Rowan Pierce soprano
Marcus Farnsworth baritone
Jamie Campbell violin
Hannah Dawson violin
Simon Tandree viola
Cara Berridge cello
Ian Wilson recorder
Libby Burgess piano
Richard Pinel organ
Casals Song of the Birds
Bingen Columba Aspexit
Linde Music for a Bird
Haydn Quartet in D major Op 64 No 5 (‘The Lark’)
Songs by Brahms & Moeran
We open the festival with a springtime Dawn Chorus of birdsong in music. Recorder player Ian Wilson was a hit with last year’s audience, and this programme features that melodious instrument in repertoire spanning over eight hundred years: Hildegard
of Bingen’s Columba Aspexit is one of the earliest known representations through word painting in music of bird movement, the descent of the dove beautifully depicted, whilst Hans Martin Linde’s 1968 Music for a Bird explores an array of experimental sound effects to replicate birdsong.
Renowned baritone Marcus Farnsworth brings us poetic birds in the hands of our cornerstone composer Brahms, and joins our very own male-voice chorus of local singers in Moeran’s rustic folksong settings. We conclude with Haydn’s celebrated ‘Lark’ Quartet, so- called for the soaring, circling violin melody in the rst movement: the work’s elegant wit and charm provide a beautiful showcase for our exceptional string team.
