There are various surprising types of silence and just as many intriguing attempts to ‘soundtrack’ it. One of the earliest examples of the concert overture – a work in its own right, not preceding a larger form – Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage was inspired by the poetry of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and begins (contrary to appearances) with the negative experience of powerlessness and stillness. After all, for sailors, silence at sea means a lack of wind and a break in the voyage. Fortunately, in this colourful symphonic tale, the ending of which is betrayed by the work’s title, everything ends with a safe return to port.

Three decades ago, the opposite of silence – the experience of a storm – provided the impulse for Eric Whitacre to compose Cloudburst, a composition for choir, piano and percussion that is a celebration in sound of the energy released in nature. 

To mark the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy composed a monumental cantata for three soloists, choir, organ and orchestra, posthumously referred to as his Symphony No. 2 ‘Lobgesang’ (‘Song of Praise’). An expansive three-movement sinfonia is followed by a series of vocal and instrumental segments to texts taken from the Bible, perhaps Gutenberg’s most famous publication.