Availability

Score and parts on special sale, video available from the publisher

Programme Notes

664 Love songs guaranteed to cure heartache is a set of three songs without a singer. The lyrics are made from the words of the 664 number ones from when charts began in 1952 up until 1990. I was fascinated by the similarities of the pop vocabulary and how, in most arrangements, they produce passable lyrics. This is not a cynical look at these lyrics but a presentation of something that I found quite joyful - how such sentimental, personal, nostalgic and, ultimately, moving things share such a similar DNA and how little lyrics have changed. There’s a little bit of a looking glass into my own false nostalgia and list culture and I’m hoping that the surtitles will coax your inner voice into singing little personal songs . Don’t worry if it doesn’t, you’ll definitely recognise every lyric.

Oliver Leith

664 love songs guaranteed to cure heartache

Glasgow Cathedral (Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom)

Explore Ensemble

Find Out More

664 love songs guaranteed to cure heartache

Broadcast on Radio 3

City University London (London, United Kingdom)

Explore Ensemble

664 love songs guaranteed to cure heartache

University of Leeds (Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom)

Explore Ensemble

664 love songs guaranteed to cure heartache

Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building, St Hilda's College (Oxford, United Kingdom)

Explore Ensemble

664 love songs guaranteed to cure heartache

LSO St Luke's (London, United Kingdom)

LSO Chamber Ensemble/Darren Bloom