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Sir Simon Rattle to Premiere Thomas Adès’s Aquifer with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Mar. 05, 2024

On March 14, Sir Simon Rattle and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra will premiere Thomas Adès’ Aquifer at the Herkulessaal in Munich. They will perform the Austrian debut of the 17-minute work at the Musikverein on March 16. The US premiere, at Carnegie Hall, follows on May 3. This summer Rattle and the orchestra will present the work at the Grafenegg Festival on August 30.

Aquifer was commissioned by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks for the inaugural season of Chief Conductor Sir Simon Rattle with support from Carnegie Hall and the Gesellschafft der Musikfreunde in Wien.

The title refers to a geological structure which can transmit water. It is cast in one movement built from seven sections. It begins by welling up from the deepest notes, before the theme is presented first by the flutes, building to three statements that use more and more of the orchestra. After a breakdown, the theme returns in a slower second section, albeit with more unstable rhythms and harmony; the third section is built on a crawling chromatic bass line. It accelerates into the fast-flowing fourth section, from which emerges a mysterious stillness. The fifth section builds towards a return of the opening material, lapsing then – as before – into a darker slow section with a dragging character. The fast-flowing music breaks through again, culminating in an ecstatic coda.

Simon Rattle has championed Adès’ music for over a quarter of a century. In 1997 he commissioned Asyla – which would subsequently win the Grawemeyer Award – for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and would subsequently conduct the work internationally over 35 times, including at his 2002 inaugural concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, with whom he later premiered Tevot in 2007.


Excerpt of Asyla from Rattle's 2002 inaugural concert with the Berlin Philharmonic; watch the full performance here

In 2020 Rattle conducted the world premiere of Adès’s Dawn with the London Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms.


Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra premiere Thomas Adès's Dawn

To learn more about Thomas Adès, visit fabermusic.com.

Thomas Adès
Aquifer (2024)
for orchestra
3(3.pic).3(3.eh).2.bcl.3(3.contraforte or cbn)-4.3(1.ptpt).2tbrn.btbrn.1-timp6perc (6 - crot/glsp/vib/tbellls/2 bell plates/tam-t/siz.cym/clash cyms/susp.cym/hi-hat/4 metal bars (scaffolding bars)/SD/BD/2 rattles (big and small)/whip)-str(double basses require extensions down to low C, or 5 string bass. Half of the section requires a low B)
17'

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