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Even if fires weren’t burning in the Amazon jungle right now, this would be a topical concert. Birds, ecology and climate change are the zeitgeist.
The Lost Words book by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, prompted by the loss of natural words in the Oxford Junior Dictionary, has elicited strong responses — including a whole album of 14 Spell Songs. A handful of these were heard among a diverse offering about birds and the environment, including classical, folk and beatboxing. Morris painted otters and a fox on-stage during two of them.
The orchestral repertoire was performed by the Southbank Sinfonia conducted by Jessica Cottis. The opening was a world premiere by Jocelyn Pook. You Need To Listen to Us featured recordings of climate change activist Greta Thunberg with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, holding candles in mourning for the “200 species becoming extinct every day”.
Alissa Firsova’s Red Fox was also a world premiere. Some bleeding fragments of Vivaldi, Beethoven and Vaughan Williams showed the musical fascination with birdsong is nothing new. Although now it’s more urgent.
