An album by the “Banksy of classical music” that lay buried in Orkney for more than a year before being unearthed by fans has topped the UK classical chart.
Scottish composer and producer Erland Cooper wrote and recorded Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence three years ago with chamber string group Studio Collective and violinist Daniel Pioro.
The only physical recording of the album was then immediately “planted” in the ground in Orkney, where Cooper grew up, and all digital copies were permanently deleted.
Fans following a “treasure hunt of clues” left by Cooper eventually found the tape in late 2022, and the album was performed to the public for the first time in London’s Barbican Hall in June 2024.
On his website Cooper wrote: “In early 2021, I planted the only existing recording of a new work deep in the soil of Orkney.
READ MORE: Why Stromness in Orkney is composer Erland Cooper's favourite place
“The master tape was buried with a violin, the full score, a letter in a biscuit tin & a special stone marking the spot. A treasure hunt of clues was revealed for you to search if so wished.
“In late 2022, my tape was found by Victoria and Dan Rhodes. They discovered it by understanding the poetry of the work and examining the physical rock formations in photos I revealed.”
The album was then released in September 2024, exactly as it sounded, after lying underground for more than a year.
Speaking after the album was released, Cooper said: “I think poet George Mackay Brown would be rather tickled by this.
“I know he had a deep connection to community, landscape and the music of it all, so to celebrate nature’s wild contribution to composition, and the resilience of both, is a glorious thing.
“I’ve so much gratitude to everyone listening and buying this record, even had it emerged from the soil as silence.
“Huge thanks to my record label for being so bold and supportive. A win for Orkney, nature and the seedlings of ideas.
“May the words and music fly high and dive deep like a gannet. For the islands we sing.”
Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence is Cooper’s first classical number one album, and earned him a Number 1 Award from the Official Charts Company.
The award trophy itself will now be “planted” underground in an undisclosed location, and will belong to whoever finds it.
Tom Lewis, co-president of record label Decca, said: “Erland is the Banksy of classical music.
“He brilliantly and fearlessly melds the worlds of composition and performance art.
“This is his greatest and riskiest work yet. And to think that it could have all disintegrated before any of us heard a note. That’s so audacious.”
Cooper will tour in October and November, with dates in the UK, Europe and the US.
Carve The Runes Then Be Content With Silence is released by Mercury KX.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here