Joanna Borrett
Interlude for string orchestra
Rebellion for violin, cello and string orchestra
Then for two violas and string orchestra (2025)
Ellie Consta (violin), Laura van der Heijden (cello), Luba Tunnicliffe, Ting-Ru Lai (violas)
Her Ensemble
rec. 2025, St Jude on-the-Hill Church, Hampstead, London
Only available individually, digital only
Signum Classics SIGCD1026A/B/C [23]
These recordings are actually three digital singles, released individually, for no obvious reason, over a period of six months. Then is still waiting to be released (October 2026), but the others are available for streaming or download purchase.
Joanna Borrett is a British cellist and, since 2021, published composer. I can tell you little more about her other than she is mainly self-taught. These works are not her first release; an album titled Clan, again for string orchestra and played by Her Ensemble, was released – streaming only – in 2024.
Her style is in the long tradition of British string music, lyrical and romantic. Interlude is yearning, with a well-written middle section with interwoven solo lines for the principals. Rebellion has a strong Celtic feel, though the notes suggest a Russian influence from the novels of Solzhenitsyn. It is apparently about conflict, but, if so, it is a rather gentle one. Then is the only work that the notes provide a date for – 2025 – and I am guessing that this makes it the most recent of the three. It is certainly the most assured, allowing the solo violas to work above and among the orchestral lines. I could imagine all three being used as soundtracks for scenes in British film and TV.
Her Ensemble does not mean Joanna Borrett’s (as in Leopold Stokowski and his Orchestra), but rather a string orchestra, formed in 2020 by violinist Ellie Consta. Its members are all women or nonbinary persons, and the performing focus is on composers from those groups. The ensemble seemed a little underpowered in numbers and the string timbre wasn’t always especially attractive, quite wiry and raw in places when the music was asking for something warmer.
There were very brief notes provided for reviewers, which did no more than describe the music; I don’t believe there is a booklet available with the downloads. The recording venue, St Jude on-the-Hill Church in Hampstead is a frequently used location, but I found the sound to be a little constricted and cold, not really suited to the music.
Pleasant listening then, though nothing especially memorable.
David Barker
Availability: Signum Classics
