazunov laughed them off as needless worries. A recollection by conductor Alexander Khessin, who…

BORN SYDNEY, NSW, 1991 STUDIED SYDNEY CONSERVATORIUM, ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC LIKES GOING OUT FOR GOOD FOOD, BALLET AND YOGA DISLIKES RUNNING, KALE CHIPS AND SYDNEY TRAFFIC Do you remember what first attracted you to the flute as an instrument? My local primary school, Chatswood Public School, had a great music programme. I was reluctant to give it a go, but when I was in Year Five my mum finally convinced me to try it. Everyone in my group chose the flute so that’s what I chose too. Once I started learning the instrument though I absolutely loved it. I remember leaving it out all the time on the big table in the family room and picking it up to play every time I walked past. Who would you consider…

LIVED 1865 – 1936 MOSTLY IN ST. PETERSBURG, PARIS BEST KNOWN FOR THE SEASONS, SYMPHONIES, VIOLIN CONCERTO SIMILAR TO RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, BALAKIREV, BORODIN Between the realism of Mussorgsky, who sought melody in the patterns of natural human speech, and the highly-strung autobiography of Tchaikovsky’s more personal works, Alexander Glazunov’s sane, well-made symphonies and gentle building on tradition seem remarkably tame to those looking for authentic Russian wildness. One reason for the lower emotional temperatures is that, although he had composed three symphonies before Tchaikovsky took his final bow with the Pathétique, Glazunov was from a different generation. Many of his mentors came to maturity in the 1860s, the decade in which the emancipation of the serfs brought a new strain of thought devoted to all things genuinely Russian; it was the…

How difficult was for you to find a subject for what is your first opera? It took me something like five years. I felt it was important to find a literary work that really resonated for me – and then there is always the struggle of getting the rights. I had a few stories that had to be discarded because the rights didn’t come through. When my librettist and I hit upon Cold Mountain, it felt like a fantastic fit. When I started the composing process, I worked for 28 months with most of that time spent composing and orchestrating, seven days a week. It was like living within the novel. What appealed about the story of Cold Mountain from an operatic perspective? Love and death…

“Vidal is in the best French tradition: bright and clear, with impeccable diction” Gounod Cinq-Mars Mathias Vidal t, Véronique Gens s, Tassis Christoyannis bar, Andrew Foster-Williams b, Münchner Radiofunkorchester/Ulf Schirmer EDICIONES SINGULARES ES1024 (2CD) The world’s first recording of an opera by the composer of Faust is a cause for celebration. Charles Gounod’s Cinq-Mars (1877) – about a 17th-century French nobleman who plots against Cardinal Richelieu – had a longer first run than Faust, was popular in the provinces – and then vanished, apart from the occasional recital of Nuit resplendissante by an enterprising soprano. Palazzetto Bru Zane, dedicated to the rediscovery of French musical heritage from 1780 to 1920, is fast becoming a rival for Opera Rara as a purveyor of luxury editions of little-known operas. This recording…

“Herschel received the Gold Medal from the King of Prussia at the age of 96” During the second half of the 18th century, the idea of ‘free time’ was taking hold. The rise of white-collar work and improved living conditions led to the emergence of a middle class who had time on their hands – and one self-improving way to be entertained was amateur music societies. So it was that in 1786, the Stoughton Musical Society – America’s first – was founded in Massachusetts. These societies were constantly looking for material to keep members interested, and Handel’s Messiah, with its rousing and easy-to-grasp choruses, won over the hearts of performers across the colonial world. The SMS’s first collection of music, compiled by local publisher Isaiah Thomas, duly contained the Hallelujah…

Coppélia Revived by Peggy van Praagh and George Ogilvie, dressed by Kristian Fredrikson, Coppélia brims with 19th-century charm. Australian Ballet, Melbourne, Sept 23-Oct 1 Dance Dialogues A rare chance for audiences to see some fresh new dance talent up close in an intimate studio setting. Queensland Ballet, Brisbane, September 8-17 Romeo and Juliet Presented alongside Radio & Juliet, Shakespeare’s original tale reinvented to the music of Radiohead. West Australian Ballet, September 9-24…

Colourful, vibrant and bursting with life, Polixeni Papapetrou’s new series Eden was commissioned by Melbourne’s Centre for Contemporary Photography in a campaign to promote the Melbourne General Cemetery. Papapetrou chose flowers from the cemetery and photographed them against a black background to elicit feelings of sorrow and bereavement. The series, on display at Stills Gallery in Sydney, invites audiences to experience the beauty of nature and revel in its ephemeral transience. It also invites self-reflection – that we, like flowers, pass through seasons of growth, bloom and decay. The women photographed by Papetrou are in the springtime of their lives, encircled by flowers on backdrops, on their clothes, held in their outstretched arms or arranged in their hair – vivid colours and designs contrasting with the sedate expressions of the…

NON-FICTION Playing to the Gallery Grayson Perry Penguin, PB, 144pp, $22.99 ISBN 9780141979618 Now Grayson Perry is a fully paid-up member of the art establishment, he wants to show that any of us can appreciate art. This funny, personal journey answers questions that might occur to us in an art gallery but seem too embarrassing to ask. NON-FICTION Sounds and Sweet Airs Anna Beer Oneworld, HB, 384pp, $32.99 ISBN 9781780748566 A long-overdue celebration of neglected virtuosos, Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music presents a complex and inspirational picture of artistic endeavour and achievement that deserves to be part of our cultural heritage. NON-FICTION Pieces of Tradition Oxford University Press, HB, 208pp, $82.95 ISBN 9780190244460 Pieces of Tradition: An Analysis of Contemporary Tonal Music introduces new methods…

FINE MUSIC 102.5 LIVE AND LOCAL September 1, 8pm A programme of works for violin, viola and piano, with artists Marina Marsden, Justine Marsden and Robert Chamberlain playing works by Koessler, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Glinka, Piazzolla, Gade and Kern. September 8, 8pm The Australian String Quartet plays the Schubert’s D804 and Beethoven Op. 74 quartets. September 15, 8pm The AYO plays Hummel’s Fantasia on Mozart’s Il mio tesore in tanto and the ACO plays Britten’s Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge and Mozart’s Adagio in E. September 22, 8pm Australia Ensemble plays Ravel’s String Quartet and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in G Minor September 29, 8pm Chamber Soloists of Sydney perform Beethoven’s Quintet in E Flat, Poulenc’s Trio and Mozart’s Quintet in E Flat Limelight loves your feedback. Here's…

Turandot on Sydney Harbour Created especially for the acclaimed Handa Opera’s jaw-dropping outdoor water-stage on the harbour, director Chen Shi-Zheng brought a unique perspective to this classic story. With a cast of 78, designer Dan Potra’s stunning set includes a 60-meter fire-breathing dragon with a tail that morphs into the Great Wall, and a shimmering pagoda that stands at 18-metres tall. September 3-4 Richard III Palace Cinemas are delighted to be bringing this stellar production live to cinema screens, the first ever broadcast from one of the world’s foremost theatres. Ralph Fiennes plays Shakespeare’s most notorious villain in a new production directed by Artistic Director Rupert Goold (American Psycho; King Charles III; Medea). Vanessa Redgrave makes her Almeida debut as Queen Margaret. September 10-11 War Horse Since its first performance…

Ever dreamed of a music streaming service tailored exclusively for classical music aficionados? Grown out of Naxos’ digital catalogues (Naxos provided music streaming services long before it was cool) ClassicsOnline combines high-quality audio streaming, a carefully curated catalogue and sophisticated search functions designed to give classical music fans the best experience possible. ClassicsOnline has a continually expanding catalogue of music from labels including Naxos, Sony, Chandos, BIS, Harmonia Mundi and more. Users can search for recordings by label, or even by composer’s country of origin. Listeners can search for music from the same country and era as any given composer, or navigate pieces that feature a particular instrument. “Our search engine is constructed by classical music experts, who understand that classical music requires more than just the name of a…