CRITIC’S CHOICE THE HOUSE Awards Ceremony is on Thursday, September 27, 2018 at The DoubleTree by Hilton in Glasgow

Artists David Harding and Ross Birrell have been collaborating for 12 years and, in keeping with their own interests, their work explores the hinterland between politics, music, poetry and place, composition and colour. For the last month a new work, Triptych, has been on show at Trinity Apse in Chalmers Close, Edinburgh, as part of the city’s art festival.

Absence and loss are the cornerstones of this affecting work, the centrepiece of which is three screens showing a filmed performance of Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony No3.

This film features a collaboration between the Athens State Orchestra and the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra (SEPO). The orchestras are filmed from the back of the central screen. Syrian soprano Rasha Rizk eventually comes into view to sing a haunting 15th-century lament on loss through war. Nothing changes. Along with the setting, the vaulted ceiling and light from the windows converge to create an immersive timber-shivering experience.

Created for contemporary art festival documenta 14 last year, the piece was filmed in Athens.

There is also a new piece, Fugue, developed with Syrian composer and violinist Ali Moraly. As the exhibition draws to a close, a new work, Keep Me Like the Echo, will be performed in the nearby Scottish Parliament’s Garden Lobby this evening. The final recital will feature Moraly and invited members of the SEPO and the Damascus Quintet.

Ross Birrell and David Harding: Keep Me Like the Echo, Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, EH99 1SP, today, 6.30pm-8pm, sold out