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Hallé Choir
The Hallé Choir is a large symphonic chorus of around 170 singers based in Manchester, England. It was founded as ''Manchester Choral Society'' alongside the Hallé Orchestra in 1858 by Sir Charles Hallé. The choir gives around ten concerts a year with The Hallé at The Bridgewater Hall and other venues across the UK. Appearing with international conductors and soloists in concert and recordings, the choir performs a repertoire of major choral and operatic works ranging from mainstream pieces to more esoteric pieces and commissions. Recent Hallé Choir Directors have included James Burton, Frances Cooke and Madeleine Venner. The current Hallé Choir Director is Matthew Hamilton. Conductors * 2015 to present - Matthew Hamilton * 2012 to 2015 - Madeline Venner * 2002 to 2009 - James Burton Notable recordings Since the launch of the Hallé record label in 2003 the choir has appeared on a number of recordings including Holst's '' Hymn of Jesus'' (Hallé, 2013), Delius' '' Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two cities and the surrounding towns form one of the United Kingdom's most populous conurbations, the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87 million. The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort ('' castra'') of ''Mamucium'' or ''Mancunium'', established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically part of Lancashire, areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century, including Wythenshawe in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Matthews
Colin Matthews, OBE (born 13 February 1946) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. Noted for his large-scale orchestral compositions, Matthews is also a prolific arranger of other composer's music, including works by Berlioz, Britten, Dowland, Mahler, Purcell and Schubert. Other arrangements include orchestrations of all Debussy's 24 Préludes, both books of Debussy's ''Images'', and two movements—''Oiseaux tristes'' and ''La vallée des cloches''—from Ravel's ''Miroirs''. Having received a doctorate from University of Sussex on the works of Mahler, from 1964–1975 Matthews worked with his brother David Matthews and musicologist Deryck Cooke on completing a performance version of Mahler's Tenth Symphony. Early life and education Matthews was born in London in 1946; his older brother is the composer David Matthews. He read classics at the University of Nottingham, and then studied composition there with Arnold Whittall, and at the same time with Nicho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Apostles (Elgar)
''The Apostles'', Op. 49, is an oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar. It was first performed on 14 October 1903. Overview After his international success with the ''Enigma Variations'' (1899) and ''The Dream of Gerontius ''(1900), Elgar was commissioned by the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, which had also produced ''Gerontius'', to write a new choral work. This encouraged Elgar to start composing a large-scale work on a subject he had been contemplating, according to the composer, since boyhood when he had even started selecting the words. ''The Apostles'', like its successor '' The Kingdom'', depicts the disciples of Jesus and their reactions to the extraordinary events they witness. Despite arranging the commission in December 1901, Elgar paid little attention to ''The Apostles ''until July 1902, when he had finished composing and rehearsing his '' Coronation Ode'', Op. 44. Elgar's planning of the libretto included a long immersion in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Kingdom (Elgar)
''The Kingdom'', Op. 51, is an English-language oratorio composed in 1906 by Edward Elgar. It was first performed at the Birmingham Music Festival on 3 October 1906, with the orchestra conducted by the composer, and soloists Agnes Nicholls, Muriel Foster, John Coates and William Higley. The dedication is "''A. M. D. G.''" Elgar wrote ''The Kingdom'' for choral and instrumental forces. Overview Following ''The Dream of Gerontius'' and '' The Apostles'', the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival commissioned Elgar to produce another large oratorio for the 1906 festival. This was ''The Kingdom'', which continues the narrative of the lives of Jesus's disciples. It depicts the community of the early church, Pentecost, and the events of the next few days. Elgar had been planning a work depicting the Apostles as ordinary men, reacting to extraordinary events, for many years. His ideas outgrew the confines of a single work: parts of ''The Kingdom'' were written before ''The Apostles'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Götterdämmerung
' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), WWV 86D, is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled (''The Ring of the Nibelung'', or ''The Ring Cycle'' or ''The Ring'' for short). It received its premiere at the on 17 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of the whole work. The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse phrase ', which in Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ... refers to a prophesied war among various beings and gods that ultimately results in the burning, immersion in water, and renewal of the world. As with the rest of the ''Ring'', however, Wagner's account diverges significantly from these Old Norse sources. Composition Roles Synopsis Prologue Prelude to the Prologue Scene 1 T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (''The Ring of the Nibelung''). His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex textures, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gramophone Classical Music Awards
The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. They are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy award, and referred to as the ''Oscars'' for classical music. They are widely regarded as the most influential and prestigious classical music awards in the world. According to Matthew Owen, national sales manager for Harmonia Mundi USA, "ultimately it is ''the'' classical award, especially worldwide." The winners are selected annually by critics for the '' ''Gramophone'''' magazine and various members of the industry, including retailers, broadcasters, arts administrators, and musicians. Awards are usually presented in September each year in London. Gramophone Awards of the 2020s 2021 Source: * Chamber: Beach. Elgar Piano Quintets (Takács Quartet; Garrick Ohlsson) * Choral: Dussek Messe Solemnelle ( Stefanie True, Helen Charlston, Gwilym Bowen, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dream Of Gerontius
''The Dream of Gerontius'', Op. 38, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory. Elgar disapproved of the use of the term "oratorio" for the work (and the term occurs nowhere in the score), though his wishes are not always followed. The piece is widely regarded as Elgar's finest choral work, and some consider it his masterpiece. The work was composed for the Birmingham Music Festival of 1900; the first performance took place on 3 October 1900, in Birmingham Town Hall. It was badly performed at the premiere, but later performances in Germany revealed its stature. In the first decade after its premiere, the Roman Catholic theology in Newman's poem caused difficulties in getting the work performed in Anglican cathedrals, and a revised text was used for performances at the Three Choir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the ''Enigma Variations'', the ''Pomp and Circumstance Marches'', concertos for Violin Concerto (Elgar), violin and Cello Concerto (Elgar), cello, and two symphony, symphonies. He also composed choral works, including ''The Dream of Gerontius'', chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924. Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially. In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his Roman Catholicism was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-consci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Sea Symphony
''A Sea Symphony'' is an hour-long work for soprano, baritone, chorus and large orchestra written by Ralph Vaughan Williams between 1903 and 1909. The first and longest of his nine symphonies, it was first performed at the Leeds Festival in 1910 with the composer conducting, and its maturity belies the relatively young age — thirty — when he began sketching it. Moreover it is one of the first symphonies in which a chorus is used throughout as an integral part of the texture and it helped set the stage for a new era of symphonic and choral music in Britain during the first half of the 20th century. It was never numbered. History From 1903 to 1909, Ralph Vaughan Williams worked intermittently on a series of songs for chorus and orchestra that were to become his most lengthy project to date and his first true symphony. Originally titled ''The Ocean'', ''A Sea Symphony'' was first performed in 1910 at the Leeds Festival on the composer's 38th birthday. This is generally cite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. Vaughan Williams was born to a well-to-do family with strong moral views and a progressive social life. Throughout his life he sought to be of service to his fellow citizens, and believed in making music as available as possible to everybody. He wrote many works for amateur and student performance. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late thirties; his studies in 1907–1908 with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music and free it from Music of Germany, Teutonic influences. Vaughan Williams i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Drift (Delius)
''Sea Drift'' is among the larger-scale musical works by the composer Frederick Delius. Completed in 1903-1904 and first performed in 1906, it is a setting for baritone, chorus and orchestra of words by Walt Whitman. The poem adaptation ''Sea Drift'' takes its name from a section of Walt Whitman's poetical compilation ''Leaves of Grass'', Sea-Drift, which contains several poems about the sea or the shore. The text is drawn from the poem ''Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking'', though it does not use the full text. In the poem, the speaker describes how, as a boy, he watched a pair of mocking-birds nesting, until one day the she-bird flew away and never returned. In a long section usually printed in italics, the he-bird, unable to leave in case his mate should return and find him gone, waits forever and calls his sorrowful song to the moon, the stars and the sea, which are heavy and drooping with his lost love. The text employed by Delius closes with the bird's apostrophe, 'tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
