Just been to the second week of the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts - as always a wide variety of music with a lot of contemporary work - I did NOT like Zenakis' Tetra!!!! It opened with the string quartet yowling (that's the only word for it) fortissimmo glissandoing up and down the strings, all the instruments in opposite directions - then all sorts of unpleasant sounds coming from them as he had them playing "sul ponticello" and behind the bridge and all sorts of things. Really horrid. Well, I sat through it.... At least I can say I've listened to it!
However on the final Saturday, which was Oliver Knussen's 50th Birthday, we had a WONDERFUL performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring - if it's played on the radio in your area do listen - it was fantastic! And of course Alfred Brendel was superb the night before - the way he did the crossovers in the last movement was incredible, he made it look so easy. And you really can hear him singing along with the music as he plays!
