'TIS NATURE'S VOICE
Elgar famously wrote: 'the trees are singing my music -- or have I sung theirs?'. Often his music evokes the sense that nature is speaking directly to the listener, adding a further dimension to his music about the natural world. We explore this phenomenon in other music by British composers and some Nordic rarities. We end with a vibrant contemporary Australian soundscape - Sacred Kingfisher Psalms by Ross Edwards.
Programme
Edward Elgar
Frederick Delius
Leevi Madetoja
Jean Sibelius
Leevi Madetoja
John Ireland
Rued Langaard
Edward Elgar
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Arvo Pärt
George Parris
Ross Edwards
The Shower & The Fountain
On Craig Ddu
Kevätunta (Dream of Spring)
Sydämeni laulu (Song of my heart)
Onnelliset (The Happy Ones)
Spring, the sweet Spring
Lokkende Toner (Enticing tones)
Evening scene, Owls & O wild west wind!
Silence and music
The Deer's Cry
Now welcome somer
Sacred kingfisher psalms
25th MAY
RICHMOND CONCERT SOCIETY
St Mary Magdalene Church, Richmond
CONCERT at 7:45pm
For tickets please contact promoter.
26th MAY
ST JAMES' CHURCH, CHIPPING CAMPDEN
Sitting One at 5pm
Due to social distancing, there will be two performances of the programme.
Sitting Two at 7:30pm
You must book online. Tickets will not be available on the door.
Our performance of this programme at the Newbury Spring Festival has now been postponed to the 8th September. More details to follow soon.
In partnership with
For our Kings Place debut we explore the choral songs of Elgar & Sibelius, two world-famous contemporaries who, despite coming from opposite ends of Europe, share a number of influences, traits, tensions and peculiarities in their music. We trace these congruities and contrasts in a careful selection of part-songs they composed throughout their creative lives. To end the concert, we perform a gorgeous tribute to that most Finnish of customs - a Saturday evening sauna - by our Associate Composer Matthew Whittall.
Programme
Elgar
Sibelius
Elgar
Sibelius
Elgar
Sibelius
Elgar
Sibelius
Whittall
My love dwelt in a northern land
Min rastas raataa (What the thrush toils)
Män från slätten och havet (Men from plain and sea) Evening Scene
The Fountain
Rakastava (The lover)
Love
Serenade
Sortunut ääni (The broken voice)
Saarella palaa (Fire on the island)
Owls (An Epitaph)
O Wild west wind!
Sydämeni laulu (Song of my heart)
Venematka (The boat journey)
Lauantaisauna (Saturday sauna)
Our project is made possible by the Nicholas John Trust, with the support of the Finnish Embassy in London, the Finnish Institute in London, and the Elgar Society.
View our other ongoing projects and how you can help us here.
'TIS NATURE'S VOICE
25th - 26th May 2021
Vibrant and melodious springtime music, performed to live audiences in Richmond and Chipping Campden.
PAST EVENTS
HELSINKI
Saturday 22nd Feburary 2020
Sibelius Academy Concert Hall
PROGRAMME:
Henry Purcell Hear my prayer, O Lord
Funeral Sentences
Carlo Gesualdo Tenebrae Responsories
for Holy Saturday
Edvard Grieg Fire Salmer
Galina Grigorjeva In Paradisum
LONDON HONINGTON
OXFORD LIEDER FESTIVAL
IN PARADISUM
12th-15th October 2019
PAST PROGRAMMES
Hover over the pictures for more information.
PROGRAMME:
Icelandic Hymn Heyr, himna smiður (Hear, smith of the heavens)
Edvard Grieg Hvad est du dog skjøn (How fair thou art)
Wilhelm Stenhammar September
Jean Sibelius Rakastava (The Lover)
Kaija Saariaho Nuits, Adieux (Nights, Farewell)
David Wikander Förvårskväll (Spring evening)
Matthew Whittall Lauantaisauna (Saturday sauna)
Per Nørgård Maya Danser (Maya Dances)
Arr. Ørjan Matre Halleluja, vår strid er endt (Halleluja, our struggle ends)
Karin Rehnqvist I himmelen (In Heaven's hall)
Premiered in 2018 at the Oxford Lieder Festival.
Subsequent performances at:
Cheltenham Music Festival
Swedish Church in London
St Mary's, Warwick
(July 2019)
TWELFTH
NIGHT
PROGRAMME
Samuel Barber Twelfth Night
Walter Lambe Nesciens Mater
Herbert Howells Here is a Little Door
Sing Lullaby
A spotless rose
Nicholas Ludford Ave Cujus Conceptio
Francis Poulenc Un Soir de Neige
Per Nørgård Winter Hymn
Robert White Christie qui lux es et dies
Gustav Mahler Um mitternacht (arr. Gottwald)
Peter Warlock The Rich Cavalcade
Bethlehem Down
Sergei Rachmaninov Bogoroditse Devo
London & Warwick
January 2019
Commemorating the centenary of Hubert Parry's death and the end of the First World War.
Eternal Be The Sleep
PROGRAMME:
Ivor Gurney Since I believe in God the Father Almighty
C. Hubert H. Parry Sorrow and pain
Cecilia McDowall I know that my redeemer liveth
C. Hubert H. Parry Love is a sickness
Edward Elgar They are at rest
Herbert Howells Psalm 121
Requiem aeternam (2)
Gustav Holst Nunc Dimittis
~
C. Hubert H. Parry Songs of Farewell
In Memoriam
A special Remembrance Day concert in aid of
St Martin's Church Fabric Fund, the Royal British Legion, and Armed Forces Charity SSAFA.
Music included Parry's Songs of Farewell,
Howells Requiem, Jackson's Justorum Animae,
and Pearsall's Lay A Garland.
Barcheston, Warwickshire
SUNDAY 11th NOVEMBER, 2018
A special performance of Hubert Parry's poignant Songs of Farewell and other British choral works to mark the release of our new disc for BBC Music Magazine.
CD LAUNCH
ST. PAUL'S KNIGHTSBRIDGE, LONDON
5th OCTOBER 2018
Performed at Cheltenham Music Festival (July 2018), St. Peter's Bournemouth (October 2018), Music at Pinner (November 2018)
PROGRAMME:
Edward Elgar There is Sweet Music
Johannes Ockeghem Kyrie from Missa Prolationum
Johannes Brahms Einförmig ist der Liebe Gram
Josquin Des Prez Inviolata integra es
Guillaume Dufay Nuper rosarum flores
György Ligeti Lux aeterna
Arvo Pärt Nunc Dimittis
Per Nørgård Maya Danser (Maya Dances)
Benjamin Britten Hymn to St Cecilia
The choir returned to Chipping Campden for a programme inspired by music's close connection to mathematics, including a piece supposedly written to reflect the proportions of Brunelleschi’s Duomo in Florence.
MUSIC'S MEASURE
PROGRAMME:
Icelandic hymn Heyr, himna smiður
C. Hubert H. Parry There is an old belief
Wilhelm Stenhammar September
Leevi Madetoja Kevätunta
(Dreaming of Spring)
C. Hubert H. Parry Never weather-beaten sail
Edvard Grieg Ved Rondane (At Rondane)
Percy Grainger A Song of Värmeland
Frederick Delius The splendour falls on castle walls
arr. Eyvind Alnaes Jeg lagde mig så sildig
(I lay down so late)
Toivo Kuula Nuku (Sleep)
Ina Boyle Gaelic Hymns
Arnold Bax This Worldes Joie
The Celtic North
The 'Celtic North' - a term used by the composer and poet Sir Arnold Bax in a radio interview of 1932 - refers to the atmosphere evoked by the landscapes of Ireland's Western seaboard, the Scottish Highlands, and parts of Fennoscandia which, for some at the turn of the twentieth century, proved inescapable.
27th APR
2018