Page 604 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

Britten: Curlew River - Aldeburgh Festival (Photo: Marcus Roth, (c) Britten Pears Arts)

But Pierrot lunaire at the Rudolfinum, Prague, on 24 February 1913,
caused uproar and mayhem with the audience becoming one of
Schoenberg’s most frightening and traumatic experiences which he
remembered for the rest of his life, leading him to demand guarantees for
trouble-free performances at further ‘Pierrot’ concerts. The première of
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes at
the Theatre du Champs-Élysées, Paris, appeared two months after
Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, widely considered the most notorious
scandal in the history of music, mirrors the same scenario.

Thankfully, no one had angst or anger etched into their faces at
the Aldeburgh Festival in such a brilliant and effortless performance
delivered by Claire Booth with the performance nicely sandwiched
between Thursday’s Solstice (20 June) and Saturday’s Full Moon (22
June) and coinciding, too, with the anniversary of Peter Pears’ birthday.
Heard in the intimacy and comfort of the Britten Studio (ideal for works
such as Pierrot lunaire) the players of The Nash Ensemble - Philippa
Davies (flute), Richard Hosford (clarinet), Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Lars
Anders Tomter (viola), Adrian Brendel (cello) and Alasdair Beatson
(piano) - were found on top form. Are they ever off it?