Londinium marks Valentine's Day in characteristically offbeat fashion with a varied and eclectic selection of music about love. From the ecstatic Song of June by Jonathan Harvey to the sardonic Love Lost by Paul T. Sjolund, we traverse a turbulent emotional landscape, by turns passionate, blissful, frustrated and phlegmatic.
Our repertoire includes classic works by Barber, Elgar, and MacMillan, Renaissance music by Tomkins and Guerrero, little-known part-songs by Pearsall and Parry, Ned Rorem's settings of lyrical poems by Sappho, and outstanding recent works by David Bednall, Gabriel Jackson and Huw Watkins.
Programme
Gabriel Jackson: Song (I gaze upon you)
Thomas Tomkins: When I observe those beauty's wonderments
Robert Pearsall: Great God of Love
Samuel Barber: The Coolin
Hubert Parry: O Love, they wrong thee much
James MacMillan: The Gallant Weaver
David Bednall: Three Songs of Love
Francisco Guerrero: Surge propera amica mea
Howard Skempton: He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Ned Rorem: Four Madrigals
Jonathan Harvey: Song of June
Edward Elgar: Love's Tempest
Paul T. Sjolund: Love Lost
Huw Watkins: The Phoenix and the Turtle
