Birtwistle's Neruda Madrigales premiered at Aldeburgh

Search Shop

Birtwistle's Neruda Madrigales premiered at Aldeburgh

(August 2005)

Birtwistle's Neruda Madrigales premiered at Aldeburgh

Harrison Birtwistle’s latest work, Neruda Madrigales, was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival on 18 June with the London Sinfonietta and BBC Singers conducted by Nicholas Kok.

The score was fruit of a major international co-commission from BBC Radio 3, the London Sinfonietta, RIAS Chamber Choir (Berlin), Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Schoenberg Ensemble. The first German and Dutch performances are planned at the Philharmonie in Berlin on 20 January and the Holland Festival next June, both conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw.

Birtwistle’s conception for the new work developed from an initial idea to compose a set of linked madrigals combining voices and instruments in the manner of Monteverdi. Birtwistle imagined music of a certain character – dark, melancholic and turbulent – and this spirit was confirmed with his selection of Oda al Doble Otoño (Ode to the Double Autumn) by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-73). In terms of scoring, a vocal choir is mirrored by a woodwind choir of four flutes and four clarinets, and their linear strands are punctuated by the vertical sonorities of harp, percussion and cimbalom.

"His setting, with its air of melancholy and moments of eruptive violence, parses Neruda's ode into linked sections with each stanza given its own sound world and followed by a chorale-like resumé. In performance, though, the effect is of a molten mass of musical material, with intricately interlaced vocal lines shadowed or counterpointed by the ensemble."
The Guardian

"A massively impressive reworking of the devices that have served him well for 30 years. And there was one new feature; a mysterious electronic echo of the instrumental sound, so subtly done you couldn’t be sure you were hearing it at all... The piece was performed with absolute authority by the BBC Singers and London Sinfonietta."
Daily Telegraph

The Nash Ensemble’s 40th anniversary concert in March included the world premiere of Birtwistle’s Cantus Iambeus. This six-minute work for 13 players was summed up by the Sunday Times as "one of his most polished clockwork toccatas" and The Independent described how it "simply bursts with all its composer’s usual energy, quirkiness and obsessions." Birtwistle is currently engaged on the composition of his new opera with libretto by David Harsent, based around the Minotaur myth. Commissioned by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the work will be conducted by Antonio Pappano at its premiere in 2008.

> News Search

musicshop@boosey.com

0800 731 4778 Freephone (UK customers) +44 (0)870 421 5453 International reduced rate

Shop Help & FAQs

Boosey & Hawkes

Search Shop

Browse shop

Composer A-Z

Sheet Music

CDs & DVDs

Books, Gifts & more

Other shops

Birtwistle's Neruda Madrigales premiered at Aldeburgh

Currency converter

VIP Club

Help and FAQs

Affiliate Programme