After the glut of composer anniversaries in 2013, this year’s
list looks considerably shorter. Strauss will be dominating the opera houses,
of course, but let’s hope that the concert halls find space in their schedules
to celebrate the work of Andrzej Panufnik, whose 100th anniversary falls on 24 September.
The LSO made a great start yesterday evening, with a concert featuring
two works from opposite ends of the Panufnik spectrum: the Sinfonia Sacra, a bold statement of defiance against Poland’s
Communist rule, and Lullaby, a quirky
little microtonal number with some surprising twists. The event, and indeed the
entire centenary, is being promoted by Poland’s Adam
Mickiewicz Institute (I wish somebody would promote British music the way
Poland does theirs – effortless superiority only gets you so far), and plenty
more events are planned. The LSO will be returning to Panufnik in October, with
a performance conducted by Antonio Pappano, and there will be some chamber
music concerts at Kings Place. There are also apparently “extensive UK summer
festival plans yet to be announced”, but I couldn’t possibly speculate about
what that might refer to. He’s a composer
well worth getting to know better, and 2014 is shaping up to be the ideal year
to do so.
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