Ends and Odds

Some teasers for the week.

Whispers now circulate around two contemporary composers, György Kurtág and Pierre Boulez, who are both apparently planning operatic works based on Beckett's plays. The gossip on the former's plans for Endgame can be read here and on the latter's Waiting for Godot here. Kurtág has already written a vocal work based on Beckett's 'what is the word', op. 30b, and a series of pieces that set Beckett's Chamfort Maximes for voices, violin, cello and percussion. These can be heard on Spotify, and are called 'pas à pas - nulle part'.

There is now a date on the Cambridge University Press website for the second volume of Beckett's letters, as can be seen here. 

Michael Gambon's current performance in Krapp's Last Tape, at the Duchess Theatre was preceded by an interview on the BBC's Front Row. It can still be heard here sandwiched between The Archers and Robert Wyatt. Billie Whitelaw's bottom features.