| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 14-Sep-2012 Kings Place: Hall Two | Kings Place Festival: Chamber and solo music by Stravinsky and Knussen |
 When Stravinsky brought his radical ballet Petrushka to Vienna in 1912, the composer recounts in his autobiography, the orchestra was full of complaints about the demands of the score. Disillusioned by this, Stravinsky found comfort from the unlikely figure of the man who raised and lowered the stage curtains. “Don’t let’s be downhearted”, he said, “I’ve been here for 55 years... It was just the same with Tristan”.
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| 1-Sep-2012 Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ: Main Hall | Stravinsky and Varèse: Percussion at the Muziekgebouw |
.jpg) The Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam’s foremost modern classical music venue, opened the music season with a day dedicated to percussion. The first concert included Stravinsky’s Suite from L’histoire du soldat (1918) and Varèse’s Ionisation (1929-31) and Hyperprism (1922-23). What is most striking about these three pieces of music is how modern they still sound, despite being written almost a century ago.
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| 13-Jul-2012 Cheltenham Town Hall | Three Pieces from 1918 at the Cheltenham Music Festival |
 Red, white and blue bunting, with matching lighting, adorned the balconies of Cheltenham Town Hall, setting a patriotic scene for a concert of music from the year that World War I ended. Television presenter Julia Somerville opened the evening sat at a vintage newsdesk with her own careful research, for which she can be highly commended. She was followed by a number of well-known soloists including Katherine Gowers and Steven Isserlis for an exciting programme of works composed in 1918.
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| 15-Dec-2011 Sage: Hall One | Northern Sinfonia and Thierry Fischer serve up a colourful programme inspired by jazz |
 At first glance, Beethoven isn’t an obvious composer to match up with Ravel and Stravinsky, but Northern Sinfonia’s concert this evening with guest conductor Thierry Fischer did draw out a few surprising parallels. The most notable of these was the spirit of joyfulness and excitement that the orchestra brought out from all three pieces: whether it was the jazz-inspired rhythms of the twentieth century works, the busy energy of the Beethoven, or the attention-grabbing moments in which all three composers delighted.
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