Author Description

The Heaventree of Stars is an eleven-minute poem for violin and orchestra. The title is taken from Joyce’s Ulysses and is the stimulus for one of Hoddinott’s most evocative and atmospheric works. It is a rapturous and radiant nocturne whose darkly glowing backdrop is at once luminous and serene. After an initial surge from the full orchestra the work shimmers and shudders with misty wraiths of instrumental color. Through this the soloist’s music is the most substantial and least transient component. There is an underlying sense of foreboding in this nightscape, of something haunted. Apart from some brief and transitory climaxes the spirit of the work is diaphanous and fleeting and strangely poignant.