Crypt Close-Up: Manchester Collective – Sky with the Four Suns

A vision of the sky in the depths of the earth: mystery, ecstasy and stunning music-making as Manchester Collective takes over the crypt at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Our Crypt is one of those spaces where the imagination roams free – and when it’s lit by candlelight, music seems to take on a whole new dimension. Cue Manchester Collective, Britain’s most dynamic and adventurous chamber ensemble, and a gig that’s perfect for this extraordinary atmosphere.

The Alaskan wilderness and the Arctic sky is where night and day steadily unfold with a special kind of magic. These horizons stretch far and wide across the nature-infused music of John Luther Adams. His ‘Canticles of the Sky’ for string quartet is stark, bright and expansive. It takes inspiration from sunbeams that hit ice crystals and refract, forming vivid halos and sundogs. To hear it live is to feel the steady, creeping warmth of a frosty day…

On our way to these distant soundscapes, we bask in the radiant purity of Arvo Pärt’s ‘Summa’ and briefly leave Earth behind for alien terrains. Experimental British musician and composer Mica Levi is best known for their disconcerting scores for films like Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest. In a new commission for the Collective, Jasmine Morris manipulates time with her slow-crawling textures and otherworldly sounds.

This is music in which to immerse yourself: delicate, elusive, and alive with emotion at its most intimate. Move around, mingle with the performers, and let the music speak. They promise to create something extraordinary.