A Million Nightingales
Corvus Consort reveals how musicians and poets have drawn inspiration from their avian friends for hundreds of years, in a programme of choral music themed around birds.
Charting a course from the 15th century to the present day, the singers of Corvus showcase their great versatility, performing renaissance madrigals, traditional folksongs, 20th-centuryBritish music, and contemporary works by leading living composers.
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Silence and Music
Linda Hirschhorn: I have a million nightingales
Poem: Nightingales by Robert Bridges
Gerald Finzi: Nightingales, op. 17/5
Orlando Gibbons: The Silver Swan
Paul Hindemith: Un Cygne
Jacques Arcadelt: Il bianco e dolce cigno
Trad., arr. Freddie Crowley: The Blackest Crow
Trad., arr. John Hearne: The Seagull
Poem: The Celestial Bird by Jessica Powers
Roxanna Panufnik: Celestial Bird
Interval
Charles Villiers Stanford: The Blue Bird
Caroline Shaw: and the swallow
William Cornysh: Ah, Robin
Poem: To a Skylark by Percy Shelley
Becky McGlade: To a Skylark
Maurice Ravel: Trois Beaux Oiseaux
Trad., arr. Vaughan Williams: The Turtle Dove
Trad., arr. Edward T. Chapman: The Three Ravens
Clément Janequin: Le Chant des Oiseaux
Karine Polwart: Follow the heron home