If you haven’t heard a piece of music in which the soloists are birds – real ones - here’s your chance. Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara based his Cantus Arcticus on recordings taken near the Arctic Circle and in the bogs outside the town of Liminka in northern Finland. The result is utterly beautiful and surreal, a conversation between the real, represented by the orchestra, and the dreamlike songs of cranes, larks, geese and whooper swans, played all round the Cathedral in surround sound.
We are also thrilled to be joined by the Britten Sinfonia’s co-principal flautist, Thomas Hancox, to play Carl Nielsen’s delightful Flute Concerto. Combining piquancy with drive and humour, it is both sophisticated and graceful, demanding virtuoso playing and delicate musicianship from the soloist.
Finally, bask in the lush romanticism of Sibelius’ Symphony no 1 in E minor, a piece filled with pathos and Nordic chill, redolent of the fact that it was written just as the Russian Tsar Nicholas II was curtailing Finland’s self-governance.
‘Thomas Hancox enjoys complete technical control, his phrasing is awesome, his tonal quality in all registers is beguiling and he communicates informatively and humorously with his admirers.’ (The Westmorland Gazette)