Hands Across the Darkness

This work was commissioned by the Hanover Girls' Choir in 2014, a year marking not only the centenary of the Great War (1914–1918) but also the 300th anniversary of the Hanoverian Succession to the throne of England upon the death of Queen Anne in 1714. While the latter circumstance prompted a desire for a work reflecting upon friendship and unity, faint but abiding resonances of the former suggested that the theme might be viewed in more universal terms, especially since the music was commissioned with a view to collaborative harmony between distinguished German and English performers. It was with this in mind that Charles Bennett provided his libretto which going yet further afield, listens to the still, small voice of peace and humanity as it insistently reaches us from the oppressed of any time and place.