Flights of Fancy
Music for voices and pianola performed by the 大象传媒 Singers and Rex Lawson, including the world premiere of Gabriel Jackson's Airplane Cantata for voices and pianola together.
大象传媒 Singers
James Morgan, conductor
Rex Lawson, pianola
Flights of Fancy
Live from St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, Catherine Bott presents a concert which brings together human and mechanised forms of musical expression as the voices of the 大象传媒 Singers join forces with that most ingenious and sophisticated of automated instruments, the pianola.
At the heart of the programme, Gabriel Jackson's new work celebrates the history of manned flight - from mythological Icarus to the 20th century's forays into space. It's a piece inspired, says the composer, by the fact "that the (brief) heyday of the pianola coincided with the pioneering years of aviation" and takes full advantage of its "almost limitless ability to play a lot of notes very quickly and its capacity for articulating complex multi-layered textures (notated on up to six staves)". In the rest of the concert, master-pianolist Rex Lawson performs solos from some of the vast repertoire of original works and transcriptions for the instrument, and the 大象传媒 Singers continue the avation theme in flight-related works by Eric Whitacre and Matthew Orlovich.
Eric Whitacre: Leonardo dreams of his flying machine
Igor Stravinsky Etude for pianola
Percy Grainger: Shepherd's Hey
Matthew Orlovich: Aviation
Conlon Nancarrow: Study no 6
Gabriel Jackson: Airplane Cantata (大象传媒 commission; world premiere)
- interval (20') -
During the interval, Rex Lawson chats to Catherine Bott about the history of the pianola, its (often misunderstood) nature as a musical instrument, and some of the composers inspired to write for it - right up to our own day.
Maurice Rosenthal: Papillons
Sergei Rachmaninov: Prelude in D major (op 23/4); Prelude in E flat major (op 23/6)
Johannes Brahms: Liebeslieder (op 52).
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Music Played
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大象传媒 Singers
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Eric Whitacre
Leonardo dreams of his flying machine for chorus
Performer: 大象传媒 Singers
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Igor Stravinsky
Study (Madrid) for pianola
Performer: Rex LAWSON - Player piano
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Percy Grainger
Shepherd's hey
Performer: Rex LAWSON - Player piano
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Matthew Orlovich
Aviation for chorus
Performer: 大象传媒 Singers
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Conlon Nancarrow
Study no. 6 for player piano
Performer: Rex LAWSON - Player piano
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Gabriel Jackson
Airplane Cantata for chorus and pianola
Performer: Rex LAWSON - Player piano Performer: 大象传媒 Singers
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Music Interval (with guest Rex Lawson)
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Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Humoresques de concert - book 1 Op.14`1-3 (a l'antique) for piano
Performer: Ignacy Jan PADEREWSKI - Player piano
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Edvard Grieg
Lyric pieces - book 3 Op.43 for piano
Performer: Edvard GRIEG - Player piano
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Ecossaise in E flat major WoO.86 for piano
Performer: Carl Reineke - Player piano
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Manuel de Falla
4 Pieces espagnoles for piano
Performer: Manuel de FALLA - Player piano
大象传媒 Singers
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Moriz Rosenthal
Papillons for piano
Performer: Rex LAWSON - Player piano
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Sergey Rachmaninov
10 Preludes Op.23 for piano (no.6 in E flat major)
Performer: Rex LAWSON - Player piano
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Sergey Rachmaninov
10 Preludes Op.23 for piano (no.4 in D major)
Performer: Rex LAWSON - Player piano
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Johannes Brahms
Liebeslieder - [18] waltzes Op.52
Performer: Rex LAWSON - Player piano Performer: 大象传媒 Singers
Broadcast
- Mon 24 Oct 2011 19:30大象传媒 Radio 3
New Music on Radio 3
A chance to listen to recent broadcasts of new music - including premieres - on Radio 3.
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