Three Choirs Festival: Anna Lapwood and BBC Singers

Programme

The hope of freedom from suffering is at the heart of Poulenc’s impassioned Figure humaine.

Written during the Nazi occupation of France, it is one of the most beautiful choral works of the last hundred years and a moving tribute to all who fought for France during the Second World War.

The theme is echoed in Judith Weir’s In the Land of Uz, a dramatised song of the biblical story of Job. Singers and instruments bring the different characters to life as we hear Job’s sufferings, his lament, and his final acceptance of old age.

The BBC Singers are joined by Anna Lapwood, whose transcriptions for organ of the Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten are interspersed with Kristina Arakelyan’s Seascapes, creating an evocative musical picture.