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Two National Premieres of Works by Julian Anderson

Jul. 11, 2018

Two National Premieres of Works by Julian Anderson

On July 1, the US premiere of Julian Anderson's String Quartet No. 3 'hana no hanataba', co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall and the Tanglewood Music Center, was performed by The New Fromm Players at the Tanglewood Music Festival. The piece’s world premiere took place at Wigmore Hall earlier this this year.

Julian Anderson describes his work:

"My third string quartet is in six contrasted movements. Certain musical figures recur across the work, but there are few themes as such. The main emphasis is on contrast of mood, texture, harmony, pacing and timing. Unlike many of my works this quartet had no extra-musical inspiration, and in principle should have no subtitle. Certain features already present in my music became more prominent in this new work: modes (limited collections of pitches) have always helped me to focus musical character, but here a sense of key note for each mode became much more pronounced, as did the difference between modes for each section of the work.... Here, then, is this collection of six musical colours, related and unrelated, different yet belonging together, variable yet in a set order. Hence the subtitle, chosen both for both its sound and its sense: ‘hana no hanataba’ meaning, in Japanese, ‘bouquet of flowers’.

The work was composed for the astonishing JACK Quartet, whose virtuosity is already legendary.  It is dedicated to Ellen Highstein."

On August 2-4, the Australian premiere of Anderson’s piano concerto The Imaginary Museum, co-commissioned by BBC Radio 3, Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will be performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ludovic Morlot and featuring soloist Steven Osborne.

Anderson notes:

“[The Imaginary Museum] is in many short movements, each very different in timbre, acoustic, speed. The orchestra is split up into smaller groups that dialogue both with the piano and with each other. This creates the feeling of the piano travelling in a perpetually changing musical landscape, encountering new colours and climates at every turn. Steven Osborne’s repertoire is huge and highly varied, ranging all the way from Bach to Feldman, including free improvisation and jazz. I have tried to make use of the full range of his playing styles in this work.” 

Listen to Julian Anderson's Incantesimi, for orchestra (2015-2016) here:


(Incantesimi/Julian Anderson/Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle, conductor)

To learn more about Julian Anderson, please visit schott-music.com.


Julian Anderson
String Quartet No. 3 'hana no hanataba' (2017-2018)
20'

The Imaginary Museum (2016)
for piano and orchestra
3.3.3.3-4.3.3.1-timp.3perc-hp.pno.cel-str
25’

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