Andrew Manze, Music Director, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 5; Ralph Vaughan Williams (Conductor), London Philharmonic Orchestra
A pacifist and humanist, Vaughan Williams completed his Fifth Symphony during the darkest days of the World War II. It was premiered in London in 1943 and is an unambiguous expression of hope and confidence in mankindās ability to salvage goodness from the wreckage of day to day realities. Putting subtexts aside, itās also a really beautiful piece.
My reactions to Brexit were, and still are, shame at Britainās apparent hauteur, worry that the EU, and by extension Europe, might be fractured by this divorce, and shock that the British electorate preferred demagoguery to the reasoned arguments of experts (politicians, intellectuals, business and financial leaders) and believed that Brexit will help solve the countryās problems. If the nightmare of visas can be avoided, musicians will still travel across the border between the UK and the EU. How culture fares within a benighted UK, however, remains to be seen.
Charlotte Bray, Composer, Berlin
Charlotte Bray – āThat Crazed Smileā; Oberon Trio
The piece is one of a handful that Iāve written as a direct result of the move I made to share my time between London and Berlin in 2011. With the ease of travel in Europe and a curious mind, after visiting Berlin and falling in love with the city, I decided to quit the teaching work that was keeping me in London and become an entirely freelance composer. My career has benefited enormously from the decision and I have been able to develop strong working relationships with a diverse range of international musicians.
Simon Halsey, Chorus Director, London Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Emeritus, Rundfunkchor Berlin
Benjamin Britten, War Requiem, Sanctus; Robert Shaw (Conductor), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Iām horrified by Brexit and all it represents, but the fact that Iām in a minority suggests there has been a failure of communicationāa failure to include people in understanding the benefits of the EU. Since we are therefore all to blameāI believe the UK remains a fundamentally decent and good countryāletās try to handle the future well. The messages of Beethovenās Symphony No. 9, Tippettās āA Child of our Time,ā and Brittenās War Requiem are more important than ever.
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Philip Venables, Composer, Berlin
Naomi Pinnock, āMusic for Europeā; Ensemble Adapter
Andrew Hamilton, āmusic for people who like the futureā; Neue Vokalsolisten
Iāve chosen pieces from two composers: āMusic for Europeā by Naomi Pinnock, a British composer who now lives in Europe (Berlin), and āMusic for people who like the futureā by Andrew Hamilton, who is from Europe (Ireland) but now lives in the UK.
āMusic for Europeā looks to the past, to sadness, like a requiem for everything that we have lost as British-Europeans. Naomiās piece is inspired by a Paul Klee text: āHoch und strahlend steht der Mond. Ich habe meine Lampe ausgeblasen, und tausend Gedanken erheben sich von meines Herzensgrund. Meine Augen strƶmen über von TrƤnen.ā āMusic for people who like the future,ā on the other hand, is more positive in its outlook, and is funny and absurd in style, just how I like it.
The text Andrew uses comes from Wagnerās Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft and talks about the interface between art and life. The two canāt be separatedāwe, as artists, must use our art and our voices to fight nationalism and right-wing extremism. Protest loudly!
Matthew Truscott, Concert Master, Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Henry Purcell, āTimon of Athens,ā XIII. Curtain Tune; Florilegium Musicum Ensemble
My first thought was that it had to be Purcell, creator of some of the very greatest music to emerge from our little island. His music remains uniquely his own while absorbing and celebrating the many important European influences that were already enriching Londonās musical life even in the late 1600s: French dance music, Italian counterpoint and Bohemian virtuosity distinctively āclogād with somewhat of an English vein,ā as his contemporary Roger North reported.
Then, which piece? This wonderful āCurtain Tuneā is dark and disturbing, which is rather how I feel about this misguided and shamefully misrepresented enterprise. The ground bass traps the listener into confronting time and its inevitability, and the subject matter seems appropriate somehow: Timon, a citizen of Athens, birthplace of Western civilization and cradle of democracy, a lonely misanthrope struggling with his own place in the wider society. He didnāt manage. I hope we do. ¶
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