News from Schott London Archive

2017/04/21

BBC Proms 2017

The 2017 BBC Proms season includes performances of a number of works from the Schott catalogue, including three premieres.

A BBC co-commission with the Bergen Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Julian Anderson’s piano concerto The Imaginary Museum receives its world premiere by pianist Steven Osborne with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov on 26 July. The world premiere of Gerald Barry’s Canada for voice and orchestra will be given by tenor Allan Clayton, in a programme on 21 August by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Mirga Gražinytë-Tyla, which also includes Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto. Receiving its UK premiere is Thomas Larcher’s Nocturne-Insomnia for chamber orchestra with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Robin Ticcati on 15 August.

On 28 July, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and James Gaffigan will perform The Seahawk, Korngold’s stirring overture from the 1940 film, and the BBC Philharmonic with John Storgårds will present Hindemith’s Symphony: Mathis der Maler on 10 August. Stravinsky’s ever-popular Firebird suite will also make an appearance on 29 August, with the Oslo Philharmonic and conductor Vasily Petrenko.

2017/04/20

Julian Anderson wins BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award 2017

We are delighted that Julian Anderson has been announced winner of this year’s BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award for his second portrait disc with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski.

The recording is a celebration of the long relationship between Anderson and the LPO, including the world premiere recording of Schott work In lieblicher Bläue poem for violin and orchestra with violinist Carolin Widmann, written for the ensemble during his tenure as composer in residence. Further works on the disc are Alleluia for chorus and orchestra, also a world premiere recording, and The Stations of the Sun for orchestra.

In lieblicher Bläue has been described as having a “a pearly new-dawn iridescence, as if the world has returned to a state of primal innocence” (Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph) and has had numerous performances by the likes of Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and The Hallé Orchestra since its 2015 premiere. It will be performed again on 21 October by Carolin Widmann and the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Total Immersion Day for Julian Anderson at the Barbican Centre.

•Julian Anderson – profile
•BBC Music Magazine Awards 2017

2017/03/06

New Biography Announced for Sir Michael Tippett

A new biography of Sir Michael Tippett by writer and broadcaster Oliver Soden has been announced. Due to be published in 2019 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, the book will provide context for Tippett’s evolving and varied music, situating him within the wider musical, social and political narrative of the 21st century.

Soden’s authorised biography will also tell the full “dramatic” story of Tippett’s life, from his often turbulent childhood through to his old age, in which he developed a keen interest in popular culture while managing ill health. It covers his political activism, his experiences during two world wars, his relationships with men and women and his work’s open portrayal of homosexuality at a time when it remained illegal.

The Tippett Estate, the Tippett Foundation, and Tippett’s partner (Meirion Bowen) have given their full support to the book, and will open a number of private archives for the first time, allowing use of letters, manuscript scores, and private audiotapes as well as a number of never-before-seen photographs, an unpublished memoir by Tippett and his brother, and newly discovered correspondence and music manuscripts.

Believing a full-length biography to be well overdue, Soden comments: “Michael Tippett has been a passion since my schooldays and I am thrilled, honoured and not a little daunted to have become his biographer.”

2017/01/25

Huw Watkins wins Stoeger Prize

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s 2016 Elise L. Stoeger Prize has been awarded to Schott composer Huw Watkins. The Stoeger Prize is given every two years in recognition of significant contributions to the field of chamber music composition. Chamber Music Society Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han commented on the announcement:

“Our jury members were universal in their admiration of his work, praising it as fresh and emotionally gripping, beautifully crafted and endlessly lyrical. He won their full endorsement and we agree that Watkins, as a composer of immense talent, is well suited to join the illustrious ranks of his predecessors.”

Amongst Watkins’ upcoming projects are a Symphony to be premiered by the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder on 20 April, a new song cycle for soprano Ruby Hughes to premiere at Carnegie Hall this autumn, a new piano quintet commissioned by the Chamber Music Society to premiere in the 2018/19 season.

Future commissions include a new orchestral work for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, with whom Watkins is Composer-in-Association.

2016/08/08

Anderson, Korngold, Maxwell Davies and Tippett shortlisted for 2016 Gramophone Awards

We’re proud to announce that recordings of works by Schott composers Julian Anderson, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and Sir Michael Tippett have been shortlisted for 2016 Gramophone Classical Music Awards.

From the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own label, Julian Anderson’s violin concerto In lieblicher Bläue is the opening track on an all-Anderson CD shortlisted in the contemporary category. Featuring three works conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, the release celebrates the Anderson’s tenure as LPO Composer in Residence (2010-2014) and has received rave reviews. In lieblicher Bläue was written for violinist Carolin Widmann and commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin.

Also in the contemporary category is the London Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Symphony No. 10 released on the on the LSO Live label. The work was premiered in 2014 by the orchestra along with the LSO chours, baritone Markus Butter Stone and conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano. A co-commission between the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the symphony is a deeply moving meditation on the nature of creativity, the artist’s relationship with the past and, ultimately, mortality.

Sir Michael Tippett’s String Quartet Nos. 1-5 are shortlisted in the chamber music category for Wigmore Hall Live’s recording by the Heath Quartet. Spanning a compositional period of over 60 years, the quartets document a fascinating progression of Tippett’s compositional maturation.

Shortlisted in the concerto category, Korngold’s Violin Concerto recorded on the Warner Classics label features Vilde Frang as violin soloist with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony conducted by James Gaffigan.

The Gramophone Awards are among the most prestigious in the world of classical music. 72 recordings have been shortlisted for honours in 2016 and the top three recordings in each category will be announced on 12 August.

2016/05/11

Julian Anderson wins RPS Award 2016

Schott is delighted to announce that Julian Anderson’s Van Gogh Blue has been awarded a 2016 RPS Award for Chamber-Scale Composition.

Taking inspiration the letters of Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh Blue is about finding joy in ‘the sheer stuff of which art is made’ – in Van Gogh’s case colour, in Anderson’s case sound. Instrumental colour plays a large role – the use of two mobile clarinettists within the ensemble allows for new colours as their sound moves through the acoustic space of the hall.

Van Gogh Blue was a co-commission between The Serge Koussevitzsky Music Foundation, Wigmore Hall and Casa da Música and was premiered by the Nash Ensemble and Alexandre Bloch in November 2015. The Talea Ensemble gave the US premiere in March and Remix Ensemble will perform the work next season in Portugal.

RPS Music Award winners were announced last night at the annual award ceremony in London. The RPS Music Awards are the UK’s most prestigious awards for live classical music, celebrating the outstanding brilliance of distinguished musicians, composers and young artists.

(05/11/2016)

2016/04/15

BBC Proms 2016

The 2016 BBC Proms season has been announced and this year we look forward to performances of a generous selection of works from the Schott catalogue, including exciting UK and world premiere performances.

Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for this years Proms festival, Huw Watkins’ Cello Concerto will receive its world premiere performance by BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Paul Watkins conducted by Thomas Søndergård. BBC NOW will also join BBC National Chorus of Wales in a performance of Tippett’s A Child of Our Time conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. Dutilleux’s The Shadows of Time and Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw are programmed together in a concert with the Philharmonia under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen and a lunchtime concert of choral works by Stile Antico will include Huw Watkins’ The Phoenix and the Turtle. Ligeti’s iconic Ramifications also appears in a programme performed by London Sinfonietta and Widmann’s Con Brio will be performed by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Barenboim.

UK premieres taking place include Widmann’s Armonica performed by BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and John Storgårds, Larcher’s Symphony No. 2 – Kenotaph performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra and Semyon Bychkov, and Julian Anderson’s latest orchestral work Incantesimi, commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, performed by Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle.

(04/15/2016)

2016/04/11

Kenneth Hesketh at Musicfest Aberystwyth 2016

2016/04/01

Works by Anderson and Tippett shortlisted for 2016 RPS Music Awards

We are pleased to announce that two Schott works have been nominated for 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.

Julian Anderson’s Van Gogh Blue for ensemble has been shortlisted in the Chamber-scale Composition category, and Sir Michael Tippett’s fourth opera The Ice Break is shortlisted in both the Opera & Music Theatre and Audiences & Engagement categories for the recent production by Birmingham Opera Company.

The Royal Philharmonic Society has been at the heart of music for over 200 years and is dedicated to creating a future for music. Set up in 1989, the RPS independent awards celebrate the outstanding musical achievements of both young and established musicians. RPS Music Award winners will be announced at an award ceremony in London on 10 May 2016.

(04/01/16)

2016/03/14

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies CH CBE (1934–2016)

It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, at the age of 81.

One of the foremost composers of our time, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies made a profound contribution to musical history in the UK and beyond through his wide-ranging and prolific output. His longstanding relationship with Schott spans more than 60 years, from the Sonata for Trumpet in D and Piano (1955) to his last major work, The Hogboon, a children’s opera completed in the last months of his life, which will receive its world premiere in June 2016 with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Recognised as a successor to the avant-garde generation of Ligeti, Lutosławski, Berio and Xenakis, as well as a composer of a distinctly British hue, Maxwell Davies’ output embraces every conceivable classical genre from symphonies and concertos to opera, music theatre, ballet, film, choral and more. He was also an experienced conductor, and had a lifelong commitment to community outreach and education, writing much music for young people. His keen sense of social responsibility was threaded through many of his works, touching on major issues such as war, the environment and politics.

Born in Salford, Lancashire on 8 September 1934, Maxwell Davies attended Royal Manchester College of Music where he was part of the so-called Manchester School with contemporaries Harrison Birtwistle, John Ogdon, Elgar Howarth, Richard Hall and Alexander Goehr. He later studied with Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. In 1971 Maxwell Davies moved to the Orkney Islands, where he founded the St Magnus Festival in 1977.

Maxwell Davies held the post of Master of the Queen’s Music from 2004–2014. He was knighted in 1987 and made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the New Year 2014 Honours List. In February 2016, he was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal, the highest accolade the society can bestow, in recognition of outstanding musicianship.

Max (to all who knew him) passed away of leukaemia on 14 March 2016 at his home in Orkney. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was managed by Intermusica, and his works published by Boosey & Hawkes, Chester Music, and Schott Music.

(03/14/16)

Schott Music

Category: News from Schott London