27th – 30th April 2016
Bach arr. Webern Ricercar a 6 from the Musical Offering
Webern Symphony Op. 21
Stuart MacRae Birth-Rebirth (New Commission, World Premiere)
Mahler Das Lied von der Erde (‘The Song of the Earth’) arr. Cortese
Mezzo-soprano Karina Lucas
Tenor Luke Sinclair
Conductor Tomas Leakey
The Mahler Players
Macphail Centre, Ullapool; Universal Hall, Findhorn Foundation; Eden Court, Inverness
The acclaimed Mahler Players return in April 2016 with the oriental-inspired Das Lied von der Erde, the first in Mahler’s profound trilogy of late works which the ensemble will perform over the next 12 months. A vocal symphony in all but name and according to Mahler the ‘most personal’ of his works, Das Lied von der Erde also attests to the universality of the human experience by setting translations of ancient Chinese poetry from the era of the Tang dynasty over a thousand years ago. The poems are set to the most extraordinarily varied yet unified music, from wild despair in the opening ‘Drinking Song’ to ecstatic transfiguration in the enormous final song ‘The Farewell’.
Alongside this song-symphony are two works by one of Mahler’s biggest admirers, who was also one of the most influential composers of the 20th Century: Anton Webern. His mind-blowing orchestration allows us to hear anew Bach’s great fugue from the Musical Offering and his own Symphony Op. 21 distils all the drama of a Romantic symphony into eight minutes of the purest artistry.
As well as these works by great composers of the past, the ensemble will give the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by the nationally respected Inverness-born composer Stuart MacRae, former Composer in Association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and fresh from his recent triumph with ‘The Devil Inside’ for Scottish Opera and Music Theatre Wales. We are grateful to the Britten-Pears Foundation and the RVW Trust for making this collaboration possible.
Photo credit Stuart MacRae Loudon MacRae Photography
