Latest news with #AgnusDei
Scoop
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Bach Musica NZ Celebrate Local Talent With Two World Premieres
Press Release – Elephant Publicity returns to the Auckland Town Hall on Sunday 21 September at 5pm with a presentation of world premieres by NZ composers, Gabor Tolnay, and Oliver Bramah in collaboration with Hēmi Kelly, and a selection of glorious repertoire by J.S. Bach, Barber, Vavilov and Ravel. Bach Musica NZ's Music & Artistic Director, Rita Paczian, will lead the concert as conductor, marking her second to last performance with the organisation following the recent announcement of her retirement at the end of this year. The concert will open with one of J.S. Bach's most famous cantatas for solo alto voice, Vergnügte Ruh, BWV 170, sung by NZ's leading countertenor, Stephen Diaz. The performance will continue with Barber's Adagio for Strings performed in its choral version, Agnus Dei, alongside the romantic Ave Maria by Vavilov, and Ravel's L'Aurore M. 45 sung in French by soprano, Gina Sanders. Bach Musica NZ are proud to present world premieres of two impressive works by award-winning New Zealand composers, Gabor Tolnay, and Oliver Bramah whose work has been written in collaboration with Hēmi Kelly (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whāoa). Bramah and Kelly's work Kūī, Kūī (call of the bird) will be performed in te reo Māori on 21 September by Bach Musica NZ two days before the spring equinox, drawing on the tohu (sign) of the pīpīwharauroa (shining cuckoo), whose return marks the changing seasons. Tolnay's new orchestral piece Dawn at the Bay also captures the magnificence of Aotearoa's natural world, evoking the beautiful sunrise, birdsong and scenery of the remote Duncan Bay in the Marlborough Sounds. 'As ever, conductor Rita Paczian artfully and competently master-minded proceedings, driving her ensemble yet again to an overwhelming finale. They demonstrated another remarkable Bach Musica NZ characteristic: that of pronounced and assured artistic versatility.' – Rainer Buhmann, NZ Opera News Bach Musica NZ's full programme can be found here:
Scoop
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Bach Musica NZ Celebrate Local Talent With Two World Premieres
Bach Musica NZ returns to the Auckland Town Hall on Sunday 21 September at 5pm with a presentation of world premieres by NZ composers, Gabor Tolnay, and Oliver Bramah in collaboration with Hēmi Kelly, and a selection of glorious repertoire by J.S. Bach, Barber, Vavilov and Ravel. Bach Musica NZ's Music & Artistic Director, Rita Paczian, will lead the concert as conductor, marking her second to last performance with the organisation following the recent announcement of her retirement at the end of this year. The concert will open with one of J.S. Bach's most famous cantatas for solo alto voice, Vergnügte Ruh, BWV 170, sung by NZ's leading countertenor, Stephen Diaz. The performance will continue with Barber's Adagio for Strings performed in its choral version, Agnus Dei, alongside the romantic Ave Maria by Vavilov, and Ravel's L'Aurore M. 45 sung in French by soprano, Gina Sanders. Bach Musica NZ are proud to present world premieres of two impressive works by award-winning New Zealand composers, Gabor Tolnay, and Oliver Bramah whose work has been written in collaboration with Hēmi Kelly (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whāoa). Bramah and Kelly's work Kūī, Kūī (call of the bird) will be performed in te reo Māori on 21 September by Bach Musica NZ two days before the spring equinox, drawing on the tohu (sign) of the pīpīwharauroa (shining cuckoo), whose return marks the changing seasons. Tolnay's new orchestral piece Dawn at the Bay also captures the magnificence of Aotearoa's natural world, evoking the beautiful sunrise, birdsong and scenery of the remote Duncan Bay in the Marlborough Sounds. Advertisement - scroll to continue reading "As ever, conductor Rita Paczian artfully and competently master-minded proceedings, driving her ensemble yet again to an overwhelming finale. They demonstrated another remarkable Bach Musica NZ characteristic: that of pronounced and assured artistic versatility." – Rainer Buhmann, NZ Opera News Bach Musica NZ's full programme can be found here:
Scroll.in
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
From Lalo Schifrin to Duke Ellington, sacred music to a jazz beat
June 26 saw the demise of the famed Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor Lalo Schifrin at the age of 93. He is best known for his work as a composer for films and television shows going back to the 1950s. I listened to a compilation of his 'greatest hits' and relived some of those films or shows I had watched. I had forgotten that he was responsible for the film score to the 1973 martial arts blockbuster Enter the Dragon, my introduction to Bruce Lee and my brother's pin-up hero. Listening to the music once again brough back memories of the kung fu craze, the Bruce Lee hairstyle (and bloodcurdling yells and flying kicks to go with it) and improvised nanchakus from discarded sticks from the Vaglo cloth store. Nothing can take you back in time like music. So much Hindi film music was 'inspired' by this track. It is a testament to Schifrin's versatility and adaptability that he could make his music just as fresh and relevant through all the intervening decades to the present. He will probably be most remembered by today's young generation for scoring the Mission Impossible theme. I hadn't realised that the distinctive tune in 5/4 time with its dash-dash dot-dot metre spells out in Morse code the letters M and I, for Mission Impossible. Pretty ingenious. Play After I had listened to Schifrin's 'life in music' in terms of film and television scores, I decided to explore his wider oeuvre. I was intrigued by a composition titled Jazz Suite on Mass Texts, originally released on the RCA Victor label in 1965, composed and conducted by Schifrin. The tracks are titled Kyrie, Interludium, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Prayer, Offertory and Agnus Dei. Scored for choir and an assortment of woodwind, brass, harp, vibraphone, piano, bass, drums and other percussion, I have to say that with the possible exception of the last track (Agnus Dei), the album left me cold. I found a review which chastised reactions like mine: 'Certainly much of the record can be found leading into the realm of experimental music, and the critical listener should not be so critical, but rather sit, enjoy, and open their mind and listening senses.' To me, (on a first listening at any rate; I'll revisit it soon) the Mass text (sung by the choir in English although the titles are in Latin) seems tacked on to the jazzy accompaniment. The sung text could just as well have been the contents of recipe cookbook for all the impact it made. Play As I trawled through YouTube for the above track, I found a set that resonated much more with me, and that I hadn't heard before. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the American jazz composer, conductor and pianist Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington's Concert of Sacred Music (1965), the same year as Schifrin's Jazz Suite on Mass Texts. Ellington followed this up with his Second Sacred Concert in 1968 and Third in 1973. He called these concerts 'the most important thing I have ever done'. Ellington died on May 27, 1974, from complications of lung cancer and pneumonia, six months after his last Sacred Concert performance. He clarified many times that he was not trying to compose a Mass. The 1965 concert took place as part of a series of events called 'Festival of Grace' to celebrate the opening of San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. The Very Reverend C Julian Bartlett, the cathedral Dean, who invited him, wrote that 'Duke Ellington has been endowed by God with the gift of genius', calling him 'one of the giants of contemporary music.' But not everyone was a fan. As critic Richard S. Ginell puts it, at the time 'conservatives called it a blasphemous attempt to sully religion with jazz' while 'radicals thought it was a sellout on bended knee to organized religion'. Both Schifrin and Ellington (and later Dave Brubeck) responded to progressive members of the clergy in taking up the challenge of fusing Christian texts with jazz. Another critic Gary Giddins described these concerts as Ellington bringing the Cotton Club revue to the church. I've not found the original review to assess whether this comparison was meant as compliment or sniffing dismissal. Listening and watching the footage of that same concert, I hear the influence of Gospel and spirituals, tapping into Ellington's evidently deep faith. It would be difficult to find a more sincere and heartfelt offering than Esther Marrow singing Ellington's treatment of The Lord's Prayer or Come Sunday. Play In the Beginning God connects Genesis with the 20th century with this lyric to underline the emptiness: 'No poverty, no Cadillacs, no sand traps, no bottom, no birds, no bees, no Beatles....' The programme is a montage from several stages in Ellington's career, reflecting how seamlessly his belief seeped into his art. The concert ends with a tap dance routine by Bunny Briggs, who Ellington introduces tongue-in-cheek, tongue-twistingly as 'the most super-leviathonic, rhythmaturgically syncopated taps-the-maticianisamist' to David Danced before the Lord with all his Might and a reprise of Come Sunday. The Second Sacred Concert, this time using fresh compositions premiered at New York's Cathedral of St John the Divine, but no recording of it exists. It was subsequently recorded in a studio. It was the first time Alice Babs (dubbed 'the Swedish Julie Andrews') appeared with Ellington's band, singing Heaven, Almighty God Has Those Angels (with stunning improvisations by Johnny Hodges on alto saxophone and by Russell Procope on clarinet), the wordless vocal aptly named T.G.T.T. ('Too Good to Title') and Praise God and Dance. The song Freedom is introduced by Ellington as 'that much used, often misused word' and he ends it with an eloquent tribute to his friend Billy Strayhorn, who had died recently. Play Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock is a tribute to pastor John Genzel, New York City, who Ellington says 'has made many sacrifices to help the people who live at night, by night or through the night, if they're lucky' with brooding 'growl' trumpet by Cootie Williams. By the Third Sacred concert (which premiered in London's Westminster Abbey in 1973), Ellington, stricken with lung cancer, was aware that his end was near. 'Is God a three-letter word for love? Is Love a four-letter word for God?' he asks, adding 'Whether former or later, really doesn't matter.' The concert was held on October 24, which is United Nations Day, commemorating the anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter in 1945. Introducing the performance, British diplomat Sir Colin Crowe said, 'The UN is once again in the eye of a storm', a reference to the 1973 Arab-Israeli so-called Yom Kippur or Ramadan war. He added, '…and without disrespect to the Secretary-General, if only Duke Ellington had to conduct their debates, maybe we really should get some harmony.' Half a century later, the United Nations is even more impotent, and due to the same region of the world. It seems doomed to go the way of the League of Nations before it, into the dustbin of history.
Scotsman
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
SCO, SCO Chorus & Yeol Eum Son, Edinburgh review: 'sizzling with energy'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... SCO, SCO Chorus & Yeol Eum Son, Usher Hall, Edinburgh ★★★★ Haydn's Missa in angustiis (Mass for trouble times) sounded fresh off the page in this dynamic reading, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's lively conductor Maxim Emelyanychev deploying his forces with aplomb. Typically of Haydn this piece is quirky, not least for the name it acquired at its premiere in 1798 on the day Lord Nelson defeated Napoleon - the Nelson Mass. Yeol Eum Son Despite its official title, however, the music was joyful and sizzling with energy, thanks to outstanding performances across the orchestra. The oboe provided soulful asides while the double basses, their rhythmic lines constantly on the move, anchored the solid narration from the SCO Chorus - well-drilled by Gregory Batsleer – and the impressive soloists led by Anna Dennis. The soprano's beguiling high notes soared across the orchestra, and she was supported by mezzo-soprano Katie Bray, tenor Anthony Gregory and bass baritone Neal Davies. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The ever-cheeky Haydn reordered the mass so it ended with the Agnus Dei rather than the Gloria, and the result here was magnificent. Emelyanychev never took his foot off the pedal when it came to pace - a quality that would have benefited some aspects of the first half of the concert. The Brahms opener, Variations on a theme by Haydn (St Anthony Chorale), was light and elegant but a few of the variations felt the lack of heft a symphony orchestra can give, especially in the finale.
