Christopher Fox's Heaven as a scroll
Tom Service introduces some of the latest sounds in New Music including two works inspired by ancient Italian churches - Santa Sabina near Rome and Santa Maria in Torcello.
Tom Service introduces some of the latest sounds in New Music including two works inspired by churches in Italy and a late work by Alexander Goehr, his Vision of the Soldier Er.
Geneva Lewis plays Andrew Norman's Sabina, written after he witnessed a sunrise at the church of Santa Sabina on Rome's Aventine Hill and Apartment House premiere Christopher Fox's Heaven as a Scroll: "As I was working on Heaven as a scroll," he says, "I was haunted by images of the interior of the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello and its two great mosaics, in particular the Last Judgement that fills the west end of the church. Within the mosaic one can see an angel performing the task prescribed in Chapter 6, Verse 14 of the Book of Revelation: "And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together".
And, following the death last week of the revered composer, scholar and teacher Alexander Goehr, the Villiers Quartet plays his Vision of the Soldier Er (String Quartet No 5) from 2018. This twenty minute work takes as its starting point the Myth of Er, as found in the closing pages of Plato's Republic. As Alexander Goehr wrote: "Initially I was taken by the image of the planets, circling the earth each with a siren sounding a single note. I tried to imagine what this might sound like all together. In the 4th movement, 鈥淚 beheld light beams fastened like a ship鈥檚 under girders,鈥� I tried to portray (in microcosm!) the eternal image, taking a 6 part mechanical canon by Messiaen as a point of departure.
Alexander Goehr: Vision of the Soldier Er (String Quartet No 5)
1. Battle-piece
2. 鈥淲hat drew me on in my own faltering鈥�
3. Punishments and Rewards
4. 鈥淚 beheld light beams fastened like a ship鈥檚 under-girders鈥�
5. Shapes and Shadows
6. Return to Earth
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Andrew Norman
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Christian Wolff
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Alexander Goehr
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Ensemble: Villiers Quartet. -
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Lotta Wenn盲koski
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Christopher Fox
Heaven as a scroll
Performer: Kerry Yong. Performer: Raymond Brien. Performer: Heather Roche. Performer: Mira Benjamin. Performer: Gordon MacKay. Performer: Bridget Carey. Performer: Anton Lukoszevieze. Performer: Simon Limbrick. Ensemble: Apartment House. -
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Performer: Sarah Saviet. Performer: Joseph Houston.- Marginal Frequency.
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Timothy Archambault
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Performer: Lukas De Clerck.- Singing Phragmites of Pont鈥橢tzu.
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Performer: Lukas De Clerck.- The Telescopic Aulos of Altlas 'The Ideologic Organ'.
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Broadcast
- Sat 7 Sep 2024 22:30大象传媒 Radio 3
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