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Conquest of the Useless by David Fennessy

David Fennessy's Conquest of the Useless: inspired by Werner Herzog鈥檚 film Fitzcarraldo about an opera-crazed obsessive driven to construct an opera house in the Peruvian jungle.

David Fennessy's Conquest of the Useless.

Kate Molleson introduces a performance of this epic trilogy inspired by Werner Herzog鈥檚 eccentric 1982 film Fitzcarraldo. Fitzcarraldo is an opera-crazed obsessive, driven to construct an opera house in the Peruvian jungle, in the course of which he decides to haul a 320-ton steamship overland from one Amazonian river system to another: "A vision had seized hold of me....,the hunter gives up trying to calm him. It was the vision of a large steamship scaling a hill under its own steam, working its way up a steep slope in the jungle, while above this natural landscape, which shatters the weak and the strong with equal ferocity, soars the voice of Caruso, silencing all the pain and all the voices of the primeval forest and drowning out all birdsong.鈥� Fennessy writes that most of the music is inspired by these lines, the orchestra "providing the setting and perhaps even the embodiment of what could be the true central character of this whole trilogy 鈥� the jungle itself and the river which flows through it."

David Fennessy: Conquest of the Useless
I Prologue: Fitzcarraldo, dreams of building an opera house in the middle of the Amazon jungle.
II Caruso: an extended fantasy, 鈥渂orn of the delirium of the jungle.鈥�
III Gold is the sweat of the sun, silver are the tears of the moon

Brian Ferguson (actor)
Jennifer Johnston (mezzo soprano)
David Fennessy (electric guitar)
Peter Dowling (electronics)
麻豆社 Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Jack Sheen (conductor)

(Recorded at City Halls, Glasgow 4 Nov 2023)

2 hours

Last on

Sat 13 Apr 2024 22:30
麻豆社 Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Traditional American

    Prelude - Montgomery

    Performer: Cleek Schrey. Performer: Weston Olencki.
    • The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion.
    • Pagans.
    • 1.

  • C Joynes

    Triban Kill Reddin

    Performer: Rhodri Davies.
    • Creiriau y Delyn Rawn / Relics of the Horsehair Harp.
    • AMGEN.
    • 12.

  • Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh

    脡ir铆, a leibide

    Performer: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh.
    • Creiriau y Delyn Rawn / Relics of the Horsehair Harp.
    • AMGEN.
    • 13.

  • Jan Martin Smordal

    My Favourite Thing (extract)

    Performer: Silje Aker Johnsen. Performer: Kristine Tjogersen. Performer: Ane Marthe Sorlien Holen.
    • My Favourite Things.
    • LAWO.
    • 7-10.

  • Stuart MacRae

    Ursa Minor

    Ensemble: Hebrides Ensemble.

  • David Fennessy

    Conquest of the useless

    Performer: David Fennessy. Performer: Peter Dowling. Singer: Jennifer Johnston. Orchestra: 麻豆社 Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jack Sheen.

  • Olivia Block

    The Hermit's Peak

    Performer: Olivia Block.
    • The Mountains Pass.
    • Black Truffle Records.
    • 2.

  • Phill Niblock

    Harmonius

    Performer: Miroslav Beinhauer.
    • Pieces For Sixth-Tone Harmonium.
    • Sub Rosa.
    • 8.

Broadcast

  • Sat 13 Apr 2024 22:30
    麻豆社 Radio 3

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