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Stinsford church, near Dorchester in Dorset, just a short distance from Thomas Hardy’s birthplace at Upper Bockhampton, and the place where his heart is buried, provided the perfect setting for A Beautiful Thread, a new words and music concert concept from the ever-inventive Orchestra of the Swan (OOTS). Produced to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the publication of Far From the Madding Crowd, A Beautiful Thread (a quote from that novel) weaves the words of Thomas Hardy – as dramatic as any of his novels – from his and others’ memoirs, his letters, poetry and prose – with atmospheric music composed or arranged by David Le Page, leader and artistic director of OOTS, and performed by a small ensemble of musicians from the orchestra.

Stinsford Church

Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones, Wolf Hall, Endeavour) and young actress Lucia Bonbright (who could have walked straight out of one of Hardy’s novels with her fresh face, jaunty curls and sky-blue dress) read the words, including excerpts from Far From the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and Jude the Obscure, bringing Hardy’s life, work and world vividly to life.

I confess I’ve not ready much of Hardy’s writing, but I’ve really enjoyed film versions of some of his novels. And perhaps the move to Dorset (in 2018) and a greater sense of connection to the places and landscapes he knew, loved and included in his novels, piqued my interest in his writing, especially when hearing it read out loud by Anton Lesser. Indeed, there is a wonderful cadence to his writing, almost musical, and hearing his words spoken in the heart of “Hardy County” (as the Dorset Tourist Board likes to portray it!) was particularly special.

David Le Page writes haunting, atmospheric music. There are drones and loops, shimmering, wistful melodies, often with a folk inflection, hints of birdsong or the wind rustling the trees on ‘Egdon Heath’ (the primary setting for Hardy’s novel The Return of the Native). His arrangements of traditional folk melodies and carols (Apple Tree Wassail, See Amid) are earthy, textural, foot-tappingly rhythmic, with careful attention paid to individual instruments (Diane Clark on flute/piccolo, Miloš Milivojević on accordion, and Glenda Allaway on harp, to name but a few of these fine musicians).

But perhaps the most arresting aspect of this heartfelt, poignant, witty and fascinating performance was the way the music was so subtly interposed between the words, weaving in and out, sometimes softly, sometimes more robustly, but always sensitively paced, complementing, illustrating and enhancing the words. The overall effect was of a continuous narrative of Hardy’s life and work. A fine tribute to Thomas Hardy, his words, his world – and to Dorset.

Go and see if it you can!

Anton Lesser says: ‘Words and Music is a kind of unique genre, neither pure reading, nor acting, but with an immediacy that comes from the huge emotional impact the music has upon the words, and vice versa, and the interplay we as actors enjoy with the musicians on-stage. Quite simply, it’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done!’

A Beautiful Thread is currently on tour – find out more here

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ENTRANCED The Orchestra of the Swan Signum Classics SIGCD853 Musical adventurers, Orchestra of the Swan (OOTS), led by the charismatic violinist David Le Page, complete a remarkable musical journey with their latest release, Entranced. It’s an extraordinary odyssey which has seen them topping the US Billboard and iTop charts, and launching millions of streams from new audiences. Their innovative, imaginative approach cleverly combines “traditional” classical music with rock, pop, jazz, techno, ambient and folk to produce eclectic programmes and performances which blur the lines between genres. This enlightened approach to repertoire, combined with the Swan’s concerts in non-standard venues and experiments in digital sound, appeals to listeners with less exposure to classical music. Over the past few years, OOTS have released a series of “mixtape” albums, which continue the spirit of the mixtapes and compilations on cassette tape of the 1980s (something which those of us of a certain age will remember creating for friends and boyfriends/girlfriends). These inventive, carefully curated and beautifully executed albums present a diverse compilation of arrangements (many of which are by David Le Page) and reinterpretations of works by an eclectic mix of composers.
Entranced is a compilation of these compilations, as it were, incorporating 15 tracks from OOTS’ critically acclaimed trio of mixtape albums, Timelapse, Labyrinths and Echoes, with all tracks now produced in Dolby Atmos – the immersive, surround-sound technology developed by cinema, that places the audience at the heart of the sound. Artistic Director of OOTS, David Le Page says, “Entranced weaves together the genius of David Bowie, Schubert, Delius, Philip Glass, and Piazzolla. There is a brand new arrangement of Finzi’s extraordinary The Salutation for solo violin and strings, and transcendent beauty, from Brian Eno’s gorgeous An Ending (Ascent), to Peter Maxwell Davies’ Farewell to Stromness.”
Listening in not-quite-darkness, with only the dim light from my bedside clock radio, I hear An Ending (Ascent) by that master of ambient, Brian Eno. Of course I recognise it, but not quite in this arrangement. The sounds wash gently over me and in the dark and still of the night, it’s intimate and meditative, almost a lullaby. Listening again, in daytime, in the surround sound of my kitchen HiFi, the music floats, weightless but for a simple sequence picked out on the harp, now growing in intensity with a soaring violin line over lusher instrumental textures….
This track embodies the spirit of Entranced. The music on this album is serene and introspective, mesmerising and immersive – from the opening track, an arrangement of David’s Bowie’s song Heroes to the gracefulness of Rameau’s Les Boréades, the haunting sensuality of Piazzolla’s Oblivion, and the hypnotic, minimalist loops of Philip Glass, Entranced presents a sequence of beautifully atmospheric musical landscapes, infused with light, which transport the listener to the far reaches of their imagination. Entranced is released on 20 October by Signum Classics, on disc and via streaming
Orchestra of the Swan
David Le Page

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If you’ve enjoyed Orchestra of the Swan’s intriguing and imaginative “mixtape” albums – Timelapse, Labyrinths and their latest, Echoes, then you’re in for a treat with this film of members of OOTS performing at The Grange, Northington, a beautiful Neo-Classical stately house, now in a rather sad yet gracious state of disrepair. (The building is used as the backdrop for the annual Grange Festival Opera.)

The stunning music, much of which is arranged by OOTS leader and AD David Le Page, is complemented by atmospheric interior scenes in the building, creating an arresting and absorbing visual and aural experience.

Watch ‘Echoes’ here

https://youtu.be/SA0lEc-KGaY?feature=shared

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‘Echoes’ is the latest in Orchestra of the Swan’s ‘mixtape’ series, following on from ‘Timelapse’ and ‘Labyrinths’ (which has received over 8 million audio streams since 2021 and was shortlisted for  Gramophone award in the Spatial Audio category).

As with their previous mixtape albums, ‘Echoes’ is an eclectic mix of music encompassing a variety of genres from Baroque to pop. The album features 14 tracks of arrangements of song by Frank Zappa, Adrian Utley (Portishead) and The Velvet Underground together with works by J S Bach, Delius, Max Richter, Philip Glass and Gerald Finzi.

David Le Page, violinist and Artistic Director of OOS, and arranger of many of the tracks, says of the album, “Although you can listen to each track in isolation Echoes is, first and foremost, a complete journey; the way a work ends and another begins is designed to create a frisson, a jolt of recognition or a feeling of surprise and satisfaction. Echoes explores landscape, light, water, dreams, birth and the slowly changing rhythm of the seasons; it also represents a callback to the days of vinyl when the act of listening to recordings was necessarily more involved and required all of your attention…. Despite the ongoing march of music technology and the death of various beloved formats the mixtape has somehow survived and adapted. It is unaccountably more popular than it has ever been.”

Echoes is a captivating and beautifully orchestrated collection of music that seamlessly blends old and new, the familiar and the lesser-known. It opens with a shimmering, luminous and utterly transporting performance of the Bach/Siloti Prelude in B minor, arranged for violin and orchestra by David Le Page. From the silken lines of Bach/Siloti we move into the joyousness of Max Richter’s “recomposed” Spring II from The Four Seasons and thence to the urgent energy of Buffalo Jump by Philip Sheppard. This is followed by the psychedelic, zany Peaches En Regalia by Frank Zappa in an arrangement redolent of the late 60s sound of the original with imaginative scoring for brass and Hammond organ.

After the high jinks of Zappa, a calmer interlude follows with Falla’s Nana, featuring Sally Harrop on clarinet who brings a haunting poignancy to the melody. The Sea of Time and Space by David Le Page is a an uplifting track inspired by the middle movement of Vivaldi’s L’inverno, the Romance from Britten’s Frank Bridge Variations and the second movement of Stravinsky’s Concerto in D for string orchestra, which takes its title from a painting by William Blake. A gentle bossa nova bass and pizzicato notes provide the backdrop over which two violins gracefully, sensuously glide in a silken soundworld. This segues perfectly into The Art of Dancing. V: Trance by Toby Young, a modern homage to the baroque dance suite where each movement hints at a different style of electro dance music. Trance is a nocturne, in part inspired by the stillness of the Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and the hypnotic ambiance of electronic dance music, all beautifully expressed by the muted trumpet solo played by Simon Debruslais.

Venus in Furs, an iconic, unsettling track by the Velvet Underground, is reworked by David Le Page. It retains the angular, ‘shrieking’ viola of the original, but Le Page’s austerely beautiful violin, replacing Lou Reed’s vocals, lends an unexpected tenderness to this track.

Glory Box, by British indie group Portishead, here arranged for voice and orchestra, is the highlight of the album for me. Strings slink and slide with Clara Sanabras’ potent, expressive and bluesy vocals. It’s very close to the original version – it retains that haunting string sample – but is magically reimagined by Le Page.

After the taut fragility of Glory Box, We played some open chords and rejoiced (A Winged Victory for the Sullen) provides another calming interlude: here, a simple chordal piano motif, played by Viv McLean, and shimmering strings and guitar create a beautiful soundscape, understated in its emotion yet replete with expression.

Starbust is a vibrant, colourful contrast, while Aquarelle 1 by Delius, arranged by Eric Fenby, is another demonstration of the warmth and elegance of the Orchestra of the Swan’s string section. A spacious tempo allows the listener to really appreciate Delius’ magical harmonies. Similarly, in Mishima – Closing from String Quartet No 3 by Philip Glass (arr. by David Le Page), the richness of OOTS’ strings piquantly highlights the shifting harmonies and textures of Glass’ music in a movement of shifting emotions and timelessness.

To close, The Salutation from Finzi’s Dies natalis, perhaps the most obviously “classical” piece on the album, and a quintessentially English piece too, its vocal line elegantly sung by Mark Le Brocq who really captures the poignancy of this music, written on the eve of the Second World War.

In ‘Echoes’, Orchestra of the Swan has once again delivered a genre-busting album that contains brilliant, unexpected juxtapositions and imaginative orchestrations. Like their previous mixtape albums, it’s ambitious, ingenious and unorthodox. The result is a stylish, sensitively curated album that is an enchanting, often intriguing and always engaging listening experience.

ECHOES is released on the Signum label and is also available via streaming

 

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