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ID: SIGCD212
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Sacred MusicPrayers for Mankind celebrates the life and writings of Father Alexander Men, a Russian Orthodox Christian priest who, whilst being little known outside of his home country during his lifetime, has come to be hailed as a saint and martyr by thousands all over the world. 2010 marks the anniversary of what would have been his 85th Birthday, as well as 20 years since his brutal assassination on the way to a Sunday morning service.
Following years of religious suppression under the communist regime, Father Alexander Men emerged as a leading Christian and humanitarian figure in Russia, through radio and TV broadcasts and his prolific written works. These prayers, set by Russian composer Alexander Levine, capture the beauty and humanity of Men’s view of the world, and is brought vividly to life by Nigel Short’s professional chamber choir Tenebrae.
A recent review for Tenebrae (from their June disc - Figure Humaine, SIGCD197) |
| 18.00 eur Buy |
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ID: QTZ2018
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Voices and Orchestra
World Premiere recording of Richard Blackford's acclaimed new secular oratorio based on songs, poems and recordings from countries around the world where issues of exile and freedom are dominant themes. |
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ID: SIGCD210
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Choral CollectionSubkolektion: Choir
In 1612, Prince Henry Frederick, son of James I and heir to the thrones of England and Scotland, died from a suspected bout of typhoid fever. His untimely death inspired a massive outpouring of artistic tributes in both verse and music, reflecting the mood of a nation mourning the loss of this popular future king at just 18 years of age.
'Dialogues of Sorrow' is the second disc from early music consort group Gallicantus, here joined by lutenist Elizabeth Kenny to perform familiar masterpieces and undiscovered treasures of the late English Renaissance, composed at the time of the young prince's death. The release follows the group's critically acclaimed debut recording, 'Hymns, Psalms and Lamentations' - music by Robert White.
Reviews for Gallicantus’s 2009 disc, Hymns, Psalms and Lamentations: Sacred Music by Robert White (SIGCD134)
“Taste the final amens in Exaudiat te, Dominus, where imitative exchanges spiral in ecstasy. Impassioned, exciting music.” The Times
“What an outstanding disc … never once is there a loss of clarity, a hint of muddiness.” The Gramophone |
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ID: QTZ2065
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Choir
Premier Recordings
The youth choir Kamer... was founded in 1990 on the initiative of conductor Maris Sirmais, who is still the artistic director and principal conductor. Kamer... now includes about seventy young singers, Among the choir’s top honours is the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (Goriza, Italy, 2004). Kamer... was the first Latvian choir to win this prize. The competition is organized by the six most prestigious international choral competitions in Europe.
Kamer… has worked with some of the world’s leading musicians in concerts and festivals in Latvia and abroad. They have sung alongside Gidon Kremer, who appears on this album and the KREMERata Baltica under the noted conductor and soloist Peter Schreier, as well as violists Yuri Bashmet and Maxim Rysanov, cellist Julius Berger, and many others. The choir has also participated in personal concerts for the composers Arvo Pärt, Giya Kanchelli and Peteris Vasks. In 2006 Kamer... performed in a concert at Latvia’s National Opera House in Riga for a meeting of NATO Heads of State. |
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ID: SIGCD213
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Vocal CollectionSubkolektion: Choir
Voces8 return to disc with this new recording of J.S.Bach’s Motets, BWV 225-230. Joined by the Senesino players, this young group prove their versatility and skill in performing some of Bach’s most challenging and engaging compositions.
This disc follows their a cappella debut disc with Signum earlier this year, Aces High (SIGCD187) themed around some stunning jazz arrangements and songs from the James Bond films: “The slickest of the lot … two parts King’s Singers, three parts Swingle Singers, a dash of Bobby McFerrin and California sunshine … fans of a cappella ought to hear this, not just for the singing but the production values and Jim Clements's audacious arrangements” Andrew McGregor, CD Review, BBC Radio 3 |
| 18.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: SIGCD249
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Choral CollectionSubkolektion: Choir
Violin: Persephone Gibbs (leader; PG), Oliver Sändig (OS),
Holly Harman (HH), Benjamin Sansom (BS),
Colin Coleman, Richard Wade
Viola: Rachel Stott, Joanne Miller
Viola da gamba: Ibi Aziz (IA)
Violoncello: Jennifer Bullock
Doublebass: Elizabeth Harré
Oboe: Geoffrey Coates
Bassoon: Michael Brain
Cornett: Jamie Savan
Natural trumpet: Simon Desbruslais
Harpsichord & chamber organ: Kah-Ming Ng
SOURCES
Baldassari: Vienna, National Bibliothek E.M.97a (not
the Kunsthistorisches Museum as stated in New Grove
II), performing edition prepared by Jamie Savan from
original source
Berlin: Trondheim, Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers
Selkab, Biblioteket XM 23, performing edition
prepared by Jamie Savan from original source
Pepusch: Bodleian Library, Oxford University, MS
Tenbury 1131, performing edition prepared by Kah-Ming
Ng from original manuscript
Reichenauer: performing edition prepared by Kah-Ming Ng
SOLO INSTRUMENTS
Harpsichord by Andrew Garlick after Joannes Ruckers
(1638), ravalé.
Oboe by Marcel Ponseele (Belgium) after Thomas Stanesby
Jr (London, early 18th century).
Straight cornett in three sections by Henri Gohin (Boissy
l’Aillerie, France, 2010) after 18th-century originals, pitch
in Chorton (ie. A=466Hz).
Violin by Jacob Stainer (attrib., c.1650); bow by René
Groppe after anon. French model (c.1720).
Natural trumpet by Stephen Keavy after Johann Wilhelm
Haas (Nuremberg, c.1710-1720). |
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ID: QTZ2046
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Choir
Music by Richard Blackford Texts by St Francis of Assisi
Mirror of Perfection
Mirror of Perfection was commissioned by the Royal Ballet School and first performed at the Royal College of Music in March 1996. The words are settings of hitherto unknown poems by St Francis of Assisi and cover a wide expressive and emotional range: from hope to despair, longing to serene acceptance, love to bitterness, delight in Creation to an impassioned plea for peace amongst mankind. In the sixth of the seven parts the word "amore" appears no less than forty-eight times in a passacaglia setting of immense power and vocal dynamism. The cantata is no pious word-setting of an ancient saint; rather it is a passionate and vibrant evocation of a man who remains a symbol of hope in an age of spiritual emptiness and cultural decline.
It is paradoxical that the tiny chapel of the Porziuncula in which St Francis found solitude for much of his life was, four centuries later, overlayed in marble and gilt and enclosed within the massive superstructure of the church of Santa Maria delle Angeli. That the simplicity and goodness for which he stood should have survived the pomp of his canonization, the commercialization of Assisi and what in our world passes for glorification is nothing short of a miracle. Yet Francis remains a beacon of spiritual light in our technological, ego-based, psychologically-oriented twentieth century, and suggests that perhaps it is only poetry and the celebration of life in all its beauty and horror that offers any possibility of redemption as we face the new millennium.
During the composition I returned again and again to the image of Francis' little chapel, stripping away everything inessential, rhetorical, searching within for music that was a mirror of the saint's simple and profound delight in Creation. |
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ID: SIGCD205
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subkolektion: Orchester
The conclusion to a three part-series of Igor Stravinsky‘s ballets from Sergei Diaghilev,s Ballet Russes, performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Thierry Fischer. These recordings capture the excitement and vibrancy of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in live performance at their home of BBC Hoddinott Hall, Wales.
Almost no musical work has had such a powerful influence or evoked as much controversy as Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring. The work's premiere on May 29, 1913, at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, was scandalous. In addition to the outrageous costumes, unusual choreography and bizarre story of pagan sacrifice, Stravinsky's musical innovations tested the patience of the audience to the fullest.
This disc also features Francis Poulenc‘s ballet Les Biches, premiered at the Ballet Russes in 1924. Originally commissioned by Diaghilev to write a piece based on Glazunov‘s Les Sylphides, Poulenc instead chose to base his piece on the paintings of Watteau that depicted Louis XV and various women in his "Parc aux biches" |
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ID: SIGCD267
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Choral CollectionSubkolektion: Choir
Following a string of five-star reviews for their previous discs of 20th-century French choral music (Poulenc’s Figure Humaine - SIGCD197) and Renaissance polyphony (Victoria’s Requiem Mass - SIGCD248), the professional chamber-choir Tenebrae go from strength to strength with this new recording of British partsongs and choral music - centered on Hubert Parry’s Songs of Farewell.
Composed towards the end of Parry’s life, the Songs of Farewell have taken on something of an epithetical interpretation; they are almost a musical summation of his compositional life, reflecting Parry’s love of English renaissance madrigals and partsongs as much as the influence on his work from German composers like Brahms - made more complicated as these works were composed as the country (and its music) fell out of favour at the start of the Great War. This disc also includes works by Tavener, Sullivan, Holst, Rodney Bennett, Howells, Elgar and Vaughan Williams. |
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ID: 5060192780055
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Kolektion: Choral CollectionApsara, Ronald Corp. The world première of Corp's buddhist choral setting.
This powerful and inspiring new vocal work is a wonderfully contemplative new chill-out classic. It is a unique collaboration between composer Anglican priest Ronald Corp and Buddhist writer Francis Booth and this is a world premiere recording. Dhammapada means “path to the truth”. The uplifting a cappella choral music is interspersed with bells from important religious Buddhist sites. |
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