This new release follows Helen’s last two albums and she is delighted to be collaborating once again with John Lenehan as both pianist and arranger.

The writings below, reflecting the wonderment of nature with its many different atmospheres and profound beauty, are from Yesterday’s Dreams, by William Saunders.

The music

Helen Habershon’s writing is instinctive and inspired. She is passionate about ‘our incredible natural world’ and it is the main source for her music. In her own words :

‘I feel that both life and music can be thought of as a tapestry which gradually unfolds as it reveals a story. My ideas just come out of the ether, it’s a bit like becoming aware of a distant dancer that begins to come closer until it becomes the dance, the music.’ 

‘Found in Winter’ expresses the many different faces of winter with its varied moods as the composer explains:

The first track, Winter Arrives, with its gradual, subtle, almost unconscious introduction into that cold place of starkness, prepares us for what is to come. There is an apprehensive but excited anticipation of winter arriving, heralded by the icy sound of the Mark tree (chime bars) and the immediate appeal of the bodhrán drum.

We then find ourselves on a wonderful journey travelling to many different parts of our imagination; far out in the sparkling ocean when the sun breaks through the mist, with its beautiful dancing rays of gold (Far out in the Ocean) ; the extreme conditions of the arctic with the alarming urgency of its rapidly melting ice,  (Farewell Ice – a piece that Helen wrote last year for the polar explorer Jim McNeil Ice Warrior programme as Composer in Residence); the joy of the welcome rain as it nourishes all (Found in the Rain); that feeling of peace as the winter sunshine smiles hope on the bleakness of the season (Peace).

There is often a sense of timelessness in nature. When we step out of our normal concept of time (Before Time Began) we are aware of vast landscapes of infinite imagination. It is here that we gain access to this wonderful state of inspiration where purity and truth exist; beyond that place of logical thinking, censorship and critical agenda; rather a state of pre- thought, a place of knowing where we can follow our own inner guidance.

Two of the works, inspired by Russian poems, reflect the winter of mankind.

Found in Winter – music by Helen Habershon arranged by John Lenehan

• Winter Arrives 5:21
• Far out in the Ocean 3:31
• Farewell Ice 7:09
• Requiem – Anna Akhmatova 10:50
• Found in the Rain 2:40

The Bronze Horseman                                                                                     11:30

• Gently flowing         5:55
• Andante 2:47
• Appassionato 2:47
• Peace 5:10
• Before Time Began  5:15
• Day of Judgement  9:19 Total playing time              60:49

Helen Habershon clarinet (tracks 2, 5-8, 10)

John Anderson oboe (tracks 9, 10)

Andrew Fuller    cello (tracks 6-8,10)

John Lenehan piano (tracks 3, 6-8, 10)

London Primavera Orchestra (all tracks except 3, 6-8, 10)

Read the full release booklet here.