π Sunday Culture Crunch π
For all your weekend culture needs
Good morning all, hello to new subscribers, and welcome to the Sunday Culture Crunch β my weekend roundup of thought-provoking listening/reading, new music, upcoming events, and recommendations for general culture stuff to look out for over the next few weeks. This is the last Crunch before Christmas β Iβll be back again in the New Year with things to look forward to in 2024. Happy browsing, and do comment if thereβs anything youβd like to see featured in the Crunch!
What Iβm Reading
Julia Boyd, Travellers in the Third Reich. Even after Hitler became Chancellor, foreigners continued to visit Germany right up until the eve of World War II. Boyd brings together writings by visitors from schoolchildren to tourists and diplomats, to give a rich account of how the Third Reich was viewed from the outside. The amount of complacency, denial, and willful ignorance makes for shocking reading β to say nothing of those who openly admired the regime.
βItβs a conversation within you between some of your fears or things that youβre happy about in life.β Composer Dobrinka Tabakova talks to Hattie Butterworth about her creative process.
When your own book gets caught up in the censorship wars: Robert Samuels on navigating censorship laws with his Pulitzer Prize-winning book His Name is George Floyd.
What weβll be obsessing over in 2024, according to the New York Times.
When is it acceptable to change historical facts to suit a story? Henry Oliver gets opinionated about historical films.
Betsy Golden Kellem explores the history of the banjo in North America.
New Recordings
MiklΓ³s RΓ³zsa: Orchestral Works. RΓ³zsa was best known as a film composer β you might have heard his Oscar-winning scores on Ben-Hur, Spellbound, and A Double Life. This recording shows that he was a formidable composer for stage as well as screen.
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto, Scherzo à la Russe, Suite Nos. 1 & 2, Apollon Musagète. James Ehnes is a brilliant soloist in the Concerto, and the BBC Philharmonic led by Andrew Davis bring out the fun in the Suite No. 2. Excellent sound production as always from Chandos.
Charpentier: MΓ©dΓ©e. Led by HervΓ© Niquet, Le Concert Spirituel get a beautifully rich sound for this performance of Charpentierβs opera based on the story of Jason and Medea.
Nomad. This is an extraordinarily virtuosic album from soprano Lilian Farahani. She brings together a vast range of repertoire ranging from Ravel to PiazzΓ³lla.
Haydn: Die Γhrenleserin & Ninfe inbelli. No not that Haydn, the other one. This disc presents a cantata and singspiel by Michael Haydn, who was Joseph Haydnβs almost exact contemporary. Wolfgang Brunner leads the Salzburger Hofmusik in a polished rendition β fans of Mozart, Handel and Joseph Haydn will enjoy this.
Piano Music of Oscar FernΓ‘ndez. Iβve really enjoyed this disc of piano music by Brazilian composer FernΓ‘ndez β Martin Jones tackles the pieces with a characteristically light touch.
Notre Amour: Pieces for Cello and Piano. This is a well-recorded, passionate album from Isabel Gehweiler and Fiona Hengartner. Their rendition of Blochβs From Jewish Life is particularly good.
An oldie and a goodieβ¦
Maria Callas has been everywhere this year because of her centenary, so this week Iβm choosing the album that got me into Puccini β the first studio recording she made of Tosca, in the role that bookended her career. The power of this performance blew me away as a kid, and it remains one of my favourite opera recordings.
Live Music
Choral group SANSARA give a Christmas concert at Kings Place on 20 December, featuring music by Ukrainian composers.
If Love, Actually is part of your Christmas holiday tradition, then you can try it with full live orchestra at the Barbican on 21 December.
Simon Rattle conducts JanΓ‘Δekβs JenΕ―fa at the Barbican 11-14 January, with Asmik Grigorian in the title role.
Richard Straussβ Elektra opens at the Royal Opera House on 12 January, with Nina Stemme singing the title role and Antonio Pappano conducting.
Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter plays John Williams with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Southbank Centre on 13 January.
Ben Goldscheider gives the world premiere of Gavin Higginsβ Horn Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales on 13 January, at Brangwyn Hall (repeated on Hoddinott Hall on 14 January).
Violinist Randall Goosby leads a concert featuring composers including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor at the Purcell Room on 14 January.
Soprano Danielle de Niese sings at Kings Place on 17 January, including works by Mozart, Cole Porter and Puccini.
KwamΓ© Ryan conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra for a USA-themed programme at the Southbank Centre on 18 January, including work by Jennifer Higdon and the UK premiere of emergency shelter intake form by Gabriel Kahane.
Guitarist Sean Shibe (who was in my Best Albums of 2023) plays a solo programme at the Barbican on 18 January.
Cellist Abel Selaocoe leads a concert at Milton Court Concert Hall on 21 January, with a programme including Terry Rileyβs βIn Cβ.
Pianist Samantha Ege plays the Carwithen Piano Concerto with the Oakland Symphony on 26 January, at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland.
Tangram collective give a concert themed around climate change on 27 January at Jerwood Hall.
And for something completely differentβ¦
In this household, it isnβt properly Christmas until weβve been to a musical. This year we went for Operation Mincemeat, collectively written by David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson & ZoΓ« Roberts, who together make up SplitLip. It was genuinely hilarious, mostly because the cast seemed to be having an amazing time on stage and their enthusiasm carried any of the weaker moments in the script. It reminded me of the best student improv, but taken to a West End level of professionalism. The show runs through into next year, including from 26-31 January.