A mantle can be many things and as well as meaning a protective garment, it can also be associated with encouraging feminine energy and creativity, healing, and comforting love. Gardeners will know the Lady's Mantle as Alchemilla mollis, literally soft alchemy, a perrenial herbaceous plant with soft leaves that collect rain and whose dewy droplets look like jewels. On the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Nash Ensemble, the energy and creativity of its founder, Amelia Freedman, the care she has shown in nurturing the ensemble, the magic she has conjured, and the precious gift to composers invited to write for the Nash – all these things connected in my mind with this perennial plant. And it is no coincidence that the name Amelia is contained within Alchemilla. The instruction to the players at the head of the score – whimsically and with a vital alchemy – is an attempt to sum up the character of the music. © 2024 John Casken