The Asyla Ensemble

George Gershwin (born Jacob Bruskin Gershowitz) was the second son of Russian and Lithuanian parents who emigrated to New York in the 1890s due to anti-semitism, and Arnold Schoenberg emigrated with his family to Boston USA in 1934 for the same reason.

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68-year-old Schoenberg wrote his last concerto in America, yet it harks back to the music of Austria, from which he fled. The four movements which run without break are titled:

 

Life was so easy;

Suddenly hatred broke out;

A grave situation was created;

But life goes on

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Edmund Finnis's in situ uses extracts of choral music attributed to Perotin (c.1200), Matthew Locke (1600s), Josquin de Prez (1500s), Antoine Brumel (1500s) and an overture by Rameau (1700s) as DNA for a sonic reconstruction and exploration to delight contemporary ears.

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'Edmund Finnis creates glistening, dancing music... the sounds themselves are delicate and glowing, with an intriguing quality of being familiar and strange at once. Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph

 

'a hugely gifted composer' Sunday Telegraph

'exquisite' Sara Mohr-Pietsch BBC Radio

'ethereally beautiful' Herald Scotland

'iridescent, compelling' The Guardian
'magical' The Times