Ensemble 10/10

Returning from war, a soldier meets a sinister stranger. He offers him a bargain: the soldier’s violin in return for a book of untold riches. It seems like an easy choice – but this, after all, is a world in which the devil really does have all the best tunes. In troubled times, Stravinsky’s musical folk-tale remains as fresh, entertaining and unsettling as ever. Sitting comfortably? You won’t be.

First, though, enter a very different world: Liverpool-born Emily Howard has emerged as one of the UK’s most compelling musical voices, and in Settle – written for Ensemble 10/10 in 2010 – she evokes a deeply-felt landscape of outer beauty and inward sorrow. If you haven’t yet heard her music, there’s no more moving introduction.