James MacMillan Behold, you are beautiful, my love
Gavin Bryars A la dolce ombra
Bianca Maria Furgeri Ego flos campi
Stephanie Martin Rise up, My Love
Tarik O’Regan Scattered Rhymes
Raffaella Aleotti Surge propera
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Duo ubera tua
Adrian Willaert Lasso ch’i ardo
Jacob Clemens non Papa Ego flos campi
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Surge amica mea
Guillaume Bouzignac Vulnerasti cor meum
Caroline Shaw New Commission
Tomás Luis de Victoria Vadam et circumibo civitatem
Nicholas Mulroy director
The Songs of Songs plunges us into a lush world of ripe fruits, deep waters, scorching heats, and cooling shades. This intense imagery—the Hebrew Bible’s richest and most succulent— drives poetry that is both straightforwardly erotic and tantalisingly allegorical in its exploration of love both human and divine. This heady combination invites a huge range of approaches, from Biana Maria Furgeri’s flowing Ego flos campi for upper voices to Tomás Luis de Victoria’s epic, six-part Vadam et circumibo civitatem. In Scattered Rhymes, Tarik O’Regan sets Petrarch’s own questioning of the boundaries of carnal and spiritual desire, a text further enjoyed by Gavin Bryars’ A la dolce ombra.
‘An exceptional evening of music, deeply thoughtful, compassionate and nourishing.’ The Scotsman
Pre-concert talk with Nicholas Mulroy, 6.30pm. Free but ticketed.