This playlist looks at hope as a musical theme. The pieces explore hope as journeys and new beginnings, as sustenance and guidance, as changing relationships, and as the promise of unrealised potential.

Benjamin Britten, The Rainbow

An enchanting musical painting of a rainbow after a storm, using children’s voices and handbells to symbolise deliverance and hope. This piece is part of a broader work based on the story of Noah’s Ark (‘Noye’s Flood’). 

Meredith Monk, Ellis Island

Ellis Island in New York used to be the most active arrival point for those hoping to begin a new life in the USA. This piece represents those who passed through and what the place meant to them.

Dustin O’Halloran, An Ending A Beginning

This music is influenced by the composer’s childhood memories of his mother’s ballet lessons. This opening track to the album ‘Other Lights’ was used within a contemporary dance piece about the need for hope during the recent worldwide pandemic.   

Howard Skempton, Lantern

The Composer’s writing style is characterised by simplicity and a clarity of musical lines. The lantern sylbolises a protected source of light, providing guidance and illumination.

Michael Zev Gordon, And those who are beautiful, oh who can retain them?

The composer is preoccupied with the idea of the search for serenity. In this piece the piano acts as an anchor, allowing the other instruments to achieve stillness.  

Helen Jane Long, Rainbow

A delicate and sincere piece drawing on the composer’s deeply personal experience of courage through adversity. She describes this music as “a sound that takes you away from your troubles… the sound of hope”.

Graham Fitkin, Glass

This lyrical piece for saxophone makes reference to composer Philip Glass, who Fitkin describes as having influenced his writing style. This relationship represents the aspect of hope that enables something to be realised.

Jonny Greenwood, Hope of New Fields

From the film soundtrack ‘There Will be Blood’, which depicts “a long journey coming to its and, or the relief that comes with reaching one’s destination”.

Terry Riley, Simone’s Lullaby

From the body of work ‘The Heaven Ladder’, which is often used to describe the means of travelling to heaven or the afterlife. The composer describes wanting the piece to ‘bathe in sensuality’.

David Lang, Wed

This is one is a series of ‘Memory Pieces’, responding to the hope from the composer that he might be able to hold on to a close relationship with someone he had lost. 

Anna Phoebe, Light on Waves

This track is a homage to the sea, and how it echoes human emotions. The piece is about the “acceptance of flaws and…letting go of the idea of imperfection”, leaving space for hope.