Paul Conway reviewed this spring’s world première of David Sawer’s Flesh and Blood in the latest issue of the Tempo journal. Ilan Volkov conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with mezzo-soprano Christina Rica and baritone Marcus Farnsworth.

Sawer’s vocal writing was assured and character-driven […] It is a measure of his achievement that the eloquent and vivid treatment of certain key words such as ‘clung’ and ‘fret’ were reminiscent of Britten at his most inspired. […] Flesh and Blood was a darkly dramatic work in which David Sawer impressed by his innate sense of drama and his refreshingly unhackneyed approach to instrumentation. I hope this passionate and directly communicative score will soon be set down in a recording studio so that its many felicities may be more readily appreciated on CD.

Tempo, vol. 67/265, July 2013, Paul Conway

View the full vocal score of Flesh and Blood.