Brett Dean

Renaissance Moderns: Britten Sinfonia, Marian Consort

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Renaissance Moderns
Britten Sinfonia, Marian Consort, Lisa Illea
Milton Court, London. 11 May 2024

Binchois (arr. for strings by Lisa Illean): Two chansons
Dunstable: Regina Caeli
Thomas Adès: Darknesse visible
Lisa Illean: Arcing, stilling, bending, gathering (UK premiere)
Lusitano: Heu me Domine; Allor che ignuda
Gesualdo: Moro lasso; Hei mihi Domine; Sparge la more
Brett Dean: Carlo

This cleverly designed concert from the Britten Sinfonia and The Marian Consort was built around the music of Gesualdo and his influence on present-day composers, notably the Australian composer Lisa Illean whose compositions were a feature of the evening, including the European premiere of her Arcing, stilling, bending, gathering, a co-commission of the Britten Sinfonia.

There aren’t many concerts where the programme has a content warning “contains references to violence, murder and rape”. This one did, in reference to the pre-concert showing of Werner Herzog’s 1995 German television film “Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices“. It was a rather curiously stylised and imaginative depiction of the life of Gesualdo (1566-1613), shot in the locations in which his life unfolded including the Palazzo San Severo in Naples, where the famous double murder of his wife, Donna Maria d’Avalos, and her lover took place (shortly before he succeeded as Prince of Venosa), and one of the family estates, the Castello di Gesualdo, where he spent most of the rest of his life in a state of declining mental health, employing a servant to apply daily flogings.

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Prom 29/30: The Brandenburg Project

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Prom 29/30: Brandenburg Concertos Project
Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard
Royal Albert Hall, 5 August 2018

One of the more unusual of this year’s BBC Proms were two related concerts given by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under their conductor Thomas Dausgaard. Over an afternoon and evening Prom, they performed all six Bach Brandenburg Concertos, each accompanied by companion pieces, commissioned by the orchestra, to partner each of the Brandenburgs. An ambitious project, that got close to working, but ultimately, from my point of view, didn’t. As an early music specialist, I do find modern instrument performances of Bach problematical. Although they certainly didn’t over-romanticize their interpretations, the sound world was one I wasn’t used to, at least, not since my youth. And with so many composers eager to write for period instruments, I think a real opportunity has been missed, from the Proms point of view, although the project has certainly done the Swedish Chamber Orchestra no harm.

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