Latest news with #orchestral
ABC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
King of Kings: Orchestral Transcriptions of Bach
King of Kings, a collection of the late conductor Sir Andrew Davis' stunning orchestral transcriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach's organ music, is this week's Feature Album on ABC Classic. An organist himself before his career on the podium, Davis made all of the transcriptions on this album for the BBC Philharmonic. Davis conducted four of the works in a recording session in November 2023 but sadly died before he could record the rest, which are conducted here by Martyn Brabbins.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Helen Grime: Chamber Music review – clarity and colour from one of Britain's most exciting young composers
It has been mostly through her succession of successful high-profile orchestral commissions that Helen Grime has become one of the most prominent voices among the younger generations of British composers. In that process of recognition Grime's smaller-scale works have received relatively little attention, but as this collection of seven recordings from the Hebrides Ensemble shows, the same qualities that characterise her largest orchestral canvases distinguish her work on the smallest scale too. The pieces here, composed between 2004 and 2016, range from a string sextet to a work for two horns, and Grime's fastidious ear to colour and texture is evident in all the instrumental combinations. Several of the pieces take their inspiration from nature and landscape, though the sextet, Into the Faded Air, borrows its title from TS Eliot's Four Quartets; Ted Hughes's poetry lies behind the trio Snow and Snow, while the starting point for the crisp, vivid Seven Pierrot Miniatures, composed for the same instrumental lineup as Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, is obvious enough. But as all the Hebrides' performances demonstrate, this music can communicate even without any of its external references. This article includes content hosted on We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Givēon's Old-School R&B Heartbreak
With his oaky baritone, Givēon often sounds like he teleported to us from the 1970s. In the rapid-fire internet age, his love songs — frequently lost-love songs — are unhurried. At his best, he's like a barrel-aged cognac — warm, earthy, and mature. Still, when he rose to prominence at around the age of 25 about five years ago, in a landscape where more modern, edgy alternative R&B dominated, he allowed his steady, soulful production to ride on top of subtle rap drums; across his debut EP, Take Time, and album, Give or Take, he even dipped into cloudy MC cadences, too. Now, on his sophomore LP, and well established as a singular voice, there's nothing 'alternative' about his musical approach. Beloved is almost barren of the hip-hop flourishes that peppered his earlier work, and instead leans all the way into the orchestral R&B of another time, lush with searing strings and the crash of real hi-hats. Rich and authentic, Beloved feels indebted to Al Green, Philly soul, the Jackson 5, and Blaxploitation soundtracks. More from Rolling Stone Givēon on His 'Accountability' Era and Making His Best Album Yet Rihanna, Kesha, Giveon, and All the Songs You Need to Know This Week Giveon Is Done Wasting Time Behind the Scenes at 'Twenties' Video Shoot Demonstrating the most robust control of his instrument yet, Givēon offers a stunning, panoramic view of romantic relationships in their toughest places. He's always been a real yearner, taking cues from the 'Black women heartbreak music' he's said he was raised on by his mother — singers like Anita Baker and Mary J. Blige. True to form, much of Beloved lives at the end of the road romantically, where songs like 'Twenties,' 'Mud,' and 'Strangers' ache with defeat. 'Yes, I'm taking this hard,' he proclaims in a pained, zigzag riff on 'Strangers,' after learning his ex is finally seeing someone else. By 'Numb,' he's unable to feel at all. When he admits, 'I've been here before,' over angelic background coos, it's a cunning recognition that a heartbroken Givēon is one his listeners are all too familiar with, though this version is the most visceral yet. And though in these gut-wrenching moments, Givēon is the victim — even telling an old flame who has tried to play that same role, 'You run my name through the mud/Wipe that dirt off your shoes.… You be lying to yourself so much it sounds true' — he complicates his reliability as a narrator, too, adding more nuance to his romantic persona. On tracks like 'Diamonds for Your Pain (Interlude)' and 'Keeper,' he's slyly working his way out of the doghouse, telling a girl on the former, 'Prettier than I remember/Haven't seen you since December/You know I come around every summertime, swimming in your teardrops.' (There's sharp imagery like this all over the album, building on the cinematic soundscapes acclaimed producers like Jeff Gitty and Jahaan Sweet have created with Givēon.) And though the groovy 'Avalanche' is only sung from a place of promise and not repair, a naivete that could also prove unproductive peeks through. 'Intuition says we're way too young to start a family/But I've been thinking about forever, my dear,' he beams, delusionally. Beloved especially shines when it embraces how complicated heartache can be, like the songs where Givēon or the object of his affection linger in limbo. On 'Backup Plan,' he watches anxiously as his lover quietly contemplates leaving him; on 'Bleeding,' he's a suitor tiptoeing around the shards of a woman's broken heart, knowing she's still fixated on her ex. He's more hopeful on 'I Can Tell,' where he's proudly making his case as a better man than the one he's trying to get some young woman to leave behind. Fittingly, the album ends with Givēon as part of a couple who seem committed to surmounting conflict together, a buoyant reminder that, even in his world, not all snags precipitate a breakup. 'I'll even let you run me down to the ground/Watching you while you run your mouth/I stick around,' he sings brightly. 'I love you 'cause you love me/Through the good, bad, and ugly.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
South China Morning Post
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Jaap van Zweden returns for Hong Kong Philharmonic concert featuring Augustin Hadelich
In the rarefied world of orchestral performance, few debates are as enduring or as divisive as the question of leadership. Does transcendent artistry emerge from the iron will of a single visionary, or through the alchemy of collective insight? This question has resurfaced with fresh urgency in light of a recent documentary examining the methods of Jaap van Zweden, a Dutch conductor and former music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra whose exacting, often fiery rehearsals defined his uncompromising approach to interpretation. The orchestra's season-closing concert on July 4 marked his return as conductor emeritus for the first time since the film, and became an unintentional masterclass in this very tension. It was intensified by the fact that van Zweden will be succeeded by the 25-year-old Finnish phenomenon Tarmo Peltokoski , a rising star who champions dialogue and collective input. Jaap van Zweden conducts the Hong Kong Philharmonic in Hong Kong on July 4, 2025. Photo: Desmond Chan/HK Phil That dichotomy hung in the air as the evening opened with Wagner's 'Tannhäuser Overture' – a work whose central conflict between sacred discipline and profane abandon felt almost metatextual.
RNZ News
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Headline: Fast Favourites with new NZSO head Marc Feldman
Our guest for Fast Favourites this week has had a long and award winning career in orchestral leadership. Most recently he was head of France's renowned Orchestre National de Bretagne, a role he held for more than 13 years. Marc Feldman is now getting used to life here in Aotearoa, after his appointment as the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He joined Culture 101 to play Fast Favourites. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
