Composer: Michael Wolters, Paul Norman, Luke Harrison, Kunling Liu
Performer: Thallein Ensemble, Suzie Purkiss, Tianshun Lin, Michael Wolters, Paul Norman
Orchestra: Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Daniele Rosina, Barry Wordsworth
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Birmingham Record Company
Catalogue: BRC016
Release: 2022
Size: 682 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Wolters: Hamburger Suite
01. Overture [After Telemann]
02. Liu: Shapes Between Shapes
Wolters: Lieder Deutscher Natur
03. No. 1, Ich liebe die Natur
04. Harrison: Music for Keeping Dogs Calm or for Dogs To Enjoy
05. Wolters: Regentrude
Wolters: Lieder Deutscher Natur
06. No. 2, Adler
07. No. 3, Dormagen (After J.S. Bach)
08. Wolters: Interlude (From “Ismène”)
Wolters: Lieder Deutscher Natur
09. No. 4, Kegeltour
10. Wolters: Rondeau (From “Ismène”)
11. Wolters: Antigone, Antigone (From “Ismène”)
Wolters: Hamburger Suite (Excerpts)
12. Hamburg Port Bulk Handling
13. Wolters: Gulf Stream {From “Das Ende des Golfstroms”)
14. Wolters: Become Invisible (From “Das Ende des Golfstroms”)
15. Norman: You’re All Kunst (Arr. P. Norman & M. Wolters for Voice & Ensemble)
Wolters: There Are More of Them Than Us (A Queer Concertro for 9 Saxophones & Orchestra) [Live]
16. I. Largo
17. II. Sequence
18. III. Trio
19. IV. Polka with Choreography
20. V. Vivace
‘Aria Cuntata and the Low Miracles was a concert event that took place at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in November 2021 to mark the 50th birthday of Michael Wolters. It was hosted by drag character ‘Aria Cuntata, whose name is made up of two Italian words: aria refers to a solo vocal piece with orchestral accompaniment, while cuntata is the past participle of the old Italian cuntare meaning to tell (a story). Michael Wolters performed as ‘Aria Cuntata, singing, lip-syncing and telling stories. The whole project was created around the theme of “fake news”, blending music and stories to explore our past and present through a queer lens while investigating gender, racial and socio-economic imbalance in our cultural history. A key aspect of the show was an exploration of more accessible performance formats for contemporary classical music. With a queer, holistic view, every performance element was contextualised to create an event that allowed access to those who might traditionally feel left out of art music concerts. Musically, Wolters looked back over some of his key ensemble works from a range of past projects and selected a number of pieces that he felt deserved another context and a new line-up.
This new release contains new music and newly arranged music from the show written mostly by Wolters, but also including works from young composers Kunling Liu, Luke Harrison, Poor Northern (aka Paul Norman) and Difficult Listening. The music offers alternative cutting-edge takes on established musical genres to create an engaging and thought-provoking event.
In addition to The Low Miracles the album features Wolters’s There are more of them than us – a Queer Concerto for 9 saxophones and orchestra, a work for large forces that builds aspects of queering into its music – from planned accidents in traditional Baroque performance to its exuberant and over-the-top finale.