John Casken - World Premiere

On Wednesday 8 October, The Hilliard Ensemble will join Ensemble 10/10 conducted by Clark Rundell for the first performance of John Casken’s The Dream of the Rood, a setting of one of the earliest Christian poems in Anglo-Saxon literature.

The new work, which was commissioned by the Hilliard Ensemble and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic the as part of Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture, is Casken’s second work for the exceptional vocal quartet, the first, Sharp Thorne for four solo voices, was premiered in 1992.

Casken’s description of the text, which he freely adapted from a number of different translations, is below:

“The Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood is astonishing for its visionary and highly original interpretation of the story of the crucifixion and portrayal of Christ’s death. There are two characters in the poem: one, a man who sees in his dream a magnificent tree adorned with gold and jewels; the other is the tree itself which becomes personified and tells the dreaming man how he was cut down, set upon a hill, and how a brave young warrior climbed up into the tree before blackened nails pierced them both, tearing their flesh, and leaving the tree “wet with the blood of one so young.” (John Casken).

• John Casken: Profile
• The Royal Liverpool Philharmoninc / Ensemble 10/10
• The Hilliard Ensemble