brisbane hate

Very excited to be heading tomorrow to Great Malvern to do a pre-concert talk about the Schumann Violin Concerto with conductor Ken Woods – whose concert with the English Symphony Orchestra includes this haunting work as centrepiece, with soloist Zoe Beyers. We are at Great Malvern Priory, talk at 6.30pm, concert at 7.30pm. Booking here. Incidentally, I will also be presenting a concert themed around Jelly d'Arányi, World War I and World War II for the  Oxford Philharmonic on 1 June , including the concerto alongside music by Bartók and FS Kelly. As a preview, here is an article I wrote for the Independent in 2016 about the extraordinary history of this long-forgotten work, its traumatic composition when Schumann was on the cusp of mental illness and its bizarre rediscovery in the 1930s when the world itself was tipping over into madness...  Robert Schumann Photo from Wikimedia When I first heard the story of how Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto came to light in the 1930s, I ...

"I told you no good would come of Brexit!" (Photo courtesy of the LSO) In a move that will shock the orchestral profession worldwide, Sir Simon Rattle is rumoured to be on the point of announcing his intention to throw his hat into the political ring, instead of the Wagnerian one. While the UK government is in meltdown over Brexit, sources close to the maestro say that he hopes to be a candidate for Prime Minister, standing at the next (no doubt imminent) election with a national unity manifesto. "Music is a force for unity and cohesion," said one source, who preferred to remain anonymous. "Sir Simon has a uniquely charismatic, positive personality and the power to transcend the venomous divisions currently besetting both government and opposition in the House of Commons. We are not the only ones who think he's just the person to bring the country together again." Another source remarked, more sourly: "If he can get an orchestra with its inevitabl...

I don't think I'm the only person who's currently so cheesed off with the behaviour of our dear country on the international stage that I've been feeling disinclined to listen to any British music. This is not good. Brexit isn't the fault of our composers - anything but.  Therefore I'm making an effort to get back to them  and I've asked William Vann to write us a guest post about Hubert Parry's oratorio Judith , which he is conducting at the London English Song Festival at the Royal Festival Hall on 3 April, no matter what happens on 29 March. He tells me this will be the work's first airing in London since the 19th century and that its neglect seems  to  him to be "a gaping hole in the heart of British choral music". Nevertheless, you might find some of it sounds familiar... Please read on, have a listen and (unless you're in Great Malvern that night for the Schumann Violin Concerto) do give the concert a whirl. If you can't make ...