Story Telling

ROBERT HUGILL was at
London's recent Judith Weir weekend

The BBC's Telling the Tale weekend at the Barbican (London), which showcased the music of Judith Weir, opened with a concert by the BBC Symphony Orchestra on Friday 18 January 2008 in the Barbican Hall, though enthusiasts could have caught a film and a talk prior to this event.

Conducted by André de Ridder, the orchestra played three of Weir's orchestral works, tone poems for want of a better word and were joined by soprano Ailish Tynan for Weir's song cycle Natural History. In fact this work gave its title to the whole evening.

Weir's is an enigmatic talent; she writes beautifully constructed, essentially tonal music but there is something deeply complex and ungraspable about her pieces. On the surface they are elegant, melodic and approachable; but on first acquaintance her music has elusive depths which can only be teased out. Though melodic and tonal, Weir's music is never obvious; though the BBC's event was called 'Telling the tale' there was definitely an aura of the story teller who leaves the audience tantalised and wanting more.

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