A moving combination of music and words that evoke the North, curated by leading chamber musicians, combining poignant Grieg, British folksongs, and a major new song cycle from award-winning composer Gavin Higgins.

This wonderfully evocative recital calls to mind icy Nordic landscapes and dark forests but also a less tangible sense of “the North”, of mystical folk legends and starry darkness. At its heart is our new commission from composer Gavin Higgins, Speak of the North. It sets compelling texts by a constellation of poets from lands further north than Suffolk, including Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Sean O’Brien, Michael Symmons Roberts, Katrina Porteous and Tony Williams.

This new work is an homage to the musical world of Edvard Grieg, especially his first violin sonata and the song cycle Haugtussa (The Mountain Maid). The latter is a moving setting of eight poems by the Norwegian writer Arne Garborg that speak of dreams, love, and forlorn sadness by a babbling brook. His first violin sonata begins with a ghostly echo of Beethoven’s “Eroica” and is inflected with Norwegian folksongs, and simulates the sound of the hardingfele (or Hardanger fiddle), the national instrument of Norway.

The programme is completed by folksong settings by Percy Grainger full of Nordic influences and colours. We are delighted to present the first performance of this compelling recital by three leading chamber musicians as part of the Festival’s exploration of the North.

Claire Booth soprano
Christopher Glynn piano
Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin