Chicago’s Spektral Quartet have commissioned 40 of them, releasing now.
Listen here. Watch here:
Donload for 50c each from the group’s website.
Boulez, 89, is selling his place near Aix-en-Provence. Here’s the estate agent’s description:
Architect House – Alpes de Haute Provence
Built on a former quarry in the countryside, this architect home with a contemporary feel was owned by Pierre Boulez, famous composer and conductor and conveys this aspect through the white concrete forming the gesture of a leader directing an orchestra without a wand. The concrete blends perfectly with the vertical stones found on site that are assembled into specific modules. Light seeps between volumes. Approximately 230m² spread over four levels as well as a guest house and a garage, the ensemble set on 3,7 ha. Numerous terraces including one with exceptional panoramic views on the last floor. 1h from the TGV train station in Aix en Provence.
He has composed Frank Kafka’s The Trial to a libretto by Christopher Hampton. Press release below.
March 31, 2014
MUSIC THEATRE WALES TO PRESENT BRAND NEW OPERA BY PHILIP GLASS
THE TRIAL –
Based on the novel by Franz Kafka
Libretto by Christopher Hampton
WORLD PREMIERE:
Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London
Friday October 10, 2014
Tour: October 10 – November 10, 2014
Six London performances & touring to venues in Wales & England
Music Theatre Wales will present the World Premiere production of a new opera by the American composer Philip Glass. The Trial, based on the novel by Franz Kafka, and with a libretto by the playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton, will receive its World Premiere at the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House on October 10, 2014, followed by a further five London performances and a national tour of Wales and England in October and November.
First published in 1925 Kafka’s The Trial tells the nightmare tale of Josef K, a respectable bank employee who is suddenly arrested and forced to defend his innocence against a charge for a crime about which he knows, and is told, nothing. It is probably Kafka’s best known work – a prophetic vision of the excesses of modern bureaucracy.
The Trial is a co-commission and co-production with the Royal Opera House, Theater Magdeburg, Germany and Scottish Opera. It has a cast of eight singers and is written for an ensemble of 12 players. The opera will be directed by Michael McCarthy, with design is by Simon Banham and lighting by Ace McCarron. Michael Rafferty directs the Music Theatre Wales Ensemble.
The cast is led by much-garlanded young baritone Johnny Herford as the opera’s protagonist, Josef K, and soprano Amanda Forbes as Fraülein Bürstner – greatly admired for her performance as The Duchess in MTW’s production of Sciarrino’s The Killing Flower in 2013. Other roles are played by Rowan Hellier (mezzo), Paul Curievici (tenor), Michael Bennett (tenor), Gwion Thomas (baritone), Nicholas Folwell (bass-baritone) and Michael Druiett (bass).
Jorma Panula has been the most successful spotter and trainer of conductors for the past 30 years. His pupils include Esa-Pekka Salonen and at least 20 others who hold international posts.
Panula, however, is 83 years old and a man of strong, old-world views. Over the weekend, he had an outburst against women conductors on Finnish TV. It translates as follows:
Q: Do you think it is good that women enter the profession and become conductors? JP: No! What the hell, we have men already. It is such a limited profession… They can try, but it is a completely different deal. I can’t comment on media or public opinion. But women… Of course they are trying! Some of them are making faces, sweating and fussing, but it is not getting any better – only worse! They can come [to my masterclasses] and try. It’s not a problem – if they choose the right pieces. If they take more feminine music. Bruckner or Stravinsky will not do, but Debussy is OK. This is a purely biological question.
Panula’s comments have provoked outrage in Finland. Salonen has tweeted (in Finnish): ‘Conducting is about skill, not biology. There is no reason why women cannot do it equally well or better.’
The row continues.