After last Thursday’s documentary screening, this recital continues the celebration of the centenary of Pierre Boulez, a towering figure of the last century, with some of today’s most innovative artists in their newly formed ensemble, Les Marteaux.

Inventive guitarist Sean Shibe leads this specially curated programme centred on Pierre Boulez’s most famous and influential work, The Hammer without a Master. It sets René Char’s 1955 surrealist poetry in three broad sections: The furious craftsmanship”, “Hangmen of solitude”, and Stately building and presentiments”. Do not miss this outing of a masterful setting that was hailed by George Benjamin as “a breakthrough. It is a work in which you can also hear the profound influence of extra-European music, above all from Asia and Africa. This radically alters the sonority and the music’s sense of time and direction, as well as its expressive viewpoint and ethos”.

Cassandra Miller was a featured composer in the 2023 Aldeburgh Festival and writes music of exceptional beauty and often remarkable stillness. She describes her Bel Canto as “above all a portrait of Maria Callas, based on her live recording of Puccini’s Vissi d’arte – with all the full generosity of her vibrato, swoops and portamenti. At the beginning, it’s as if we hear her young voice, and towards the end, the voice of her later years. The path of the piece is not only about the ageing of an extraordinary woman, but also about the listener. Time slows down to allow for an engagement with detail, for a submersion in the sound, and for meditative stillness”.

The programme is completed with our new co-commission from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tyshawn Sorey, celebrated for his extraordinary ability to blend composition and improvisation.

A special Aldeburgh Festival programme with an established masterpiece alongside brand-new music.

Sean Shibe guitar
Ema Nikolovska mezzo soprano
Adam Walker flute
George Barton percussion, xylorimba
Owen Gunnel percussion, untuned percussion
Sam Wilson percussion, vibes
Ruth Chinyere Gibson viola
Matt Hunt clarinet
Mira Benjamin violin
Colin Alexander cello
Alphonse Cemin conductor