Sophie Bevan and Ryan Wigglesworth: The Poet’s Echo

Death, time, faith, love, sleep and sleeplessness are the subjects of this atmospheric and moving recital. In Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death the figure of death pays a visit four times – sometimes seducing, sometimes dancing, sometimes consoling. In Britten’s The Poet’s Echo, written for the Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, the songs are aching with loss and regret, as well as the torment of insomnia. The eerie ticking of a clock is the closing motif of the cycle.

Ryan Wigglesworth set the radiantly spiritual poetry of George Herbert in his Till Dawning, a cycle for voice and piano premiered by himself and Sophie Bevan in 2018. Gentle meditations alternate with bold declarations of faith, and the acceptance of sorrow. A selection of Britten’s most poignant folksongs concludes the programme.

Sophie Bevan soprano
Ryan Wigglesworth piano