What's On

Programme

William Byrd Christe qui lux es et dies
Errollyn Wallen Photography
Benjamin Britten Les Illuminations
Edmund Finnis Hymn (after Byrd)
Tom Coult Black Shuck Lament
Michael Tippett Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli

Performers

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Zoë Beyers director
Guy Cutting tenor

About

Untamed and uncompromising

‘I alone hold the key to this savage parade.’

— Arthur Rimbaud

Britten and Tippett shared many traits: both were pacifists; conscientious objectors during the war; homosexuals, at a time when it was publicly outlawed in Britain; and both shared a love of older forms of music. Drawing on one of Corelli’s concerti grossi, Tippett’s Fantasia views the Baroque through modern eyes in this passing from darkness into light.

In Britten’s sparkling setting for voice and string orchestra (initially for soprano, later tenor) this phrase from French symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud becomes an enigmatic throughline amid the poet’s eccentric scenes. Lose yourself in Britten’s crystalline textures, and Rimbaud’s magical imagery: of boats battered by whirlpools of light, of jugglers and rogues, cortèges of russet and opaline.

Elsewhere, we hear a trio of works by modern British mavericks – Errollyn Wallen’s propulsive Photography, Edmund Finnis’s crystalline Hymn (after Byrd), and Black Shuck Lament by previous BBC Philharmonic Composer-in-Residence, Tom Coult.

See all events in BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the RNCM.

Tickets

Full Price £27 (incl. £2 booking fee)
Students / Under 26s £18

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Multibuy Offer

Book more and save. Automatically save 20% off your tickets when you book two to three concerts in this series or save 30% when you book all four events. Bookings must be purchased in a single transaction, and this promotion cannot be combined with any other offers or discounts.

Promoted by BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

The end time for this event is tbc. More details will be published nearer to the event.