Siren songs & serenades: Ben Goldscheider, Laurence Kilsby & London Mozart Players in Anna Clyne premiere, Britten & Mendelssohn

Ben Goldscheider

Anna Clyne: Sirens, Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings, Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 1 in C minor; Ben Goldscheider, Laurence Kilsby, London Mozart Players, Jonathan Bloxham; Church of St Martin in the Fields
Reviewed 8 May 2026

Anna Clyne's new piece for Ben Goldscheider successfully seduce with its siren-like lyrical horn writing, whilst Goldscheider and Kilsby proved superb partnership in Britten's serenade. The programme completed with Bloxham bringing out the youthful exuberance in Mendelssohn's symphony

For London Mozart Players' (LMP) final concert in its 2025/26 season at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields on Friday 8 May 2026, Jonathan Bloxham conducted LMP in the premiere of Anna Clyne's Sirens (co-commissioned by LMP) for horn and strings with soloist Ben Goldscheider, Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with Laurence Kilsby and Goldscheider, and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 1.

Whilst Anna Clyne's music has never been unknown in the UK (she based in the USA), she does seem to be having something of a moment here. Announced as the CBSO's first composer-in-residence for the 2026/27 season with a new Viola Concerto and other works planned including a recording with saxophonist Jess Gilham, the National Youth Orchestra launched their 2026 season with Clyne's Shimmer, she received an Ivor for Best Choral Composition last year, the Sixteen's 2025 Choral Pilgrimage featured the premiere of Clyne's Orbits, and her The Years was at the BBC Proms. 

LMP's concert was part of a short tour. The previous evening, Goldscheider, Kilsby and LMP had performed Britten's Serenada in Farnham, then Goldscheider and LMP return to Clyne's Sirens tonight (9 May 2026) at Newbury Spring Festival.

Clyne's inspiration for Sirens was the mythological Greek creature, half-woman, half-bird, that lured sailors and the first movement began with a distinctly hypnotic lyrical horn line over sustained strings, seductive yet thoughtful and considered. As the underlying string texture became more mobile, the endless melody of Goldscheider's horn took on improvisatory freedom. A vividly vigorous middle section featured energetic scale passages for the horn before things quieted and returned to the opening material and the horn descended to nothing. The faster middle movement featured some striking string writing with Goldscheider alternating between a lyrical line, faster moving yet engaging, and edgier stopped passages with bent notes. As energy and urgency increased the sense of anxiety developed leading to a sudden ending as the horn spiralled upwards. The final movement combined energy and urgency with vivid timbres including snapped pizzicatos with a more lyrical middle section before the music returned to urgent intensity and a rather drunken waltz. The ending was vivid and tumultuous, yet all calms down to nothing.

Whilst Clyne has worked with Goldscheider to push the boundaries of horn technique in the work, there was a fundamental sense of lyricism threading through the horn writing. Goldscheider's tone quality and sense of line brought out the siren-like aspects of the piece and Clyne definitely underpinned his part with some imaginative string writing. Clyne's harmonies remained largely tonal meaning that the work has a surprisingly approachable feel to it yet with imaginative touches.

Laurence Kilsby (Photo: Karoline Heller)

Bloxham, Goldscheider and LMP were then joined by tenor Laurence Kilsby for Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. Goldscheider proved an excellent partner here, always alert and sympathetic to Kilsby's solo tenor. For his part, Kilsby brought richness of tone and beauty of line to the piece, yet his tenor has surprising depth and strength so that he and Goldscheider's horn were equal partners. Kilsby impressed with the way he approached the piece, combining lyrical beauty with musical vividness.

The words that Britten set in the Serenade are hardly comforting yet there was something so seductive in Kilsby's performance that the result seemed almost siren-like in its combination of beauty and danger.  

After Goldscheider's fine Prologue with robust playing alternating with moments of lyricism, Kilsby brought a remarkable sense of legato to Pastoral his plangent tenor almost oozing. The speed was quite steady, with moments of real strength along with a vivid attention to detail. We didn't have the printed words, yet Kilsby's diction was both excellent and expressive. The vivid string playing in Nocturne drew a heroic edge to Kilsby's voice and his duets with Goldscheider's horn saw them very much as equals, creating something thrilling, set off by Kilsby's combination of vibrant line, meticulous detail and plangent tone. Elegy combined Goldscheider's sense of colour, and texture in the horn writing, displaying fine control, with Kilsby's focused, centred and rather dark tone. In Dirge, Kilsby was positively compelling, and the performance developed real power and urgency with Kilsby's plangent tenor and Goldscheider's thrilling horn playing over rhythmically vivid strings. Hymn, the final duet between tenor and horn, contrasted the rich yet mobile horn-line with the wit and verbally dextrous tenor line. Sonnet was tender yet intense with ardent lyricism, leading to Goldscheider's fabulous off-stage Epilogue.

Mendelssohn completed his Symphony No. 1 in 1824 when he was just 15. The work came after his 12 string symphonies, but the new piece used full woodwind, brass and timpani so instead of being no. 13, it became the first of his mature symphonies. Whilst it had a private premiere that year, it had to wait until 1827 for its public premiere, performed by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The symphony was dedicated to the Philharmonic Society, who performed the London premiere in 1829 with Mendelssohn conducting. He orchestrated the scherzo from his Octet Op. 20 as an alternative third movement for this performance.

The first movement erupted with exuberant energy and the stormy excitement rather felt like the beginning of an overture. For all the engaging energy from the youthful composer, there were lyrical and intimate moments. The second movement began with a tender lyricism with throbbing passion underneath and the music developed both in excitement and passion. The menuetto was vibrant and robust, the orchestra bringing a strong sound to the piece which contrasted with the elegance and mystery of the middle section. There was an urgent energy with constant forward motion to the opening of the finale, though we had more lyrical episodes, a sense of strenuousness pervaded the development section leading to an urgent conclusion.

The orchestra successfully brought out the symphony's combination of youthful exuberance and sophistication as the teenage Mendelssohn, following his idol Beethoven's example, found his way to a more mature sense of expression. Jonathan Bloxham encouraged his players to bring out both sides to the work, exuberance balanced by serious lyricism.

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