Anna Meredith & Scottish Ensemble – ANNO

After countless achievements in the classical world, on her 2016 SAY Award-winning debut Varmints Anna Meredith consistently blurred the lines between the electronic and the organic. With her new album, she’s continuing to push genre boundaries, this time by combining an all-time classic with fresh work. Initially emerging as a 360-degree live experience, ANNO sees Meredith collaborating with the Scottish Ensemble to entwine her own compositions alongside those of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

The seamless way in which Meredith weaves her own works in-between the baroque passages becomes immediately obvious. With the emotional swell that gradually builds across the course of Haze, she leads directly into the piercing drama of Thunder, while the natural clamour of Birds follows smoothly from the fluttering Dawn. The alternating compositions easily complement and respond to one another, creating a dynamic interplay that encourages the listener to envelop themselves in ANNO’s world.

Even when Meredith brings in harsher techno elements they fit alongside the Italian composer’s work like a glove. Stoop climaxes with a pounding cataclysm of sound, while Low Light combines harpsichord and strings with a glitch-ridden foundation of beats that flows into the dramatic, high-tempo first segment of Vivaldi’s Winter perfectly. ANNO stands as a collection that casts an old master in a new light while cementing Meredith’s place as a constantly startling and boundary-breaking contemporary composer.

Listen to: Haze, Low Light