Tamsin Waley-Cohen & Cordelia Williams: Lullabies

As a duo, violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen and pianist Cordelia Williams have been much praised for their engaging performances and intense commitment to imaginative programming. Now they explore pieces associated with the atmospheres of night, slumber and dreams.

At the core of the programme, to illustrate the foundational role of lullabies in childhood, is a new work, Babylonian Lullaby, written for them by Freya Waley-Cohen, the award-winning composer and the violinist’s sister.

Opening with a tender memory of childhood in Dvorák’s Songs My Mother Taught Me, the programme continues with the much-loved cradle-songs by Schubert and Brahms before
tackling the hypnotic stillness of Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel.

Later the intense romanticism of Scriabin’s Nocturne in F sharp minor contrasts with the spare, quirky fascination of John Cage’s Nocturne. The concert concludes with the exquisite Abendlied (Evening Song) by Robert Schumann.