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Work of the Week – Edmund Finnis: The Landscape Wakes
- By Christopher Peter
- 1 Feb 2026
Edmund Finnis: The Landscape Wakes. An orchestral poem about the ceaseless awakening of the world. World premiere Feb 6, 2026, in Milwaukee.
Tagged with 'BBC Symphony Orchestra'
Work of the Week – Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E Major
- By Christopher Peter
- 28 Jul 2024
Summer, sun, symphony concert: The Bayreuth Festival invites everyone to the open-air concert ‘Wagner for all’ with a picnic on 30 July. With free admission, the festival orchestra under the direction of Nathalie Stutzmann will present musical and spatial references to Wagner, including Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony.
Work of the Week – Noriko Koide: Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain
- 24 Jul 2023
Harmonising Zen and Sound: Under the baton of Elim Chan, the BBC Symphony Orchestra will deliver the UK premiere of Noriko Koide's Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain at the Royal Albert Hall, featured at the BBC Proms on July 25th, 2023.
Work of the Week - Mark-Anthony Turnage: The Silver Tassie
- 5 Nov 2018
On 10 November 2018, the BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera The Silver Tassie (1997-1999) in concert as part of their In Remembrance World War I series at the Barbican in London. Ryan Wigglesworth will conduct, with an excellent cast including Sally Matthews, Sir John Tomlinson, Claire Booth, Marcus Farnsworth, Louise Alder, Susan Bickley, and Ashley Riches as Harry, the lead character.
Based on Sean O’Casey’s 1928 play on the futility of war, The Silver Tassie is set in Dublin during World War I. Its title, referring to a footballing trophy, comes from a Scottish song text by Robert Burns “Go fetch to me a pint o’ wine, an’ fill it in a silver tassie; that I may drink before I go, a service to my bonnie lassie”. The opera was co-commissioned by English National Opera whilst Turnage was their Composer in Association, and Dallas Opera.
The story of The Silver Tassie centres around Harry Heagen - a handsome soldier on leave from the Great War, and a renowned footballer. Triumphant after winning the football cup ‘The Silver Tassie’ for his team, Harry leaves his family and girlfriend Jessie for the front. There he is rescued from death by his best friend Barney, but loses the use of his legs and is confined to a wheelchair. Harry then discovers Jessie has deserted him for Barney, and the final act brings a poignant and moving conclusion, as he sets off to face an uncertain future.
Further upcoming performances for Turnage include the staging of his explosive first opera Greek (1986-1988) at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music from 5-9 December 2018.
© Foto: Keith Saunders
Based on Sean O’Casey’s 1928 play on the futility of war, The Silver Tassie is set in Dublin during World War I. Its title, referring to a footballing trophy, comes from a Scottish song text by Robert Burns “Go fetch to me a pint o’ wine, an’ fill it in a silver tassie; that I may drink before I go, a service to my bonnie lassie”. The opera was co-commissioned by English National Opera whilst Turnage was their Composer in Association, and Dallas Opera.
Mark-Anthony Turnage - The Silver Tassie: the tragedy of war
The story of The Silver Tassie centres around Harry Heagen - a handsome soldier on leave from the Great War, and a renowned footballer. Triumphant after winning the football cup ‘The Silver Tassie’ for his team, Harry leaves his family and girlfriend Jessie for the front. There he is rescued from death by his best friend Barney, but loses the use of his legs and is confined to a wheelchair. Harry then discovers Jessie has deserted him for Barney, and the final act brings a poignant and moving conclusion, as he sets off to face an uncertain future.
It is not only words that come across vividly, but feelings too. The sheer theatricality of the music is dazzling. Turnage knows precisely how to hold the audience's interest and sympathy, timing each scene consummately and providing haunting "tag" tunes and a series of grand operatic gestures. – Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph
Further upcoming performances for Turnage include the staging of his explosive first opera Greek (1986-1988) at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music from 5-9 December 2018.
© Foto: Keith Saunders
Work of the Week - Thomas Larcher: The Hunting Gun
- 13 Aug 2018
On 15 August, Thomas Larcher’s The Hunting Gun will receive its world premiere at Bregenz Festival in a production directed by the acclaimed Austrian actor and film director Karl Markovics. Michael Boder will conduct Ensemble Modern, Schola Heidelberg vocal ensemble and an exceptional cast including Sarah Aristidou, Giulia Peri, Olivia Vermeulen, Robin Tritschler and André Schuen.
Commissioned by the Bregenz Festival, The Hunting Gun is a captivating adaptation of Yasushi Inoue’s 1949 novella of the same name, with a libretto by Friederike Gösweiner. Over three acts the opera tells the story of a secret love affair through a series of three different letters.
The opera opens with a poem sung by a chorus of voices describing a solitary, lonely hunter. Believing himself to be the figure depicted in the poem, the hunter Josuke Misugi writes to the Poet to explain the cause of his melancholy. Through three letters from three women connected with Misugi - his wife, his niece and his lover – a story of multi-layered deception and secrets gradually unfolds, ending in tragedy.
Two further performances of The Hunting Gun will take place at Bregenz Festival on 17 & 18 August, and the opera will receive its UK premiere in 2019.
On 6 August, Bregenz Festival also featured the Austrian premiere of Larcher’s first symphony Alle Tage for orchestra and baritone, performed by the Wiener Symphoniker and baritone Benjamin Appl under the baton of Karina Canellakis. In February 2019, Canellakis will conduct the UK premiere of Alle Tage with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Oliemans as soloist.
© illustration: Bregenzer Festspiele GmbH / moodley brand identity
Commissioned by the Bregenz Festival, The Hunting Gun is a captivating adaptation of Yasushi Inoue’s 1949 novella of the same name, with a libretto by Friederike Gösweiner. Over three acts the opera tells the story of a secret love affair through a series of three different letters.
Thomas Larcher - The Hunting Gun: A timeless story
The opera opens with a poem sung by a chorus of voices describing a solitary, lonely hunter. Believing himself to be the figure depicted in the poem, the hunter Josuke Misugi writes to the Poet to explain the cause of his melancholy. Through three letters from three women connected with Misugi - his wife, his niece and his lover – a story of multi-layered deception and secrets gradually unfolds, ending in tragedy.
“When I read the story of The Hunting Gun for the first time, I was immediately captured by its timelessness. The central focuses of the work are the illusions we maintain in almost every relationship, as well as the ultimate, profound loneliness inherent in every human being. The music takes on the role of illustrating the storms raging within the various protagonists, shedding a microscopically fine light on their emotions.” – Thomas Larcher
Two further performances of The Hunting Gun will take place at Bregenz Festival on 17 & 18 August, and the opera will receive its UK premiere in 2019.
On 6 August, Bregenz Festival also featured the Austrian premiere of Larcher’s first symphony Alle Tage for orchestra and baritone, performed by the Wiener Symphoniker and baritone Benjamin Appl under the baton of Karina Canellakis. In February 2019, Canellakis will conduct the UK premiere of Alle Tage with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Oliemans as soloist.
© illustration: Bregenzer Festspiele GmbH / moodley brand identity
Work of the week – Andrew Norman: Spiral
- 11 Jun 2018
On 14 June, the Berlin Philharmonic will give the world premiere of Andrew Norman’s Spiral as part of the orchestra’s farewell season of their principal conductor Simon Rattle, and within their “tapas” series of new works approximately six minutes in length, designed to whet the appetite for contemporary music.
Andrew Norman is widely regarded as one of the most successful composers of his generation and regularly receives commissions from major international orchestras. Last year he achieved great success with his children’s opera A Trip to the Moon, written for the Berlin Philharmonic’s “Vokalhelden” (Vocal heroes) project. In the same year, Norman’s orchestral work Play won a Grawemeyer Award, and he was named “Composer of the Year” at Musical America.
Norman’s Spiral traces the transformations of a few instrumental gestures as they orbit each other in ever contracting circles. The strings are instructed to play divisi and, one after the other, they entwine to create the effect of a musical spiral.
Further performances of Spiral will follow in Berlin on 15 & 16 June. On 23 July the BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform the UK premiere at the BBC Proms, who co-commissioned the work, with Karina Canellakis conducting.
Andrew Norman is widely regarded as one of the most successful composers of his generation and regularly receives commissions from major international orchestras. Last year he achieved great success with his children’s opera A Trip to the Moon, written for the Berlin Philharmonic’s “Vokalhelden” (Vocal heroes) project. In the same year, Norman’s orchestral work Play won a Grawemeyer Award, and he was named “Composer of the Year” at Musical America.
Andrew Norman - Spiral: a musical force
Norman’s Spiral traces the transformations of a few instrumental gestures as they orbit each other in ever contracting circles. The strings are instructed to play divisi and, one after the other, they entwine to create the effect of a musical spiral.
"...the idea of a "spiral-shaped" orchestra piece is something I've been thinking about for a while. Some of the musical ideas and gestures in this piece were definitely inspired by my experiences of and with Simon and the Berlin Philharmonic (namely their unique physical energy and precision)." – Andrew Norman
Further performances of Spiral will follow in Berlin on 15 & 16 June. On 23 July the BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform the UK premiere at the BBC Proms, who co-commissioned the work, with Karina Canellakis conducting.
Work of the Week – Thomas Larcher: Symphony No. 2
- 22 Aug 2016
On 28 August, Thomas Larcher’s Symphony No. 2 ‘Kenotaph’ will receive its UK premiere at the BBC Proms in London, played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Semyon Bychkov. Bychkov, to whom the symphony is dedicated, conducted the world premiere with the Vienna Philharmonic earlier this year on 3 June in Vienna.
While his earlier compositions primarily extended from his wealth of experience as a chamber musician, Larcher has progressively ventured into larger orchestral writing, beginning with Red and Green (2010). This later became the creative groundwork to his first symphony Alle Tage for baritone and orchestra (2015) following the success of A Padmore Cycle (2014) for tenor and orchestra.
Symphony No. 2 is a 35-minute long, four-movement symphony that still maintains in passages the more intimate sounds of how it was originally envisioned - as a concerto for orchestra. Written for a large orchestra with prominent percussion, Larcher’s composition traverses diverse levels of musical energy, seeking ways to find tonality and structure that is at once exploratory yet aware of classical tradition and form. The symphony’s subtitle ‘Kenotaph’ (cenotaph) refers to monuments erected to commemorate those killed in war, or in the composer’s own words, “graves for lost and forgotten souls”. Feeling anguish over the continuing European immigrant crisis in particular, Larcher poured his feeling into this work.
Performances of Larcher’s works in the next few months include Ouroboros for cello and chamber orchestra by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra on 13 September with cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and conductor Per Kristian Skalstad, and by the BBC Philharmonic on 13 October with cellist Matthew Barley and Ben Gernon conducting. On 6 October, Edward Gardner will conduct A Padmore Cycle with tenor Mark Padmore and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. The Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich conducted by Yutaka Sado will perform Red and Green in Austria from 7-10 October.
While his earlier compositions primarily extended from his wealth of experience as a chamber musician, Larcher has progressively ventured into larger orchestral writing, beginning with Red and Green (2010). This later became the creative groundwork to his first symphony Alle Tage for baritone and orchestra (2015) following the success of A Padmore Cycle (2014) for tenor and orchestra.
Thomas Larcher’s Symphony No. 2 - “a grave for lost and forgotten souls”
Symphony No. 2 is a 35-minute long, four-movement symphony that still maintains in passages the more intimate sounds of how it was originally envisioned - as a concerto for orchestra. Written for a large orchestra with prominent percussion, Larcher’s composition traverses diverse levels of musical energy, seeking ways to find tonality and structure that is at once exploratory yet aware of classical tradition and form. The symphony’s subtitle ‘Kenotaph’ (cenotaph) refers to monuments erected to commemorate those killed in war, or in the composer’s own words, “graves for lost and forgotten souls”. Feeling anguish over the continuing European immigrant crisis in particular, Larcher poured his feeling into this work.
Thousands upon thousands of people drowned in the Mediterranean while all of Europe stood on the sidelines idly observing this tragedy or even looking away. [The symphony] is a symbol for what has been going on and is still going on in the middle of Europe. – Thomas Larcher
Performances of Larcher’s works in the next few months include Ouroboros for cello and chamber orchestra by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra on 13 September with cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and conductor Per Kristian Skalstad, and by the BBC Philharmonic on 13 October with cellist Matthew Barley and Ben Gernon conducting. On 6 October, Edward Gardner will conduct A Padmore Cycle with tenor Mark Padmore and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. The Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich conducted by Yutaka Sado will perform Red and Green in Austria from 7-10 October.
