After a year of something earily close to hibernation, the world of live music is
slowly waking up. Heading into a dense semester, here is a quick overview on the status of various things.
First the drama: Mathieu van Bellen and I have just completed a full five days recording our version of Puccinis La Boheme (picture above). We worked hard to maintain both the grittyness and the lightness of the piece, and at this point I am pretty hopefull this can be (officially or not; and only partially kidding) the record- ing of the century. The recording will most likely be published in many forms; both as pure audio (digital and print) and in some visual form including the text from the live performance. The production is a cooperation between Podium Esslingen and Backlash Music, and it looks like the release shedule will be quite an extensive af- fair.
Next on the agenda is another recording; this time with Magnus Boye Hansen and norwegian label LAWO. On the operating table are the violin sonatas of late romantic maximalist Christian Sinding. In these sonatas he displays an almost militant attitude towards weaving spontanious ideas and abstract twists into the score. Very cool and very unexpected.
Following this, Boyes Cafe Orchestra will visit Oranijewoud Festival, while La Boheme can be cought in Elbfilharmonie (Hamburg), Siggen and Dusseldorf Festi- val (amongs others). The Well Prepared Piano can be seen live in Gothingburg Philharmonic in September, followed by the PODIUMfestival in Haugesund and Incantatie IV in Dusseldorf. LightsOut is also waking up once again, this time per- forming Messiaens Quartet The End of Time in various norwegian dark rooms.