Reviews

“There was room however for one of Birtwistle’s most beautiful scores, The Fields of Sorrow, a setting of a brief Latin text by Ausonius for two sopranos (Abigail Sinclair and Lisa Dafydd) and chamber choir (Londinium), with two pianos and the inevitable wind instruments creating fragile, mysterious textures around them. Here, between the more strident pieces, were a few minutes of perfect tranquillity.”

Andrew Clements

“The purpose of life is to pass the message on”: so reads the inscription on an art work by Bob Law, which was the inspiration for The Message, the duet which begins this concert in which the London Sinfonietta pays tribute to one of its longest-standing collaborators, Sir Harrison Birtwistle. This concert spans Birtwistle’s varied output, ranging from the duet written for the Ensemble's 40th birthday, to the epic and theatrical Verses, the first piece the composer wrote for the London Sinfonietta and requiring musicians to walk around the stage in strange and ritual processions. In a second half performed side-by-side with musicians from the Royal Academy of Music The Fields of Sorrow was first composed for amateur musicians, while In Broken Images, co-commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, celebrates the formation of the Italian state. Tonight’s concert is a showcase of an enormous, varied and mysterious ingenuity – and at its heart it is a celebration of our relationship with the late, great composer.

Extracted from London Symphonietta website

But the heart of the evening for me was Fields of Sorrow from 1972, an evocation of that twilight realm where the Shades live in sad, aqueous sounds of vibraphone, piano and low clarinets, while the excellent Londinium choir and sopranos Abigail Sinclair and Lisa Dafydd intoned the ancient Latin text with just the right feeling of tender desolation.

The Telegraph

The Fields of Sorrow of 1971, featuring the sopranos Abigail Sinclair and Lisa Dafydd and the choir Londinium, suspended us for nine minutes in a whispering haze.

Geoff Brown - The Times

The Fields of Sorrow gives us Birtwistle the hypnotist. In this short piece the shimmering poise of the solo sopranos surmounted the rich texture of expressive choral writing.

Christopher Woodley - Bachtrack