Commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Stockholm Philharmonic and premiered in Februray 2023 at Symphony Hall by the CBSO conducted by Ilan Volkov
In many old folk tales from the British Isles, there’s often a hidden horror waiting to be revealed. As you start to read the story you know this darkness will appear somewhere, often connected to the landscape or earth, sometimes within a character or even the narrator - but until it is revealed, the demon is potentially anywhere or everywhere.
This is a piece with a demon simmering away within it. Sometimes menacing, sometimes playful, it’s a speed demon; a moto perpetuo, with a constant energy in the depths that rises up to the surface.