Classical Music | Southbank Centre

The second concert in Southbank Centre’s Harmonic Series, on Sunday 26 February, features new compositions from Micachu, along with the music of Thomas Adès and Micachu’s performance of Alvin Lucier’s classic meditative tape work I Am Sitting In A Room.

In this intriguing clip, Micachu explains some of her innovative composition techniques…

Micachu on Harmonic Series

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Harmonic Series is curated by cellist Oliver Coates. The second of these concerts features the beautiful chamber music of Thomas Adès, complemented by the compositions and performance from Micachu. The concert is performed by Oliver Coates along with Micachu, Alexandra Wood, Tom Hankey, Max Bailie, Tom Lessels and Danny Driver.

Sunday 26 February, 7.45pm, Purcell Room

For more information please see the webpage here.

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In their forthcoming performance at Southbank Centre Anneke Scott and Kathryn Cok  will present an exciting and dramatic programme of late classical music for natural horn and fortepiano. We catch up with them in advance of the concert on 5th March.

How did you first meet and what brought you together as musicians?
The first time we met would have been with the European Union Baroque Orchestra around the turn of the millennium. EUBO was giving a series of concerts marking the new year in Madeira, which in keeping with the celebratory mood of the season included a number of larger festive works such as Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Over the next few years we found us working on a number of chamber music projects including most notably The Etesian Ensemble. Quite often we would include duo sonatas in programmes so we started exploring a lot of the repertoire for natural horn and fortepiano which led to us performing on a regular basis as a duo.

What are you particularly looking forward to about your forthcoming performance at Southbank Centre?
The Southbank Centre is such an iconic building and such a major venue in the UK arts scene that it’s always a joy to play there. It’s been fascinating to see the area change over the last few years. The redevelopment in 200? seemed to bring a lot more people into the area and has changed the energy of the place. It feels much more of a bustling hub now.

Is there a piece of music you would pick out as one of the ‘best’ works ever written?
Anneke: I keep on coming back to Beethoven. I adore the way he seems to be testing music to its extremes. I’d probably have to go for the Eroica, but symphony no. 7 or even no. 8 comes close.”

And is there a work that is for you, emotionally, especially important?
Anneke: Funnily enough – I would go for the works of Delius. One of the first albums I had (it was a cassette which dates it pretty accurately) was a tape of Delius orchestral works. I just need to hear a few bars of “On hearing the first cuckoo in spring” and it brings back very vivid memories of my childhood.”

If you could programme your ideal Southbank Centre show, which artists (living or dead) would you bring together?
Anneke: “I would love to invite the Dresden Court Orchestra circa 1720 to come and play. The musicians they had were cutting edge and creating wonderfully colourful works, really pushing the boundaries of technique. The works of Zelenka, Heinichen etc. For horn players this looks like one of the first places to use hand technique (the technique of manipulating the right hand in the bell of the instrument, creating notes from outside the harmonic series) and it would be fascinating to hear what the Dresden players were capable of. A lot of this music is highly inventive in its scoring – exploring the colours available, especially with new wind instruments – but the virtuosity required never overshadows the beauty of the music.

What is the most played piece of music on your mp3 player or in your CD collection?
Anneke: I don’t think a week goes by without me listening to Anner Bylsma and Jos van Immersel’s recording of the Beethoven cello sonatas. I’ve always been a big fan of Bylsma and discovered his recordings when first learning the Beethoven Op.17 Sonata for horn and fortepiano as I had wanted to listen to interpretations of Beethoven’s music whilst avoiding listening to too many horn players! The other favourite at the moment is a newish album by a Scottish group – Concerto Caledonia – called “Revenge of the Folk-Singers”. This group, and this disc, defy categorisation, eclectic doesn’t really cover it, but this album is breath-takingly beautiful.

Kathryn: Phillipe Herreweghe’s recording of the Bach Easter Oratorio. I first heard it years ago when I was a student in New York. I had been playing a concert and was staying at someone’s house and afterwards they had put this recording on. It was the first time I heard it and it immediately grabbed me and has remained a firm favourite to this day.

Do you have any strange rituals you carry out before or after you perform?
Anneke: ”One thing which sometimes might be a little distracting for audiences is the necessity for horn players to be emptying their instruments of water. Often people think this is spit! Musical instruments are sensitive to temperature and humidity, and period instruments sometimes mores so – so for example audiences at our concert may see Edmund Pickering, the fortepiano tuner, retuning the fortepiano before the concert or in the interval. As horn players are basically blowing hot air into metal tubing which is often of a lower temperature the water in out breath condenses and leads to a build of water in the instrument. This can effect the sound of the instrument, making a popping sound, so we try and ensure that we drain any water as often as possible. With the many curls of the natural horn this can be tricky. One thing that helps is trying to make sure the instrument is “warmed up” before we go on stage so before a performance you’ll often catch me not playing, but blowing air into the instrument instead.

For more info or to buy tickets for Anneke Scott & Kathryn Cok, click here

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Led by a guardian angel, the Soul of Gerontius encounters demons and angelic beings – hear London Concert Choir sing Elgar’s masterpiece at Southbank Centre on Wednesday 7 March. Here’s a clip from a previous concert to whet your appetite: Te decet hymnus

Conductor Mark Forkgen says:  Elgar himself never described The Dream of Gerontius as an oratorio –  it is more accurate to call it a concert music drama.  At the beginning, Elgar introduces a series of motifs representing the emotions of the dying Gerontius and the principal themes of the work. These are then developed seamlessly on a Wagnerian scale throughout the whole work.  In the second half, when Gerontius finds himself in the next world with his guardian angel, the music ranges from the barbaric dissonance of the Demons’ chorus – with stamping chords written 10 years before the Rite of Spring! – to the ecstatic music of the angelic host.  It a work that demands total commitment from the performers and will have an enormous emotional impact on the audience.

Elgar: Dream of Gerontius is being performed by in Royal Festival Hall, Wednesday 7 March, 7.30pm

For more information, please see the webpage here.

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Get a sneak preview of the second of our 2012 Harmonic Series concerts – come and experience the exquisite music of Thomas Adès and other innovative composers…

Come and hear Oliver Coates play Adès’ music – he is only the second cellist in the world to be playing the cello and piano work Lieux Retrouvés, and in this concert plays it with Grammy-nominated pianist Danny Driver. The piece expands the range and difficulty for the cello and demands a gymnastic approach to Adès’ writing.

You can also hear two new compositions for solo viola and solo clarinet from celebrated singer, producer and composer Micachu, who also performs Alvin Lucier’s classic meditative tape work I Am Sitting In A Room.

This second concert in the Harmonic Series takes place in the Purcell Room on Sunday 26 February at 7.45pm. For more information please see the webpage here.

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We are now on sale with our 12/13 major orchestral seasons including Shell Classic International, with great orchestras from around the world at Royal Festival Hall and Resident Orchestra programmes from London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

The stella orchestral line up includes Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; a rare opportunity to hear London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Russian National Orchestra on stage together under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski; the ‘world’s finest bass-baritone’ Bryn Terfel in The Flying Dutchman; a celebration of the centenary of Lutoslawski with Philharmonia Orchestra; and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment perform Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with choreographer Henri Oguike.

See the full line up on our online classical guide

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