Helen Grime: Orchestral Portrait
...her palette is all her own, weaving evocative, restless motives with cool insistence. She writes as though her music needs to be told...
- Kate Molleson, The Guardian
The music of Helen Grime has been performed by leading orchestras around the world, among them the London Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. The last decade has been a fruitful period for Grime during which she’s composed a number of meticulously-crafted, deeply-felt orchestral works. We highlight eight of them here.
Violin Concerto (2016) 22 min
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A violent and virtuosic violin part is contrasted with searching melodies in Grime’s Violin Concerto, premiered by Malin Broman and the Swedish Radio Symphony. It has also been played extensively by violinist Leila Josefowicz.
Rebecca Franks for The Times wrote, "...its fierce energy is compelling, especially when a fearless virtuoso like Leila Josefowicz is let loose on its volleys of notes."
Watch | Leila Josefowicz discusses the Violin Concerto
Woven Space (2017) 22 min
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Woven Space takes its title from a work by Laura Ellen Bacon, a British sculptor who creates elaborate structures with fresh willow twigs. It was commissioned for Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra by the Barbican and won the prize for Large-Scale New Work at the Scottish Awards for New Music 2019.
Barry Millington for the Evening Standard wrote, "The aspiring, string-rich lines and voluptuously bitter-sweet harmonies have an almost Mahlerian quality and provided a suitable complement to his Ninth Symphony."
Watch | Sir Simon Rattle & Helen Grime discuss Woven Space
Listen | Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO perform Woven Space
Percussion Concerto (2018) 23 min
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The Percussion Concerto is a continuous piece with a lively first movement, a brooding second section and a rapid final movement. It was inspired in part by the angels in the work of artist Paul Klee. Colin Currie played the premiere with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Marin Alsop. it was commissioned by Southbank Centre, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
Richard Fairman for the Financial Times wrote, "...an orchestral kaleidoscope of flickering lights and perfectly judged timbres."
Watch | Helen Grime discusses the Percussion Concerto
Meditations on Joy (2019) 15 min
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Grime describes the piece as “an exploration of joy in its may different forms, from a personal perspective.” It was jointly commissioned by Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, and the BBC and first performed in 2023 at Walt Disney Concert Hall by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Otto Tausk.
Rupert Christiansen for The Telegraph wrote, "...a richly atmospheric and delicately coloured piece – Debussy a presence in its hinterland – that should be heard again."
Limina (2019) 12 min
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Limina was inspired by a scene in Norwegian author Tarjei Vesaas’ novel The Ice Palace and explores the ideas of thresholds and shifting states. It was jointly commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Ivan Hewett for The Telegraph wrote, "...a brilliant evocation of a beautiful frozen world.... Though the landscape is frozen, the emotional world becomes increasingly heated, as a young girl roams through ice-caves in search of her lost friend. The airy, bejewelled sounds of the opening, disturbed only by a tremor of foreboding in the bass drum, became increasingly freighted with anxiety. After a desperate climax, the music subsided to an unexpectedly roseate glow, with three solo violins entwined in uneasy communion.
Watch | BBC NOW perform Limina
Trumpet Concerto (night-sky-blue) (2022) 22 min
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The starting point for Grime's Trumpet Concerto was the theme of night, in particular nocturnal gardens. Her inspiration came from a book of photographs depicting scenes from the natural world taken after darkness had fallen. Images of organic growth and the nocturnal life filled the composer’s mind and are reflected in music that is in a constant state of transformation. The subtitle "night-sky-blue" is taken from a poem by Fiona Benson.
It was originally written for acclaimed Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger and was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, Library of Congress, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Star British trumpeter Matilda Lloyd has also performed the piece, giving its Lithuanian premiere at the GAIDA festival in Vilnius in 2025.
River (2023) 20 min
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Premiered by the Hamburg Philharmonic and Kent Nagano at the Elbphilharmonie, the piece includes several musical ciphers combining the letter of Elbe with the initials of the orchestra and conductor. Grime wrote, "A river has many characteristics that have inspired composers throughout history. The flow and energy, violence, and threat of destruction but also the possibility for calm and moments of glassy stasis are aspects that have driven my imagination."
Folk (2024) 25 min
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Nominated for a 2025 Ivor Novello Award, the libretto for this four-movement song cycle was written by Zoe Gilbert, based on her novel Folk. The stories within the novel depict a community of people on a fictional island called Neverness, inspired by the Isle of Man and its folklore. It was written for soprano Claire Booth who gave the premiere with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in September 2024.
Helen Grime, Claire Booth and Zoe Gilbert discussed the piece on BBC Radio 4's Front Row, available to listen to now on BBC Sounds.
Discover more about Grime's career and work in her episode of Composing Myself, where she is in conversation with Wise Music Group's CEO Dave Holley and Creative Director Gill Graham.
For more information, please contact your local Wise Music Promotion Team. See Contact Us.
(2025)