2010 NEWS ARCHIVE:
ATOS PIANO TRIO
Having blitzed the 2007 Melbourne Chamber Music competition, the Berlin-based Atos Piano Trio returned to Australia, touring for Musica Viv in November 2010. Their tour includes performances of Paul's Piano Trio Dolcissimo Uscignolo which Rosalind Appleby from the West Australian praises as being full of "humour and originality". The review goes on to say that:
The Australian composer [Paul Stanhope] referenced vocal music, in this case a madrigal from Monteverdi. The fragments of melody built to a lushly textured middle section where astute use of modern techniques - attractive string harmonics and the eerie sound of sul ponticello (playing near the bridge of the instrument) kept the ear intrigued. The work ended with a Takemitsu-like sparseness with notes falling like droplets from the high octaves of the piano.
ATOS PIANO TRIO - Photo © Keith Saunders
This is the final tour for 2010 featuring Paul's music. Catch a concert if you can!
Tues 2 November, 7.30pm: Perth Concert Hall
Thurs 4 November, 8pm: Adelaide Town Hall
Sat 6 & Tues 16 November: Melbourne Recital Centre
Wed 10 November, 7pm: Qld Conservatorium Theatre, Brisbane
Thurs 11 November, 7pm: Llewelyn Hall, Canberra
Sat 13, 1.30pm & Mon 22 November, 7pm: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
Sat 20 November, 7.30pm: Newcastle Conservatorium
There are also performances in Mornington and Hobart through Musica Viva's CountryWide program.
FANTASIA PERFORMANCES – SYDNEY & SEATTLE
Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Philharmonic recently performed Paul's Fantasia on a Theme of Vaughan Williams in October. The SSO performed it in their Meet the Music concerts as well as Tea and Symphony in the Sydney Opera House, conducted by the incomparable Richard Gill on October 20, 21 and 22. Meanwhile, the Seattle Philharmonic under Adam Stern gave the piece its US premiere on October 31 in St Marks Cathedral, Seattle.
The Sydney Morning Herald reviewmentions this performance as well as the touring duo for Musica Viva:
The Australian composer Paul Stanhope has had a good week, with a Sydney premiere of his coloured and expressive Agnus Dei (after the fire) (inspired by survivor stories of the Victorian bushfires) performed by Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Tiberghien for Musica Viva on Monday, and a repeat performance of his Fantasia on a Theme of Vaughan Williams.
Both works mark him within the context of current Australian music as a composer who can command a wide scope of moods and textural ideas within a piece, and exploit change and variety to extend and sustain a substantial and enduring musical work. Peter McCallum, SMH, 21-10-2010.
If you want to listen to the piece again, you can (in Australia at least!) tune in to ABC Classic FM on SAT. 20 November 1pm.
ALINA IBRAGIMOVA & CEDRIC TIBERGHIEN
The electrifying violin and piano duo, Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Tiberghien, are outstanding international soloists in their own right and when they team up it makes for a truly special musical experience. They recently performed the premiere seson of Paul's new piece Agnus Dei (After the Fire).
This is what the press have said:
Stanhope is both master melodist and colourist, and these qualities come to the fore in this response to the Victorian bushfires, not least int he striking use of timbre – witness the searing overtones generated by directly scraping the piano strings. William Yeoman, The West Australian, 14 October 2010.
This powerful, elegaic piece was composed as a response to [the] . . . devastating Black Saturday bushfies.
Starting with the disturbingly effective percussive sounds from the piano strings and high harmonics on the violin, the music gradually grew more intense and energised, finally attainaing a release carrying with it some hint of hope. Peter Donnelly, Hobart Mercury, 7 October 2010
Here are the performance dates for their Australian Musica Viva tour. Catch them if you can.
5 October, 8pm: Hobart Town Hall
9 October, 7.30pm: Newcaste Conservatorium Theatre
12 October, 7.30pm: Perth Concert Hall
14 October, 8pm: Adelaide Town Hall
18 October, 7pm: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
19 October, 7pm: Melbourne Recital Centre
Want to hear the piece on-line? Click here.
Alina Ibragimova & Cedric Tiberghien
ALBERT H. MAGGS COMPOSITION AWARD
Paul Stanhope was recently announced as the winner of the 2010 Maggs Award. This composition prize, administered by the University of Melbourne, was awarded unanimously by the judges for his String Quartet No. 1 (2008). The prize is in the form of a commission of a new work.
CHOIR OF TRINITY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE
Trinity College Choir, Cambridge, conducted by the leading light of English choral music, Stephen Layton, recently toured Australian capital cities as part of their Musica Viva International series. As part of the tour they performed Paul'sDeserts of Exile from his choral cycle Exile Lamentations. The piece has enjoyed a great response. Here is some of what the critics have been writing:
The choir is drawn from undergraduate as well as graduate students and the technical facility of these fine musicians is without question. Paul Stanhope's affecting Deserts of Exile, from his Exile Lamentations (2007)... is a singularly great work performed by an exceptional choir. (Kevin Purcell, The Australian, 26 August 2010).
Paul Stanhope's Deserts of Exile proved memorable for its lucid setting of a Palestinian poet's mourning for his ruined fatherland, ending with a splendidly achieved fusion of sustained notes and soft sibilances.
(Clive O'Connell, The Age, 10 September 2010)
Australian Paul Stanhope can feel gratified for his inclusion in this distinguished company [of pieces] and to have his Deserts of Exile (2007) conducted and sung so expertly. The anguish of Palestinian poet Jabra Ibrahim over the division of her country, interspersed with excerpts from [the] Lamentations of Jeremiah... resonated as strongly today as in biblical times.
(Elizabeth Silsbury, The Advertiser, 4 September 2010)
Here are the performance details:
Tues 24 August & Wed 25 August, 8pm: Theatre Royal, Hobart
Sat 28 August: Glasshouse Theatre, Port Macquarie
Mon 30 August, 7pm: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
Wed 1 September, 7pm: QPAC, Brisbane
Thurs 2 September, 8pm: Adelaide Town Hall
Sat 4 September, 1.30pm:
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
Tues 7 September, 7pm: Melbourne Recital Centre
Thurs 9 September, 7pm: Llewellyn Hall, Canberra
Sat 11 September, 8pm: Melbourne Recital Centre
Tues 14 September, 7.30pm: Perth Concert Hall
STRING QUARTET No.2 - Performed by the Pavel Haas Quartet
The stellar Pavel Haas Quartet from Prague have recently finished touring Paul's new String Quartet no. 2 in its premiere season on a Musica Viva Australia national tour. This new quartet in 4 conjoined movements was performed alongside works by Haydn, Dvorak and Pavel Haas.
The piece has gained considerable critical and audience acclaim. Murray Black writes in The Australian:
The overwhelming impression left by the world premiere of Australian composer Paul Stanhope's String Quartet No.2 was of a creator in complete control of his material. Not a note was superfluous, nor an idea over or underused. Instead, Stanhope's conjoined four-movement work revealed an assured sense of structure and impressive breadth of expression. One of Stanhope's aims in the quartet is to reflect on the relationship between the old world and the new, just as Dvorak did in his American works. He succeeds admirably. Passages of frenzied intensity and propulsive energy in the first two movements conjured up the spirits of Janacek and Pavel Haas while the leaping figures and rhythmic drive of the exuberant finale were reminiscent of Carl Vine. Stanhope is also a natural tunesmith when he wishes to be. The quartet's third movement, Dirge (Variations), rivals Richard Meale's Cantilena Pacifica in its soaring beauty and yearning lyricism. This new quartet is a hugely accomplished work and a significant addition to Australia's impressive string quartet oeuvre. (The Australian, Monday 26 July 2010)
CLICK HERE to listen to the piece online!
Here are the performance details:
Wed 21 July, 7pm: Lazenby Hall, Armidale
Thu 22 July, 8pm: Coffs Harbour Music Society
Sat 24 July, 1.30pm: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
Tues 27 July, 8pm: Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide ( ABC CLASSIC FM direct broadcast)
Thu 29 July, 8pm: West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul
Sat 31 July, 7.30pm: Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, Newcastle
Mon 2 August, 10.30am: Australian Music Day @ AIM
Mon 2 August, 7pm: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney
Wed 4 August, 7.30pm: Perth Concert Hall, Perth
Sat 7 August, 8pm: Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne
Sun 8 August, 8pm: The Capital, Bendigo
Tues 10 August, 7pm: Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne
Wed 11 August, 8pm: Hobart Town Hall, Hobart
FANTASIA IN TASMANIA, JULY 10th
The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra performed Paul's Fantasia on a Theme of Vaughan Williams on Saturday 10th July, 2.30pm at the Federation Concert Hall, Hobart with a great reception from audience and orchestra. In a newspaper article in the Hobart Mercury, Polish- born conductor Radoslaw Szulc was full of praise for the piece, saying that it was indicative of the high standard of composition in Australia.
"When you have Australian composers like Peter Sculthorpe, Brett Dean, Elena Kats-Chernin and Paul Stanhope it reminds me a little of the time of the big five Russian composers," he said
"They are very creative and want to do their own thing that is uniquely Australian."
"Fantasia on a Theme of Vaughan Williams is not obviously Australian like [Sculthorpe's] Kakadu but it has that different form of creativity which marks Australian compositions."
A review in the Hobart Mercury also noted that the Fantasia is:
"... a spectacular and attractive piece with some imaginative writing for brass and percussion." (Peter Donnelly, Hobart Mercury 12 July 2010).
The Sydney Symphony will perform the piece later in the year in their Meet the Music series in October. The TSO are the 8th orchestra to have performed this piece which won the Toru Takemitsu prize in 2004.
SONGS FOR THE SHADOWLAND - NEW VOCAL MUSIC
CD RELEASED!
For the first time, a CD featuring
all works by Paul is available! This recording of Paul's vocal music includes inspiring
performances by Cantillation, soprano Jane Sheldon with Ironwood (string quartet),
Gondwana Voices, Southern Cross Soloists and Sydney Chamber Choir. Gordon Kerry writes:
'He does not seek to 'paint' or evoke
specific locales, so much as to give a powerful sense of being at ocean's margin,
in the hush of a rainforest, or by a lagoon shimmering in the moonlight, and to explore
human emotions and feelings in those geographical contexts.'
The CD has been attracting positive reviews so far – this one is from Patricia Kelly in the Daily Telegraph (Sydney):
"On this disc, beautiful voices trill poems chosen by composer Paul Stanhope. Among the many evocative highlights, Margaret Schindler searches the depths of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's poems. Sweet sounds from Gondwana Voices with instrumental accompaniment are a perfect foil for the terse Irony of Michael Leunig's Songs of Innocence and Joy. VERDICT: SERIOUSLY IMPRESSIVE"
CD details: ABC Classics, ABC 476 3870. ISBN / Catalogue Number: 4763870
AUSTRALIAN STRING QUARTET - NATIONAL TOUR
2010
The wonderful Australian String Quartet
(ASQ - picture below) recently performed Paul's String Quartet No. 1 at the Adelaide
Festival and then in their first national tour for 2010. The program, entitled Flight,
also features music by Haydn and the Brahms Piano Quintet.
Here are two recent reviews of their
Sydney Performance:
Paul Stanhope['s]... String Quartet
No. 1 started full of broody, heart-on-sleeve angst, which somehow never went away,
even in the tender Lullaby and funky finale.
The quartet [the ASQ] took on his complex rhythms and melodies with assurance, making
it sound as if it had been part of its repertoire for years. And it deserves to be,
as it reveals Stanhope as an accomplished writer for strings, moulding the four-way
sound into one reverberating instrument with skill.
Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald 20-21 March 2010.
The ASQ's ensemble work was as diligent
and precise as ever in this concert, never more so than in the second work, Paul
Stanhope's first quartet. This is a terrific work which the Australian, who is this
season's featured composer for Musica Viva, started during the gruelling 2007 federal
election.
This probably accounts for the argumentative dialogue between Rowell's violin and
the other protagonists in the opening movement. A feeling of gentle optimism comes
with the second movement, a lullaby written for Stanhope's baby son, and the final
movement ends on an upbeat with bluesy inflections vying against Bartokian cross
rhythms.
The ASQ has made a point of showcasing our contemporary works in their programs and
this one, performed in the composer's presence, is one of the best of them, being
accessible and challenging at the same time.
Steve Moffatt, Inner West Courier, 19 March 2010.
OTHER PIECES BY PAUL FOR STRING
QUARTET:
String Quartet No. 2 (2009)
Dancing with Strangers (2004)
Sea Chronicles - soprano and quartet (1998)
Morning Star (1992)
Vale of Glamorgan Festival, 2009
Paul was a featured composer in the
2009 Vale of Glamorgan Festival (6th-12th September, 2009), which is based in and
around the city of Cardiff in South Wales. Four of his pieces received their UK premieres
by a diverse series of performers including the Solstice String Quartet, Sinfonia
Cymru and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and harpist Eleanor Turner. Read Paul's
article
on the festival from the AMC website.
Eleanor Turner - harpist
EXILE LAMENTATIONS
The first performance of this major new choral work was premiered by the wonderful
Elysian
Singers of London who performed
it as part of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music at St Pancras Church,
London on 16 May.
The wonderful Melbourne Symphony Chorus conducted by Jonathan Grieves-Smith will give the Australian premiere
on Sunday 26 July at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Sydney Chamber Choir performed
the third movement Lament in concerts as part of the 41st Tolosa Choral Competition
in Northern Spain during October 2009. Click here
to see a YOU TUBE clip of one such performance.
The Elysian Singers of London