It's all about the classical music composers and their works from the last 400 years and much more about music. Hier erfahren Sie alles über die klassischen Komponisten und ihre Meisterwerke der letzten vierhundert Jahre und vieles mehr über Klassische Musik.
Angel Matias Peña was born on the 22nd of April, 1921 in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. He is a composer and bass player. He received a certificate of merit in double-bass playing under a grant (with Gary Hickling as his mentor) and a Licentiate from the Royal Schools of Music, London.
He has arranged various jazz concerts for the Upsilon Sigma Phi at the University of the Philippines. He worked as the dance band leader at the Hong Kong Hilton for a time and conducted lecture-demonstrations, among others at the Thomas Jefferson Library in Manila in 1968, and at the University of Hawaii in 1975.
Among his compositions for orchestral music are Igorot Rhapsody (1958), Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra (1969), Concerto for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra (1981) and Symphonic Variations on Two Manobo Themes (1983). He has also composed chamber music works. His most popular kundiman is "Iyo Kailan Pa Man" with words by Levi Celerio.
Angel Peña won two first prizes at the Philippine National Compositions Contests. He also received a plaque from the Order of Knights of Rizal for his composition, Homage to Rizal. He has three long playing records of original compositions released in Manila, the United States and Germany.
Angel Peña is affiliated with the Performing Rights Society Ltd of London, the United Kingdom Song Writers Guild of Great Britain, the American String Teachers' Association, the Musicians Association of Hawaii, and the Audition Committee of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra.
We look at one of the most memorable moments of the legendary conductor’s career and his close ties with Mahler’s masterpiece.
One of the most recognisable conductors in the world, his music-making has taken him from his origins in Liverpool to orchestras in cities worldwide. He caused an international stir when he was named the first British musical director of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1999; one of the highest honours in the conducting world.
Before Berlin though, Rattle gained international fame as principal conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1980, transforming an already great British orchestra into one that could hold its own with the greatest ensembles worldwide.
A key moment of Rattle’s tenure with the CBSO was the opening of its top-rate performance venue – described by Sunday Times as ‘an acoustic triumph’ and by Daily Telegraph as ‘the best concert hall in the country’.
Rattle was a figure in the hall’s development, using his influence to campaign and raise the necessity for a new hall after the orchestra’s previous performance venue – Birmingham’s Town Hall – had become unfit for a modern symphony orchestra.
Sir Simon Rattle / Berliner Philharmoniker - Mahler Symphony No 2, 'Resurrection'
After many years, the British maestro succeeded, and the stage was set for 15 April 1991, where Simon Rattle and the CBSO gave two performances of Mahler’s monumental second symphony, the appropriately named ‘Resurrection’ Symphony.
The historic event was held in the presence of Anne, Princess Royal and captured on camera. The recording manages to capture the incredible atmosphere of the concert. Everyone is on their A-game; the CBSO and CBSO chorus leaves nothing on the table, performing with high drama and electricity. Rattle superbly guides everyone through the proceedings, impressively conducting the huge work – around 90 minutes in length – by memory.
Mahler’s mighty Second Symphony has been something of a party piece for Rattle, accompanying him in several key moments of his career.
Sir Simon Rattle. Picture: Getty
In early 1973 studying at the Royal Academy of Music, Rattle organised a performance of the Symphony with his fellow students. This led him to be talent-spotted by music agent Martin Campbell-White, who still manages Rattle’s career with Askonas Holt Ltd.
It was also Mahler’s Second that Rattle chose to conduct in his last performance as music director with both the CBSO and the LSO, showing the close bond he has with the symphony.
In Rattle’s words, “Mahler’s Second Symphony is a piece which I have been involved with all my musical life. In fact, it was the piece that made me want to take up conducting when I heard it at age 12. Mahler wanted to put the whole world into a symphony… for me, it is one of the most moving of all orchestral works…”
Written between 1888 and 1894, Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony is one of the largest pieces in the orchestral repertory, scored for a full chorus, two vocal soloists and over 150 orchestral musicians – including an off-stage band consisting of horns, trumpets and percussion. Premiered in 1895, the symphony was one of Mahler’s most popular and well-received works in his lifetime.
Following the model established in Beethoven’s fifth and ninth symphonies, the work transitions from darkness to awe-inspiring light, with strong allusions to the Christian beliefs of resurrection. Mahler, who was Jewish by birth, had turned to Christianity as a way of being accepted by the increasingly antisemitic Viennese cultural elite.
The epic final moments of the symphony rank among the best moments in all music and feature in a climactic scene of the recent Leonard Bernstein biopic,Maestro.
As Sir Simon looks ahead to the future, it seems likely that Mahler’s mighty Second Symphony will continue to play a huge part in his life.
Marion Cotillard et Yo-Yo Ma interprètent « Le Pont » de Victor Hugo | Notre-Dame de Paris
By Will Padfield
Two world-class artists united for a performance of spellbinding power in the newly reopened Notre Dame Cathedral.
When Notre Dame Cathedral reopened last month, six years after the fire that almost destroyed the building, it gave the world some of the best musical moments of 2024.
During the star-studded ceremony inside the cathedral, brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon played a violin and cello duet and Lang Lang joined forces with the legendary conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.
There were also less conventional musical moments, such as when the grand organ of Notre Dame was ‘awakened’ in a call-and-response dialogue between the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, and the organ.
An equally ‘dramatique’ moment of the ceremony came when Yo-Yo Ma collaborated with the French film star Marion Cotillard to perform a poem by Victor Hugo. Cotillard is one of France’s most recognisable actresses, appearing in an array of award-winning films, including La Vie en Rose, Inception and The Dark Knight Rises.
Yo-Yo Ma and Marion Cotillard in Notre Dame. Picture: Youtube screen grab
In the performance, Cotillard gives a chilling reading of Hugo’s poem Le Pont (The Bridge), whilst Ma interjects the poem with improvised gestures on his cello. The poem is deeply moving, dark and mysterious opening with a cry of desperation:
‘I had darkness before my eyes. The abyss
That has no shore and no peak,
Was there, gloomy, immense; and nothing moved there.’
Ma perfectly captures the essence of the text, complimenting Cotillard’s delivery with gentle brush strokes of the cello that are chilling to listen to. The timing between the two legendary performers is perfect, with both leaving space for the immense hall to carry the sound into every corner of the building.
Yo-Yo Ma is no stranger to improvised performances and has frequently raised the importance of it being embedded in musicians’ education, telling The Strad: “Classical musicians today have moved away from improvisation, but it’s an essential part of owning the music.”
