German classical violinist Niklas Liepe is scheduled to release a new album which includes Rachel Portman's 'Tipping Points', a concerto for violin, orchestra, and voice. The album, that is planned for release in Europe on the 5th of April 2024 on the Sony Classical label also features a recording of Wolf Kerschek's new arrangement of Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' titled 'The New Four Seasons'. In advance of the album the track 'Water' from 'Tipping Points' has now been released as a single on streaming media.

The 'Tipping Points' concerto consists of six movements, and each movement is interwoven with a new poem by poet Nick Drake. The themes of the 25-minute work, both in the music and the poems are about the powers of nature and the confronting emotions triggered by collapsing ecosystems. They bring together the ancient and the modern. As one of the poems says: "The tipping point of the heart is when it breaks".

Update: a second single 'Earth' has now been released by Sony Classical.

I. Invocation: A Different Sound Sings Through Everything
II. Air: Conjurer of Secret Atmospheres
III. Water: Simple Spell Conjuring a New Green World
IV. Fire: We're Losing the Family of Things
V. Earth: The Time is Now to Make Peace with the Earth
VI. Epilogue: Whisper the Forests until they Rise Again

Commissioned by the WDR Funkhausorchester Köln and Noorlands Opera, 'Tipping Points' is a strong statement for the Earth and the environment this work promises to inspire and move. The concerto premiered on the 8th of September 2023 by the WDR Funkhausorchester in Cologne (Germany), and is performed by violinist Niklas Liepe together with singer Alma Naidu.