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| LPO/Gardner review – timely celebration of the brilliance of Oliver Knussen | by Andrew Clements May 2, 2022 | Royal Festival Hall, London The LPO’s celebration of the late composer included a superbly assured performance of his Horn Concerto by the 19-year-old Annemarie Federle, a last-minute replacement. Glittering Ravel and sequences from Britten’s only ballet followed. Oliver Knussen died unexpectedly four years ago, robbing British music far too soon of one of its most vital and influential figures. Knussen would have been 70 next month, and the London Philharmonic’s celebration of him as both composer and conductor was a timely reminder of how much he is missed. Edward Gardner devoted the first half of his concert to three of Knussen’s own works, and the second to two composers who, in very different ways, had meant so much to him – Britten and Ravel. Flourish with Fireworks, the four-minute concert opener that Knussen composed for the London Symphony Orchestra in 1988, epitomises the brilliance and densely packed invention of so much of his music. It teems with detail, yet remains lucid and utterly approachable, while the equally intricate orchestral accompaniments to the four Whitman Settings, composed in 1991, form webs of glittering sound that buoy up the soaring vocal lines. Sophie Bevan was the soprano, fully in command of the songs’ almost operatic range, but not quite so convincing in her projection of their admittedly impacted texts. Continue reading... | | | The Hope River Girls review – bold teen show transcends target market | by Mark Fisher May 2, 2022 | Byre theatre, St Andrews Vicki Manderson choreographs a quietly intense show about a disorder that causes a group of girls to dance uncontrollably
Last time around it was called The Afflicted and enjoyed a run at the 2019 Edinburgh fringe. Now the Groupwork show has been rebooted as The Hope River Girls and is looking bold and confident as it twirls its way towards the Edinburgh international children’s festival. There, it should entrance not only its target teenage market but anyone with a taste for off-centre dance theatre. In a fictionalised version of a real incident, the setting is upstate New York where, in 2012, a case breaks out of mass psychogenic illness. Without obvious cause or connection, 24 girls in a rust-belt school are beset by a disorder that causes them to dance uncontrollably. On tour until 13 May Continue reading... | | | | |
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