I reviewed the world premiere of ‘Marnie’ at ENO for my sister site ArtMuseLondon.
Read the full review here: ‘Marnie’ at English National Opera
Jubal launches classical music listings App
Jubal has launched an App that enables its users to access details of classical music concerts involving specific artists, venues, music genres, and various event categories.
Named after the first musician recorded in Western culture, Jubal has been designed with classical music lovers – and promoters – in mind, although it can be used to attract an audience for any event.
The Jubal App allows users to filter events by date, location and other criteria, as well as check the availability of – and buy – tickets.
“We intend Jubal to benefit event goers – especially concert goers – promoters and artists,” said Francis Hornak, a trustee for a classical music trust, who first had the idea for the App during a board meeting.
“As someone who’s interested in classical music, I often found that I didn’t know when concerts were taking place,” he added. “I thought that it’d be useful to have an App that has that information readily available, easy to use – and that would send me a ‘nudge’ from time-to-time to let me know when an up-coming concert involves someone who interests me.”
So, Francis, aided by a team that includes Appy Award winners, Mobikats, created the Jubal App.
The App provides a list of concerts and other events taking place and is intended to cover the whole of the UK. Although initially focused on the country’s main concert venues, one of its most attractive features is that the App will also be able to cater for concerts in church halls, schools, pubs and other smaller venues.
Opening the App enables users to see a list of concerts, from ‘today’ onwards. There’s a ‘location search’ function that will show concerts close to the user’s location, or in any other area the user specifies.
Users can see information about a venue, its location and can get directions to it. They can also see basic details of the event’s programme; can link to iTunes to hear excerpts from the pieces being performed – and see a web link or a telephone number so that they can buy tickets for the performance.
There’s an option to send a message about an event to a contact, via text or email. Users can also share information about the concert via social media; save a shortlist of concerts, and add them to the user’s calendar.
“From a user’s point of view, the App makes it easier to find concerts anywhere in the UK over any specific period,” Francis said.
“Venues, performers and promoters should also find the App to be a highly cost-effective way to promote their concerts,” he added. “It will help sell more tickets, fill empty seats – and should end up costing very little.”
Those wanting to promote an event via the Jubal App can enter the details of the event via Jubal’s web portal. Anyone can apply for a log-in and permission to post event details on the App – and this should be granted after a short vetting process by the App’s owners.
“This is, predominantly, a classical music App,” said Francis. “and, as part of our development process of consultation and testing, we’ve consulted The Association of British Orchestras, the British Association of Concert Halls, orchestras including the CBSO, RPO, and LPO, and venues including Cadogan Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Birmingham Symphony Hall.”
For further details of the Jubal App, visit
About Jubal
Named after the first musician recorded in Western culture, Jubal is an App that enables users to indulge their preferences and access details of events involving specific artists, venues and/or music genres. In addition, the App provides information on other events, which can be filtered by date, location and other criteria. It allows users to check the availability of – and buy – tickets. Jubal hopes to benefit all parties including event goers, promoters, artists/groups/orchestras and venues and, ultimately, if it proves a success, Jubal’s shareholders – including the classical charitable trust for which Francis Hornak is a trustee.
(source Bob Little PR)
Sibelius Piano Works, Volume 2
I have British pianist Joseph Tong to thank for introducing me to the wonderful piano music of Jean Sibelius: Joseph played a selection of miniatures, ‘The Trees’, at a concert for my local musical society, which revealed the variety and expressive qualities of Sibelius’ writing for the piano, too often overlooked when compared to the statue and popularity of his symphonies.
Joseph is a keen champion of Sibelius’ piano music and has traveled to the composer’s home in Finland to play his piano. In his recordings of Sibelius’ piano works, Joseph seeks to demonstrate the composer’s command and understanding of the instrument through a selection of works written during the main periods of the his creative life. There are crisp textures, folk melodies, rhythmic dances and imaginative part-writing. This volume contains Sibelius’ most significant large-scale work for piano, the Piano Sonata in F, Op 12, and one of his best-loved orchestral transcriptions, the Valse triste, which opens as a melancholy waltz that grows into something more far expressive, romantic and upbeat (though always tinged with poignancy, not unlike Ravel’s La Valse).
The miniatures on this disc, the Six Bagatelles, Five Characteristic Impressions and Four Lyric Pieces have a quirky individuality, with their hints of folk idioms, lyrical melodic inspiration and pianistic challenges. Joseph is alert to the changing characters and moods of these miniature marvels and brings warmth and affection to his sound and interpretation.
In planning the running order for the disc, Joseph wanted to combine “large-scale works with shorter pieces (or sets of pieces) in a way which might mirror a concert programme” and so the recording closes with a fine reading of Sibelius’ early Piano Sonata in F, a large-scale work rich in late-Romantic expression which fully utilises the modern piano’s resources. It has a Rachmaninoff-like spaciousness to it – the piano music of both composers seems to acknowledge and express the vastness of their homelands (even when writing in miniature form), though Schumann is a more likely influence in Sibelius’ early piano writing. The first movement certainly shares Schumann’s extrovert exuberance and brilliance. The middle movement, Andantino, is more restrained, a simple hymn-like melody with an accompaniment of syncopated chords, which becomes more florid in the middle part of the movement. The finale is rambunctious cheerful rondo, driven by its motoring rhythms and busy theme, which ends in virtuosic cascades of notes.
Like the previous volume, this is a rewarding compilation, revealing Joseph’s affinity with the music and its composer in his depth of tone, varied colours and musical understanding. The recording quality is excellent, with an immediacy of sound which suggests a live concert performance (and I was fortunate to hear Joseph perform the Piano Sonata and shorter works at his recent concert at St John’s Smith Square to launch this recording).
Sibelius’ piano music is accessible and satisfying to play, and I urge pianists to seek out this excellent survey.
Recommended
New York – Paris: Christina McMaster at Wimbledon International Music Festival
Meredith Monk Ellis Island
Phillip Glass – Études Nos 9 and 2
Debussy – Études Book 1
Christina McMaster, piano
My second trip to Wimbledon International Music Festival proved as rewarding and enjoyable as the first. As part of the Festival’s New Generation Artist Series, pianist Christina McMaster gave a lunchtime concert featuring music by living American composers Meredith Monk and Philip Glass, together with Études by Claude Debussy.
Christina studied with Joanna Macgregor at the Royal Academy of Music and I think the influence of her mentor shows in her imaginative and eclectic programmes and the clarity, panache and vivid colour of her playing. Monk’s ‘Ellis Island’ was written to accompany a short silent film of the same name, which celebrates the gateway to the USA for thousands of immigrants in search of a better future. The music, originally scored for two pianos (I assume the transcription for solo piano was arranged by Christina herself), has a lilting Gaelic flavour, a reminder that many people from Scotland and Ireland emigrated to America. The overall message of the music is hopeful and joyful, though a quieter section at the end suggests eagerness tinged with anxiety at what the future may hold. Christina created a lovely bright, crystalline sound with a great sense of energy throughout, though the music never felt relentless, but rather light and dancing.
Fellow New Yorker Philip Glass is regarded as the master of minimalism, but his piano music when played with sensitivity can feel almost romantic, and this was certainly Christina’s approach to the two Études by Glass in this programme, one frenetic and urgent, the other more reflective with its Schubertian long-spun motifs, spaciousness and unexpected harmonic shifts. Her sense of pacing, elegantly nuanced dynamics and tempo made these works the highlight of this excellent programme for me.
Debussy’s Études follow Chopin’s model – short pieces written to exercise and improve the pianist’s technique, and like Chopin’s Opp 10 and 25 Études, Debussy elevates the pieces from student exercises to exquisite concert miniatures. The first Étude of Book 1 is dedicated to “Monsieur Czerny” and is an amusing take on Carl Czerny’s rather tedious five-finger exercises which many young piano students have had to endure (I know I did!). Cheeky interjections from rogue fingers hint at the student’s frustration at having to remain in a five-finger position on the keyboard and the work grows more expansive and virtuosic towards the end. It was despatched with playfulness and wit. The other Études were played with similar character, their individual quirks and delights carefully delineated by Christina. There were so many moments to savour – great delicacy of touch, subtle shadings, natural rubato and rhythmic vitality, and the entire performance was vibrantly coloured and very stylishly presented. The encore, Debussy’s ‘Girl With the Flaxen Hair’, was played with equal poise and elegance.
(Photo: Dominic Farlam)
The Cross-Eyed Pianist 