The natural world is the source of inspiration behind this concert. Highlighting our environment with music inspired by our planet, the places and nature within, this is a worldwide programme that showcases and connects some of the finest international contemporary composers alongside well known local composers.
There are some folk-inspired themes; there is a suggestion of Scottish fiddle tunes in Judith Weir’s Blue-green hill, and an expression of longing in Áine Mallon’s Callan, inspired by the river Callan in Co. Armagh. And water continues to flow through this programme, from the Brazilian river of Joan Tower’s Amazon to the sea of Toru Takemitsu’s striking imagery. It is also present in Undertow by Tansy Davies:
“Exploring the elemental mechanisms of the natural world, exploring the psychological devastation of global events, exploring the most intimate aspects of body and heart and head. Tansy’s music lets us feel what it is to be multiform and nimble, intense and enlivened, confrontational and beautiful.” - Kate Molleson
We close the concert with the first live concert performance of Greg Caffrey’s Seul sous la grande indifference du ciel. Composed in 2020 for the Fews Ensemble while reflecting upon the pandemic, the piece is in two movements; the first is dedicated to Maurice Ravel and the second to Albert Camus:
“Thus each of us had to be content to live only for the day, alone under the vast indifference of the sky"
