BCMG's Into the Little Hill on George Benjamin Day at Wigmore Hall

By Paul Kilbey, 08 April 2013

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Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 6 April 2013

Antonioni, Ballata

Sawer, Rumpelstiltskin Suite

Benjamin, Into the Little Hill

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Susanna Andersson, Soprano

Hilary Summers, Mezzo-soprano

Sir George Benjamin, Conductor

Pastel-perfect hell: To See The Invisible

Charlotte Valori, 8th June

Emily Howard's new opera, an Aldeburgh Festival commission, takes an ambitiously modernist approach to a dystopian story of loneliness: a tough, but thought-provoking work.

****1

Proms at... Wilton’s: Conference of the Birds

Danny Riley, 2nd September

The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group present an ambitious mixture of experimental chamber music and disquieting monodrama.

***11

A bracing density of musical incident

Roy Westbrook, 3rd March

Oliver Knussen and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group excel in a cunningly linked group of works from the old (mid 1980s) to the brand new.

*****

Singing from the same Songbook

David Fay, 24th February

John Woolrich's Songbook project provided the vocal material on show at the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group recital at Wigmore Hall, featuring sopranos Gillian Keith and Rebecca von Lipinski.

***11

Birtwistle's early gems mesmerise

Katy Wright, 6th September

Lean yet nuanced performances from Oliver Knussen and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in commemoration of Harrison Birtwistle's 80th birthday

****1

Barbican’s Birtwistle at 80 over-eggs the pudding during its exploration of the chamber works

Penny Homer, 25th May

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group are masterful, but chamber works lack context during the birthday celebrations at Milton Court.

***11

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Paul Kilbey

Paul was Reviews Editor at Bachtrack from 2012 to February 2014. He has written on music and culture for publications including Culture Wars, the Huffington Post, the Independent and the Guardian. He holds BA and MPhil degrees in music from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and is particularly passionate about contemporary music of all types. His website is here.