On September 29, Peter Philips and The Tallis Scholars will give the world premiere of a major new commission by Nico Muhly at Cadogan Hall, London. Taking Britten’s War Requiem as his model, in No Resting Place Muhly has interwoven the words of people who have found themselves in exile, along with the words of the Israelites, who were equally driven into exile.
No Resting Place is a setting of Lamentations, verses 1–5, interspersed with short fragments of interviews from the Windrush Generation. The structure is traditional, with long, melismatic settings of the Hebrew letters which announce each verse. With the exception of Migravit Judas, the verses are meditative, with imitative counterpoint occasionally complicating their simplicity.
Between each verse, the interviews are presented almost as recitative, but then one word or phrase is restated and taken up by a variation on the preceding Hebrew letter; for instance, the word “grey,” (from the sentence “Just these diaries saying the word grey”) is set with the exact same descending scale as the letter beth. Read the composer's full programme note
Muhly's new 25-minute commission is joined by works by White, Fayrfax, Tallis and Byrd.
Book Tickets to The Tallis Scholars 'Lamentations' at Cadogan Hall
