To mark her seventieth birthday, Sally Beamish returns to the instrument that has shaped her musical life: the viola. House of Wonder explores recent works written by Beamish for herself to play, alongside new pieces she has commissioned especially for this recording from her three children – themselves all accomplished musicians – and other close collaborators.

Autobiography runs through the programme. Childhood memories surface in Crescent; poetry and jazz inflections shape the intimate cycle Night Songs; and tributes from friends and family expand the viola’s expressive world in unexpected directions. Contributions from Ryan Corbett, Joseph Havlat, Rosalind Ventris, Imogen Whitehead, Stephanie Irvine and the spoken voice of Beamish’s husband Peter Thomson create a circle of musical friendships around Beamish’s playing. Another crucial element is the viola made by Stephanie Irvine in 2014, which inspired her mother’s return to the instrument on which she had first made her career as a performer in the 1980s.