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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Clive Paget

Sally Beamish: House of Wonder album review – a musical shapeshifter celebrates 70 years

Composer Sally Beamish, holding a viola, sits in front of a group of five people including her husband and children
Luminous and poignant … Sally Beamish’s House of Wonder. Photograph: Will Coates-Gibson

Sally Beamish celebrates 70 years on planet Earth with an eclectic and profoundly personal album featuring friends and members of her talented musical family. At the centre of it all is Beamish herself, a musical shapeshifter, at home in classical, jazz or folk fiddle, performing on her own instrument, the viola.

It opens with April, a luminous chaconne for viola and accordion memorialising her friend, jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr. Equally poignant is Gerropaedie for viola and harp, a Satie-inspired birthday gift for an elderly patron.

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