European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

BBC Proms Features Premieres by Gabriel Prokofiev, Bernard Rands and Jörg Widmann

Jul. 09, 2014

BBC Proms Features Premieres by Gabriel Prokofiev, Bernard Rands and Jörg Widmann

The annual BBC Proms, which runs from July 18 through September 13, feaures performances of works by Luciano Berio, Friedrich Cerha, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and Sir Harrison Birtwistle, as well as the world premiere of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto ‘1914’ and the UK premieres of Bernard Rands’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra as well as two works by Jörg Widmann.

Commissioned by the BBC Proms and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Gabriel Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto ‘1914’ receives its world premiere on July 29, with soloist Daniel Hope joining the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sascha Goetzel. Subsequent performances take place on September 13 with Vladimir Jurowski leading the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia and on October 22 with Sascha Goetzel leading the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg.

Highly dramatic, with a wide, at times 'polystylistic' range of moods, colors and images, the work references both early 20th-century music as well as more contemporary sounds. The Concerto paints a vivid picture of the events of 1914, using an approach which Prokofiev suggests could be called 'post-cinematic'. Prokofiev elaborates:

The Concerto works on several levels, on one hand it chronologically follows the events of 1914, from the optimism and nationalism at the outbreak of the war through to the dead-lock and desolation of trench warfare. On a broader level, the concerto also charts the end of the 'old world' and the inevitable rise of the 'modern world.'

On August 15, pianist Jonathan Biss joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for the UK premiere of Bernard Rands’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, led by Markus Stenz. Following its April world premiere in Boston (noted by the Boston Globe as “striking” in its “boldness and marvelously organic quality”, with a score that feels “refreshingly free of formulas”), the work received its German premeire on May 7 with Sir Andrew Davis leading pianist Biss and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester.

The Proms also highlights the music of Sir Harrison Birtwistle with a portrait concert on September 6 in celebration of his 80th birthday.  The concert, featuring the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Exaudi and mezzo-soprano Christine Rice, led by Oliver Knussen, includes performances of Verses for Ensembles, Dinah and Nick’s Love Song and Meridian for mezzo-soprano, two female choirs and instruments.

Additional performances include Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia on August 5 with Semyon Bychkov leading the London Voices and the European Union Youth Orchestra, Friedrich Cerha’s Paraphrase on the Opening of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra led by Riccardo Chailly, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies Sinfonia on August 9 with John Storgårds conducting the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, and the UK premieres of Jörg Widmann’s Flûte en suite and Teufel Amor on September 7 and 8, with Franz Welser-Möst leading The Cleveland Orchestra.

To learn more about the 2014 BBC Proms, please visit www.bbc.co.uk/proms.

Click below for more information on our featured composers:
Luciano Berio | Sir Harrison Birtwistle | Friedrich Cerha
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies | Gabriel Prokofiev | Bernard Rands | Jörg Widmann

Gabriel Prokofiev
Violin Concerto ‘1914’ (2014)
for violin and orchestra
2(pic).2(2.ca).2(bcl).2.cbsn-4.2(1.ptpt).2.btbn.1-timp.5perc-str
33’

Bernard Rands
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2013)
4(4.afl).2.ca.4(4.bcl).2-4.3.2ttbn.1btbn.1-timp.4perc-2hp.cel-str
25’

Harrison Birtwistle
Verses for Ensembles (1968-1969)
for three instrumental ensembles
1.1.2.1-1.2.2.0-3perc
28’

Dinah and Nick’s Love Song (1970)
for three melody instruments and harp
5’

Meridian (1970-1971)
for mezzo-soprano, two female choirs and instruments
text (Eng) by Christopher Logue and Thomas Wyatt
0.3.3.0-1.0.0.0-2perc-2hp-pno-vc
27’

Luciano Berio
Sinfonia (1968)
for eight voices and orchestra
text (Fr, Eng) by Samuel Beckett, Luciano Berio and Claude Lévi-Strauss
4.3.4.asax.tsax.3-4.4.3.1-3perc-hp.elec hpd.pno.elec org-str
35’

Friedrich Cerha
Paraphrase on the Opening of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (2010)
for orchestra
3.2.2.3-4.2.3.0-timp.3perc-str
14’

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Sinfonia (1962)
for chamber orchestra
1.1.1.1-1.0.0.0-str
20’

Jörg Widmann
Flûte en suite (2011)
3(2.afl, 3.bfl, 3 pic).3(2.ob. d’am., 3.ca).3(3.cbsn)-4.4.3.1-2perc-hp.cel (cemb)-str
21’

Teufel Amor (2009, rev. 2011)
Sinfonischer Hymnos nach Schiller 
for orchestra
2(2pic).2(2 Lotus flute).3(2.bcl, 3.cbcl).2(2.cbsn)-4.2(pictpt).3.1–timp.2perc-hp-cel-str(16.14.12.10.8)
30’

News