Delius: Appalachia / The Song of the High Hills

Featuring

Andrew Rupp
Sir Andrew Davis
Olivia Robinson
Christopher Bowen
BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Chorus

Frederick Delius

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Composer's Artistic Vision

For The Song of the High Hills, Delius aimed to express the joy and exhilaration of mountains, alongside the loneliness and grandeur of high solitudes, with human voices representing 'man in Nature'.

Composer Biography

Frederick Delius, the composer, escaped the family wool business in Bradford by moving to Florida in 1884 to manage an orange plantation, intending to study music.

Composition History

Delius based his work Appalachia on a slave song he heard black tobacco factory workers singing in Danville, Virginia, after leaving Florida.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Delius's urge to express himself in music was first felt while listening to black farm labourers singing in Florida, an experience he aimed to capture in his music.

Performer Biography

Sir Andrew Davis, the conductor, has served as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago since 2000 and is Conductor Laureate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Compositional Technique

The Song of the High Hills features a chorus that is an integral part of the texture, singing wordlessly on a vowel to produce the richest tone, and remaining seated throughout.

Compositional Technique

The work Appalachia uses orchestral timbre as much as thematic transformation in its compositional process, with some variations combining smaller variants.