On 1 October Sofia Winiarski conducts Orkestern Filialen in the Swedish premiere of Nigel Hess’ The Lochnagar Suite (2012) for symphonic wind band at Eric Ericsonhallen, Stockholm.
The 14-minute suite is based on music from Hess’ one-act ballet The Old Man of Lochnagar, which premiered at Sadler’s Wells in 2007 with the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain, choreographed by Drew McOnie. The magical fable tells the story of a bad-tempered soul who is forced, by a majestic eagle, to look back on a selfish and unfulfilling life. He is plunged into the watery deep of Lochnagar and joins in fantastical games and dances, before being flown to rocky heights. These rejuvenating experiences cause him to cast off his misanthropic persona and make him into a new man.
The suite – which is also available for full orchestra – presents three episodes from the ballet: a folksy selection of Scottish Dances open the work, followed by the brooding lyricism of ‘Dark Lochnagar’. The majestic ‘Dance of the Eagle’ brings the suite to a soaring close. It premiered in 2013 with the Central Band of the Royal Air Force, conducted by Duncan Stubbs, at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and has also been performed at the CBSO Centre by Birmingham Symphonic Winds. Listen here to Hess’ recording of the suite, which features alongside his other works for symphonic winds from the RAF Central Band.
Hess’ ballet adapts a children’s story by the then Prince of Wales from 1980, with whom Hess has had a longstanding artistic relationship – Charles III commissioned a piano concerto for Lang Lang from Hess in memory of the Queen Mother in 2007. In May this year Hess wrote (together with Roderick Williams and Shirley J Thompson) Be Thou My Vision for the Coronation, an orchestral triptych.