Andrew Palmer, Group Editor

Classical Music: Wolf Hall - Wolf Hall - The Mirror And The Light

Wolf Hall - The Mirror And The Light Debbie Wiseman OBE

Faith and Truth; Salvage; The Five Wounds; Obedience; The Image of the King; Broken on the Body;Killing Vein; Defiance; Man of Sorrows; Wreckage; Betrayal; New Found Lands; Another Life; A Patient Man; Forgiveness; The Leper's Spit; A Little Heaven; The Mirror and the Light; Wolf Hall Suite.

Performed by The Locrian Ensemble of London

Silva Screen Records SILCD 1768 Limited Edition Vinyl : Catalogue No. SILLP 1768

https://www.silvascreen.com/


How does Debbie Wiseman do it? Her scores are always alluring, drawing the listener into the heart of the story. She manages to capture the essence with compositions that seem to radiate presence and make time stand still while at the same time having an immediacy.

Consider The Locrian Ensemble of London's recent recording for Wolf Hall—The Mirror and the Light. The haunting score has moments where the tension is palpable, following the twists and turns of Cromwell’s predicaments as he heads to his death.

The Locrian Ensemble conveys the pathos in truly atmospheric musical painting where all the scheming and machinations at Henry VIII’s court are played out. The emotional sentiments are expressed with Wiseman’s superb understanding of orchestration. Using the human voice with Grace Davidson’s lovely soprano is particularly evocative, and the poignancy is given credence through her choice of instrumentation, such as recorders, mandolin, drums, string quartet, harpsichord, and harp.

The music creates a sensation where the listener wants to reach out to Cromwell; Wiseman is undoubtedly a tunesmith with lyricism as part of her DNA.

Read my interview with Debbie Wiseman and Alan Titchmarsh: Alan-Titchmarsh-And-Debbie-Wiseman-In-Conversation