On Saturday 6 February 2016 the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/ BCMG and Richard Baker (conductor) perform Parallel Colour, a new composition by Edmund Finnis. The programme, curated by Richard Baker in collaboration with BCMG, also includes the UK premiere of Platonic ID by Rozalie Hirs, as well as works by Vivier, Davies, Harvey, and Donatoni.
Finnis’ glistening, dancing music has an air of quiet mystery, possessing the elusive quality of being both familiar and strange at once. His first BCMG Sound Investment commission departs from the standard ensemble line-up, with pairs of instruments providing unusual sound combinations. Like Finnis, Hirs writes music of a refreshingly original character. She examines and dissects sounds to a microscopic degree, creating exceptionally captivating ‘sonic spaces’. Her Platonic ID elegantly unfolds in rustling waves of rapid notes, halted by moments of calm in which short, luminous chorales suddenly shine forth.
The expressive intensity of Claude Vivier’s music, together with its compositional skill and innovation, make his oeuvre among the most compelling and distinctive of the late 20th century. Trois Airs pour un opéra imaginaire is his last completed work, and one of his best. Premiered just 17 days following his violent and untimely end in Paris in March 1983, the music inhabits a twilight realm between reality and the imagination, hinting at future directions in which his music might have travelled.
concert programme
Claude Vivier – Trois Airs pour un opéra imaginaire
Tansy Davies – Dark Ground
Edmund Finnis – Parallel Colour World premiere
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Rozalie Hirs – Platonic ID UK premiere
Jonathan Harvey – Cirrus Light
Franco Donatoni – Still
Date: 2016-02-06
Time: 19:30 GMT
Location: CBSO Centre, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Performers: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/BCMG, Richard Baker (conductor), Rebecca Bottone (soprano), Julian Warburton (percussion), Timothy Lines (clarinet)
Platonic ID (2005-06) by Rozalie Hirs was commissioned by ASKO|Schönberg with financial support from the Netherlands Performing Arts Fund. Below is its first recording by Guido Tichelman, performed by ASKO|Schönberg and Bas Wiegers (conductor), released by Attacca Productions.