7. Hansel and Gretel: Magnus Walker & Eunji Han

Magnus Walker and Eunji Han have chosen Hansel and Gretel as their tale around which to build their programme. They write:

There were quite a few aspects of this story to explore. We wanted to explore the home life and familial relationship of the children as well as exploring their journey in the forest and then their recue from the witch and their reunion with their father and home at the end.

We were particularly interested in the first instance of their relationship with the mother, as it is the mother who wants to leave them on the woods in the first place. We thought Schumann’s 'Muttertraum' in particular would relate to the darker side of the Mother’s relationship to her children.

There were many songs to explore in regards to their time in the woods. We have included French songs by Chausson and Boulanger as we felt they encompassed the dreamlike and ambiguous nature of this part of the story. We are also excited to take a dip into the work of a new composer for both of us in Hugo Alfvén: hopefully we’ll have more opportunity to delve deeper and perform more of this wonderfully Romantic Swedish composer in the future. As well as songs about the forest we wanted to include the idea of the witch too, including songs Liszt's 'Die Lorelei' and Mendelssohn’s 'Hexenlied', and we are incredibly grateful to Alex Nante for writing us a song especially for this programme, commissioned by Oxford Lieder.

Finally, we thought the final two songs by Copland and Warlock are a strong expression of coming home, even if in a more poetic or philosophical sense.