Music of Today: Bryce Dessner

Programme

Venture into the haunting, graceful music of enigmatic composer and guitarist Bryce Dessner in this free performance.

Dessner’s music draws on many ideas and influences, from his song-writing as part of rock band The National to his work on film scores including The Revenant and The Two Popes. Tonight’s programme features two works that explore his relationship to the music of past composers.

In The Forest, Dessner reflects on and renews the poignant harmonies of early polyphonic music from the Medieval era, inspired by 12^th-century French composer Pérotin. Using the rich resonance of eight cellos, the piece layers the harmony with pulsing beats across the ensemble, balanced against moments of intense stillness, until eventually the music gradually fades away.

Equally inspired by past styles, Dessner wrote that in Lachrimae he was influenced both by John Dowland’s piece of the same name and by Bartók’s Divertimento for strings, with Dessner’s music growing out of ethereal harmonics that burst into life through powerful rhythms flying across the stage.