Proms: The Hague Hacking UK premiere and De Staat

On August 17th and August 28th The Proms feature two Andriessen's compositions in Royal Albert Hall, London.

Prom 43 programme

"Esa-Pekka Salonen makes his first Proms appearance as the Philharmonia’s new Principal Conductor.

The Labèque sisters return for their third and final appearance this season, (see Proms 1 & 32), to celebrate the 70th birthday of the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen with the UK premiere of his new concerto – partly inspired by a Tom and Jerry cartoon, partly by a hardcore brand of house music – which they and Salonen premiered in Los Angeles in January. (Andriessen’s 1970s classic De staat is performed in Prom 58.)

Dance drives the rest of the programme, from Falla’s fiery flamenco vision of a midnight exorcism to Ravel’s magical fairy-tale evocations and the relentless crescendo of his Boléro".

Prom 58 programme

"The Netherlands Wind Ensemble, 50 this year, marks the 70th birthday of radical Dutch Minimalist Louis Andriessen and the 50th of his leading British pupil Steve Martland with performances of Andriessen’s classic polemic De Staat and Martland’s jazz-rock ‘dance fantasia’ Beat the Retreat, commissioned by the BBC for its 1995 Purcell tercentenary celebrations.

Another former pupil of Andriessen, Cornelis de Bondt creates an idiosyncratic death ritual in Doors Closed out of a fusion between the funeral march from Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ (Prom 25) and Dido’s Lament from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Prom 76). Two of tonight’s works call for two or more pianos, in a nod to our Multiple Pianos celebration".

Here you can find Mark Swed's review of world premiere of "The Hague Hacking" performed on January 16 this year in Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, by Katia and Marielle Labèque and LA Philharmonic conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.