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2015 BBC Proms Features Works by Tansy Davies, Pierre Boulez, Luke Bedford, John Woolrich, Colin Matthews and Arvo Pärt

Jul. 01, 2015

2015 BBC Proms Features Works by Tansy Davies, Pierre Boulez, Luke Bedford, John Woolrich, Colin Matthews and Arvo Pärt

Celebrating its 120th year in 2015, the BBC Proms has many notable and exciting performances scheduled throughout the summer. The prolific BBC Proms is well known for its vision of presenting a broad range of music of the highest artistic excellence to a large audience. This season is no exception with performances of works by composers such as Pierre Boulez and Erich Wolfgang Korngold as well as new works by Tansy Davies and Colin Matthews, among others.

John Woolrich’s Falling Down for contrabassoon and orchestra receives its London premiere from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) who also commissioned the piece in 2009. The music echoes the title of the piece by starting at the top of the orchestra and descending towards the contra, with special interest paid to the orchestra’s “darker” instruments like the tuba and bass drum. The piece is dedicated to soloist Margaret Cookhorn, CBSO’s contrabassoon player.

Pierre Boulez ‘s 90th year is celebrated throughout the festival starting on July 25 with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group under the direction of Franck Ollu with new arrangements of Notations 2, 11, and 10, as well as a performance of Dérive 2. On July 27, Susanna Mälkki leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Notations 1-4 and 7 at the Royal Albert Hall in London and the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg perform Boulez’s “… explosante-fixe…” with flutist Sophie Cherrier on August 26 conducted by François-Xavier Roth. The climax of Boulez’s celebration is a program on August 29 by the London Sinfonietta including three major works by Boulez: Mémoriale (…explosante-fixe…’ Originel), Domaines, and Eclat/Multiples.

The world premiere of Luke Bedford’s Instability, commissioned by the BBC Proms, takes place on August 1 at Royal Albert Hall. The BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Juanjo Mena, debuts Bedford’s work, which utilizes the Albert Hall organ, a detuned orchestra, and a cricket bat.

The European premiere of Colin Matthews’s String Quartet No. 5 takes place on August 3 at Cadogan Hall, in a performance by the Apollon Musagète Quartet. The quartet receives its world premiere performance earlier in the summer as part of Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music, in Lenox, MA. On August 8, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain gives the world premiere of Tansy Davies’s Re-greening, a celebration of spring written specially as a complement to Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 which is also performed on the program at Royal Albert Hall.

Additional performances include Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Concerto in D major for violin and orchestra with violinist Nicola Benedetti and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on August 10, as well as Arvo Pärt’s Credo, for piano, mixed choir and orchestra, as part of the Last Night of the Proms program on September 12 featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, led by Marin Alsop.

Full details and programming for the 2015 BBC Proms can be found at bbc.co.uk. 

Click below for more information on the composers:
Luke Bedford | Pierre Boulez | Tansy Davies
Erich Wolfgang Korngold | Colin Matthews | Arvo Pärt
John Woolrich 

John Woolrich
Falling Down – for Margaret Cookhorn (2009)
a capricho for double bassoon and orchestra
3(3.pic).3(3.ca).3(I.Ebcl, III.bcl).2-4.4.3.1-timp.perc-str
15’ 

Pierre Boulez
Notations I-IV (1945/1978/1984)
for orchestra
4.4.5.4-6.4.4.1-timp.8perc-3hp.cel-str
8’ 

Pierre Boulez
Dérive 2 (1988-2006/2009)
for 11 instruments
ca.cl.bsn-hn-mar.vib-hp.pno-vn.va.vc
45’

Pierre Boulez
... explosante-fixe ...(1991/1993)
for flute with live electronics, 2 flutes and ensemble
2.2.3.2-2.2.2.1-3vn.2va.2vc.
36’ 

Pierre Boulez
Mémoriale (1985/1993)
for flute and 8 instruments
2hn-3vn.2va.vc
7’

Pierre Boulez
Domaines (1968/1969)
for clarinet and orchestra
1.1.1.asax.1-1.1.4.0-mar-hp.amp gtr-2vn.2va.2vc.db
29’ 

Pierre Boulez
Éclat/Multiples (1970)
for orchestra
1.1.0.0-0.basset hn.1.1.0-3perc-hp.cel.pno.cimb.mand.gtr-10va.vc
25’

Luke Bedford
Instability (2015)
for large orchestra
4.3.4.3-4.3.3.1-4perc-hp.org-str
25’

Colin Matthews
String Quartet No.5 (2015)
11’

Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Concerto in D major (1937-1939, rev. 1945)
for violin and orchestra
2(2.pic).2(2.ca).2.bcl.2(2.cbsn)-4.2.1.0-timp.2perc-hp.cel-str
23’ 

Arvo Pärt
Credo (1968)
for piano, mixed choir (SATB) and orchestra
4.2.3.4-4.4.3.1-timp.8perc-pno-str
12'

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