Summary

In Britten’s Rimbaud songs, the sensuality of the texts is matched in agile, feverish music for strings which trembles, shimmers and seduces. The French soprano Sadrine Piau, who pemiered Colin Matthews’ completion of Britten’s three additional Rimbaud songs, makes her Aldeburgh debut.

Judith Weird, citing Tippett’s work as a model, sets a small group of soloists against a larger body of strings in the style of a baroque concerto grosso. Bartok’s masterpiece weaves its magic from threads of folk music, sprightly dance rhythms and a compelling ‘night music’ episode that conjured an atmosphere of fantasy and dreams.