Finnis Edmund: The Air, Turning

Edmund Finnis is a ‘hugely gifted composer’ (Sunday Telegraph) and his multifaceted output ranges from intimate music for soloists and duets to immersive electronic pieces, music for film, ensemble and choral music, and works for large orchestra. This album demonstrates the breadth of Finnis' music to date with world-class ensembles and soloists including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, BCMG, London Contemporary Orchestra, Víkingur Ólafsson and Mark Simpson, along with conductors who have demonstrated a deep understanding of his music: Ilan Volkov, Richard Baker, Robert Ames and Andrew Gourlay. Finnis' compositions are beautiful and iridescent, and explore in detail the potential embodied in each of the instruments he writes for. Two examples of this are the title track The Air, Turning which draws on the idea that music is just vibrating air and the sensation of sound moving around us and Elsewhere, written for violin with reverb, that delicately spins melodic shapes like spiderwebs, with light bowing and whispy flautando effects. This is a stunning release from a young composer with a unique and compelling soundworld.