Prom 22: Auerbach première

By Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, 03 August 2016

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“Gardner herded swells of harmony into the big wave crashes of cymbals”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 31 July 2016

Ravel, Ma mère l'Oye (Mother Goose): Suite

Auerbach, The Infant Minstrel and His Peculiar Menagerie (BBC co-commission: UK premiere)

Debussy, King Lear: Fanfare d'ouverture

Debussy, King Lear: Le sommeil de Lear

Debussy, La Mer

Vadim Gluzman, Violin

Crouch End Festival Chorus

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Edward Gardner, Conductor

Andrew Watts, Countertenor

Nina Bennett, Soprano

Helen Neeves, Soprano

Tom Raskin, Tenor

Andrew Rupp, Baritone

Sakari Oramo, Yeol Eum Son and the BBC Symphony in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 26th March

Yeol Eum Son’s Britten Piano Concerto formed the evening’s centre of gravity, played with lucid line, structural command and sudden fire. In Brahms’ Second Symphony, Sakari Oramo found conviction, proportion and a warmth that felt earned rather than applied.

****1

Sakari Oramo and Yeol Eum Son summon up vivid landscapes

Christopher Woodley, 13th March

Yeol Eum Son's superb performances of Bartók and Finzi are matched by intense and heady readings of Stravinsky and Weir by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo.

****1

From snow to sludge: Icelandic music at the Barbican Centre

Marat Ingeldeev, 22nd February

A bewildering evening at the Barbican, where ambitious Icelandic programming collapses under its lofty ambition of defying genres and making music more appealing to a wide variety of audiences.

**111

Fine Lindberg and Stravinsky double bill from the BBC Symphony

Roy Westbrook, 6th February

After a performance of Magnus Lindberg’s First Violin Concerto by Lisa Batiashvili at the Barbican, Stravinsky’s Perséphone stands the test of time.

****1

UK premiere of Julia Wolfe’s unEarth impresses on scale, not substance

Susannah Moody, 23rd January

Wolfe's climate-change oratorio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, already feels out of date.

**111

Sir James MacMillan delights with his Christmas Oratorio

David Karlin, 19th December

MacMillan's large scale choral work offers a rich variety of texts and musical ideas, the composer conducts the BBC Symphony with unerring precision.

*****

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Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres is a Bristol-based film composer and classical electronic artist. Alexandra's passion in scoring and as a performer lie in the duality between the classical and electronica worlds, moving picture and her love for the piano. Her music has been described by The White Room Magazine as “majestic, at times monumental…the force and vastness of nature”.

Prom 22: Auerbach's UK première of The Infant Minstrel