The Lost Words by Royal Scottish National Orchestra

The Lost Words JAMES

BURTON

Based on The Lost Words

Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

‘We find it hard to love what we cannot give a name to,’ says Robert Macfarlane, author of The Lost Words. ‘And names, good names, well used can help us see and they help us care.’ The book has become a bestseller. Now British composer James Burton has set its message to music. It’s a tuneful celebration of a vanishing natural world, created for young voices and sung today by the RSNO’s inspirational Youth Chorus.

RSNO Youth Chorus

Patrick Barrett Director, RSNO Youth Choruses

Edward Cohen Piano

Judith Keaney Piano

New Auditorium, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Sun 22 Mar 2026 1pm

If viewing these notes at the concert, please do so considerately and not during performances. Please silence all mobile telephones and alerts, and refrain from taking photographs, without flash, until the end of each piece.

James Burton (Born

1974)

The Lost Words

FIRST PERFORMANCE

Tanglewood, Massachusetts, 21 July 2019

DURATION 35 minutes

Acorn Newt

Bramble

Adder

Lark

Dandelion

Magpie

Conker

Bluebell Willow

Otter

Wren

‘Once upon a time, words began to vanish from the language of children. They disappeared so quietly that at first almost no one noticed – fading away like water on stone. The words were those that children used to name the natural world around them: acorn, adder, bluebell, bramble, conker –gone! … The words were becoming lost: no longer vivid in children’s voices, no longer alive in their stories …’

Thus begins The Lost Words, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’ beautiful book which contains spell-poems and paintings of common names for everyday nature – from acorn to wren – which had slipped so far out of the consciousness of children that they were omitted from a new edition of a junior dictionary. Published in 2017, The Lost Words summons the magic of nature to help conjure these words back to life:

‘… it holds not poems but spells of many kinds that might just, by the old, strong magic of being spoken aloud, unfold dreams and songs, and summon lost words back into the mouth and the mind’s eye.’

I fell under the spell of The Lost Words shortly after it was published, and this coincided happily with a commission from the Hallé Orchestra for the Hallé Children’s Choir and the foundation of the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir. I have selected twelve of the poems to set to music, each one forming its own stand-alone song. The piece may be performed by any group of upper voices, but I composed it with the timbre and energy of children’s voices in mind. The accompaniment was always conceived orchestrally but I also wanted to create a piano version which was musically convincing and practical.

In each of the songs I have set out to capture the spirit of the words and to make them intelligible and enjoyable to sing. Sometimes that means some vocal extremes, such as whispered effects, shouting, some very low mysterious notes, and some triumphant high ones too.

The rhythm of Acorn was inspired by the sound of falling acorns on a hard roof. There is high melodrama in Newt, who is resisting the unwanted approaches of the pun-filled coot. The march-like Bramble has a fruit-inspired musical twist at the end, and in Adder the snake is musically mysterious but also unthreatening. Each of the movements is dedicated to loved ones and friends, and Lark is dedicated to the memory of my father who, before he died too young, taught me to notice nature, even though we lived in built-up London. Dandelion has a deliberately sunny musical disposition, before the uncompromising bully Magpie kicks up an enormous fuss: ‘pick a fight in an empty room!’ Conker, set musically as a rondo waltz with a telling cluster chord at the end, is the word used in the UK to describe a horse chestnut (and a children’s playground game). Jackie Morris’ oceanic Bluebell painting with a barn owl is one of the abiding images of the book, and the bluesy music is intended to match the depth of colour. Willow gently flows in compound time, and the language of trees is the theme in the Tolkienian conversation between the ‘listeners’ (us) and the unreachable tree. Otter is a musically supple and joyous description of the otter’s habitat and behaviour (‘a silver-miner with trout its ore’) but it is also an appeal to be one’s self: ‘Ever dreamed of being otter?’ The flitting and breathless presto of Wren captures a birdwatcher’s frustration with these tiny, shy but brilliant vocalising songbirds: ‘now you think you see wren, now you know you don’t.’

James Burton, July 2019

The Lost Words was commissioned by the Hallé Concerts Society for the Hallé Children’s Choir, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The first performance of the version with piano accompaniment took place at the Tanglewood Festival on 21 July 2019 with the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir and Graeme McCullough (piano), conducted by the composer. Selections of the orchestral version were performed on 23 July 2019 at the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer.

The RSNO Youth Chorus and Royal Scottish National Orchestra gave the Scottish premiere of a selection of the songs in Dundee on 14 March 2024.

ACORN

As flake is to blizzard, as

Curve is to sphere, as knot is to net, as

One is to many, as coin is to money, as bird is to flock, as

Rock is to mountain, as drop is to fountain, as spring is to river, as glint is to glitter, as

Near is to far, as wind is to weather, as feather is to flight, as light is to star, as kindness is to good, so acorn is to wood.

NEWT

‘Newt, oh newt, you are too cute!’

Emoted the coot to the too-cute newt,

‘With your frilly back and your shiny suit and your spotted skin so un-hirsute!’

‘Too cute?! roared the newt to the unastute coot. ‘With all this careless talk of cute you bring me into disrepute, for newts aren’t cute: we’re kings of the pond, lions of the duckweed, dragons of the water; albeit it’s true,’ – he paused – ‘minute.’

BRAMBLE

Bramble is on the march again, Rolling and arching along the hedges, into parks on the city edges.

All streets are suddenly thick with briar: cars snarled fast, business over.

Moths have come in their millions, drawn to the thorns.

The air flutters.

Bramble has reached each house now, looped it in wire.

People lock doors, close shutters. Little shoots steal through keyholes, to leave in quiet halls,

Empty stairwells, bowls of bright blackberries, where the light falls.

ADDER

A hank of rope in the late hot sun; a curl of bark; a six, an eight:

For adder is as adder basks.

Deep in heather, coiled in gorse, sunk among the winter stones:

For adder is as adder hides.

Darts, diamond slides, sine-wave swerves, live-wire curves of force:

For adder is as adder glides.

Echo of snake, self-escape, a left-behind ghost:

For adder is as adder sheds.

Rustle of grass, sudden susurrus, what the eye misses:

For adder is as adder hisses.

LARK

Little astronaut, where have you gone, and how is your song still torrenting on?

Aren’t you short of breath as you climb higher, up there in the thin air, with your magical song still tumbling on?

Right now I need you, for my sadness has come again and my heart grows flatter – so I’m coming to find you, by following your song,

Keeping on into deep space, past dying stars and exploding suns, to where at last, little astronaut, you sing your heart out at all dark matter.

DANDELION

Dazzle me, little sun-of-the-grass! And spin me, tiny time-machine!

Tick-tock sun clock, thistle & dock.

Now no longer known as Dent-de-Lion, Lion’s Tooth or Wind-blow

Tick-tock sun clock, nettle & dock.

No longer known as Evening Glow, Milk-witch or Parachute, so Let new names take and root, thrive and grow.

Tick-tock sun clock, rattle & dock.

I would make you some, such as Bane of Lawn Perfectionists Or Fallen Star of the Football Pitch or Scatter-seed, but Never would I call you only, merely, simply ‘weed’.

Tick-tock sun clock, clover & dock.

MAGPIE

Magpie Manifesto: Argue every toss! Gossip, Bicker, Yak and Snicker All Day Long! Pick a Fight in an Empty Room!

Interrupt, Interject, Intercept, Intervene! Every Magpie against Every Other Walking Flying Swimming Creeping Creature on the Earth!

CONKER

Cabinet-maker, could you craft me a conker?

Oil its wood, burnish its veneer, set it glowing from within?

Never. Not a chance. No hope at all.

King then, could you command me a conker?

Compel its green spikes to grow, its white plush to thicken?

Impossible. Impractical. Inconceivable.

Engineer, surely you could design me a conker?

Refine its form, mill its curves and edges?

Manufacture me that magic casket?

Unfeasible. Unworkable. Unimaginable.

Realize this (said the Cabinet-maker, the King and the Engineer together), conker cannot be made, however you ask it, whatever word or tool you use, regardless of decree. Only one thing can conjure conker – and that thing is tree.

BLUEBELL

Blue flowers at the blue hour –

Late-day light in a bluebell wood. Under branch, below leaf, billows blue so deep, sea-deep, Each step is taken in an ocean.

Blue flows at the blue hour: colour is current, undertow.

Enter the wood with care, my love, Lest you are pulled down by the hue, Lost in the depths, drowned in blue.

WILLOW

Willow, when the wind blows so your branches billow, oh will you whisper while we listen so we learn what words your long leaves loosen?

If you whisper when the wind blows so your branches billow, willow, we will listen for a day, a week, a year, till we know what willows say, what willows speak.

Lean in, listeners, come below our leaves and wait until the wind blows so our branches billow, listen for a year, a week, a day but you will never hear what willows speak, what willows say.

Long you linger, listeners, hard you press your ears against our bark, but you will never sense our sap, and you will never speak in leaves, or put down roots into the rot –for we are willow, and you are not.

O open up your heart-wood to us will you, willow, show your deep within, your rough without, your waterbrushing bough, your shoot, your grain, your knot?

We will never whisper to you, listeners, nor speak, nor shout, and even if you learn to utter alder, elder, poplar, aspen, you will never know a word of willow – for we are willow and you are not.

OTTER

Otter enters river without falter what a supple slider out of holt and into water!

This shape-shifter’s a sheer breath-taker, a sure heart-stopper but you’ll only ever spot a shadow flutter, bubble-skein, and never (almost never) actual otter.

This swift swimmer’s a silver-miner with trout its ore it bores each black pool deep and deeper delves up current steep and steeper, turns the water inside-out, then inside-outer.

Ever dreamed of being otter?

That utter underwater thunderbolter that shimmering twister?

Run to the river bank, otter dreamer, slip your skin and change your matter, pour your outer being into otter and enter now an otter without falter into water.

WREN

When wren whirrs from stone to furze the world around her slows, for wren is quick, so quick she blurs the air through which she flows, yes –

Rapid wren is needle, rapid wren is pin – and wren’s song is sharp-song, briar-song, thorn-song, and wren’s flight is dart-flight, flick-flight, light-flight, yes –

Each wren etches, stitches, switches, glitches, yes –

Now you think you see wren, now you know you don’t.

The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

James Burton Composer

Born in London, James Burton is a conductor and composer widely recognised for his dynamic leadership of choirs and orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic. He was appointed Choral Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in 2017, and over the subsequent eight seasons he was deeply involved in the musical life of New England, appearing as guest conductor with the BSO, The Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Pops, Vermont Symphony, Connecticut Early Music Festival and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, as well as conducting the BSO’s choirs for many collaborations. James was also Director of Orchestral Activities at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts (2020-24).

Now based in the UK, James was recently announced as the next Artistic Director of Ex Cathedra, starting in autumn 2027. James has conducted leading professional choirs such as the Gabrieli Consort, Tenebrae, Choir of the OAE and the BBC Singers, and orchestras

including the RLPO, Hallé, OAE and BBC Concert Orchestra. Last year, he conducted three projects with the Ulster Orchestra, and this season he performed Messiah with Opera North and the Huddersfield Choral Society. Internationally, James has conducted Mexico’s National Symphony Orchestra, Denmark’s Aalborg Symphony and Poland’s Wrocław Philharmonic Choir, and he has collaborated with the Netherlands Radio Choir. Opera credits include ENO, ETO and Garsington Opera, where he received the 2008 Leonard Ingrams Award. Past leadership roles have included serving as Choral Director of the Hallé (2002-9), where his work culminated in the 2009 Gramophone Choral Award (The Dream of Gerontius).

A passionate advocate for young musicians, James directed Schola Cantorum of Oxford (2002-17), creating its conducting scholarship in 2011. He founded the Hallé Youth Choir in 2003 and the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir in 2018. He has been a regular faculty member at the Prague Summer Nights Festival, and in 2017 was the honoured guest conductor of the National Youth Choir of Japan.

James’ growing portfolio of compositions is published by Wise Classical. His output includes arrangements for the Boston Pops, orchestrations for American folk legend Arlo Guthrie, and choral works which have been widely performed, broadcast and recorded by groups including the BBC Singers, The Sixteen, Voces8 and the King’s Singers.

A former head chorister of Westminster Abbey, James was a choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge and a professional singer before studying orchestral conducting at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory.

Patrick Barrett

Director, RSNO Choruses

Patrick Barrett is a conductor specialising in choral music and opera. He is currently Chorus Director with the RSNO Youth Choruses, the Royal Opera House Youth Opera Company, the Irish Youth Choir (18+), National Youth Choirs (915 years) and the award-winning Farnham Youth Choirs.

Recent highlights include conducting the RSNO Youth Chorus in performances with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Benjamin Grosvenor and Nicola Benedetti, as well as preparing them for the recording of Gaspard’s Christmas by Jonathan Dove. Patrick also led Farnham Youth Choir to two gold medals at the World Choir Games 2024 in New Zealand. He has premiered new works by Errollyn Wallen, Jonathan Brigg, Emma O’Halloran and DJ R.Kitt.

Patrick’s commitment to youth choral music extends to preparing choruses for the Edinburgh International Festival, and for Dunedin Consort, where his work often features in major international performances. As a dedicated music educator, Patrick has worked with organisations including The Sixteen, BBC Singers, Wigmore Hall and Aldeburgh Young Musicians, and has spoken at the Post Primary Music Teachers Association in Ireland.

In opera, Patrick collaborates with leading UK companies such as the Royal Opera House, English National Opera and Garsington Opera, where he prepares youth choruses for mainstage productions and world premieres, including Carmen under Antonello Manacorda and Otello under Sir Antonio Pappano.

Previously, Patrick was the conductor of the University of Birmingham’s Upper Voices Choir, University of Reading Chamber Choir and Brockham Choral Society.

Edward Cohen Piano

Edward Cohen is pianist for the RSNO Chorus and Youth Choruses, and has worked with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, National Youth Choir of Scotland and Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus, alongside some of the world’s top conductors. He performs regularly with leading musicians in major venues, and has been broadcast internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, including at the BBC Proms. He has appeared in concertos with a diverse repertoire spanning Beethoven, de Falla, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Strauss. A prize-winning first-class graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, and an alumnus of Indiana University and the Lucerne Festival Academy, he holds two Master’s degrees with distinction from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he received top awards, including the prestigious Governors’ Recital Prize. Edward is Manager of the School of Music and Lecturer at the RCS, and serves as CEO of the Scottish International Piano Competition.

Judith Keaney Piano

Judith Keaney was born in Glasgow and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), graduating with a Masters in Piano Accompaniment performance. While there she won many prizes for collaborative piano and was able to develop her love of working within an orchestral environment. Judith has worked with the RSNO, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Ballet as orchestral keyboard for many years. Touring and recording with these companies have been real highlights of her career. She joined the staff of the RSNO Youth Chorus in 2014, where working as part of such a great team of musicians is a role she cherishes. She is also a sought-after teacher, working at The Glasgow Academy as well as having a busy private teaching practice.

RSNO Youth Chorus

The RSNO Youth Chorus is one of the leading children and youth choirs in the UK. Formed in 1978 by Jean Kidd, the Youth Chorus is currently led by director Patrick Barrett and boasts over 400 members aged 7 to 18. It has built up a considerable reputation singing under some of the world’s most distinguished conductors and appearing on radio and television.

RSNO Youth Chorus members sing regularly with Scotland’s National Orchestra in major concert halls and festivals throughout the country, and in

2021 performed at COP26 in Glasgow. The Youth Chorus has also sung at BBC concerts and regularly appears at the Edinburgh International Festival.

The RSNO Youth Chorus gratefully acknowledges support from Dunclay Charitable Trust, Rowena Alison Goffin Charitable Trust, W A Cargill Fund and W M Mann Foundation

YOUTH CHORUS 1

Aarnav Bhaat

Anna Davis

Ayva Kyle

Bernadette Xin-Ying

Kho

Bronagh McKinght

Bushan Gaddale

Cara Thomson

Catrin Ogle

Colette Balmer

Daisy Quinn

Elise Job

Eunice Oyedokun

Faith Junyen Wong

Fiamma Milligan

Forbes Louden

Gabriella Mills

Grace Nickson

Grace Romans

Honor Osmond

Ingrid McGilvery

Joy Lam

Kiaan Kadwe

Kirsty McLean

Layan Shaaban

Lilianna Nemeth

Lucia FernandezMcCann

Melissa Maffia

Molly Kerr

Neave Maclachlan

Nethra Mantrala

Olivia Tang

RSNO YOUTH

CHORUS STAFF

RSNO YOUTH

CHORUS DIRECTOR

Patrick Barrett

Training Choir, Children’s Chorus 2 and Youth Chorus 2

Osazee Orhionkapayo

Penelope Leithead

Rachel Ayers

Rebecca Penman

Rhea Elizabeth Oommen

Rita El Obbadi

Rory Cameron

Saffron Spybey

Sofia Jorge

Sophie Waller

Yiyi Myler

Zach Baxter

Zara Patel

YOUTH CHORUS 2

Aaleah McAulay

Abigail Gallacher

Abigail Hughes

Ailsa Hutchinson

Aimee Morton

Alec Buckley

Alexandra Cartmell

Alicia Idessane

Alma Correal-Jarrett

Amelia Mashwani

Amelia Philip

Amy Sanderson

Ana Ryburn-Thomson

Anna Arbuckle

Anshi Sai Vanga

Bea Courtial

Blair McKinlay

Cara Mackay

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

Alison McNeill

Youth Chorus 1 and Children’s Chorus 1

Charlotte Muir

Connie Hunter

Cora Robertson

Edie Dunn

Eilidh Hughes

Eilidh McIntyre

Elizabeth Poet

Emilia Ewer

Emilia Rathbone

Emily Hathaway

Emily McKenzie

Emma Little

Evie Diamond

Greta Ingleby

Hannah Binu

Holly Rodger

Hope Henderson

Indii McCulloch

Iris Stalin

Isla Balitbit

Izzy Hughes

Jayden Odebeatu

Jessica Ewer

Jessica-May Payne

Jeviay Dela Santa

Jodie Sumpter

Jude Tait

Kate Mosley

Katie Rourke

Kimberley McFarlane

Leila Osmond

Louisa Greenhill

Louise Morris

Lucy Arbuckle

MUSICIANSHIP STAFF

Ellie Digger

Heather Drysdale

Phil Gault

Emily Hathaway

Mairi Leggatt

Claire McCue

Andrew McTaggart

Sarah Skerritt

Laura Smith

Aimee Toshney

Magnus Holden

Maia FernandezMcCann

Max Biankin

Megan Parsons

Mia Tomb

Mirren McGonigle

Misha Gupta

Nirvana Balideh

Nuala-Maria McKnight

Olivia Cocozza

Olivia Tait

Orla Gilligan

Rachel Cook

Rachel Snaith

Rosa Caughie

Rowie Bryce

Sage Plakaris-Knight

Sarah Oliver

Sarah Orimoloye

Shreeya Pandit

Stella MacEachran

Stella Sorenson

Summer Wang

Susie Wu

Tess Fleming

Thea Morag Heinrich

Thomas Wyllie

Timur Kassimkulov

Winona Shashidhara

Yasmin Patel

Yi Han Dong

VOCAL COACHES

Daniela Hathaway

Alison McNeill

Laura Smith

PIANISTS

Edward Cohen

Judith Keaney

Ethan Loch Plays Gershwin

EDINBURGH

FRI 27 MAR: 7.30pm

GLASGOW

SAT 28 MAR: 7.30pm

Thomas Søndergård Conductor

Ethan Loch Piano

Soloists from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Jane Irwin Casting Director, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

RSNO Youth Chorus

Patrick Barrett Director, RSNO Youth Choruses

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