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ID: MSV28514
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Chamber Music
Subcollection: Voices and Chamber EnsembleBritish composer JEFFREY LEWIS has produced some absolutely stunning music - modernist in some ways but always reaching out to the listener - deeply spiritual and hauntingly beautiful, especially the wonderful Silentia Noctis for soprano and piano. Anyone wanting a perfect introduction to the best ofr contemporary music should look no further.
Premiere recordings of works by major contemporary British composer
World class artists
Texts of vocal work included
JEFFREY LEWIS studied with Stockhausen and Ligeti and his earlier works were uncompromising, but his later music featured here, is modern yet very approachable and melodic with often haunting atmospheres. He has received many commissions from the BBC and his works have been performed by many leading artists.
ZHENG-YU WU, violin, is a leading Chinese musician who has played with all major Chinese orchestras and toured many countries.
CAROLINE MACPHIE, soprano, is developing a fine reputation in both recital and operatic work.
DAVID JONES, piano and director, is a senior staff member at the RNCM, pianist for the Halle Choir and carries out numerous other engagements.
The disc contains first recordings of the beautiful vocal piece Silentia Noctis, two works for violin and piano, one solo piano work and a piece for chamber ensemble, all demonstrating why Lewis is one of the most individual and skilful composers of our age.
tracks: SILENTIA NOCTIS (Caroline MacPhie, soprano, David Jones, piano) DUOLOGUE SCENA (Zheng-Yu Wu, violin, David Jones, piano) SERENO David Jones, piano STRATOS William Stafford (clarinet), Sophie Mather (violin), Hester Chapman (cello), Toby Kearney (glockenspiel), Daniel Jones (vibraphone), James Faulkner (electric guitar), Ian Tate (piano) : directed by David Jones |
| 12.00 eur Buy |
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ID: MSVCD92014
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Vocal Collection
Subcollection: Voices and Chamber EnsembleEdward Harper is also the director of the New Music Group as well as being a fine composer, as is his contemporary Lyell Cresswell. Jane Manning is acknowledged as one of the world's leading singers of new music.
tracks:
William Byrd, arr. Edward Harper:
Laetentur Coeli
Timor et Hebetudo
In Resurrexione Tua
L. Cresswell:
Prayer for the Cure of a Sprained Back
Words for Music
Sextet
E. Harper:
Fantasia III
Ricercari in memoriam Luigi Dallapiccola
Byrd arrangements |
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ID: MSVCD92043
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Vocal Collection
Composer Jane Wells says that much of her music is inspired by projects with specific communities for special occasions - hence the title of the CD. Ultramarine and Wherever Next started out as music with dance. Wells's music is "of many moods" because of this, and has a life not just in itself but in the circumstances and events from which it was conceived.
Pieces written as a student (her composition teachers included Jonathan Harvey) were first performed at London venues in Society for the Promotion of New Music concerts. Commissions such as Composition for clarinet quintet followed (also broadcast on Radio 3) as well as various pieces composed for dance which were performed at the ICA, Riverside Studios, regional festivals, abroad and on Channel 4 TV (‘…set to a witty score for oboe and dripping water…’ New York Times).
She left London in 1987 to become composer/musician-in-residence at a small arts centre on the North Norfolk coast and wrote In These Places which was performed by John Harle with the County Youth Orchestra at St Andrews Hall, Norwich. Other large-scale pieces have included To the Turning of the Millennium (for baritone, children’s choir, small ensemble and tape), Here’s What I Saw (a half-evening of music-theatre) and Playing The Game for symphony orchestra premiered in Chelmsford.
A mid-length CD of five small-scale pieces played by the Composers Ensemble is available on the Metier label (‘an engaging saxophone solo…a splendid miniature cantata…’ Tempo magazine). Time Song (for counter-tenor, recorder and ‘cello) is included on the CD, ‘Pied Piper’, released in 2009 on the Campion Cameo label. Her composing takes place in the context of a busy programme of community music project- leading with people of many ages and abilities.
tracks:
Ultramarine
People and Places
One to Another
Wherever Next
Monday's Child
Richard Addinson (Alto Saxophone)
Jane Atkins (Viola)
Kate Lucas (Flute)
Philip Sheppard (Cello)
Mary Wiegold (Soprano)
Richard Addinson (Tenor Saxophone)
Catherine Edwards (Piano)
Duncan Prescott (Soprano Saxophone) |
| 12.00 eur Buy |
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ID: MSVCD92046
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Vocal Collection
Subcollection: Voices and Chamber EnsembleSue Anderson (mezzo-soprano), Nicolas Hodges (piano), Nancy Ruffer (flutes), Corrado Canonici (double bass), Andrew Sparling (bass clarinet), Julian Warburton (percussion)
All the works on this disc, according to the composer Justin Connolly, are explorations of images of darkness. They include "Nocturnal" a set of sea-pictures, and "Scardanelli Dreams", which "charts the motion of a great spirit, not dimmed, but which illuminates the darkness in which it finds itself."
tracks: Sonatina no. 2 - Ennead, op. 26 Nocturnal, op. 33 Tesserae F: "Domination in Black", op. 15f Scardanelli Dreams, op. 37 |
| 12.00 eur Buy |
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ID: MSV28523
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Vocal Collection
Subcollection: Voices and Chamber EnsembleSonatina for Oboe and Piano; Three Songs to Poems by Robert Graves (mezzo soprano, recorder and piano); Four Songs (mezzo soprano and piano); Suite from ‘Degrees of Evidence’ (recorder, oboe and viola); Remember (mezzo soprano and piano); Two Stopfordian Impressions (recorder and piano); Sonata for Cello and Piano; Escapades (recorder, bassoon and piano); Walking Cimbrone (bassoon and piano); Harlequinade (recorder and guitar); Mrs Harris in Paris (treble recorder and piano)
This is the third CD in the new Metier series of contemporary lyrical British music - following MSV28520 Music by Veale and Crawford and MSV28522 Pipings and Bowings - Lyrical English Chamber Music by Hurd, Milford & Blackford.
As a further release in our exploration of lyrical English Chamber Music (following MSV28520 - Music by Veale and Crawford and MSV 28522 Pipings and Bowings - Music by Hurd Milford and Blackford) here we have a disc featuring some lovely pieces composed by David Dubery. Being largely self-taught he works in a traditional language preferring miniature to medium sized projects. His music is tonal, rooted in past traditions, and working with dancers and actors has ensured rhythm and movement play an integral part in its composition. |
| 12.00 eur Buy |
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ID: MSVCD92076
CDs: 2
Type: CD
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Collection:
Vocal Collection
Subcollection: Voices and Chamber EnsembleEnsemble 10/10; member of psappha; RNCM New Ensemble & Wind Orchestra; Apollo Saxophone Quartet; various soloists
A very varied selection of fine chamber/orchestral music by one of Britain's most accomplished composers.
tracks: Infanta Marina Rachael Pankhurst (cor anglais), Ensemble 10.10, conducted by Clark Rundell Après un Silence Lesley Hatfield (violin), Andrew Ball (piano) Firewhirl Patricia Rozario (soprano), Ensemble 10/10, conducted by Clark Rundell Piano Quartet Richard Casey (piano), David Routledge (violin), David Aspin (viola), Jennifer Langridge (cello) Après un Silence (emsemble version) Kyra Humphreys (violin), RNCM New Ensemble, conducted by Clark Rundell Salamandra - Fire-Haunt Andrew Ball & Juian Jacobson (pianos) Amarantos Ensemble 10/10 conducted by Clark Rundell Distant Variations Apollo Saxophone Quartet, RNCM Wind Orchestra, conducted by Clark Rundell |
| 15.00 eur Buy |
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ID: MSV28519
CDs: 2
Type: CD
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Collection:
Vocal Collection
Subcollection: Voices and Chamber EnsembleDavid Lumsdaine's work is mostly rooted in Australia where he was born though he now lives in the UK. This unique and intriguing set includes pieces for a variety of instruments (not all are vocal) a number of which relate to the Australian landscape and the sounds of its unique wildlife - which are also captured in live 'outback' recordings demonstrating the voices of the birds and creatures which inspired some of the works.
The music itself is most approachable and well written. Definitely an important addition to the modern music repertoire. |
| 15.00 eur Buy |
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ID: ACDHJ044-2
CDs: 1
Type: SACD
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Collection:
Sacred Music
Subcollection: Voices and Chamber EnsembleTHE SUNG PASSION STORY
The passion story according to the four evangelists was already recited in early Christendom in the liturgy of Holy Week. One of the earliest reports dates from the fourth century. Pope Leo the Great (+461) reserved Good Friday for the passion according to St John ( Joh.18.1 - 19.42). Specifi c melodic formulas for the recitation of the passion were introduced at a very early stage. Until the thirteenth century, the passion pericope was read by a single person. In order to maintain the dramatic effect, the various personages were indicated by special letters and signs in the text.
Many settings of the passion story survive from the polyphonic age; written for the Catholic liturgy and largely in the responsorial form, they originate particularly from Venice and Rome, and were composed by Ruffo, Asola, Soriano and others. The turbae are usually written in a simple polyphonic style. The four musically more elaborate passions by Orlando di Lasso (written around 1580) and da Vittoria (1585) served as models until the seventeenth century. In the sixteenth century, the so-called Lied-passion arose in the Lutheran liturgy, employing either Latin or German. The prototypes were the St. John and St. Matthew passions by Johann Walter, a friend of Luther. Walter’s example was followed in the seventeenth century by Heinrich Schütz, who cultivated and developed both forms, paving the way from about 1650 for the oratorio-passion, with its interpolated musical refl ections and contemplative episodes, both vocal and instrumental. The eighteenth century witnessed the climax of this development in the oratorio passion, with its commenting da capo arias. The grand masters of this genre were Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philip Telemann.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, passion composition fell into decline. Independent oratorios focused on particular parts of the text, such as Christus am Ölberg by Ludwig van Beethoven (1803). In The Crucifixion by John Stainer (1887), a modest return is evident - in romantic guise - to the responsorial passion, but the achievements of a bygone age were hardly equalled. In his Choral-Passion (1933), Hugo Distler sought to connect with the polyphonic technique of the Renaissance and early Baroque.
Examples of more recent passion compositions include Proeve van een Passie in de volkstaal volgens Johannes by Bernard Huijbers (in Dutch, 1959), Passio secundum Lucam by Krzystof Penderecki (in Latin, 1965), Mattheus-Passie by Willem Vogel (in Dutch, 1994) and St.John Passion by John MacMillan (in English, 2007).
Passion Motets
The polyphonic style is characteristic of Netherlands composers of the Renaissance, and to some extent of the Baroque, particularly with regard to vocal music. Contrapuntal techniques such as motivic and melodic imitation were employed, including various canonic forms. At the same time, increasing attention was paid to text depiction and the expression of sentiments, as is convincingly demonstrated by the mostly six-part motets on this recording.
Although new techniques and styles arose, the polyphonic style held ground, again predominantly in vocal music. German choral repertoire of the second half of the twentieth century is hardly conceivable without polyphonic writing, as in the music of Hugo Distler mentioned above.
This style was embraced in Holland, particularly in church music. The choral passages or turbae in the passion story on this recording owe their origins to this movement. Contrapuntal technique is clearly manifest in the canonic treatment of several strophic verses of this passion story, as also in the organ work by Bernard Bartelink (*1929) and the instrumental In Passione Domini by
Jan Valkestijn (*1928). Both compositions correspond to the opening hymn of the St. John passion recorded here. Most of the motet texts are taken from the Office chants for Holy Week. Alexander Utendal
Alexander Utendal, born in the Netherlands between 1530-1540, probably began his career as a member of the Brussels court chapel of Queen Mary of Hungary. In 1564, he sung countertenor in the choir of Archduke Ferdinand of Prague. When Ferdinand moved to Innsbruck in 1566, Utendal followed, dying there in 1581. The polyphonic texture of his music is rich and sonorous, and sometimes features chromaticism, as in the six-part passion motet Plangent eum.
Michel Du Buisson
Buisson, probably born in Lille, was active between 1560-1573. Like Utendal, he served at the Viennese court of Archduke Ferdinand, later emperor, between 1559-1564. In the latter year he followed the dukal chapel of Ferdinand II to Prague, and in 1566 to Innsbruck.
Johannes Flamingus
Johannes Flamingus is known to us through 32 works that he wrote down in the Leiden choirbooks between 1565-1567. He left Leiden before the Alteration, and in 1571 he became chapelmaster to the court of Duke Johann Albrecht I at Schwerin, where he served until 1573. If the name Johannes Flamingus is synonymous with Johan Vlamincx, he was employed in 1592 at the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk in Mechlin, where he died around 1598.
Orlando di Lasso
Orlando di Lasso [Lassus] (1532-1594), born in Bergen in Henegouwen, was a choirboy in Sicily and Milan. He held various posts in Napels, Rome and Antwerp, before his appointment in 1560 as court chapelmaster in Munich. Lassus is the last and greatest representative of the composers of the Netherlands Renaissance. His oeuvre of sacred and secular music comprises more than 2000 compositions. His genius is manifest primarily in the expressivity and architecture of his compositions. The text of the motet O crux splendidior is taken from the Office of the feast of Holy Rood.
Fritz Heller & Jan Valkestijn |
| 18.00 eur Buy |
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ID: ACDHD024-2
CDs: 1
Type: SACD
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Collection:
Baroque
SACD Hybrid Disc (SACDH) = CD Digital Audio + Super Audio CD
Girolamo Frescobaldi’s chamber music has been somewhat neglected in favor of his more famous keyboard compositions. This recording presents a selection Frescobaldi’s music for small ensembles as it could have been heard in performance at, for example, an early 17th century salon.Perhaps the best known pieces on this disc are the canzonas for bass instrument and continuo, which are among the earliest published repertoire for solo bass instrument. Like the discant and the discant and bass canzonas, they show a composer exploring the new instrumental conventions of the early 17th century. |
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