Inspired by Alice

Not to put any pressure on our Curiouser composers but it turns out the list of what or who has been inspired by Alice is very long. Art, books, music, film, theatre. Here's our 4 music picks:

Unsuk Chin
“I’m attracted by virtuosity,” Ms. Chin said. “This enthusiasm and virtuosity of a player trying to go beyond his or her boundaries: I like that” From an interview in the New York Times

The world premiere of Unsuk Chin's first opera was in 2007 at the Bavarian State Opera and the Barbican ran a different production this year as part of the 150 year anniversary celebrations. Reviews didn't seem convinced about the libretto (“…problems start with Chin and David Henry Hwang’s libretto, which is extracted from Lewis Carroll’s book and adds extra layers to a text that is already laden with verbal conceits, puns and parodies…” From the Guardian review) but seemed to like the production and maybe the music (“Chin is without doubt gifted with both technique and imagination. A light touch, however, is lacking.” From the Telegraph review)*.

* Obviously you can't just take the critics' word for it but as sadly I managed to miss it, we don't have personal experiences to go by. Please let us know other views!

Listen for yourself:



Joby Talbot

“completely, extraordinarily magical” Joby talking about what he wanted the music to be like

The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada jointly commissioned Joby Talbot to write the score for a new ballet, which was premiered in February 2011. Published by Chester Novello, the orchestration is intentionally not the usual symphony orchestra so that he could create that magical sound-world: 3 (3pic,1afl) 2 (oboe d'amore, ca) 3 (Efl cl:bcl) 2 (cbn) /43 (shofar) 2 + btn1 / timps.5perc / 2hp.2pno(celeste+toy piano) / (str(10.10.8.8.6) + amp + 4 female voices

Here’s Joby and Christopher Wheeldon, the choreographer, talking about the work and some clips. I particularly love the amazing tap dancing adding extra percussion:

Will Todd with Opera Holland Park

Opera Holland Park commissioned Will Todd to write the score for a new children’s Alice opera, which premiered in 2013. It’s a site specific, semi-promenade performance and a different sound world to Unsuk Chin, “Alice’s songs vary in style between West End musical and pure Sondheim”. The critics and audiences seemed to love it. It’ll be on again in 2016

Image from http://www.martinduncan.com/

Ligeti

Ligeti’s favourite English book was Alice in Wonderland and apparently he once said in an interview "Alice is a wise and wonderful book". He talked for the last 30 years of his life about composing an Alice opera but never did. However, his 10 pieces for Wind Quintet features an Alice quote at the end:

and in his Nonsense bagatelles he wrote a Lobster Quadrille:

Composers Lisa Illean, Darren Bloom and Kim Ashton have curated 3 sets inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which will be performed by the Octandre Ensemble on 12th November. More info and tickets HERE