Tabla de contenidos para May 2017 en Limelight

Do you ever listen to music? I mean, really, really listen to music? I’ll admit I hear an awful lot, but that’s not quite the same, is it? Well, a funny thing happened to me the other evening. Sitting glumly through a production of Carmen I’d seen before, and with which I’d not been particularly enamoured, I suddenly found myself hearing Bizet’s dazzling score all over again, as if for the very first time. Choosing not to be distracted by the so-so staging, I sat open-mouthed, transfixed by the textures of one of history’s greatest operas in all its Technicolor glory. I’m calling it “listening with new ears”. I’ve been known to take this a step further. Listening to a familiar, or especially an over-familiar piece of music in concert…

SUTHERLAND ON RECORD Reading Rosalind Appleby’s excellent article on Margaret Sutherland’s music to celebrate International Women’s Day gave me the impetus to search my LP collection to see if I had any of her music. I was aware of her compositions from James Murdoch’s 1972 book on Australian composers. I discovered her one-hour opera on the life of Daisy Bates, The Young Kabbarli. The name meaning ‘grandmother’ was given by to her by the young Aborigines in her care – another amazing woman! The opera is delightful, libretto by Lady Maie Casey, wife of a previous Governor-General. It is conducted by the eminent Patrick Thomas. One memorable line sung by Kabbarli: “Children of Time, sunk in your own deep lives, How can you change your paths to tread with us?”…

How often do you see a sprinting viola? Well, a student at the Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK has broken the Guinness World Record for running the fastest half marathon dressed as a musical instrument. Alistair Rutherford suited up in a custom-made viola costume to run the Liverpool Half Marathon on April 2, clocking up a time of one hour, 19 minutes and 32 seconds. The world record was previously held by Rakshith Shetty, who completed the SBI Bengaluru Midnight Marathon in India in 2015 in one hour, 26 minutes and 57 seconds dressed as a guitar. Rutherford's viola costume was created by costume designer Brian D Hanlon and made from Pastazote foam. He was raising funds for the UK-South African project, Cape Gate MIAGI Centre for Music & Birmingham…

“Lert should have kicked the old bugger and told him to light his own damn opera” Some years ago I read a book by Alain de Botton called Status Anxiety. In it he outlined the many and myriad ways we as human beings succumb to the anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we’re judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. We all encounter this in our daily lives. I was in the middle of an artistic argument recently and realised that what was at stake was not the particular decision at hand, but rather who was going to win. We were like two male adult moose locking antlers in a struggle to establish supremacy. Some people who acquire status in one area find…

 What first attracted you to music as a boy? “WHEN I FIRST STARTED ON A HARPSICHORD – AND I’VE TALKED TO OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAD THE SAME RESPONSE – IT FELT LIKE A HUGE WEIGHT WAS LIFTED OFF MY SHOULDERS PLAYING THIS REPERTOIRE” We had a piano in the house, and me and my sister would toy around on it. I remember she would play the left hand of pieces and I would play the right. I think I was quite a lonely kid, and the piano was just another universe. I see kids nowadays on the internet, and I wonder if that’s the same impulse. So when did you first hear a harpsichord? It was in my early teens. At that stage I was a voracious consumer of ABC…

ADULT LIFE BEGINS IN A CHILD’S IMAGINATION, BUT IN THE LAST 50 YEARS WE’VE TURNED THAT IMAGINATION OVER TO THE MARKETPLACE. AND THE MARKETPLACE PUTS A PRICE ON EVERYTHING Nowadays, you’re not just a violinist, you’re a writer, broadcaster and supporter of a range of humanitarian causes. Might you ever have chosen a different career path? I don’t think so. Music defines my day from morning till night. I’ve been performing music around the world for over 25 years. I also write about, present and curate music on a variety of mediums, from books to television, from radio to social media. The violin gives me the chance to share the thoughts and emotions of the greatest composers who ever lived. And if I choose to play, write, broadcast, programme…

The electronic ondes martenot – with an ethereal sound not unlike that of a theremin – was invented by Maurice Martenot in 1928 and used by Messiaen in a number of his compositions (his opera requires three). “You can either play on the keyboard or the ribbon, which is a ring attached to a wire that runs along the length of the keyboard,” explains Jacob Abela, who will be the ondes martenot soloist in the AWO and ANAM’s performance of Turangalîla. “You use the keyboard as a pitch reference, so any minor fluctuation of your finger, whether it be your angle or your approach or how big the interval is, that can really affect intonation.” “It’s basically the same kind of audio production method as a theremin with the double…

THE THEORIST For over 50 years, Rameau wrestled with musical theory, publishing articles and books he considered to be as important as his music. Just as Sir Isaac Newton showed that white light comprised a spectrum of individual colours, Rameau demonstrated how a single sound was made up of a combination of harmonic overtones. CHEF D’ORCHESTRE Rameau was one of the greatest orchestrators of the Baroque. From the mid-1740s he started spicing up his music with rare instrumental colours – piccolos, clarinets, brass and percussion. He then superimposed layers of sound on top of each other, distinguishing them by their contrasting timbres and melodic lines. BALLET MASTER A rather formal, frosty man, Rameau’s most surprising talent was for dance. His ballet music is sophisticated and sensual. The philosopher Diderot claimed…

“Chailly is one of the most versatile of the great conductors, at the zenith of his powers” Overtures & Intermezzi Music by Verdi, Puccini, Boito, Ponchielli, Leoncavallo et al Filarmonica della Scala/Riccardo Chailly DECCA 4831148 It’s unusual to find an A-list conductor like Riccardo Chailly recording such (generally) obscure music on an equally A-list label. Good for him! A few years ago he recorded a CD of some of Verdi’s non-operatic obscurities and this release co-incides with his arrival at La Scala, where 11 of these works were premiered. I didn’t find any neglected gems, but there are no duds either and the La Scala orchestra is wonderfully idiomatic in this fare. The programme is well arranged, with plenty of contrast between succeeding tracks and serves to demonstrate the development…

"Kaufmann’s uniquely ‘dark’ tenor ensures timbral contrasts between tenor and alto" Mahler Das Lied von der Erde Jonas Kaufmann t, Vienna Philharmonic/Jonathan Nott SONY 88985389832 When Mahler composed his great orchestral song cycle in 1909, he almost certainly knew he hadn’t long to live. Avoiding the dreaded ‘curse of the ninth’, he labelled it “Eine Symphonie für eine Tenor und eine Alt (oder Bariton) Stimme und Orchester”, thus sanctioning the use of two male voices, rather than the traditional male-female coupling. Rejected by the authoritative Bruno Walter as an inadequate solution, it was Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who began to popularise casting a baritone in the work, but until now no one singer has attempted the full six songs. Jonas Kaufmann has had some pretty scathing reviews for his Herculean attempt, most…

"A BBC poll would place John Wesley as the 50th Greatest Briton of all times" In 1791, the world teeters on the brink of seismic change: the French Revolution – the first in a series of European political upheavals – is underway; and the Industrial Revolution is changing the working practices and living conditions of millions. As an optimistic antidote, in Berlin a new monument is completed: the Brandenburg Gate, modeled on the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens, is topped by Eirene, the goddess of peace, and named Friedenstor – Peace Gate. For some, though, Europe’s increasing turmoil is necessary to progress. In 1791, Thomas Paine publishes Rights of Man, a collection of articles that defends the French Revolution as a timely reaction to despotism. Rights, he argues, are…

Behind Closed Doors Natalie Weir’s poetic kiss-and-tell reveals the darkness and fragility of human nature to a live jazz score. Expressions Dance Company, QPAC, Brisbane, May 19 – 27 Swan Lake This classic story of good versus evil is considered one of the greatest ballets of all time, set to Tchaikovsky’s beloved score. Queensland Ballet, Lyric Theatre, May 5 – 13 Don Quixote Choreographed by Australia’s ‘Grande Dame’ of ballet, Lucette Alduous, Don Quixote promises a good time. West Australian Ballet, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth, May 11 – 27…

PREVIEW One of Australia’s most popular leading ladies is “looking swell” as the inimitable Dolly Levi – and thrilled to be starring opposite her real-life husband. Dolly Gallagher Levi, the irrepressible, meddling matchmaker from Yonkers in Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly!, is one of the most colourful female roles in musical theatre, and a character that Marina Prior has had her eye on. Now, to her considerable delight, Prior is about to star in a new production of the evergreen musical for The Production Company in Melbourne, directed by Gary Young. “It’s been a dream of mine to do this iconic show, and after the body of work that I’ve done I feel that this is the right time to do it. It’s one of those fortuitous things. It’s been offered…

HUNG, DRAWN AT SARDI’S THEATRE While making their Broadway debut in Sydney Theatre Company’s The Present, Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh scored another classic showbiz nod when they were sketched for Sardi’s – the restaurant in New York’s theatre district, which is famous for the hundreds of caricatures of legendary performers that line its walls. And if you can make it there, as they say… Fellow Australian performer Tony Sheldon was similarly honoured in 2012 while performing in the Broadway production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. SDC’S COOL US TOUR DANCE Despite freezing temperatures, Sydney Dance Company has scored a major success on its latest international tour of the US East Coast. The company presented three of its recent hits – SDC Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela’s Frame of Mind,…

FOR THE DIARY… ABC CLASSIC FM PERTH INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL May 23 and 24 at 8pm The Australian String Quartet and Arcadia Winds teamed up at the Perth International Arts Festival. “The silky-toned Arcadia could make even the most avant-garde sounds enticing,” wrote Rosalind Appleby for Limelight. “Both ensembles eased in and out of phrases with precision and impeccable intonation – particularly impressive given the extreme summer weather and the extended techniques involved.” “After nearly two hours of music making of great refinement and camaraderie,” she went on, “it was clear that this was a youthful supergroup of unfettered imagination and immense control; a perfect match.” For those who missed the concerts in Perth, these broadcasts are definitely worth a look. SIMPLY CLASSICAL Classic 2 broadcasts Australia’s finest musicians 24/7.…

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Venture into Shakespeare’s poetic world of elves and fairies, as envisioned by choreographer George Balanchine. Entering the Paris Opera Ballet’s repertoire for the first time, this magical piece, danced to Mendelssohn’s music, features sets and costumes by fashion legend Christian Lacroix. Faithful to the Bard’s vocabulary whilst adding a subtle touch of pantomime, Balanchine portrays a complex love story in two acts. May 5 – 10 Jewels George Balanchine’s evocation of the sparkle of gemstones is a brilliant ballet classic. The French Romantic music of Fauré provides the impetus for the subtlety and lyricism of Emeralds, while the fire of Rubies comes from Stravinsky and the jazz-age energy of New York. Grandeur and elegance complete the ballet with the splendour of Imperial Russia and the peerless…

PERFECT PIANO Perfect Piano promises the chime, feel and charm of the actual instrument, all at the touch of your fingers and small enough to fit in your pocket. With in-built genuine piano timbre, it can teach complete novices how to play piano while providing hours of amusement. It has an 88-key piano keyboard, multiple sound effects, and an easy sharing function so that others can appreciate your progress as well. Its sensitive pressure detection means that it will always provide the perfect volume and chime to match your playing style. What’s more, you can play additional sounds through plugins which will make you feel like the conductor of your own orchestra. The app boasts thousands of popular music scores to learn from and refine, left and right hand set…

1. Whose youthful menagerie included moths, butterflies, as well as wild bears and a tame bear? 2. A cocktail of peach juice and sparkling wine is a Bellini, but who is it named after when it’s strawberry juice? 3. Aroldo, Alzira and Oberto are a trio of operas by which composer? 4. Which recent invention did Gilbert and Sullivan include reference to in HMS Pinafore? 5. Which French composer claimed more was to be gained by watching the sun rise than by listening to the Pastoral Symphony? 6. In Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s psycho-Gothic opera Die Tote Stadt, with what does the gloomy, neurotic protagonist murder the fun-loving and supposedly unfaithful Marietta? 7. Which English playwright inserted the waspish phrase “Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs,”into the mouth of…

GAVIN DIXON LOST & FOUND Gavin Dixon is a music writer based in the UK. As well as British music, Gavin regularly writes about Russian composers, particularly Alfred Schnittke, whose works he is involved in editing. Dixon was a Curator of Musical Instruments at London’s Horniman Museum. JASON BLAKE 1984 A farmer’s son with no aptitude for farming, Jason is a VCA Drama School graduate (Directing, class of 1993), and studied at NIDA (Directing, 1998) before veering into writing and editing. He is currently the theatre critic for the Sydney Morning Herald. ALEXANDRA COGHLAN POULENC Alexandra Coghlan is the classical music critic for the New Statesman, and also writes for The Independent, The Times, Opera, Prospect, Gramophone and The Monthly. She was formerly performing arts editor at Time Out Sydney…

YOUNGEST CONDUCTOR In April, 11-year old Matthew Smith from Nottingham in the UK, became the youngest person to ever conduct an orchestra. A master of violin, viola, piano, drums and guitar, he picked up the baton after watching a video of an Uzbekistani boy conducting the overture from Johann Strauss’s operetta Die Fledermaus. Smith became infatuated with the score, which he conducted with the 75-piece Nottingham Symphony Orchestra. BOWING FOR THE QUEEN Young Australian violinist Courtenay Cleary, who is currently studying at London’s Royal Academy of Music, had a right royal time in March when she played for a distinguished audience including Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. The Brisbane-born 23-year old played at Westminster Abbey for the Commonwealth Service, Britain’s largest annual multi-faith…

1. Where did your musical inspiration come from when you were a child? Music was part of the language at home. With Bach, my father played it and my mother played it, so it seemed the normal thing to do. But I did so many other things as a kid. I did 20 years of classical ballet, which I absolutely loved. I played the violin, I played the recorder, I sang, I did highland dancing, I did gymnastics. I did so many things, and I'm really happy I did, because it's so important to have a rounded childhood. 2. Last year you embarked on a four-year Bach ‘Odyssey’. What made you commit to all that? I've spent hours in Bach's presence, and the message you have to get across is…

Kirill Petrenko made a highly-anticipated return to the Berlin Philharmonic in March. It was the first time the Russian-born conductor had led the Orchestra since the June 2015 announcement of his appointment as Simon Rattle’s successor. Petrenko will take up the position of Chief Conductor in 2018. For his March outing, he conducted Mozart’s Haffner Symphony, John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser and Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique. The concert earned standing ovations and a five-star review from Bachtrack.…

“I donned my frock, created by Michael Jackson’s designer – I want to steal it...” Tuesday March 14: I’m on a plane with the score for the opera that has lived in my voice and heart for months, and I’m excited and a tad terrified that it’s about to come to life. Whilst rehearsing the Ring Cycle, Neil Armfield snuck up to me, slipped a score under my arm, and whispered: “Have a look at this and see if you could sing it.” The title: Prima Donna. Three characters: Prima Donna, Maid, André. I immediately SMS-ed Neil: “Am I the maid?” (mezzos assume!), but Prima Donna it was! I screwed my courage to the sticking place and I accepted. Wednesday 15th: 10am. First piano rehearsal with the cast (me, Andrew…

Operetta! The very word brings back memories of Great Aunty Marj making her regular pilgrimage down to Her Majesty’s to catch a Saturday matinee, during which she would inflict serious damage on the contents of a box of chocolates. Nowadays, the plight of operetta is more troublesome. The era when they could be relied upon to revive the flagging fortunes of an opera house seems to be over, and to possess the performing rights to one (to use an old-fashioned expression) is no longer seen as ‘a licence to print money’. On the Continent, operettas are still very much in evidence – even well attended – yet it cannot be denied that they now face fierce opposition thanks to the invasion of countless American and British musicals. The problem, it…

No one could accuse Brett Dean of being predictable. His first opera, an adaptation of Peter Carey’s 1981, award-winning novel Bliss, couldn’t have been a more up-to-date affair. A darkly comic tale of modern families, midlife crisis and the pointlessness of the rat race, it told its tale over a leisurely three hours and was roundly applauded at its 2010 Sydney premiere and subsequent transfers to Hamburg and Edinburgh. It’s perhaps surprising then that for an intended two-hour follow up, Australia’s apostle of the new should turn to perhaps Shakespeare’s wordiest challenge: Hamlet. “I was daunted by the idea at first,”admits Dean, chatting at length over the phone from his home in Germany where he’s lived since he left Brisbane in 1984 to join the viola desks of Herbert von…

“BRECHT AND WEILL WANTED TO PUT THEIR FINGERS UP TO THE BOURGEOIS AND BE THE VOICE OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE. THEY WANTED TO DEFUSE THE POLITICAL SITUATION, BUT ALL THEY DID WAS IGNITE IT EVEN MORE” You’ve just recorded a disc of Weimar-era music with the Nexas Quartet, and it’s set to become a cabaret show as well. How did all that come about? Toby Chadd at ABC Classics and I met up to talk about some possibilities, and then I came up with the Weimar idea – something I thought was a bit different. With the number of composers and the amount of music from that period that is still neglected – and which is fabulous stuff, by the way – I thought it could actually be commercially…

Pièces de Clavecin Mahan Esfahani hpscd HYPERION CDA680712 (2CD) Esfahani’s complete Rameau justly won awards left, right and centre. Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts Trevor Pinnock, Rachel Podger, Jonathan Manson CHANNEL CLASSICS CCS19098 A Rameau invention – harpsichord pieces with rich string accompaniments. Règne Amour Carolyn Sampson s , Ex Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore HYPERION CDA67447 Love songs from Rameau’s operas ravishingly sung by Carolyn Sampson. The Opera Collection Various artists ERATO 2564636487 (27CD) Nine operas and music from other stage works led by conductors who played a leading role in the 20th-century revival of interest in Rameau’s music.…

“The new recording is a much leaner, more sinewy affair” Poulenc Sacred choral works The Sixteen/Harry Christophers CORO COR16149 How do you take your Poulenc? I only ask because, conveniently, The Sixteen have recorded a lot of the repertoire on their latest disc before, and their thinking has changed dramatically in the 30-year gap. The contrast between the 1990 Figure Humaine (Virgin Classics, now Erato 5624312) and the newly released Francis Poulenc: Choral Music (CORO) is striking – neither an improvement nor the reverse, simply two very different approaches to the composer’s sacred music. Poulenc’s journey to faith was a swift and dramatic one. The turning point is usually placed in 1936, when two separate events together propelled the composer into a new state of mind. The sudden and violent…

Pepusch Venus and Adonis Clara Hendrick ms, Philippa Hyde s, Richard Edgar-Wilson t, The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen/Robert Rawson RAMÉE RAM1502 Johann Christoph Pepusch, aka John Christopher Pepusch or just plain Dr Pepusch, was born in Berlin in 1677, but moved to England around 1700 where he became a leading light of London’s musical life. In 1726, he was one of the founders of the Academy of Ancient Music and two years later scored his greatest success arranging the music for John Gay’s runaway hit, The Beggar’s Opera. The peak of his career coincided with the rise of the Italian opera in London, and, as his involvement with Gay’s famous lampoon would suggest, Pepusch was strong on the side of those seeking an English alternative to continental excess. Written…

"Cahill attached himself – almost like a parasite – to the upper classes" [ MUSIC ] The Pocket Paderewski Michael Moran Australian Scholarly Publishing, PB, 384pp, $44 ISBN 9781925333886 Forgotten Australian pianist hit both the highs and the lows Mea culpa. I confess that until opening this book I’d never heard of the Queensland-born pianist, Edward Cahill. He isn’t included in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (but this account of the author’s great-uncle makes a strong case for his inclusion); nor is he in the ADB seed-bed, Gibney and Smith’s Biographical Register: 1788-1939, though George Brooke, the Melbourne-born tenor, with whom Cahill gave innumerable recitals for 15 years after their meeting in about 1914, is there with a one-sentence entry that ends, “accompanied by the pianist Edward Cahill”. Moran quotes…

MONDAY - FRIDAY 6am Classic Breakfast Start your day with a delicious selection of the best in classical music, including your daily Swoon 9am Mornings Spend your morning with great music, including new releases and classic performances, plus the latest news and stories from the world of music 12pm Afternoons Classical music to take you through your afternoon at home, at work, or out and about 4pm Classic Drive A journey home through classical sounds, designed to relax, refresh and delight you 7pm Evenings Brings you recent classical concerts from Australian and international orchestras and ensembles 12am Night Music Classical music that’s perfect for all-night listening, presented by some of your favourite ABC Classic FM voices SATURDAY 6am Weekend Breakfast The relaxing and entertaining way to wake up to your…

"Although I always said I wanted to go on the stage, she had me go to secretarial school" I spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a little girl, because my dad was away at the war. She lived in a lovely old flat across the road from Manly beach, and in her dining room area she had one of those wonderful, big, old wooden radios, about three feet high. From as soon as I was old enough to reach the knobs, I would turn the radio on. As I grew up and started to dance, I would go back and forth to find any music I could move to on the various stations. There was a wonderful piece called Holiday for Strings. I have no idea who…

Two days before the opening of this year’s Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour – a revival of 2013's Carmen – the production’s original director Gale Edwards, costume designer Julie Lynch and set designer Brian Thomson issued a statement criticising Opera Australia for refusing to invite them back to oversee the remount. “Therefore, we advise that we cannot guarantee the work's integrity,” they said. OA responded that it is common practice for opera companies around the world to use revival directors. “In keeping with this practice, Opera Australia employs a wealth of talented directors and craftspeople who painstakingly and lovingly present these productions as true to their original format as possible.” After the opening, the creative team issued another statement taking issue with changes made without their permission, particularly to the…

Bach Cello Suites Paolo Pandolfo vadg GCD P30405 (2 CD) For 10 years I have been working on a programme that reimagines the Bach cello suites from other perspectives. This beautiful CD should give every cellist a completely different point of view of these masterpieces, played on such a rich instrument. Trio Lescano Dai Microfoni Dell'e.I.A.R. ITUNES I rarely listen to non-classical music but I do love jazz, blues and swing. This old recording is of a female vocal trio – the Italian answer to The Andrews Sisters, renowned in the 1940s. My fiancée and I chose it for our wedding reception in April, so I learned to dance to it! Brahms Symphony No 4 Vienna Phil/Kleiber DG 4577062 Simply one of the most beautiful musical documents existing. I periodically…

LOUIS FRÉMAUX 1921 – 2017 French conductor Louis Frémaux, Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1981, has died aged 95. The conductor, whose performances UK music critic Noel Goodwin described as “frequently distinguished by freshness, suppleness and, in the French repertory, an airy brilliance,” led the SSO in the years before Charles Mackerras took over as its Chief. Frémaux was born in Air-sur-la-Lys, France in 1921 and studied at the Valenciennes Conservatoire. His musical education was interrupted by the Second World War in which he served with the Resistance in France and the Foreign Legion in East Asia. He continued his studies at the Paris Conservatoire, winning a premier prix for conducting in 1952 then made his debut the following year. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed…

Among the many legends that sprang up around Franz Liszt was a story that Beethoven attended a concert the 11-year-old wunderkind gave in Vienna’s Redoutensaal. Allegedly, the 53-year-old composer even supplied a theme for Liszt to improvise on. Following the performance, the older man was supposedly so moved by Liszt’s playing that he ascended the platform to give his enthusiastic benediction, kissing the pianist on the brow – a Weihekuss or ‘kiss of consecration’. The story was repeated during Liszt’s lifetime and became an important part of the composer’s mythology – a commemorative lithograph was even published on the 50th anniversary of the concert (and has often been provided, dubiously, as proof that the event occurred). Liszt certainly never denied the kiss took place, embracing the legend wholeheartedly and pinpointing…

“THE REDISCOVERY OF STRAVINSKY’S FUNERAL SONG IS ANOTHER CASE OF AN EAGLE-EYED RESEARCHER IDENTIFYING UNCATALOGUED DOCUMENTS IN AN OLD LIBRARY COLLECTION” Anew Stravinsky work arrives in Australia at the end of June, the first in many decades. In fact, his Funeral Song is over 100 years old, but the score was lost for most of the 20th century and only came to light in 2014. The find was a major discovery, but just one of many in recent times, with intrepid librarians and researchers around the world regularly identifying long-lost manuscripts. So how does music by the great composers so often disappear? And where should we be looking for the next long-forgotten masterpiece? The most famous rediscovery was of the Haydn Cello Concerto in C Major, which made a triumphant…

“Playing Hamlet in a house I love is like, wow! It’s just a huge thrill. When I was first asked, I immediately got myself a copy of the text and went to see a couple of productions as I’d never seen the play live. Now I’ve seen almost all of the films, and as there were lots of Shakespeare celebrations last year, I’ve got to see actors like Adrian Lester, Sam West, Benedict Cumberbatch, and David Tennant onscreen and onstage. Brett and I met in Melbourne a couple of years ago at his studio to record the famous ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy. He hadn’t written the music yet, but he wanted to hear how I approached it as an actor and how it lay in my speaking…

After hearing Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Debussy famously wrote:“It haunts me like a beautiful nightmare, and I’ve been trying in vain to recapture something of that terrible impression.”For pianist and Messiaen biographer Peter Hill, this is the phrase that comes to mind as we speak about Olivier Messiaen’s monumental Turangalîla-Symphonie – the French composer’s musical orgy of love, ecstasy and death, which the Australian World Orchestra and students from the Australian National Academy of Music will be performing in July under the baton of SimoneYoung. Premiered in December 1949 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a little under a decade after Messiaen’s internment in a German prisoner-of-war camp resulted in his Quartet for the End of Time, Turangalîla was a commission by the orchestra’s famously creative Music Director Serge Koussevitsky,…

“IT HAS TAKEN A LONG TIME FOR RAMEAU TO REGAIN HIS MUSICAL DIGNITY” LIVED 1683 – 1764 MOSTLY IN DIJON, LYON, PARIS BEST KNOWN FOR LES BORÉADES, LES INDES GALANTES, CASTOR ET POLLUX, PLATÉE, KEYBOARD WORKS SIMILAR TO LULLY, CHARPENTIER Today we bandy ‘Baroque’ about as a label of convenience for the music of the 17th and early 18th centuries without much thought to the word’s original meaning. Five hundred years ago, ‘baroque’ could have been used to describe a beautifully misshapen pearl or extravagant jewellery. But no one applied the word to music until the 1730s, when a reviewer of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s first opera Hippolyte et Aricie complained that it lacked clear melody, continually changed key, and ran the gamut of every conceivable compositional device. All this disconcerting complexity…

“It’s great having this calibre of magazine in Australia. Jam-packed with interesting articles, its reviews and fun facts have saved me many a time when stuck in a corner at parties with music scholars. The great photography and layout also help me when I’m feeling too lazy to read. As I tour for much of the year, Limelight keeps me up to date with the latest releases and news, and its always exciting to catch up on the activities of my peers. It is my dream to see Limelight as a fixture in waiting rooms around the country. Here’s looking forward to next month’s issue!”…

How did you first come across Poulenc? As a clarinettist at school I used to play his sonata – hard! I also used to try and sing his songs. When I was a student I was fascinated by his opera, Dialogue of the Carmelites but I also loved his orchestral pieces, which are full of Parisian wit. I didn’t really come across his sacred works until I was about 20. Singing those motets for the first time was scary – they’re so hard. Claude Rostande famously described Poulenc as “moitié moine, moitié voyou” (half-monk, half-rascal). Are the sacred works all monk, or does the rascal ever creep in? They are so personal and you wonder sometimes “what is he thinking?” I sort of interpret the “rascal” element as simply going…

 A 35-CD set from Warner covers (almost) all the Beethoven recordings made by Daniel Barenboim throughout his long career. It begins with his first traversal of the Piano Sonatas from the late 1960s and early ‘70s and continues with chamber music such as the violin sonatas with Pinchas Zukerman and the cello sonatas with Jacqueline du Pré. Also included are the nine symphonies, recorded in the 1990s with the Berlin Staatskapelle. Barenboim’s music making has remained stylistically consistent: previous giants like Schnabel influenced his playing in the sonatas, and his conducting of the symphonies owes a lot to Furtwängler. On first release, the symphonic recordings were regarded as Barenboim’s ‘answer’ to the historically informed movement. They are big and unhurried and the sound is lush, but they’re rarely stodgy as…

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The booze flows, the conversation gets sharper, and the night sours in this classic of the stage. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, May 11 – June 18 Minnie & Liraz A charming oddball story about two competitive bridge-playing grandmothers that will keep you laughing. Melbourne Theatre Company, Arts Centre Melbourne, May 12 – June 24 Once in Royal David’s City Who are we, what are we doing here, and why is it so? Faced with the loss of a parent, what do we do? Queensland Theatre, Playhouse QPAC, April 22 – May 14 1984 A literary masterpiece meets sheer theatrical ambition in a new adaptation of Orwell’s classic and timely novel. State Theatre Company, SA, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, May 13 – 27 Sista Girl Two young…

Our Lands An exhibition featuring works that explore the tensions, conflicts, suspicions and political struggles central to land rights debates in Australia. Art Gallery of New South Wales, until June 18 Bill Henson Presenting recent photographs selected by the artist himself, encompassing themes including portraits, nudes and landscapes. National Gallery of Victoria, until August 27 Defying Empire Surveys the practice of 30 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across the country. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, May 26 – September 10…

NON-FICTION The Good Girl of China Town Jenevieve Chang Viking, PB, 272pp, $33 ISBN 9780670078516 The bold memoir of a Chinatown Doll. After studying theatre in Sydney and dance at London’s Laban Conservatoire, Jenevieve Chang finds her home in Chinatown: Shanghai’s first Vaudeville, Variety and Burlesque Club. NON-FICTION The Romantic Overture and Musical Form Steven Vande Moortele Cambridge University Press, HB, 294pp, $140 ISBN 9781107163195 In his new book The Romantic Overture and Musical Form from Rossini to Wagner, Steven Vande Moortele offers a comprehensive account of operatic and concert overtures in continental Europe between 1815 and 1850. NON-FICTION The Music of the Future Robert Barry Repeater, PB, 184pp, $15 ISBN 9781910924969 The Music of the Future is not a book of predictions or speculations about how to save the…

 On tour for the first time ever in Australia, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra will perform with internationally acclaimed conductor and Music Director Jaap van Zweden and violinist Ning Feng. Part of a five-city international tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the programme will feature Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 4 and Mahler’s Symphony No 1. Fung Lam’s Quintessence, a work commissioned by the HK Phil to celebrate the orchestra’s 40th anniversary in 2014, will be given its Australian premiere. "Ning Feng is a great violinist and in his hands the Mozart Violin Concerto will sparkle" “I’m honoured that Quintessence, a work which the HK Phil premiered during its European tour (2015) as well as its Mainland China Tour (2016), will…

ABC CLASSIC FM CANBERRA INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL May 14 at 2pm The Opening Gala of the Canberra International Music Festival – which this year explores the theme of revolution and social upheaval – will showcase the festival’s international stars: Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar String Quartet straight out of El Sistema, Canberra’s very own Lisa Moore returning from New York, William Barton on the didgeridoo and more. The programme includes the world premiere of Robert Davidson’s Betty Beaver Blaze, based on Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poem White Australia, featuring William Barton, Clive Birch and Luminescence Chamber Singers. Lisa Moore will perform works by JS Bach, Robert Schumann and Frederic Rzewski, while Canadian violinist Alexandre da Costa will perform works by Tomaso Antonio Vitali, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and De Falla. The Simón Bolívar String Quartet. will…