Nielsen and Ives in partnership at the Proms

By James Moriarty, Royal Academy of Music, 10 September 2015

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Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 9 September 2015

Nielsen, Springtime in Fünen (Fynsk Forår), Op.42

Nielsen, Violin Concerto, Op.33

Webster, In the Sweet By and By

Zeuner, Ye Christian Heralds

Marsh, Jesus Lover of My Soul

Mason, Nearer, My God, to Thee

Ives, Symphony no. 4

Henning Kraggerud, Violin

Malin Christensson, Soprano

Ben Johnson, Tenor

Neal Davies, Bass

William Wolfram, Piano

Tiffin Boys' Choir

Tiffin Girls Choir

BBC Singers

Crouch End Festival Chorus

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Andrew Litton, Conductor

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Wolfe's climate-change oratorio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, already feels out of date.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

*****

Ermonela Jaho gives a tragic twist to Puccini's La rondine

Peter Quantrill, 5th December

A new edition of Puccini's score springs to life in a meticulously prepared Opera Rara concert performance at the Barbican.

****1

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James Moriarty, Royal Academy of Music

James Moriarty is a London-based composer of contemporary classical music, currently studying composition at the Royal Academy of Music with Philip Cashian, having been awarded the Charles W Black Fellowship and the Howard Hartog Scholarship. His work is generally concerned with a high degree of structural integrity and harmonic expressivity; due to interest in a wide range of musical styles and traditions, these overarching creative concerns manifest themselves in a varied output, comprising works of differing scales and modes of address. Alongside his work as a composer, James also pursues careers in musical journalism and education.

Prom 72: Nielsen and Ives in partnership at the Proms