Julian Anderson - Julian Anderson: Poetry Nearing Silence

This album focuses on Anderson's chamber music. The earliest piece, 'Ring Dance', written in 1987 and the most recent, 'Van Gogh Blue', in 2015. Three of the works on the album, 'Poetry Nearing Silence', 'Prayer' and 'Van Gogh Blue', were originally composed for the players of the Nash Ensemble, one of the leading chamber ensembles and champions of British new music. Anderson is a master of evocative titles. 'Van Gogh Blue' is inspired by numerous letters from the artist to his brother Theo. The colour blue was a particular and now famous obsession of his. 'The Bearded Lady' reflects of the story of 'Baba the Turk', 'Ring Dance' is influenced by the timbre of the hardanger, a resonant Norwegian folk fiddle. The album title track 'Poetry Nearing Silence' - a suite in eight movements - is inspired by an unusual book of drawings and poems by the artist Tom Phillips entitled 'The Heart of a Humument'. Also on the album are two related solo works, 'Prayer' for viola (Lawrence Power) and 'Another Prayer' for violin (Benjamin Nabarro).

1) Ring Dance - The Nash Ensemble ()
2) The Bearded Lady - The Nash Ensemble ()
3) The Colour of Pomegranates - The Nash Ensemble ()
4) Prayer - Lawrence Power ()
5) Muse in Rocks Or Pebbles Or Clouds Or Foliage - The Nash Ensemble ()
6) Know Vienna... - The Nash Ensemble ()
7) My Future As the Star in a Film of My Room - The Nash Ensemble ()
8) Poetry Nearing Silence. Trouble Is a Voice Outside - The Nash Ensemble ()
9) Lashing in Italy - The Nash Ensemble ()
10) In Bohemia, Screwing (Hommage to L.J.) - The Nash Ensemble ()
11) In Carpathia, You Cared for New Things - The Nash Ensemble ()
12) Tall Rain Rattled Over Paris - The Nash Ensemble ()
13) Another Prayer - Benjamin Nabarro ()
14) L'aube, Soleil Naissant - The Nash Ensemble ()
15) Les Vignobles - The Nash Ensemble ()
16) Les Alpilles - The Nash Ensemble ()
17) Eygalières - The Nash Ensemble ()
18) La Nuit, Peindre Les Étoiles (Le 25 Mai 1889, 4:40am) - The Nash Ensemble ()