This exploration of flowers and gardens, both actual and allegorical, combines settings of the Song of Songs and its evocation of a luscious, fertile landscape by Spanish composers of the late Renaissance with Benjamin Britten’s five playful Flower Songs. Two new commissions frame the second half of the programme: Laura Cannell brings together the influences of early, folk and experimental music in an exploration of plant lore (knowledge of plants gained through tradition or anecdote, much like folk lore), while Leo Chadburn’s new work is inspired by Floriography (cryptological communication through the use or arrangement of flowers).
Programme
Ceballos Hortus Conclusus
Laura Cannell For The Plants That Bind Us (second performance)
Padilla Missa Ego flos campi – Kyrie and Gloria
Britten Flower songs
Vivanco Veni dilecte mi
Padilla Missa Ego flos campi – Credo
Vivanco Surge propera
Padilla Missa Ego flos campi – Sanctus & Benedictus
Vivanco sicit lilium
Padilla Missa Ego flos campi – Agnus Dei
Leo Chadburn Flower Dictionary (second performance)
Laura Cannell
Laura Cannell is an internationally recognised musician originally from Norfolk. She has performed solo at Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Barbican, Latitude Festival, Liverpool Philharmonic Music Room, Copenhagen Jazzhouse, Tate Liverpool. Tate Britain, Unsound Festival in Poland, Flow Festival in Helsinki, Brighton Early Music Festival, The Aldeburgh Festival and many more. She has written commissions for Hampton Court Palace, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Amazon Audible Originals and her tv and film music has appeared on Netflix, BBC2, BBC Radio 4, BBC Wales, and internationally on films and programmes.
Leo Chadburn
Leo Chadburn’s unpredictable work includes music for ensembles, solo vocal and electronic performances, and music for film and installation art. It has been broadcast on BBC Radio 1, 3 and 6 Music, and internationally. He was previously known by the pseudonym Simon Bookish, releasing a sequence of albums of “avant-pop”, alongside remixes for artists including Franz Ferdinand, Grizzly Bear and Owen Pallett. He won an Ivor Novello Award for Freezywater, written for Apartment House, and was nominated for a second award for Affix Stamp Here, written for EXAUDI. His most recent album is the critically acclaimed Slower / Talker (2021).