H98 Acrobats on a loose wire (2023)

Commissioned by the Nash Concert Society Trust for the Nash Ensemble.

First performed on 18 March 2025 at Wigmore Hall, London, by members of the Nash Ensemble, namely Philippa Davies (all three flutes), Benjamin Nabarro (violin), Lars Anders Tomter (viola) and Adrian Brendel (cello).

Instrumentation: Flute (doubling Piccolo and Alto Flute) and String Trio

Duration: c. 5’

Scores and parts are available

Programme note:

The piece is derived from the 1630s drawing Acrobats on a Loose Wire by Jusepe de Ribera (1591–1652) known as Lo Spagnoletto or Little Spaniard. He acquired the nickname having spent the better part of his working life in Naples. The drawing depicts four performers freestyling on a loose and somewhat precariously suspended wire. Changing from piccolo to alto flute and finally to flute in C, the flute represents the acrobats negotiating the loose wire of the three strings. The flute is wholly independent of the string trio. I wrote the piece to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nash Ensemble of London and it’s dedicated to them and their founder, Amelia Freedman to whom I owe so very much.  

SH
18 July 2024

Reviews:

“Holt’s piece had something of the enigmatic quality of his creativity, which his teacher Anthony Gilbert called “a dark fire”. It was not comfortable music, but with such a title one would not expect it to be. Its edge-of-the-seat tension was well articulated by the players.”

Christopher Woodley, Bachtrack, 20 March 2025