The Rose Lake by Michael Tippett: Resonate
About the piece
Tippett’s final orchestral work, The Rose Lake, was inspired by Senegal’s Lake Retba – famed for transforming through vivid shades of pink under the midday-sun. The piece explores questions that preoccupied Tippett throughout his career, entrancing the listener with sonorities and techniques of non-Western cultures, rototom rhythms and shifting orchestral colours.
About the composer
Sir Michael Tippett (1905 – 1998) rose to prominence during WWII and during his lifetime was ranked as one of the leading British composers. His early music was largely lyrical, before adopting a more experimental style with jazz and blues influences after his first trip to America in 1965.
The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle perform Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances before joining the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis to perform Swing Symphony together at the Barbican on Wednesday 25 July 2012.
Photo by Mark Allan
Championed by London Symphony Orchestra