36 - CARVE THE RUNES THEN BE CONTENT WITH SILENCE : ERLAND COOPER

Ground-breaking Scottish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Erland Cooper, shares his buried album, unearthed, and performed live in one of Orkney’s iconic spaces, St Magnus Cathedral. The work is a new composition for solo violin and string ensemble. It celebrates George Mackay Brown on his centenary, written 100 years since the Orcadian poet’s birth. Originally from Stromness, as a solo artist, Cooper has released five acclaimed studio albums, including a trilogy of work inspired by his childhood home, as well as themes of nature, people, place and time. His work combines field recordings with traditional orchestral and contemporary electronic elements. He’s widely known for burying the only existing copy of the master tape of his first classical album in Scotland, deleting all digital files and leaving only a treasure hunt of clues for anyone to seek it. The tape was found in 2023 and the album will be released, exactly as it sounds from the earth, this year along with its world premiere of the completed score in a true collaboration with the natural world.This will be Cooper’s first performance in Orkney and the Scottish premiere of the finished piece.  For this performance he is joined by renowned violinst Freya Goldmark and the eminent Edinburgh Quartet.