Astra Quarter-Hour Concerts - 2020-21
A series of short aural-video programs for online listening and viewing, assembled from the Astra Concerts archive from the 1950s to the present, and introducing new studio works from composers in the period of COVID-19.
Drawing on these past and current elements, mini-concerts are created that never took place as such, from items separated in time and place. New ways open up for Astra's characteristic program experiences, of encounters between different styles and eras in music, both choral and instrumental.
Concert #1 - The City
Robert Carl, Stefan Wolpe, Alma Mahler
Concert #2 - The Royal Park School
Martin Friedel & Allan Walker (2020), Keith Humble (1987)
Concert #3 - William Blake, Cradle & Grave
Dorian Le Gallienne, Bo Holten, Elisabeth Lutyens
Concert #4 - Procession and Footfalls
Robert Schumann, Elisabeth Lutyens
Concert #5 - Composer - Kaleidoscope
Short works by Helen Gifford
Concert #6 - Between War and Revolution
Arthur Lourié, Alexander Mosolov, Alexander Kastalsky
Concert #7 - Nativity
Thomas Tallis, Heinrich Schütz, Livia Teodorescu-Ciocănea
Concert #8 - The Indian Ocean School
Simone de Haan & Graeme Leak
Concert #9 - Janus Credo
Franz Liszt, 'Esztergom Credo' from Missa Solemnis
Concert #10 - Antics and Antiques
Music of Andrew Byrne
Concert #11 - Phantasma
Helen Gifford and Margaret Sutherland. George Logie-Smith conducts the Astra Orchestra, 1985
Concert #12 - VIENNAS
Mozart, Webern, Zemlinsky, Humble, Schoenberg, Beethoven
Concert #13 - MARY
11th C hymn, 14th C pilgrim song, Josquin Desprez (15th C), Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1894), Brecht / Hufschmidt (1922/1977)
Concert #14 - Et in Terra Child
11th C trope, Herzogenberg (1894), Dessau (1951), Wolfgang Hufschmidt (1977), Matthias Schlothfeldt (2003)
NB For best video quality, use the Settings "wheel" to choose HD (1080p).
Astra Quarter-Hour Concerts are made possible by digitisation of the Astra Concerts archive, which has been supported by The Ian Potter Foundation.
