Prom 38: Foulds’ Mantras & Messiaen’s Turangalîla
BBC Philharmonic, Juanko Mena
Royal Albert Hall, 13 August 2015

In an inspired bit of programming, Messiaen’s enormous hymn to eroticism and sexual desire was coupled (so to speak) with a very rare performance of John Foulds’ Three Mantras, composed between 1919 and 1930 and all that survives of his monumental ‘Sanskrit opera’ Avatara.  

John Foulds (1880-1939) is something of a local lad for the Manchester-based BBC Philharmonic. He played cello for the Halle aged 20, and later became known as a composer of light music. But behind this populist façade lay some fascinating musical ideas, well ahead of his time. Marriage to a leading authority on Indian music led to an interest in Indian mysticism and esoteric thought, very much in vogue at the time. After time in London and Paris, he moved to India, founding a symphony orchestra in Delhi. His Three Mantras were composed in Paris as preludes to the three acts of the opera Avatara. He destroyed all except these three pieces. Continue reading →