Concert photo by Mark Allan
Else Torp (soprano)
Finchley Children’s Music Group
BBC Singers
National Youth Voices
BBC Symphony Orchestra
“unEarth is a large-scale oratorio about the climate crisis. Written in three movements, it combines ancient stories, languages from around the world, the poetry of Emily Dickinson, climate science and words of protest to create a moving, and urgent plea to engage the listener in the climate emergency.” [R3]
Anderson’s annotation…
A few words. Appalachian Spring can be sensitive, evocative, and rhythmically vital, music that you can be up the Swanee with stylistically. Martyn Brabbins led an open-hearted account that was indeed sensitive, evocative, rhythmically vital, and flexible. Idiomatic. Sympathetic and affectionate, this performance painted pictures, touched the heart, ending poignantly.
Responding to the climate crisis, Julia Wolfe’s New York Philharmonic-commissioned unEarth is a powerful experience that held my attention, and recommended whether for purely musical reasons, or to experience Wolfe’s musical amalgams inspired by a ‘big’ global subject.