Plumbing subterranean depths in Birmingham

By Simon Cummings, 23 March 2017

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“we prefer our bogeymen to be culturally ignorant, spiritually bankrupt, intellectually vapid”

Reviewed at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 21 March 2017

Works by Bach

Works by Franck

Works by Widor

Works by Messiaen

Works by Ligeti

John Malkovich, Vocals

Martin Haselböck, Organ

John Malkovich crafts a convincing Casanova in The Giacomo Variations in Toronto

Stanley Fefferman, 7th June

The Giacomo Variations takes its time really getting down to business – the business Giacomo Casanova was in – the business of love.It begins with a lot of theatre business. The set, designed by Renate Martin and Andreas Donhauser, consists of three gigantic Marie-Antoinette skirts. Lift one and there’s a bed for romping.

***11

Intoxicating Beethoven from the Brucknerhaus Linz

Laurence Vittes, 15th October

In a program originally scheduled for the Musikverein in Vienna, Martin Haselböck and his Orchester Wiener Akademie played Beethoven and Schubert both familiar and curiously obscure.

*****

An homage to the Viennese “Musikanten” tradition

Chanda VanderHart, 19th May

The Singverein and Akademieorchester were joined by Swedish soprano Malin Hartelius and Florian Boesch for Brahms' German Requiem.

***11

A One-Per-Part St Matthew Passion in Vienna

Zwölftöner, 6th April

Joshua Rifkin’s theory that Bach had no ‘choir’ in the modern sense may have gradually inched its way towards acceptance, but for all the heated discussion his research has generated, one-per-part Passions are rarer than one might suppose.

****1

Das Ausfechten barocker Schlager: Musica Angelica mit Vivaldi und Bach

Jens Klier, 28th May

Da meistens zu behäbig und uninspiriert, ging diese Fechtschule unter Trainer Haselböck nur knapp ohne Niederlage der Beteiligten aus.

***11

Kaufhaus, Konzertsaal - Hauptsache Barock!

Miriam Zeh, 24th June

In der Reihe „Barock+“ dirigiert Martin Haselböck eine gemischte Tüte aus Bach, Cembalo und nach-romantischen Komponisten mit reichem Erbe.

***11

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Simon Cummings

Simon Cummings is a composer, writer and researcher based in the Cotswolds. He composes instrumental and electronic music, exploring aspects of algorithmic composition, and has recently completed a Ph.D. in composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire under the supervision of Richard Causton and Howard Skempton. His musical tastes are ludicrously broad but are focused most on contemporary/avant-garde classical and electronic music. When not composing, he writes regularly about new music; Simon is the author of the contemporary music blog 5:4 (5against4.com), and regularly contributes articles for a variety of books, journals and websites. Follow him on Twitter @5against4.

Plumbing subterranean depths at the hands of John Malkovich’s imagined malevolent dictator