Jan 23

Breaking: Britten’s doctor rubbishes syphilis report

Posted on January 23, 2013 by lebrecht

In today’s Guardian, Charlotte Higgins gains access to the composer’s medical notes, which were not available to his biographer, Paul Kildea. She also talks to the senior registrar who looked after Britten in hospital at the time Kildea says he was found to have syphilis. The notes give no indication of venereal disease, even by euphemism, and the cardiologist says the circumstances described by Kildea are ‘rubbish’.

They hated Wagner, they loved Verdi. Here’s how, in rare and exclusive caricatures from Lebrecht Music & Arts

Posted on January 15, 2013 by lebrecht

Hundreds more caricatures available at www.lebrecht.co.uk for the 200th birth anniversary year of these two major composers.

Jan 02

Richard Rodney Bennett obituary pictures

Posted on January 2, 2013 by lebrecht

Obituary pictures for Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, British composer 29 March 1935 – 24 December 2012.

© Carl Pendle/Lebrecht Music & Arts

London 1965.
© Horst Tappe/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Stephen Jackson and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett – Stephen Jackson and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett after a performance of Four Poems of Thomas Campion at the BBC Proms 2007.
© C. Christodoulou/Lebrecht Music & Arts

London, Islington 27th July 1984.
© George Newson/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Playing the piano in a rehearsal with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 2 March 2006.
© Vicky Alhadeff/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Dec 20

Philip Glass performing Union Chapel, Islington

Posted on December 20, 2012 by lebrecht

Philip Glass, American composer who is rarely seen in the UK, performing with his Ensemble, at Union Chapel (Islington) London, UK, 15th December.

© Richard Keith Wolff/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Dec 18

Dance to the music of Tchaikovsky for the 120th Anniversary of the Nutcracker ballet

Posted on December 18, 2012 by lebrecht

The 120 th anniversary of the world famous ballet ‘Casse-Noisette’ or ‘The Nutcracker ‘ is celebrated on 18th December. The music was composed by Russian composer Tchaikovsky and choreography was arranged by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. The premiere took place at the Mariinsky theatre on a wintry Sunday in St Petersburg. Unfortunately, the story drawn from ETA Hoffmann’s ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’ was not an immediate success – although the twenty-minute Nutcracker Suite did strike the right chord with the audience . By the 1960s the whole Nutcracker ballet had become an essential part of popular repertoire, particularly during the Christmas season.

Lebrecht Music & Arts carries photos from the original 1892 production and also many famous Sugar Plum Fairies such as Margot Fonteyn, Tamara Karsavina and Daria Klimentova. Irek Mukhamedov and Harold Turner are dancers remembered for their performances in this ballet. And, of course photographs of many of the great Bolshoi productions and with a more modern twist, the Matthew Bourne dance company.

Andy Durante as ‘Sugarplum Fairy’, Peter Mallek as ‘Nutcracker’. Vienna Festival Ballet, 26/10/1981
© Peter Mares/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Piotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet ‘The Nutcracker’ at the Mariinsky Theater, 1 June 1892.
© RIA Novosti/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Dec 12

Obituary pix for Ravi Shankar

Posted on December 12, 2012 by lebrecht

Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player who performed with Yehudi Menuhin and taught Beatle George Harrison how to play this instrument, passed away yesterday aged 92. (born 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012). He was described as one of the best known contemporary Indian musicians. His two daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar, are also successful musicians.

© David Farrell/Lebrecht Music & Arts

© F. Henderson/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Ravi and Anoushka Shankar playing sitar at a concert at Barbican London 18th May.
© M. Peric/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Silhouette of Ravi Shankar playing the sitar at the World Sacred Music Festival in Fes, Morocco, 4 June 2005.
© RA/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin playing sitar and violin together.
© Norman Perryman/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Dec 10

MAURICE RAVEL – ANNIVERSARY

Posted on December 10, 2012 by lebrecht

28 December 2012 will mark 75 years since the death of French composer Maurice Ravel. Perhaps best known for his orchestral work Boléro, which was originally commissioned as a ballet by Russian ballerina Ida Rubenstein, he ranks as one of the most influential composers of the early 20th century.

Click on the image below to see a selection of Ravel images from the Lebrecht Music & Arts collection: