Osborne Nigel - Sensations Of Travel

Facts This third release from Hebrides Ensemble's acclaimed recording partnership with Delphian pays tribute to the remarkable musical and human achievements of Edinburgh-based composer Nigel Osborne with a collection of solo and ensemble works. Adagio for Vedran Smailovic - performed here by the Ensemble's director, cellist William Conway - was written in Sarajevo in the winter of 1992-3; Osborne visited the city several times during the Bosnian war, a period recalled in the 2001 Hebrides Ensemble commission Balkan Dances and Laments. In Sarajevo and Mostar, Osborne developed a practice of music therapy for children that he has subsequently taken to warzones in Africa and the Middle East. Music's ability to cross boundaries - to bridge nations and continents, to bear witness and to heal - lies at the heart of this album, on which Hebrides Ensemble's eloquent advocacy is supplemented by soundscapes and sung interludes featuring the voice of the composer himself.