Sally Beamish: House of Wonder

The Strad Issue: August 2026

Description: A birthday tribute keeps it in the family

Musicians: Sally Beamish (viola) Ryan Corbett (accordion) Joseph Havlat (piano) Stephanie Irvine (lever harp) Peter Thomson (speaker) Rosalind Ventris (viola) Imogen Whitehead (trumpet)

Works: Music by Beamish, Havlat, Laurie Irvine, Stephanie Irvine, Tom Irvine, McKay, Rehnqvist and Stout

Catalogue number: Delphian DCD34333

At (appropriately enough) 70 minutes, and cast across no fewer than 20 short tracks, composer and violist Sally Beamish’s 70th birthday present to herself teems with memories and connections with family, friends and more (several of whom feature as fellow composers and performers). This somewhat sprawling collection also charts Beamish’s own journey away from the viola into composing, then back again.

Indeed, despite its excellent performances and its wide-ranging repertoire, House of Wonder probably functions more strongly as a vivid sonic autobiography to dip into rather than a cohesive collection to be experienced end to end. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of wonder on show, from the childhood memories captured in Beamish’s Crescent for the unlikely but highly effective combination of trumpet, viola and piano, to the intensely decorated Scottish pibroch-inspired Prelude and Canon for two violas, in which Beamish and Rosalind Ventris match sounds magically. The spiky, tango-flavoured Lurk by Beamish’s son Laurie Irvine gets a persuasive performance from his mother and accordionist Ryan Corbett, while the work by Beamish’s daughter Stephanie that gives the disc its title shimmers with harp harmonies and a resonant viola line.

It feels at times as though the release is perched precariously between Beamish’s personal world and her public statements, but it’s also the disc’s warm-hearted sincerity and openness that make it so powerful and affecting.

DAVID KETTLE