Author Alex Ross pulled back the curtain for the masses and hit the best seller lists with his compelling and revelatory history of twentieth-century music, The Rest Is Noise.
A tour-de-force of musicology and social history, Ross dispels the elitist myths surrounding modernist and post-modernist masterpieces, allowing audiences to share in his passion for this repertoire.
In partnership with the Auckland Writers Festival, Ross shares the stage with the exquisite mezzo-soprano Bianca Andrew and Aotearoa’s pre-eminent modern music ensemble STROMA. Together they present a musical tasting session that winds through the ages featuring work by Ravel, Bartók, Stravinsky and, of course, the modernist master himself, Schoenberg.
FEATURING
Alex Ross (narrator)
Bianca Andrews (soprano)
Bridget Douglas, Pat Barry, Emma Sayers, Vesa-Matti Leppänen, Andrew Thomson, Ken Ichinose, Hamish McKeich (Stroma)
PROGRAMME:
Arnold Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire (selections)
Maurice Ravel No. 3 from Chansons Madécasses
Béla Bartók No. 3 from Constrasts
Olivier Messiaen VI from Quartet for the end of time
György Ligeti Balada si joc
Igor Stravinsky ‘Full Fathom Five’ from Three Songs from William Shakespeare
Jenny McLeod For Seven (selections)
Luciano Berio O King
Pierre Boulez Improvisé, pour le Dr. Kalmus
Iannis Xenakis Charisma
Gillian Whitehead Manutaki
Kaija Saariaho Oi Kuu
David Lang Short Fall
