The Green Ray by Gavin Bryars: Resonate
About the piece
Gavin Bryars’ The Green Ray is one of the most extraordinary works for saxophone and orchestra in the repertoire. It has a haunting transformative effect on everyone that listens; its lyrical beauty refers to an extraordinary atmospheric phenomenon, a ‘green ray’, seen at a West Scottish sunset just as the sun touches the horizon.
About the composer
Yorkshire born composer and double bassist Gavin Bryars has produced works in a variety of musical styles, including jazz, neoclassicism, minimalism and avant-garde. He came to notice with works such as “The Sinking of the Titanic” (1969) and “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet” (1971), and became notorious in the 1970s as a founding member of performance art ensemble the Portsmouth Sinfonia. He has collaborated with many visual artists and composed prolifically for film, dance and opera.
Championed by Bath Philharmonia