Ivan Moody
News
News..........News...........News...........News...........News...........News...........News...........News
New!………Newly completed choral works.
Just
completed are two works for the Scottish choir Cappella Nova, He Who Clothed
Himself in Light and Aurora radius, which will receive their
premières in the 2005-2006 season (see www.cappella-nova.com), and O Viridissima Virga, a setting
of words by Hildegard of Bingen for the St Louis Chamber Chorus, to be
premiered in December 2004. For
further information, see www.chamberchorus.org
09/2004
New!………Première of Piano Concerto Linnunlaulu.
A major world première will take place at
the Mafra Festival in Portugal on 17th October, when Elsa Silve and
the Orchestrutopica will perform the piano concerto Linnunlaulu. The title means “Birdsong” in Finnish: the
work was inspired by hearing birds singing during a “white night” in Finland in
2003. For further information, see www.novascenas.pt/orchestrutopica
09/2004
New!………Italian performances.
Crocifissione, for voices and brass, commissioned by
the Antidogma Festival for performance by the DolciAure Consort of Turin,
received its première on 19 June 2004 in the magnificent surroundings of the
Abbazia di Staffarda. On 13 October,
the extraordinary Ensemble Vocale Tempus Floridum, directed by
Joan Yakkey, will give the Italian première of Carol of the Magi in the
“Lunedì del Conservatorio” series, Luigi Cherubini Music Conservatory,
Florence, at 21.00h.
06/2004
New!………Dormition of the Virgin at the Temple Church.
The
Dormition of the Virgin, a large-scale cantata commissioned by the BBC for soloists,
choir and instrumental ensemble, was premiered to prolonged applause by the BBC
Singers and St James Baroque under the direction of Stephen Layton at the Temple
Church, London, on 21st May, 2004 (the work was also recorded by the
BBC for future broadcast), following a monographic concert given to celebrate
the composer’s 40th birthday at Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford, on
the preceding day
05/2004
………Cappella Romana performs music by Ivan Moody at the
Byzantine Festival.
This
year’s Byzantine Festival, which takes place in London under the artistic
direction of Guy Protheroe, includes two concerts featuring music by Ivan
Moody. The Passion of St Catherine
receives its world première at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Tuesday 9th
March at 7.45pm, and sections from the Akáthistos Hymn will be performed
for the first time in the United Kingdom at a concert in the Greek Orthodox
Cathedral of Aghia Sophia on Saturday 13th March at 7pm. For further details, please see www.byzantinefestival.org
02/2004
………………i.classics.com interview with Ivan Moody.
Trio Mediaeval’s new ECM recording was the occasion for an interview with both the singers and Ivan Moody, available online at:
http://www.iclassics.com/homepage.jsp/iclassics/feature.jsp?featureId=1091
A
previous iclassics.com feature on Ivan Moody, published at the time of the
release of the Gothic Records double CD of the Akáthistos Hymn, is now
available on the composer’s website at http://members.lycos.co.uk/ivanmoody/iclassicsinterview.htm
02/2004
………………New ECM disc launched in Oslo.
Trio
Mediaeval’s second recording for ECM was launched in Oslo on 16th January,
2004 at a packed concert recorded by Norwegian Television. The disc includes world première recordings
of Troparion of Kassiani and A Lion’s Sleep, as well as other
contemporary works, centred around Leonel Power’s Missa Alma Redemptoris Mater. Trio Mediaeval will shortly depart for a tour of the USA with this
programme.
The
catalogue number is ECM New Series 1869
4761241. Further information is
obtainable from the ECM website: http://www.ecmrecords.com and from the Trio
Mediaeval website: http://www.triomediaeval.no,
01/2004
……………North American premières.
Cappella Romana, directed by Alexander Lingas,
will give the North American premières of Make ready, Bethlehem/Dormi Iesu
and The Prophecy of Symeon on 2 January, at St Mary’s Cathedral,
Portland OR. These works will be
repeated at subsequent concerts at Holy Rosary Church, Seattle WA (3 January)
and La Conner (4Janurary). For more information, please visit http://www.cappellaromana.org.
12/2003
……………Isconsolada in Switzerland.
Following the
highly successful concerts by the Winterthur Vocal Ensemble in May, two further
performances of Isconsolada (part of a programme centred around
Victoria’s Requiem) will be given, under the composer’s direction, at
the Cathedral of St Gall on 1st November and at the Grossmünster,
Zurich, on 2nd November 2003.
For more information, see
http://winterthur-vokalensemble.ch.
10/2003
………………Theatre première in Lisbon.
October 9th
saw the first performance of the play Diálogos das Compensadas, by the innovative
Portuguese theatre group Fatias de Cá, in the Castelo de São Jorge, Lisbon,
with music specially composed by Ivan Moody and recorded under the composer’s
direction. The production will run
until December.
10/2003
New!………………Second Canadian performance of Passion &
Resurrection.
Following
the Canadian première in 2003 of Ivan Moody’s oratorio Passion &
Resurrection, the renowned ensemble Pro Coro Canada has announced a
performance in 2004 under the direction of the choir’s chief conductor, Richard
Sparks. The performance will take place
on Friday 9th April 2004 at 19.30 at the impressive Francis Winspear
Centre for Music, in Edmonton, Alberta.
For more information, please see Pro Coro Canada’s website: http://www.procoro.ab.ca
09/2003
………………Two new works.
Ivan Moody has
recently completed two substantial new works. One is a cantata commissioned by
the BBC Singers, entitled The Dormition of the Virgin. Scored for three soloists,
choir, two cornetts and baroque strings (though it is also performable by
trumpets and modern strings), it will receive its première in early 2004. The
other is a work for solo piano and large chamber ensemble, commissioned by the
Orchestrutópica, to be given its premiere in Lisbon in December 2003, with Elsa
Silva as soloist. The work has a Finnish title, Linnunlaulu, meaning
"Birdsong", and takes its inspiration from the extraordinary
antiphonal waves of birdsong during a "white night" that the composer
heard on his last trip to Finland. Orchestrutópica’s website is: www.novascenas.pt/orchestrutopica.
07/2003
………………A Lion’s Sleep: première and recording.
A Lion’s
Sleep
was given its world première by Trio Mediaeval on Friday 18th July in the
extraordinary acoustics of chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge, in the
composer;s presence. It was part of a concert centred around Leonel Power’s Missa
Alma Redemptoris Mater and including other contemporary compositions. Both A
Lion’s Sleep and Troparion of Kassiani have been recorded by Trio
Mediaeval for their forthcoming disc on ECM, once again produced by John
Potter. The disc will be launched in early 2004: more details will be published
here as they become available. Trio Mediaeval’s website is http://www.triomediaeval.no.
07/2003.
……………… World première of A Lion’s Sleep.
The world
première of A Lion’s Sleep, setting a text by John of Euchaia in a magnificent
translation by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, will be given by Trio Mediaeval on
Friday 18th July in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge. The programme
also includes the Missa Alma Redemptoris Mater by Leonel Power, and
works by Oleg Garkavi,Gavin Bryars, Andrew Smith and Piers Hellawell. Trio
Mediaeval’s website is http://www.triomediaeval.no.
07/2003.
……………… World première of Isconsolada in Switzerland.
Sustained applause
greeted the world première of Isconsolada, setting texts for Holy Week
in Greek and Sardinian, was given by the Winterthur Vocal Ensemble, under the
composer’s direction, at the St Arbogastkirche in Oberwinterthur, Switzerland,
on 13th May. The work was part of a programme centred around Victoria’s Requiem,
and the concert was repeated on 15th May at the magnificent baroque church at
Rheinau. Two further performances will take place in Zurich and St Gall on 1st
and 2nd November, and further collaborations with the Winterthur Vocal Ensemble
are planned for the future. For more information, see
http://winterthur-vokalensemble.ch.
06/2003.
………………World première of Canon for Theophany in Finland.
Extended applause greeted the world première of Canon for Theophany, a thirty-five minute unaccompanied choral work, which took place at the Karelia Hall, Joensuu on 22nd May, in the presence of His Eminence Leo, Archbishop of Karelia and All Finland. The work was performed by the Orthodox Choir of the University of Joensuu, under the direction of the composer, as part of a concert featuring new music written for the Orthodox Church, largely in the English language, forming part of the 15th anniversary celebrations of the Department of Orthodox Theology of the Faculty of Theology. Also premièred was the composer’s Exaposteilarion for Pascha, in the version with Finnish text, and the concert also included music by Tikey Zes, Nikola Resanovic, Alexander Lingas, James Chater and Timo Ruottinen. New photographs of the occasion have been added to the Photo Gallery: http://members.lycos.co.uk/ivanmoody/photo.htm
05/2003.
………………Australian premières.
The Melbourne
Autumn Music Festival this year featured the Australian première of Pnevma
on 2 May, performed by virtuoso recorder player Genevieve Lacey and e21,
directed by Stephen Grant. The concert also featured music by Monteverdi,
Fontana, Teleman, Anonymous and Eric Stokes. For further information, see: http://www.autumnmusic.org.au/evening.htm. The ensemble Past
Echoes (directed by Louisa Hunter-Bradley) will be performing more of Ivan
Moody’s work in a concert on 20th June at St Martin’s Anglican Church,
Melbourne. For further information, see http://pastechoes.com
05/2003.
……………… World première of Erimos
Erimos, for four female voices,
will be given its world première by the Scottish ensemble Canty on Friday 6
June, 2003 at Old St Paul's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, as part of a
programme centred on ecological concerns, featuring both new music and old (in
particular Hildegard of Bingen). Erimos is e Greek word meaning
"desert" or "wilderness", and uses texts from the Orthodox
tradition in order to place modern ecological concerns in a spiritual
perspective. It will receive further performances on Saturday 7 June at St
Salvador's Episcopal Church, Dundee, and on Sunday 8 June at St Andrew's in the
Square, Glasgow. For further information, please see Canty’s website: http://www.cappella-nova.com/canty.html.
04/2003
……………… Canadian première of Passion & Resurrection
Ivan Moody’s
1992 oratorio Passion & Resurrection, one of his most
widely-performed works, will receive its Canadian première on Sunday, 13th
April at 7.00pm at Westminster United Church, Westminster and Maryland,
Winnipeg, Manitoba. The performance will be given by the choral ensemble
Canzona (http://www.canzona.mb.ca/htm/main.htm) and the MusikBarock
Ensemble under the direction of Henry Engbrecht. The programme will also
include Bach’s Cantata No. 4, Christ lag im Todesbanden, and Komm,
Jesu, komm.
04/2003
……………… Akáthistos Hymn released on CD
Ivan Moody’s
monumental setting of the Akáthistos Hymn has been released as a double
CD set by Gothic Records (http://www.gothicrecords.com/akhym2cds.html) The composer’s largest
work to date, this first setting of the entire Akáthistos Hymn since the
middle ages, was recorded by Cappella Romana (for whom the work was written and
who gave the world première) in Portland, Oregon, USA in August 2002. The
conductor was Alexander Lingas, founder and director of Cappella Romana, and
composer acted as producer. For more information, please visit Cappella
Romana’s website: http://www.cappellaromana.org
"…a major
addition to the literature" (Willamette Week, USA)
03/2003
……………… Russian première of In Nomine
The renowned
British viol consort Fretwork will give the Russian première of In Nomine on
17th April in Moscow for the Moscow Forum for Contemporary Music, at the
Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
In Nomine was written in February
1996 as a birthday present for Fretwork on their 10th anniversary. It relates
somewhat obliquely to the English In nomine tradition in that it is not
built upon the chant of that name as set by John Taverner in his Missa
Gloria Tibi Trinitas. Instead, it is constructed around a Russian Znamenny
chant for the same words (In Slavonic: Blagosloven grady vo imya Gospodne.
Osana v vyshnikh) from the Orthodox Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. More
specifically, the piece relates to these words as sung on Palm Sunday, when the
entry of Christ into Jerusalem on a donkey symbolizes the passing from darkness
into light, and initiates the events leading to His Passion and Resurrection.
The first
performance of In Nomine was given by Fretwork in Prokopi, Evia, Greece, on
31st August 1996. Fretwork’s website is http://www.fretwork.co.uk/.
03/2003
……………… Lisbon première of Pnevma.
Pnevma, for solo recorder and
string orchestra, will receive its Lisbon première on 31st March 2003, at the
Sociedade de Geografia. The performers will be António José Cariilho and the
Lisbon Sinfonietta, directed by Vasco Pearce de Azevedo, by whom the work was
given in first performance in 1998 at the Mafra International Festival.
03/2003
……………… Première of Khárama.
Khárama, for solo piano, will
be premièred by American pianist Mac McClure in Córdoba, Ecuador, on 31st March
2003. Subsequent performances will take place in Guayaquil on 3rd April and
Quito on the 9th April. Khárama, meaning "daybreak" in Greek,
is a meditation on the Resurrection, specifically the moment when the tomb is
found to be empty, "as the first day of the week began to dawn".
03/2003
.…………… Forthcoming premières.
First
performances in the near future include Lament for Adam, written for the
male voices of the choir of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin
Protection, New York City, who last year gave the American première of Troparion
of Kassiani. Lament for Adam will be performed at Matins of
Forgiveness Sunday 9th March, 2003. Another new work is Bogoroditse Devo,
a setting in Slavonic (scored for SSAATTBB) written for the "Bogoroditse
Devo" Festival organized by the musicologist Bogdan Djakovic in Novy Sad,
Yugoslavia, which will begin in April 2003 and continue throughout the year.
02/2003
……………… New commissions.
Recently
commissioned works include two large-scale cantatas. One is for the Portuguese
ensemble L’Antica Musica, and will deal with the theme of the Annunciation, and
the other is for the BBC Singers. This will take as its subject the Dormition
of the Virgin, and will be scored for three soloists, choir and period
instruments. Both these works will receive their premières in the 2003-2004
season. Rather different is a collaboration with the theatre group Fatias de
Cá. Ivan Moody is currently completing music for their new production of the
play Diálogos das Compensadas by João Aguiar, which will be produced in
the extraordinary space of the Lisbon Pantheon in late March.
02/2003
......................Canon
for Theophany in Finland.
The recently
completed Canon for Theophany, a thirty-minute unaccompanied choral
work, will be given its world première by the Orthodox Choir of the University
of Joensuu, under the direction of the composer, on 22nd May 2003. The work
will form part of a concert featuring new music written for the Orthodox
Church, largely in the English language. Both this and Ivan Moody’s guest
lecture constitute a major part of the 15th anniversary celebrations of the
Department of Orthodox Theology of the Faculty of Theology.
02/2003
……………… Lisbon succes for Anghelu.
Anghelu, for double-bass quartet,
met with great success at its Lisbon première on 1st February, where it was
given by the remarkable double-bass orchestra Contr’Orquestra at the Centro
Cultural de Belém. Full use was made of the spatial possibilities of the
auditorium and special lighting was employed to great effect.
02/2003
......................Epitaphios,
Portugal and Armenia.
The outstanding
young Armenian ‘cellist Levon Mouradian gave the Portuguese première of Epitaphios
to tremendous applause with the Lisbon Sinfonietta on 20th November, 2002. The
concerto’s success has led to a commission for a new work for Mouradian and
plans for further collaboration.
11/2002
......................New
works for Switzerland, Finland and Canada.
2003 will see
the première of the recently-completed Isconsolada, setting texts for
Holy Week in Greek and Sardinian, by the Winterthur Vocal Ensemble, under the
direction of the composer. The work will be given first in Zurich on 14th June,
and repeated on the following day in Rheinau. Two further concerts will take
place in November. Another new work, a setting of the complete Canon for
Theophany, has just been completed for the Orthodox Choir of the University of
Joensuu, Finland. The premiere of this work will also to be directed by the
composer, as part of his residency at Joensuu University in May 2003.
Also to be
premièred in 2003 are Lullaby for a Byzantine Princess, by Suzie Leblanc
and the Quatuor Alcan on 5th June as part of the New Music Series in Vancouver,
Canada, following on the Canadian première of Passion and Resurrection
under the direction of Henry Engbrecht in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 13th April.
Other recent
works to be premièred in the 2002-2003 season include Chalice of Wisdom,
written for the German ensemble Amarcord, The Blessed Among Women, Weeping,
for Red Byrd, and A Lion’s Sleep, Ivan Moody’s third work for the
extraordinary Trio Mediaeval.
11-12/2002
......................"Moving
beauty and power": Acclaim for US tour of Passion & Resurrection
Passion and
Resurrection was featured in four concerts in the USA in October, 2002, and
received with rapturous applause. The singers of Cappella Romana, experienced
performers of Ivan Moody’s music, were this time under the composer’s
direction. The concerts took place in, Portland, Seattle, Irvine, CA (where the
work opened the Eclectic Orange Festival) and Los Angeles. The Portland concert
elicited the observation by the Willamette Week’s reviewer Grant Menzies
that "Moody’s Passion does more than just echo the music of the
Orthodox church, it paints images with all the compressed message and gesture
of Russian icons. Appropriately, and brilliantly, Moody’s oratorio is divided
into eight such icons, from Incarnation (Ikon I) to The Resurrection (Ikon
VIII). And as with the most spiritually and artistically effective religious
art, the starkest image can speak the richest of meanings. Therein lies the
foundation of this oratorio’s moving beauty and power, Moody’s adroit shaping
of the material, and Cappella Romana¹s sensitive interpretation of it."
Of the Irvine
performance, the Los Angeles Times commented: "Purer, sweeter, more
austere and impersonal than baroque composer Heinrich Schütz, who makes Bach
sound like an overwrought romantic, is the music of the Byzantine liturgy. Ivan
Moody drew on that glorious tradition for his deeply moving ‘Passion and
Resurrection’, heard Friday at Sy Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine. Sung
gorgeously by the Portland, Oregon-based Cappella Romana, led by Moody, the
performance set a high-water mark at the start of the fourth Eclectic Orange
Festival sponsored by the Philhamronic Society. (…) The 16 singers were
exemplary in breath and dynamic control, creating timeless, endless melody by
starting every new line at exactly the same dynamic and colour as the one they
had just finished. Tenor Les Green was the gentle, marathon Evangelist. Bass
John Vergin was the warm, authoritative Christ. LeaAnne Den Beste sang the
Mother of God with aching purity."
For the full
reviews, see http://members.lycos.co.uk/ivanmoody/press.htm. Cappella Romana’s
website is http://www.cappellaromana.org.
10/2002
......................Passion
& Resurrection: US Tour
Passion and
Resurrection, Ivan Moody’s 1992 oratorio, will be featured in four concerts in
the USA in October, 2002. The performers will be Cappella Romana, under the
composer’s direction. The concerts will take place in, Portland, OR (4th
October), Seattle, WA (5th October), Irvine, CA (11th October, as part of the
Eclectic Orange Festival) and Los Angeles, CA (12th October). For further
information, please see Cappella Romana’s website: http://www.cappellaromana.org.
Passion and
Resurrection, originally commissioned by the Tampere Festival, has met with
great acclaim at past performances in Finland, Holland, Great Britain and the
USA, and is available on CD, in a recording by Red Byrd and Cappella Amsterdam,
on Hyperion CDA 66999. Of this disc, the UK periodical Choir and Organ
wrote: "The music of Ivan Moody's Passion and Resurrection is given
such a compelling performance on this recording that there are times when it
touches sublimity. […] It is hard to explain how music which is not understated
but never shoutingly draws attention to itself or waves rowdy rhetorical flags
nevertheless conveys, over the span of an hour of more, an overwhelming sense
of completion, of things felt and understood with a rare, strange
wholeness."
Hyperion Records’ website is: http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk
09/2002
......................In
Paradise
In Paradise
of Old
is a setting of a kathisma from Matins of the Exaltation of the Cross,
scored for SSAATTBB and written for the Schola Cantorum of St Peter the
Apostle, Chicago and their conductor, J. Michael Thompson. It will receive its
first performance at the Monastery of the Holy Cross, Chicago, on the Eve of
the Exaltation of the Cross, 13th September, and will be repeated at a concert
in St Paul, Minnesota (University of St Thomas), in early October (date to be
confirmed).
09/2002
......................Akathistos
Hymn recorded
Ivan Moody’s
largest work to date, his setting of the entire Akathistos Hymn (in English)
was recorded on CD by Cappella Romana (for whom the work was written and who
gave the world première) in Portland, Oregon, USA in August 2002. The conductor
was Alexander Lingas, founder and director of Cappella Romana, and composer
acted as producer. The recording will be available as a two-disc set in Spring
2003. For more information, please visit Cappella Romana’s website: http://www.cappellaromana.org
"…a major
addition to the literature" (Willamette Week, USA)
09/2002
......................World
première of Lumière sans déclin in Québec
Lumière sans
déclin received
its première on 23rd August, 2002 as part of the Jusqu'aux oreilles / Up to
Your Ears festival, in a performance by Les Voix Baroques. Lumière sans
déclin, written specifically for period instruments, takes its title from
the lighting of the candles at the beginning of Paschal Matins in the Orthodox
Church, symbolizing the Resurrection and is a joyous meditation on the Paschal
Light.
The programme
also included works by Dunstable, Tallis, Byrd and Purcell, The Defeat of
Ferdiad by Elizabeth Liddle (1995/2002; Canadian première), Before
Summer Rain by Michael Oesterle (2002; Québec première), Liebeslied
by Rodney Sharman (2001/2002; Québec première) and After Tallis by C.
Scott Tresham (2001; Québec première).
08/2002
......................Two
angelic premières: Vigil of the Angels, Anghelu
The première of
Vigil of the Angels, for solo viola and string orchestra, met with a
rapturous reception on Friday 7th June in Lisbon. The soloist was the work’s
dedicatee, Alexandre Delgado, with the Lisbon Sinfonietta directed by Vasco
Pearce de Azevedo, and the concert took place in the beautiful main hall of the
Sociedade de Geografia in Lisbon. On 29th June, Anghelu (the title is
the Sardinian word for "angel") for double bass quartet was given a
similarly successful world première as part of a remarkable concert, including
special choreographic and lighting effects, by Contr’Orquestra, at the Teatro
Garcia Resende, Évora.
06/2002
......................Akathistos
recording in August
Ivan Moody’s
largest work to date, his setting of the entire Akathistos Hymn, will be
recorded on CD by Cappella Romana (for whom the work was written and who gave the
world première) in Portland, Oregon, USA in August 2002. The conductor will be
Alexander Lingas, founder and director of Cappella Romana, and composer will be
producing.
06/2002
......................Award
for Supplication for Peace
Supplication for Peace, scored for TTBarBB, has been awarded top honours in the male voice category by "Waging Peace through Singing", based in Oregon, USA. Over 700 works were considered for awards; more details may be found at www.iwagepeace.com
06/2002
......................Kassiani
in New York
The
Troparion of Kassiani, originally written for Trio Mediaeval, received its North
American première on 30th April, 2002. It was sung in liturgical context, as
part of the "Bridegroom" Matins of Great and Holy Tuesday, by
soloists from the choir of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin
Protection, New York City. Ivan Moody will be writing a further work especially
for this choir, for 2003.
04/2002
......................New
additions to the catalogue
Amongst
recently completed works are three works for voices: The first is The
Blessed Among Women, Weeping (A Passion Carol), on a text by John of
Euchaita in a translation by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and a brief text from
Orthodox Matins of Holy Saturday, scored for TTBarB, to be premiered by Red
Byrd later in 2002. The second is Chalice of Wisdom, dealing with the
life of St Thomas, and commissioned by the German ensemble Amarcord, whose
members were all choristers at the ThomaskIrche in Leipzig. This work, scored
for TTBarBB, will received its first performance at the Amarcord Festival later
this year. Finally, In Paradise of Old, scored for SSAATTBB, is a
setting of a kathisma from Matins of the Exaltation of the Cross, written
for the Schola Cantorum of St Peter the Apostle, Chicago and their conductor,
J. Michael Thompson. It will receive its first performance at the Monastery of
the Holy Cross, Chicago, on the Eve of the Exaltation of the Cross,13th
September, and will be repeated at a concert in St Paul, Minnesota (University
of St Thomas), in early October.
03/2002
......................Words
of the Angel's continuing success
"Words of
the Angel" (ECM New Series 461 782-2) has been an end-of-the-year recommendation
of several important newspapers: in Germany, Die Zeit, and the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung, in the Swiss Tages-Anzeiger and is, according to
the Brazilian magazine Clube do Audio & Video, one of the Ten Best
CDs of 2001. It was also an Editor's Choice in the January 2002 issue of Gramophone.
Michael Oliver, in the February 2002 issue of International Record
Review, wrote : "It is a tribute to Moody's piece, a Resurrection
motet with vivid effects of dazzling light, that it can follow these pieces
without anticlimax. An exceptionally coupling, finely and atmospherically
recorded."
01/2002
......................Third
CD recording of Canticum Canticorum
The Canadian ensemble Musica Intima, based in Vancouver, has recently made the third commercial CD recording of Canticum Canticorum I, on Atma Classique ACD2 2284. Details of the recording, which was released in early December 2001, may be obtained from the group's website: http://www.musicaintima.org
01/2002
......................Make
ready, Bethlehem/Dormi Iesu première
Make ready,
Bethlehem/Dormi Iesu, which combines the texts of the apolytikion of the
Preparation of Nativity (in English) and the anonymous Christmas carol Dormi
Iesu (in Latin) was given its first performance with great success at the
Church of St Andrews-by-the-Wardrobe, London, on Wednesday 12th December, 2001
by the English Chamber Choir under the direction of Guy Protheroe.
12/2001
......................Lamentations
of the Myrrhbearer première
Lamentations
of the Myrrhbearer, for string quartet, received its world première at the Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, on Monday 10th December, 2001. The
performers were soloists from the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Garegine Arouthounian,
Pedro Pacheco, André Cameron and Levon Mouradian, and the concert also included
works by Alexandre Delgado and Giuseppe Verdi.
12/2001
.....................Words
of the Angel CD Lisbon launch
On 4th December
2001, the CD "Words of the Angel", on the ECM label, distributed in
Portugal by Dargil, was officially launched in Portugal at the FNAC-Colombo.
The disc includes mediaeval music and my work Words of the Angel, sung
by the Trio Mediaeval from Norway. The launch included a short presentation by
the composer, and both Words of the Angel and Troparion of Kassiani were
given their Portuguese premières by a trio of Portuguese singers - Angélica
Neto, Elsa Cortês and Susana Moody.
12/2001
.....................Pravoslava
Chamber Choir premieres Vecheri Tvoeya
Vecheri
Tvoeya,
a setting of the Communion Hymn for Holy Thursday, was given its première by
the Pravoslava Chamber Choir, under the composer's direction, at the Palácio
Foz in Lisbon on 13th November, 2001. The concert, which received a standing
ovation, also included works by Nikolsky, Chesnokov, Christov and
Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as chants from the Byzantine and Bulgarian traditions.
11/2001
.....................Words
of the Angel released on CD
The Norwegian
group Trio Mediaeval have recorded Words of the Angel, written for them
in 1998, for ECM. The disc was launched in Oslo on Saturday 13th October,
2001. The disc also includes the Messe de Tournai, mediaeval
English polyphony and Italian laude. Disc catalogue number is ECM New
Series 1753 (461 782-2).
The London
launch will take place at the Wigmore Hall on Friday, 30th November, 2001, and
in Austria at the Vienna KonzertHaus on 30th January, 2002
10/2001
......................Prophecy
of Symeon premiered in Oporto
The Grupo Vocal
Olisipo gave the world première of The Prophecy of Symeon, written
specially for them and commissioned by Porto European Capital of Culture 2001
at the Convento de São Bento, Oporto, on Sunday 14th October, 2001, to
resounding applause. The concert also included a previous work written
for the group, Meeting in the Garden, and new works by Portuguese
composer Manuel Pedro Ferreira and Englishman Christopher Bochmann.
09/2001
+++
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