New orchestral arrangements of pieces taken from Dhafer Youssef's Birds Requiem are to be performed for the first time in the UK this week at a London concert the programme of which also includes Arvo Pärt's Third Symphony and Fratres. With the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kristjan Järvi, the Tunisian oudist (above) is also joined on 24 April at the Barbican by guitarist Eivind Aarset, pianist Kristjan Randalu, bassist Phil Donkin, and drummer Ferenc Nemeth. Birds Requiem (OKeh) itself was released last year, a four-part suite spread liberally across a melancholic, moving, and often very still work. Offset by Youssef's heartfelt vocals often soaring high into a falsetto, Nils Petter Molvær’s sparse and effective interjections on the album, which may even eclipse in terms of sheer impact Glow and Divine Shadows Youssef’s best work to date, went some way to underline the unerring sense of mortality Youssef’s music so ably conveys.

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