VSreatures of Dust and Dreams is the first of Sarah Lianne Lewis’s works to be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales since she was appointed Affiliate Composer a year ago. In this 10-minute piece, created by the orchestra under the direction of Finnegan Downie Dear, Lewis sought to reflect on the intrinsic fragility of the individual in the face of their potential to gain strength by reaching out to others. Designed in 2019, pre-Covid, Lewis nevertheless recognized its resonance with the fears and uncertainties of the pandemic experience.

The quarter-tones gave a brash touch to the buoyancy of the opening, with clarinet multiphonics adding to the abrasive element and a continued sense of unease, which contrasted hugely with the simpler melodic lines and the far-from harmonies. be dissonant. The initial playfulness and the tendency of the musical material to meander and run out periodically – although perhaps suggestive of the insubstantiality of the dream – meant that the work did not quite have the intended philosophical weight. by Lewis. Nonetheless, his confidence in handling textures was more than evident.

The highlight of this concert was John Woolrich’s Viola Concerto, written in 1992 and first performed two years later. Built like a cycle of lyrics without words, imbued with the melancholy of farewell and at the same time comforting, each of its seven parts contains the briefest reference to the music of the past – Mozart, Beethoven, Monteverdi and Wagner – allusive, elusive, Redeemer. Soloist Timothy Ridout gave a performance of exceptional eloquence and maturity, and Downie Dear ensured that the musicians, both in their accompaniment and in the broad orchestral sections, matched Ridout in sensitivity. The sheer beauty of it all was mesmerizing and, in the end, deeply moving.

After such emotion, the ballet music of Ravel Ma Mère l’Oye and her fairy tale characters came as a fitting light festive relief. Downie Dear balanced the score’s languid delicacy moments with the more vibrant characterizations which, being Ravel, never remotely become pantomimes.