Locus Iste celebrates two milestones for the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge: as well as 2019 marking the 150th anniversary of the consecration of the college chapel, this release is coincidentally the choir's 100th recording – 60 years on from George Guest’s iconic first recording of ‘Hear my prayer’ for Argo, released in 1959. Directed by Andrew Nethsingha, the programme makes great use of the chapel's renowned acoustic, and celebrates the choirs past, present and future – including an anthem by a former director of music, a motet by one of their recent student composers and the cello-playing of a current undergraduate. The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the world – known and loved by millions from its broadcasts, concert tours and recordings. Founded in the 1670s, the Choir is known for its rich, warm and distinctive sound, its expressive interpretations and its ability to sing in a variety of styles.
Owen Rees leads early-music consort Contrapunctus alongside The Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford in performances of John Taverner's masterwork, the Missa Gloria tibi trinitas. A virtuosic work, it has pride of place in the Forrest-Heyther partbooks (in the Bodleian Library in Oxford), which it has been variously argued originated at Cardinal College or at the Chapel Royal. It might well have been heard on Trinity Sunday in the chapel of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's palace at Hampton Court. The work is accompanied by other sacred choral works by Taverner, including his Ave Maria composed for Wolsey's Cardinal College, Oxford, and one of his most widely copied works, Gaude plurimum - a dramatic work where Taverner exploits the power of his full forces to evoke Christ's harrowing of hell and the breaking of 'the bloody powers of the prince of eternal death' Contrapunctus is an early-music vocal ensemble dedicated to passionate interpretations informed by authoritative insight and understanding. Directed by Owen Rees, a specialist in music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the group presents imaginative programmes revealing previously undiscovered musical treasures and throwing new light on familiar works.
Homages and dedications often have a veiled mystique: the relationship between the composer and somebody else, a story and emotional experience hidden in the music. + Homages are created from the heart; to whom they are dedicated is not always easy to fathom, but they can speak and bloom as though they were only written for oneself, creating a poetry and beauty which fills the hearts of listeners. + Available on Signum, “Homages” is an album by Swiss-born guitarist Christoph Denoth featuring works for guitar solo by Villa-Lobos, de Falla, Turina, Rodrigo, Sor, Malats, da Narvaez and Llobet.
No Exceptions, No Exemptions / Robin Trischler, Malcolm Martineau
Signum Classics
CD · 1 disc
$19.99Nov 11, 2014
A song recital which commemorates World War One brings to mind works by the poets and composers who fought valiantly for their country. Their music and words, often full of joy and desire, are made more profound and poignant by their personal sacrifices and experiences. But the affliction of the War was not restricted to the battlefields. As well as those who fought, there were those interned, those who stayed to defend their home, and those who were forced from their homes by the advancing armies. There were those who worked in munitions factories, and those who cared for the wounded.
This recital draws its inspiration from those lives upturned by the Great War, whether friend or foe, soldier or civilian. Some survived the conflict to produce great catalogues of works. Others never made it home, penning their final songs in the mud of the trenches.
As many of the featured composers fell in battle, I restricted my choice of songs to those composed in the years shortly before, and of, the war itself. With only a few exceptions, the featured poets too were involved in conflict. Alongside established works, this recital programme introduces some little known songs to portray the humanity of those caught up in the torrent of The Great War.
Elgar: Go, Song Of Mine - Part-songs & Choral Works / Allwood, Rodolfus Choir
Signum Classics
CD · 1 disc
$19.99Jan 01, 2012
Drawn from across the composer's lengthy career, this collection of Part-Songs and Choral Works explores the great variety and range within Elgar's work for choir and voices. Along with more well-known works such as Love and Deep in my Soul there are early pieces such as O Salutaris hostia (composed for small amateur choirs) that give hints of his later mature style, through to the 1928 piece I sing the Birth - a work that shows Elgar's ability to adapt to more contemporary styles of 20th-century choral composition. The Rodolfus Choir have established themselves as one of the leading youth choirs in Britain, made up of singers aged from 16 to 25 who have been chosen from past and present members of the Eton Choral Courses for prospective choral scholars. Many members of the Choir are choral scholars, some are at music college, and most hope to make a career in music. The Rodolfus Choir and Ralph Allwood are well-known for imaginative programming, and for presenting new music. The Rodolfus Choir's recent CD recordings with Signum include music as diverse as Howells, Monteverdi, Grier, Tallis and the German Romantics. 'One can only marvel at the group's remarkable collective skill and cohesion' fanfare magazine
Shostakovich: Piano Concertos & Piano Sonatas / Donohoe, Curtis, Orchestra of the Swan
Signum Classics
CD · 1 disc
$19.99Oct 20, 2017
Celebrated international pianist Peter Donohoe continues his series of Shostakovich releases on Signum Classics, following his recent release of the 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 (SIGCD396). For this new recording he is accompanied for the concertos by the Orchestra of the Swan under their artistic director David Curtis. In the years since his unprecedented success as Silver Medal winner of the 1982 7th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Peter Donohoe has built an extraordinary world-wide career, encompassing a huge repertoire and over forty years’ experience as a pianist, as well as continually exploring many other avenues in music-making. He is acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time, for his musicianship, stylistic versatility and commanding technique.
World Premiere Recording. Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is a mastework of 19th Century literature; a parable on the struggle for personal freedom against the conventions of a hostile society, play our in a tragic love story. Contains a libretto by director Colin Graham after the novel by Leo Tolstoy.
'The King's Singers, the superlative vocal sextet that has retained immaculate blend, perfect tuning and crystal diction...' (The London Times, October '05) have combined one of the greatest vocal compositions of all time with modern recording technology and customary style to produce a truly stunning recording of Thomas Tallis' 'Spem in alium'. This is a unique opportunity to hear every part in 'Spem' sung and recorded to perfection, with the six King's Singers diving the forty parts of 'Spem in alium' between them, in this multi-track recording. (CD single - SACD/CD Hybrid recording)
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - MOTETS VOCES8SENESINO PLAYERS JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH - MOTETSSINGET DEM HERRN EIN NEUES LIED, BWV 225FURCHTE DICH NICHT, ICH BIN BEI DIR, BWV 228LOBET DEN HERRN, ALLE HEIDEN, BWV 230JESU, MEINE FREUDE, BWV 227KOMM, JESU, KOMM, BWV 229DER GEIST HILFT UNCER SCHWACHHEIT AUF, BWV 226
![Carlson, D: Anna Karenina [Opera]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/1507354.jpg?v=1786701566&width=400)
![Carlson, D: Anna Karenina [Opera]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/1507354.jpg?v=1786701566&width=800)
