Oliver Knussen (1952-2018)
https://brittenpearsarts.org/whats-on/category/aldeburgh-festival
“Three concerts celebrating composer and conductor Oliver Knussen.*
“We present three concerts over the course of a day celebrating the great composer and conductor Oliver Knussen, a figure at the heart of the Aldeburgh Festival for many decades, in the month that would have seen his 70th birthday. In addition to Knussen’s music, the programmes feature music by composers who were particularly close to him, including special musical tributes for solo cello by his close composer friends and colleagues.
“All the performers have connections to Knussen as a composer and conductor, and the three concerts together form an introduction to his world and an upbeat to the evening’s BBC Symphony Orchestra concert.”
The first public performance (and the second) of Oliver Knussen’s Cleveland Pictures, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth, is live on BBC Radio 3 tonight from 7 o’clock, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00188wm (not sure why R3 has a photo of Dalia Stasevska).
*Recital artists and repertoire as follows, for the record, performed in the Britten Studio, at 11 o’clock, 2, and 4.30.
Recital One
Oliver Knussen:Reflection (8)
Toru Takemitsu:Rain Tree Sketch (3)
Hans Werner Henze:Olly on the shore (2)
Esa-Pekka Salonen:New piece for solo cello (first performance) (4)
Tansy Davies:New piece for solo cello (first performance) (4)
Oliver Knussen:Ophelia’s Last Dance (10)
Detlev Glanert:Little Letter for Olly (first performance) (5)
Julian Anderson:Maisema (first UK performance) (4)
Elliott Carter:La Musique (2)
Elliott Carter:Mnemosyné for violin (2)
Charlotte Bray:New piece for solo cello (first performance) (4)
Colin Matthews:Three Fragments (first UK performance) (6)
Modest Mussorgsky:Cum mortuis (3)
Modest Mussorgsky:Songs (11)
Claire Booth soprano
Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin
Anssi Karttunen cello
Huw Watkins piano
Christopher Glynn piano
Recital Two
Oliver Knussen:Whitman Songs (10)
Oliver Knussen:Tarantella (1)
Sean Shepherd:New piece for solo cello (first performance) (4)
Rob Zuidam:New piece for solo cello (first performance) (4)
Philip Cashian:The Art of Memory (first UK performance) (6)
Alexander Goehr:Four Duos (first performance) (10)
Poul Ruders:Last Post – a tune for Olly (first UK performance) (3)
Oliver Knussen:Eccentric Melody (2)
Ryan Wigglesworth:New piece for solo cello (first performance)
Maurice Ravel:Sonata for violin and piano (16)
Kaija Saariaho:Lullaby (first UK performance) (5)
Colin Matthews:O for soprano and piano trio (first performance, Britten Pears Arts commission) (6)
Claire Booth soprano
Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin
Rosalind Ventris viola
Anssi Karttunen cello
Huw Watkins piano
Christopher Glynn piano
Recital Three
Magnus Lindberg:Promenade (first performance) (2)
Jo Kondo:A Song for the Owl (first UK performance) (4)
Oliver Knussen:Autumnal (7)
Zoe Martlew:New piece for solo cello (first performance) (4)
Brad Lubman:For Anssi for OK (first UK performance) (5)
Oliver Knussen:Four Late Poems and an Epigram of Rainer Maria Rilke (10)
George Benjamin:Olicantus (4)
Mark-Anthony Turnage:Song for Big Owl (first UK performance) (4)
Augusta Read Thomas:New piece for solo cello (first performance) (4)
Hans Abrahamsen:New piece for solo cello (first performance) (4)
Julian Anderson:Tombeau (4)
Igor Stravinsky:Elegy for viola (5)
Oliver Knussen:Secret Psalm (5)
Claire Booth soprano
Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin
Rosalind Ventris viola
Anssi Karttunen cello
Huw Watkins piano
Christopher Glynn piano
NB: The recitals are not being broadcast live on, or being recorded by, BBC Radio 3