Concertante Doubles world premiere in Stockholm
- James Joslin
- Jan 22
- 1 min read
On 11 & 12 February 2026, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra's Malin Broman and Rick Stotijn premiere Sally's Concertante Doubles for viola, double bass and sinfonietta together with world renowned conductor Pierre Bleuse.
This piece was written for Malin Broman and Rick Stotijn, and is a tribute to their remarkable artistry. When discussing the new work, the soloists suggested something that related in some way to traditional music, and Beamish decided to take the beautiful song by Robert Burns: Ca’ the Yowes (Call in the Sheep) as a starting point. This love song is set against hills and woodland, with a ‘burnie’ (stream) at its centre.
The concerto is a set of variations (or ‘doubles’), each of which references a small part of the original melody. In a series of interactions between the two instruments – messages, conversations, clashes – different aspects of their relationship are explored: sometimes intimate, sometimes angry, sometimes dance-like, sometimes passionate, sometimes wistful. No variation is much longer than two minutes, and each is inspired by words taken from Burns’ poem; words which in turn inspire the soundworld of the scoring.
