Will Pound and Delia Stevens, the folk‑classical duo Stevens & Pound, are touring the UK with the Britten Sinfonia to perform their new work The Silent Planet, a re‑composition of Gustav Holst’s The Planets Suite. The 60‑minute piece, orchestrated by Ian Gardiner, expands the original score with a new section titled Earth, written by author Robert Macfarlane. Pound, a harmonica and accordion player who never reads music, explains that his aural approach and folk traditions give the work a fresh, improvisational voice. The duo has spent 18 months rehearsing and revising, and the project highlights how musicians who cannot read scores can still tackle complex orchestral works by learning by ear and collaborating closely with conductors and orchestras. Their journey from earlier projects like The Lark Ascending to the monumental Holst suite showcases the creative potential of re‑imagining classical repertoire through a folk lens.

Original article can be found here.