Nathan and James Gilchrist met up in March to rehearse The Cool Web by Gordon Crosse, a playful, childlike but deeply unsettling song-cycle setting poetry by Stevie Smith and Robert Graves. Premiered by Sir Peter Pears at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1976, we are not aware of many (or even any) performances since. Thanks to a new edition prepared by the Crosse Trust, hopefully this situation will soon be reversed – starting with James and Nathan at the English Music Festival in May this year, at Dartington.
