麻豆社

Saturday 8th March 2014 marks the 300th birthday of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.听 Johann Sebastian鈥檚 second surviving eldest son is the most important composer to have led the progression from the Baroque epoch to the Viennese classical period - developing his own unique style. He had crucial influence on Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and into the Romantic era. Although his father is far better known today, in his lifetime CPE Bach was highly acclaimed and his work, including chamber pieces, concerti, orchestral and sacred music, was heard far and wide. Petroc Trelawny assesses the legacy of this revolutionary composer with the conductor Rebecca Miller and the harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani.

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Photo of Mahan Esfahani : 漏Marco Borggreve

The Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder has recorded all of Beethoven鈥檚 piano music and played complete cycles of the sonatas nearly fifty times.听Having first recorded the sonatas more than thirty years ago he has听 recently returned to them using first edition scores and the composer鈥檚 original manuscripts. Petroc talked to Buchbinder who was in Vienna - the place he was raised and educated - and found out what new discoveries he has made about Beethoven鈥檚 music, the importance of Haydn, and about what he has learned from the original manuscripts of Brahms which he owns. An avid collector, he tells Petroc about his vast collection of films 鈥� and single malt Scotch whisky!

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Photo: 漏Marco Borggreve

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Jonathan Reekie took up the position of chief executive of Aldeburgh Music sixteen years ago. The organisation runs Snape Maltings and its concert spaces, the Aldeburgh Festival and education programmes including Aldeburgh Young Musicians and the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme.听 As Reekie prepares to leave Aldeburgh at the end of this week he talks to Petroc about what has been achieved during his tenure. Among the topics discussed are the probing questions: could the Aldeburgh model be replicated anywhere else in the UK? Is the festival an elite club? And how secure is the organisation financially?

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Photo: 漏听Aldeburgh Music

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The American composer Robert Ashley died on Monday 3rd March at the age of 83. He had just finished his latest opera 鈥淐rash鈥� three months ago and was in rehearsal for its premiere in New York in April. Ashley is credited with creating the first 鈥渢ruly American鈥� operas, most of them for television. His works include spoken dialogue, chanting and even mumbling which he used in pioneering ways. His librettos, most of which he wrote himself, had little conventional plot. Petroc is joined by the conductor and contemporary music specialist Richard Bernas, who knew the composer, to look back at Ashley鈥檚 life and work.

Photo: 漏Mary Lucier

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