Luxury Suite from Powder Her Face

Composer:: Thomas Adès
Year:: 1995/2017
Duration:: 27
Genre:: Full Orchestra

Commission:: Luxury Suite from Powder Her Face (2017) incorporates four newly-orchestrated sections of the 1995 chamber opera, interpolated between new orchestrations of the existing Three-piece Suite from Powder Her Face (2007)*, to make an extended, full-length symphonic suite

Luxury Suite from Powder Her Face was co-commissioned by the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the generous support of The Boltini Trust, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, and the St. Louis Symphony

*Three-piece Suite from Powder Her Face (12 minutes) was commissioned by the Aldeburgh Festival, the Philharmonia Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra
First Performance:: 31.5.2017, Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany: Berliner Philharmoniker/Sir Simon Rattle

'Sparkling, louche and witty' The Observer

Instrumentation

3(III=picc).3.3(all=bcl).ssax.asax(=tsax).3(III=contraforte*) – 4331 – timp – perc(3): glsp/xyl/t.bell + bucketful of water/2 susp.cym/clash.cym/antique.cym/hi-hat.cym/siz.cym/tam-t/SD/2 kit BD/orchestral BD/small rototom/3 brake drums/high bongo/Monkey drum/3 tpl.bl/guero/2 whips/small rattle/tgl/tamb/large washboard/small anvil/vibraslap/flexatone/lion’s roar/paper bag/wood chimes/cabasa/popgun – harp – pno – strings * ossia: contrabassoon (requiring low A)

Availability

Score and parts for hire

Reviews

'The opera was chamber-sized, but the suite is huge, throwing in – well, not the kitchen sink, but it does include a large washboard, an anvil, and two whips. The result is an orchestral sizzler, as if this is how the music always wanted to be.'

The Financial Times (Richard Fairman), 12 April 2018

Luxury Suite from Powder Her Face - Suite No.2

Instrumentation

Availability

Reviews

Performances

Recent Performances