The London Sinfonietta brings new music from Poland to London and sets it beside two British works it commissioned 41 years apart, in the final concert of its UK/Poland Season project.
Birtwistle’s Silbury Air is an enigmatic classic. Named after Silbury Hill, an ancient man-made mound on the edge of Salisbury Plain, Birtwistle’s short piece for chamber ensemble creates an imaginary landscape in a single seventeen-minute span. In it, you hear Birtwistle examining familiar sounds—machine-like ticking, or tolling bells—from ever-changing angles.
Charlotte Bray welcomes new life into this ancient scene. Inspired by newborn twins—”innocent, curious, and fragile”—Reflections in Time is sparsely written but colouristic and playful: eight pairs of instruments pass shifting sounds to and fro. Expect jutting rhythms and expressive melodies.
Around these works come premieres from two Polish composers across generations who share a common expressive urgency. First, Andrzej Ojczenasz’s Primo: spatia continua, which translates a quote from Virgil’s Aeneid into a burst of sonic energy; then, from one of Poland’s most eminent living composers, Zygmunt Krauze, his Concertino for Piano and Orchestra.
Event venue
Queen Elizabeth Hall , Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX, United Kingdom
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