Interesting CDs - both out now and forthcoming

New Releases

Patrick Gowers

New into the shop this week is a CD of music by William Patrick Gowers (born May 5, 1936, London, ) who is a British composer of church music and film scores.
image of GCCD4056A 20th century composer, inspired to write stage, TV & film music, he won a BAFTA award for his scores for Smiley`s People, I remember Nelson & The Woman in White. He was commissioned to write Holy, Holy in memory of a friend, Viri Galilaei for Richard Harries` consecration as Bishop of Oxford in 1987 and the Cantata & Advent Sequence for Southern Cathedrals Festival.
Cat. no: GCCD 4056 CD Price: £14.99
Anthony Gowing is the organist and the CD features the Sheffield Cathedral Choir directed by Neil Taylor .

Sir Edward Elgar

A new CD of Elgar's music has been released by Hyperion. It is a selection of choral music sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey.
More details...

The Elias String Quartet plays Mendelssohn.

More details

Debussy & Colin Matthews

The new CD from the Hallé conducted by Mark Elder.
For more details Click Here.

Beethoven Violin Sonatas

The start of a complete cycle of Beethoven's violin sonatas played by Peter Cropper and Martin Roscoe. More details..

Sir Donald Tovey

Sir Donald Tovey has long been known as one of the finest writers on music, but in his own mind he was a composer.
His Symphony in D came out last year and recently his cello concerto has appeared. This was originally written for Pablo Casals. The work lasts for over 54 minutes and for those who are weary of always hearing the Elgar it makes a refreshing change.
TOCC0038

Wagner's Ring

You've heard collections of bleeding chunks from the Ring ad nauseam. This one is different. A SACD it features music from the Ring played on two organs (both in the same church - the St Nikolai Church in Kiel) by Hansjörg Albrecht. The CD comes with a warning to choose a moderate volume setting to avoid speaker damage (although with a world famous loudspeaker factory in Kiel one might question whether they are just looking after their own!)
OEHMS OC612

English Landscapes

The CD from the Hallé conducted by Mark Elder.
For more details Click Here

Ivan Fischer - Mahler Symphony 2

Mahler’s Second Symphony, “Resurrection” (1894) is a gigantic work of enormous proportions, extreme contrasts, and a score that surpasses even his First Symphony from two years earlier. For more details on the new Ivan Fischer recording click here

Dvorak -
Symphonies 5 + 6

A new release of the Dvorak symphonies 5 and 6 from Warner Classics has caught my ear. The conductor, Jiri Belohlavek is the new Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (You may have seen him at the Proms this year)
The set also includes the Scherzo capriccioso op66 and the delightful Hero's Song op111 An absolute bargain, this one - 2CDs for the price of 1!

The Pavão Quartet

The new CD from the Pavão Quartet is entitled Someone to watch over me and it is highly entertaining.
For more details Click here

Pavel Haas Quartet

A new CD on the Supraphon label has this Czech quartet playing String Quartets by Janacek and Haas. While Janacek may be fairly well known, Haas was one of those composers murdered during the Second World War. Unusually, his Second Quartet (the one here) exists in a version for added percussion. This is the version played here.
On sale at £15-99.

Dutton's Epoch Series

I've had a new batch of recordings on this label and having sampled them (in the sense of listening to bits of them) I feel that more should be done to promote this series. I'll be discussing them below Click Here.

Korngold Anniversary 2007

2007 will be the 50th Anniversary of the death of Erich Wolfgang Korngold - and a perfect opportunity to re-release his magnificent opera Das Wunder der Heliane. A source tells me that there are plans for this in Spring.
For those who love late Romantic music this will be an occasion not to be missed!

The Warner Classics Tchaikovsky Box set

Tchaikovsky was the most versatile of nineteenth-century composers, and there were few important forms he didn't approach. This superb value 10 CD boxed set includes all 6 of his powerful symphonies, the passion of Romeo and Juliet, the pomp of the Coronation March and of course, the evergreen Piano Concerto No.1.
"Leonskaja lives this music with intensity and Masur breathes along with her. ... There is not a single moment of respite in the ravaging passion and furious energy that she puts into her playing. With Leonskaja and Masur we can share the extreme happiness of music, a happiness that is simple, primary and healthy" - Katja Choquer, Diapason, May 1997
"Lively, affectionate and perceptive, Masur is both sensitive to detail and careful to maintain impetus" - Jan Smaczny, BBC Music Magazine, October 1994.

Ivan Fischer - Mahler Symphony 2

Mahler’s Second Symphony, “Resurrection” (1894) is a gigantic work of enormous proportions, extreme contrasts, and a score that surpasses even his First Symphony from two years earlier. Ten horns, eight trumpets, two harps, organ, five percussionists, two vocal soloists (soprano and alto), as well as a large mixed chorus, fill the podium. And behind all this, invisible, is a “Fernorchester” (distant orchestra) as a symbol of “the resurrection”.
“Total engagement, meaningful articulation and a blend of freedom and intensity (...)” BBC Music Magazine
Iván Fischer has evidently been doing something very special in Budapest. Here, he and his Budapest Festival Orchestra deliver a version of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony that goes right to the top of the catalogue (well, it’s at least in the top five). Unusually, Fischer keeps the leash tight during the white-knuckle first movement, husbanding his forces for the work’s later stages. But there are enough hints of the power they can unleash to keep you on the edge of your seat. At the same time, he reveals textures and details that are usually submerged.
The result is a performance which builds to an awesome climax, while at the same time taking a level-headed look deep into the work’s spiritual heart. In that sense, you might compare it to Giulini’s famous rethink of Verdi’s Requiem. But for those who like their Mahler Two to blow them out of their seats, fear not; this Budapest band have reserves aplenty, and the cumulative effect is overwhelming. As all good performances of this work must be.


English Landscapes

the image from the Hallé's  CDThe CD from the Hallé conducted by Mark Elder.
Track listing: The new CD from the Hallé conducted by Mark Elder.
The Hallé and their Music Director Mark Elder performed the Ralph Vaughan Williams: Norfolk Rhapsody No.1 at their first Sheffield Concert of the season on the 6th October.

The CD is now released and should provide many hours of pleasure. Tintagel is a magnificent opening to the CD (Quite inlike my memories of visiting the place). I'd quite forgotten The Fall of the Leaf by Gerald Finzi, but this is a work which deserves to be better known, it did receive a play at the Proms a few years back.
Now on sale at £10-99.


The Pavão Quartet

The new CD from the Pavão Quartet LAN277 is entitled Someone to watch over me and it is highly entertaining. Click here
It is a collection of show tunes played by string quartet including Fascinating Rhythm, Embraceable You, Singin' in the Rain etc
Their rendition of Cheek to Cheek starts off as though they are playing Wagner which then melts into the familiar Irving Berlin number.
I've greatly enjoyed this CD.
The final track is That's Entertainment and this CD is certainly that!

The new CDs on the Dutton Epoch label.

Some of the new batch of CDs arrived in the shop today and from what I've heard they are crammed full of music that should be heard more often.
Flautist Philippa Davies and leading chamber music group The Nash Ensemble make their first appearance in the Dutton Epoch series on CDLX 7176, Dutton’s second disc focusing on the music of William Alwyn (CDLX 7168 William Alwyn String Quartets, May 2006). CDLX 7176 concentrates on Alwyn’s music for the flute, and includes his Concerto for Flute & Eight Wind Instruments, Naiades: Fantasy Sonata for Flute & Harp and the charming French Suite. The music is interpreted with the virtuosity, delicacy and panache one would expect from musicians of the calibre that feature on this disc.
* * *

CDLX 7177 is Dutton Epoch’s second disc of chamber music for October 2006, and this time the spotlight is thrown on the works of composer Gordon Jacob. Oboist Sarah Francis and violinist Frances Mason lead a group of musicians including Dutton Epoch favourite pianist Michael Dussek, flautist Judith Fitton, harpsichordist Howard Beach and the Tagore String Trio through a delightful programme that takes in such Jacob works as Quartet for Oboe & Strings, Six Shakespearian Sketches and Trio for Flute, Oboe & Harpsichord among others.
* * *
Light music legend Robert Farnon’s gorgeous Symphony No.2 in B Major receives its world premiere recording on CDLX 7173, as does the Scherzo from his Symphony No.1 in D Flat Major. The disc also features a suite of music drawn from Farnon’s score for the 1951 film Captain Horatio Hornblower RN, and various Farnon light music pieces originally recorded for the Chappell library in the 1940s and ’50s, and here receive their first recordings in stereo. Dutton Epoch and Vocalion stalwart John Wilson conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra through this enchanting programme that will appeal to lovers of classical and light orchestral music in equal measure.
* * *
More world premiere recordings are in store on CDLX 7174, comprising some of the most important works written by the unjustly neglected composer Julius Harrison. The BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth interpret with finesse and sensitivity Harrison’s exquisite music including Widdicombe Fair: Humoresque for string orchestra, Troubadour Suite, Prelude-Music and his rhapsody for violin and orchestra, Bredon Hill, featuring the rising young virtuoso Matthew Trusler. Also included is the world premiere recording of Hubert Clifford’s Serenade for Strings, presented as a tribute to the composer’s son, the late Michael Clifford.
* * *
Dutton seem to be pursuing a policy of bringing neglected music to a wider audience rather than recording Beethoven cycles.

Elgar Choral Music

Elgar from the Abbey—what could be more fitting? From the regal opulence of Great is the Lord, first performed in Westminster Abbey in 1912, to the quiet devotion of the opus 2 Ave verum and Ave Maria, this varied programme is the perfect guide through Elgar’s rich choral output.
Performances on this new recording are astounding, as James O’Donnell guides the men and boys of Westminster Abbey through the grandiloquence and tenderness of this seminal music.
Sir Edward ElgarThe full gamut of Elgar’s career—from son of provincial instrument dealer to ‘composer laureate’—is represented and at every turn these performers offer new insights into the performing possibilities of these all-too-often-hackneyed works. There is also a rare performance of the long-forgotten Queen Alexandra Memorial Ode—a fitting tribute by Poet Laureate (John Masefield) and Master of the King’s Musick (Elgar) to Edward VII’s much-lamented consort.
Performances by The Choir of Westminster Abbey, under the direction of James O’Donnell and with the sympathetic organ accompaniment of Robert Quinney, are every bit as good as their previous Hyperion recordings would lead us to expect.

The most recent CD from the Hallé and Mark Elder features the music of Claude Debussy. La Mer is there, in a fine performance, but what I think will be the selling point of the CD is the collection of 12 preludes arranged by Colin Matthews.
The celebrated Hallé Orchestra under Mark Elder presents Debussy’s ‘La Mer’ together with Debussy Preludes (orchestrated Matthews), on this eagerly anticipated new release on the orchestra’s own Hallé label (CD HLL 7513). Of the Hallé Prom in July 2006, The Observer noted: “Rarely have I heard the hostility of the sea evoked as eerily as in [Mark Elder’s] polished account of Debussy’s ‘La Mer’”.

The Elias String Quartet plays Mendelssohn

This stunning debut CD showcases Mendelssohn’s String Quartet Op.13 and Op.80 together with Four Pieces, Op.81 (GLD 4025). The quartet is part of Ensemble 360, the resident group at Music in the Round, Sheffield. Ensemble 360 released its debut CD of chamber music by Mozart in October 2006 on ASV Gold (GLD 4022), with its reading of the Clarinet Quintet quickly cited as the benchmark recording of that piece by BBC Music Magazine. Strad recently wrote of the Elias String Quartet in concert: “A heaven-storming performance…big things lie ahead of them”.
The Lindsays are back with us on disc in a 4CD set of live recordings made in 1987 at ‘The Genius of Haydn’ Festival at Wigmore Hall. Featuring Haydn’s most popular string quartets, this attractive set on the budget-price Resonance label showcases the creative musicianship of this much-loved quartet, particularly in this repertoire (CD RSB 407).

Beethoven Violin Sonatas

The first CD in a series of the violin sonatas by Beethoven, played by Peter Cropper and Martin Roscoe, has now appeared on the ASV Gold label GLD 4034.
This CD includes the sonatas: Beethoven dedicated his opus 12 sonatas to the Italian composer Salieri who had been giving him lessons. A contemporary newspaper slammed these works as having no melody and no good method, but today we have the benefit of hindsight.
The opus 30 sonatas were dedicated to Czar Alexander I of Russia, but it took a long time for any payment to be forthcoming.
The opus 96 work from the year 1812 was written after Beethoven's Archduke Trio.
The two performers on the CD Peter Cropper and Martin Roscoe need no introduction to Sheffield audiences.

British Light Miniatures

A few years ago I heard on Radio 4 a particular piece of music . I hadn't realised just how popular this piece was - and I doubt if anyone at the BBC knew either. The piece goes under the name of the Radio 4 UK Theme and it is a combination of various popular tunes from all over the British Isles, including Early One Morning, Rule Britannia, The Londonderry Air, Greensleeves, What shall we do with a drunken sailor, Men of Harlech, and Scotland the Brave, combined by Fritz Spiegl and Manfred Arlan. In their wisdom, the powers that be at the Beeb decided to get rid of the tune in April 2006. It made a brief appearance on CD single, but now it can be enjoyed at a civilised hour (rather than 5-30am). It can be found on a Naxos CD entitled Vintage TV and Radio Classics* alongside other gems of the genre. Popular programmes (and stations) represented include Billy Bunter, ATV, Children's Television Newsreel, Radio Newsreel, The Men from the Ministry, ITV news, Sports Report, Blue Peter, and the Rediffusion London Call Sign: Widespread World. 8570332 is the catalogue number for this journey down Memory Lane.
* Shouldn't this CD have been called "Vintage TV and Wireless Classics? - Maybe so, but "radio" takes up less space!!


Here is a link to the Soli Deo Gloria page.
Calow Classics.net
721 Abbeydale Road
Sheffield S7 2BE
Tel (0114)255 3440
contact: Andrew Calow

email:info@calowclassics.net
Return to Home Page

.