An exhilarating fanfare by experimental Scottish composer Anna Meredith launches a programme featuring songs from Britain and Ireland and a searingly powerful post-war symphony.
“Pure maximalist mayhem” is how GQ described Anna Meredith’s Nautilus, an exhilarating fanfare originally written for electronics in 2011. It has since appeared in numerous film and television soundtracks. This orchestral version premiered in 2021.
Up-and-coming young baritone William Semple joins us to perform a selection of songs from Britain and Ireland orchestrated by celebrated singer and composer Roderick Williams.
Written in the aftermath of the Second World War, Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 6 is a work of immense emotional force. The conductor Leopold Stokowski wrote: “in this Symphony the world of music has a true picture of today, expressing the turmoil, the dark despair, the aspiration of an ideal future. Every listener will find his own meaning in the unique finale of this Symphony – one of the most profound expressions in all music.”
Anna Meredith – Nautilus
George Butterworth – Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad, orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Madeleine Dring – Take, O Take Those Lips Away, orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Ina Boyle – The Joy of Earth, orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Ruth Gipps – The Pulley, orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 6