July 2026, Métier presents David Hackbridge-Johnson’s A Pocketful of Tunes, a collection of fascinating works for solo violin and viola written for and performed by internationally acclaimed violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved, resulting from their friendship and hugely creative collaborations. All the works are inspired by, written for, and recorded on great historic instruments, bringing the past vividly alive. There are joyful dances and elegant suites evoking movements of the Baroque and Rococo eras alongside works responding to modern life, a showcase of David Hackbridge-Johnson’s wide range of techniques.

Hackbridge-Johnson started attending Peter Sheppard Skærved’s London Church Concerts in 2019, and the two soon formed a friendship around shared passions of literature, history, and railways. Many pieces emerged from these concerts, which stem from Peter’s deep interest in violin composers, their lives, their instruments, and the buildings they played in.

There are three works for solo viola, all recorded on the oldest known English viola, the extraordinary Rayman 1641: the sonic commentary on abandoned railways Three Disused Stations, the dance based Seven Versets, and Three Preludes. All of these showcase the instrument’s glorious dark, woody tone. The Rayman was made in Southwark in 1641, at the time the ‘south bank’ became London’s entertainment hub. Peter felt that “this instrument is a direct link, a portal even, to London’s greatest theatrical age, to the thunderous musicks of Shakespeare, Webster, and even… Marlowe.”

Six Preludes for Charles II were inspired by a London violin, the Charles II ‘1664’, after hearing Peter play it at St Margaret Lothbury, the medieval church rebuilt by Wren after the Fire of London. The Six Preludes balance these various pasts with the present, forming a suite that could have been written by a composer of that time. On this recording, the preludes are played on a 1629 Girolamo Amati violin, as are all the works for violin on the album.

Inspired by Peter sharing a comic story of 18th century violinist Will Rosin, who, like Peter, resided in Wapping, David wrote the Will Rosin of Wapping suite, with extracts from The Tatler (1709) read by David between each movement. Some works were written in the span of less than 24 hours, including Alleyway, Pastoral, and River Falls. On a visit to Wisconsin, Peter shared a photo with David in the morning, to which David spontaneously responded with a new work that Peter performed that very night in a concert.

Divisions on Mr Simons’ Prelude was inspired by hearing the exquisitely melancholy F minor Prelude (1700) by the mysterious ‘Mr Simons’ at one of Peter’s City Church concerts in 2021, after emerging from 18 months of lockdown. David felt that “that beautiful F minor thread reaches out to us over the centuries,” and he used the prelude as the basis for a set of variations.

Playing for dancing was always a key function of the violin and was driven by developments in the ballroom, country dance, and hop. A Pocketful of Tunes was inspired by a French dancing master’s piccolo violin, played here on a ‘full size’ Amati.

Violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved is acclaimed internationally for performances and recordings of a vast range of solo repertoire, from the late 16th century to hundreds of works written for him by major composers, as well as many young composers with whom he collaborates worldwide.

David Hackbridge-Johnson is a multi-instrumentalist, conductor, recitalist, and writer as well as a composer. Among his 600 or so compositions are eighteen symphonies, over a dozen tone poems and concertos, and hundreds of songs and chamber pieces. His most recent commissions have been operatic, including Blaze of Glory!, written for the 75th anniversary of Welsh National Opera.