The Delius Society 60th Anniversary Commissions’ Concert

A unique concert of chamber music to mark The Delius Society’s 60th anniversary this year. To be performed alongside recently re-discovered works by FREDERICK DELIUS are three new works specially commissioned by the Society for the occasion, from leading contemporary composers BO HOLTEN, IAN VENABLES and RODERICK WILLIAMS.

PROGRAMME (there will be one interval)

Delius Two Songs for Children

Bo Holten The Delian Madrigal (premiere)

Delius Six Early Part-songs

Delius Violin Sonata No.2, arr. Viola (Lionel Tertis)

Ian Venables Hermes Trismegistus: Scena for soprano, viola and piano Op.53 (premiere)

Delius Two (recently discovered) Songs

Delius Six (newly discovered) Piano pieces

Delius – String Quartet (1889) – First Movement (Allegro assai)

Roderick Williams To be sung on a winter night on frozen water (after Delius) (premiere)

Delius arr. R. Williams

Twilight Fancies

I-Brasil

Young Venevil

PERFORMERS

Milly Forrest, soprano

Roderick Williams, baritone

Timothy Ridout, viola

Chiao-Ying Chang, piano

The Carice Singers

Coull String Quartet

Delius-inspired Premières

As a prolific composer and conductor of a cappella and choral music, Bo Holten said of his new work; “‘The Delian Madrigal’ is a composition that expands and elaborates one of Delius’s ‘Two Songs for Children’. Performances are rare, and my recomposition/arrangement is a way to have this charming piece more often performed by madrigal groups or choirs.”

Closing the first half in suitably dramatic style is Ian Venables’s première. Milly Forrest and Timothy Ridout are joined by Chiao-Ying Chang to perform his ‘Scena for Soprano, Viola and Piano, Hermes Trismegistus’. Set to a text by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and evoking the ancient mythical sage of the title, the narrator asks, “But where are the old Egyptian Demi-gods and kings?”; something the composer feels might have piqued Delius’s interest, for, in fact, Delius had already written a symphonic poem inspired by Longfellow; his Hiawatha. The music vividly transports the listener back to the land of the Pharaohs and to the image of the Sphinx staring “with mysterious, solemn, stony eyes”.

In paying tribute to Delius’s choral work, To be sung on a summer night on the water, Roderick Williams’s companion piece is also wordless, also in two parts, slow and wistful followed by an energetic, nonchalant folk dance, and also influenced by Delius’s French harmonies. “It’s a lot of fun”, said Roderick Williams, “… and a little bit naughty here and there!”

The concert also provides the opportunity to hear some re-discovered works by Delius.

Further information: The Delius Society: www.delius.org.uk