This unusual project brings together renowned musicians from the Indian classical and Western classical traditions into a mixed ensemble. First up are Aruna Narayan and Hanif Khan, renowned players of the many-stringed and searingly soulful sarangi, and the tabla, magical drums of extraordinarily liquid sound. They are joined by four fantastic players from the Endymion Ensemble, on cello, harp, piano and percussion: Adrian Bradbury, Helen Tunstall, Stephen Gutman and Richard Benjafield. Along with several other composers I have written a piece for this most unusual of sextets. It’s been a fascinating process, not so much because of the combination of instruments (though they are fascinating) as the combination of radically different approaches to music-making, and the concepts of piece, score, and composer.
My piece is called Endlessly enmeshed. I wanted to let the six instruments to weave their sounds together without losing their own distinct character, even when this leads them up quite divergent paths. The title comes from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore: ‘thou hast made my heart captive in the endless meshes of thy music’.
The pieces are being performed three times, in Southampton, Cardiff and London, on May 22, 25 and 26; for full details see Jai Hind!
Music by Jeremy Thurlow
Jeremy Thurlow - composer 