Robin Tritschler tenor ; Malcolm Martineau piano ; Philip Higham cello

Peter Pears, who died 40 years ago, was a regular presence at Wigmore Hall where, in 1942, he and his partner Benjamin Britten gave the world première of the Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo. Robin Tritschler and Malcolm Martineau’s tribute concert includes the dozen Songs of the Zodiac which Geoffrey Bush composed in memory of the great English tenor and the emotionally incendiary music of Richard Rodney Bennett’s Tom O’Bedlam’s Song, written for Pears and Malcolm Martineau’s aunt, the cellist Joan Dickson.

Geoffrey Bush – No. 2 Aries The Ram
Geoffrey Bush – No. 5 Gemini The Twins
Geoffrey Bush – No. 11 Taurus The Bull
Geoffrey Bush – No. 3 Cancer The Crab
Lennox Berkeley – He would not stay for me
Lennox Berkeley – Look not in my eyes
Lennox Berkeley – Because I liked you better
Geoffrey Bush – No. 6 Leo The Lion
Geoffrey Bush – No. 12 Virgo The Virgin
Geoffrey Bush – No. 7 Libra The Scales
Geoffrey Bush – No. 10 Scorpio The Scorpion
Geoffrey Bush – No. 9 Sagittarius The Archer
Geoffrey Bush – No. 4 Capricorn The Goat
Geoffrey Bush – No. 1 Aquarius The Water Carrier
Geoffrey Bush – No. 8 Pisces The Fish