1857 research outputs found
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A land so luminous [version for violin and piano]
No full textFor violin and piano, duration 7 minutes.
A recording of this piece by Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) and Aleksander Szram (piano) is available on Prima Facie Recordings (PFCD051): https://ascrecords.com/primafacie/land_so_luminous.html.
A review of this recording in the Guardian newspaper is available here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/16/richard-causton-kenneth-hesketh-a-land-so-luminous-review-continuum-ensemble.
A version of this piece for solo violin and chamber ensemble is also available, see https://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/1505/
Cautionary tales
No full textFor clarinet in A, violin and piano, duration 12 minutes.
This piece was premiered on 21 November 2002 by the Continuum Ensemble at The Warehouse, London.
A recording by the Continuum Ensemble is available on Prima Facie Records (PFCD051): https://ascrecords.com/primafacie/land_so_luminous.html
Angels we have heard on high [traditional arr. Hesketh]
No full textArrangement of the traditional carol by Kenneth Hesketh, for SATB choir a capella, with piano/organ, or with orchestra. Duration 3 minutes
Danceries (set I) [version for brass band]
No full textFor brass band, duration 12 minutes.
This piece has been recorded by the Leyland Band conducted by Michael Fowles (Faber Music 0-571-52109-6): https://leylandband.co.uk/index.php/2020/03/22/east-coast-pictures/.
Versions of this work are also available for orchestra (see https://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/1551/) and symphonic wind band (see https://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/1553/)
A jolly good knees up
No full textFanfare for chamber ensemble, duration 2 minutes. This work was premiered by Ensemble Modern conducted by Ingo Metzmacher on 9 December 2020 at the Alte Oper, Großer Saal, Frankfurt.
A recording by Ensemble Modern is available on EM Medien (EMCD-048/49), see https://www.ensemble-modern.com/en/shop/cds/beschenkt-40-miniaturen-zum-jubilaeum/149#d-149
On Marylebone Road
No full textFor solo piano. This piece was premiered by George Fu on 6 March 2020 at the Royal Academy of Music, London
Airs no oceans keep
No full textFor piano trio, duration 14.5 minutes. This piece was commissioned by the Machynlleth Festival and the premiere was given on 23 August 2010 at The Tabernacle, Machynlleth by Huw Watkins (piano), Clara Biss (violin) and Robin Michael (cello). A recording of this work is available on NMC here: https://nmc-recordings.myshopify.com/products/various-flux-new-music-new-danc
Parable
No full textFor alto saxophone, duration c.7 minutes.
The idea for this piece came from the legend of the Gordian Knot in which Alexander the Great, unable to untie the rope, slices the knot in half with his sword, ensuring his future good fortune. The piece doesn’t depict the story in a literal sense but explores a cyclical pattern of notes that is periodically ‘cut’ by interjecting material. The piece was written for Simon Haram, and a recording by him is available on NMC Recordings here: https://nmc-recordings.myshopify.com/products/mark-bowden-parabl
Music, migration, and mobility: the story of émigré musicians from Nazi Europe in Britain
Get PDFThis exhibition, curated as part of the major AHRC-funded research project with the same name, celebrated the mobile lives of musicians who emigrated to the UK from Nazi Europe in the 1930s and 40s. Of approximately 50,000 (mostly Jewish) refugees who settled in Britain at this time, around 400 were professional musicians. Many fled racist persecution in Germany and Austria, while others left for political or ethical reasons. Some arrived well in advance of the outbreak of war and others after the war’s end, having first experienced the terror of the Holocaust. They had to adapt to a new language and environment, and many of them developed highly successful careers. Their presence gave a whole generation of musicians in Britain ‘an opportunity to transfer from a national into an international world’ (Dame Janet Baker). Others, by contrast, would never really settle, and would find themselves excluded from British society and musical life.
Music—perhaps the most mobile of all art forms—has been shaped by migration for centuries. This exhibition invited visitors to reflect on the dynamic influence of migration and transnational mobility on culture, as well as the benefits of negotiating and overcoming cultural differences. The exhibition included recordings and images that were made available on the museum’s digital devices and a 1 hour film with excerpts from oral history interviews. In addition, visitors could browse the Music, Migration and Mobility online resource on iPads provided in the exhibition space. *****
The exhibition was curated by Norbert Meyn (RCM, project lead) and Michael Holden (Royal Holloway) with support from other members of the Music, Migration, and Mobility Team: Peter Adey (Royal Holloway), Alison Garnham (RCM), Nils Grosch (Salzburg), Helen Kuby (RCM), Sarah K. Whitfield (RCM). *****
RCM Museum team: Richard Martin, Lydia Baldwin, Kirsty Bowie, Gabriele Rossi Rognoni.
Graphic Design: Luke Richards.
Poster and Graphics: Giada Peterle (University of Padua).
Loans and other support: The Association for Jewish Refugees; Phil Boot and Nerissa Taysom, Glyndebourne; The British Film Institute Archives; Martin Cahn Jr.; The Cosman-Keller Trust; Derek Goldfoot; Erika Fox; Eva Fox-Gál; Michael Freyhan; Mary Gellhorn; Vivian Halas and the Halas & Batchelor Animation Archive; Emily Hoffnung and the Hoffnung Partnership; Anna Horovitz; Paul Humpoletz Jr.; Anita Lasker-Wallfisch; The Manx Museum; The Music and Migration Collection, University of Salzburg Libraries and Archives; Andrea Rauter; Peter Linnitt and RCM Library staff; John Reizenstein; Julia Seiber Boyd and the Mátyás Seiber Trust; Senate House Library; The British Library, Beth Snyder (University of North Texas). ***** Photos by Claire Chevalier and Norbert Meyn
The song of Rhiannon, from the Mabinogion
No full textOpera for young people, duration c.75 minutes, libretto by Helen Cooper.
This work was commissioned by the W11 Opera Trust and was first performed by W11 Opera, conducted by Philip Colman and directed by Will Kerley, at Riverside Studios, London on 6 December 2008.
The Song of Rhiannon is a romantic story of thwarted love in the mythical setting of pre-medieval Welsh mountains. The opera is suited to a cast including: some experienced singers, including several male broken voices, who are able to carry the action competently; younger singers ready to take on smaller solo roles; mixed age groups for the various chorus groups with some scope for solo parts; younger children for the character groups (e.g. Mice, Blades of Wheat).
The musical style is based on Welsh folk melodies. There are some challenging but rewarding passages to learn with unexpected and beautiful harmonies in the part-singing