These works were written while Beamish was in residence with both the Scottish and Swedish Chamber Orchestras. The first is a viola concerto - the second of her three for the instrument that she used to play professionally - called The Seafarer, inspired by the Anglo-Saxon poem of that name. It is a powerful as well as felicitous score, darkly lyrical in a way that hints at, but absorbs, such influences as Shostakovich and Britten. Zimmermann beautifully projects the solo part. Whitescape is a study in Arctic desolation, linked to Beamish's Frankenstein opera, Monster. Sangsters, evoking a poem in Scots by Betty McKellar, is a brief but impassioned concerto for orchestra.
BIS-CD-1241