Peter Maxwell Davies: Black Pentecost

Peter Maxwell Davies' 1979 work for mezzo-soprano baritone and orchestra commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra who gave the first performance in May 1992 at the Royal Festival Hall with Simon Rattle conducting.The'Black Pentecost' is the coming of uranium mining which was a threat to Orkney when the work was written. The text tells of the destruction of old ways of life the eclipse of the human by the technological. Davies sets it as agripping dramatic cantata which is also a four-movement symphony with the songs for imperious baritone and lyrical mezzo-soprano linked by orchestral transitions. The work is a lament and at the same time a fiercely arguedprotest.Score. Duration c. 40mins.

Lyric opera in two acts. Libretto by David Pountney.Commissioned?jointly by the Royal Academy of Music London UK and The Juilliard School New York USA.UK premiere: 18th March 2011 - Royal Academy of MusicOpera and Sinfonia at the Royal Academy of Music London conducted by Jane Glover.US premiere: 16th November 2011 - Students of The Julliard School at Peter Jay Sharp Theatre New York conducted by AnneManson.Overview.The piece consists of three interlocking stories of students involved in political action in three different situations.?Die Weiße Rose? was the name taken by a group of students atthe University of Munich led by Sophie and Hans Scholl. They produced leaflets protesting against the National Socialist government of Germany in 1942-3 until they were arrested and guillotined.?Soar to Heaven? follows twocharacters Wu and Zhou involved on opposite sides of the Cultural Revolution in China.?The Oxford Revolution? tells the story of James Meredith who fought a lonely battle against segregation and racial prejudice to becomethe first black student to enrol at ?Ole Miss? the University of Mississippi in the USA.Librettist's Note.There are inevitably and properly some differences between the original libretto and whatMax ultimately set to music. Most of these are insignificant but all the Latin texts in the opera were added by Max and texts for the alternating black / white choruses (Scene 19) and final chorus (Scene 28) were written by him.

Les « danses de notre Temps » est une collection unique de nouvelles musiques pour piano solo, comportant un choix kaléidoscopique de répertoire international d'aujourd'hui.

Tous les titres ont été composés pour le projet multimédia Petrushka Project 2012.
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