Glass takes us on a journey to explore a world of scientific possibility in the first piece he ever wrote for a symphony orchestra, The Light. His portrait of a moment of discovery hails the scientists who paved the way for Einstein’s theory of relativity with their experiments investigating the speed of light.
While Glass traces the dawn of a new era of human thought, other composers hark back to earlier imaginings. Rautavaara, Vasks and Pärt conjure otherworldly beings in mystical and meditative music. Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara contemplates the infinite in his Seventh Symphony, Angel of Light, a pinnacle of the angel-inspired pieces he has been creating since the late 1970s.
Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen brings her imagination and finesse to a selection of haunting pieces, including Pēteris Vasks’ luminously mournful Lonely Angel. She also performs Arvo Pärt’s transcendent Fratres, one of the composer’s tintinnabuli works, characterised by pure, bell-like sounds.
Critics praised the energy and emotion of Helsing and Samuelsen’s collaboration with the orchestra last year at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Bachtrack reported that their performance ‘hit the spot… A standing ovation duly followed.’
