Bach’s Fantasia or Piece d’Orgue was originally written, as the name suggests, for organ. In it, a dynamic and cheerful opening leads to a contrapuntal central section in five voices, realised here on the five viols of the consort. Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was an English composer and keyboard player. His Nomine in 5 Parts, composed around 1610, are among the most celebrated consort works of the Jacobean era. By contrast, Debussy’s La fille aux cheveux de lin, originally a solo piano piece, evokes the ‘girl with flaxen hair’ of Leconte de Lisle’s poem of the same name. The number five continues later in the programme with the jazz standard, composed by Paul Desmond and made famous by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. 

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s Fratres has fast become a modern classic. Written without fixed instrumentation, it is driven by three voices that unfold simple repeating melodic material. Back in England, William Byrd (c.1540-1623) was one of the most influential composers of the Renaissance. The Fantasia was a popular form; with roots in improvisation, it seldom followed a strict musical form but was instead composed around an imaginative musical idea. The programme ends with music of an altogether different kind – Sally Beamish’s arrangement of Kate Bush’s iconic Running Up That Hill. 

Dr Benjamin Tassie © 2026