4 Lunchtime Broadcast Premieres

Four Britten Sinfonia commissions receive their broadcast premieres on BBC Radio 3 this coming week. They were recorded during our recent At Lunch series in Cambridge. Each programme goes out at 13.00 (GMT+1): on Monday you can hear Richard Causton, Tuesday Helen Grime, Wednesday Robin Holloway, and on Thursday Pawel Lukaszewski. Full details of the music are on the Afternoon at 3 website.

Bach, Grime and Brahms

Just back from the UK premiere of Helen Grime's Into the Faded Air, in our Cambridge lunchtime concert. There is some splendidly luscious writing; an extended duet for two violas dominating the second movement; a chord of inspired richness at the end of the third; and - in Helen's own description - a 'serene chorale' at the end of the final short movement.
The most commonly reproduced photos of Brahms tend to be of him at the end of his life, with long hair and a profuse beard. Here is one of him in 1860, the year after he wrote his String Sextet no. 1. As our viola player Clare Finnimore said in her spoken introduction to the concert, this piece does not get many public airings, though string players love getting together to play it at home. Bach was a huge influence on Brahms (the concert today opened with the Ricercar a 6), and I am indebted to my friend (and Britten Sinfonia's chief programme note writer!), Jo Kirkbride, for pointing out one of Brahms' favourite sayings: 'Study Bach! There you'll find everything.' The Sextet goes further than this, with Schubert, Beethoven and CPE Bach all audible in the texture.

You can still catch this concert in London tomorrow (Wigmore Hall at 1.00pm), in Norwich on Thursday (The Assembly House at 1.00pm), and in Birmingham on Friday (Town Hall at 1.00pm): full details are here.

Into the Faded Air

Happy New Year! Our first premiere in 2008 is Helen Grime's Into the Faded Air. It's first performance is in Krakow on Sunday, and it is then toured on our Britten Sinfonia at Lunch circuit: Cambridge on Tuesday 15, London on Wednesday 16, Norwich on Thursday 17, and Birmingham on Friday 18.

This project showcases the cream of Britten Sinfonia’s superb string section and gives us the chance to revel in the rich texture of the string sextet, with paired violas and cellos deepening the sonority. Bach’s astounding Ricercare is the composer’s masterful response to the challenge set by King Frederick II of Prussia to write a six-part fugue out of a long and complex musical figure written by the king himself. Brahms’ first sextet shows the composer’s mastery of the form, with writing that is at times dense and lush, at other times taut and biting. Helen's piece is for the same forces, providing a contemporary take on a classic chamber line-up.

Catch up on our busy Creative Learning programme here.