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A Screenshot of Now
$20.99CDLinn Records
Apr 10, 2026CKD782 -
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A Rose Magnificat / McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort

Paul McCreesh leads the Gabrieli Consort in a collection of works that explores the diverse and extensive body of works dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary over the centuries. Music by Tallis, MacMillan, Howells and Leighton frames the world premiere of a new work by the young British composer, Matthew Martin: a setting of the Magnificat, interpolated with verses from the atmospheric medieval poem ‘There is no rose’. The Gabrieli Consort are world-renowned interpreters of great vocal and instrumental repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day. Formed as an early music ensemble by Paul McCreesh in 1982, Gabrieli has both outgrown and remained true to its original identity through live performances and award-winning recordings for their Winged Lion label.
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REVIEW:
The vogue for pairing Renaissance and contemporary choral works is well established but this is a programme that draws the dialogue between the two repertories into fresh animation. McCreesh’s ear for a contemporary classic is unerring, and this is a programme to win new audiences for composers who aren’t (yet) household names. The Park and Lane, along with MacMillan’s Ave maris stella, are easy wins but it’s Martin’s A Rose Magnificat that demands a second and third return to the disc.
– Gramophone
A Royal Fanfare
A Salute To American Music
This is the sixteenth gala of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation—''a look at an era just gone by'', as conductor James Conlon calls it—recorded live before an enthusiastic audience. It starts with a great lift-off: America the Beautiful (no mention of its composer Samuel Augustus Ward, whose hymn is treated to a showbiz arrangement) sung by Leontyne Price. At the age of 63 she can still summon enough patriotic fervour to make non-Americans want to apply for citizenship papers on the spot! And she isn't the oldest performer by any means. Robert Merrill is ten years her senior and delivers Weill's ''September Song'' touchingly but with a maddening tendency to anticipate the beat.
Weill is also represented by the ecstatic virtuosity of the Ice-Cream Sextet from Street Scene, still fresh in one's memory from the ENO performances in London and the two recordings now available on Decca and TER. Then there are two settings of William Blake's ''Tiger! Tiger! burning bright'' (''Songs of Experience''). Virgil Thomson set the poem twice: this is the second of his Five Songs from William Blake written in 1951, but it is William Bolcom who brings the house down with his version for chanting chorus backed by a variety of orchestral percussion.
One of the most moving performances is Karen Holvik in Stephen Foster's immaculate Ah! May the red rose live alway, with piano (Steven Blier). More calculating, but equally polished nostalgia comes from Barber, especially ''Must the winter come so soon'' from Vanessa, hauntingly sung by Frederica von Stade, recently admired for her Melisande at Covent Garden. But also ''Give me my robe'' from Barber's Anthony and Cleopatra, sung with equal poignancy by Carol Vaness.
Tatiana Troyanos sings Copland's setting of Robert Lowry's ''At the river'' with impressive, quiet dignity. Bernstein is the only composer who gets in three times—the Collegiate Chorale is on form for the first of the Chichester Psalms; Jerry Hadley sings ''Maria''; and there's an ensemble from Candide. Finally, in case you didn't sign on for US citizenship, Marilyn Horne gives a truly commanding performance of Berlin's classic God bless America. This is not just an anthology which works—it's a wow!
-- Peter Dickinson, Gramophone [6/1993]
A Sax Supreme
A Schubert Journey / Llyr Williams
Welsh pianist Llyr Williams is widely admired for his profound musical intelligence and the expressive and communicative nature of his interpretations. The complete 8 album collection of Llyr Williams’ Schubert series – previously released as individual digital volumes over 2019 to 2020. These recordings were made following a critically-lauded recital series at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama by Williams. Together they showcase the detailed examination given by Williams to these pieces, which is “warm, yet detailed” (Piano International). The accompanying booklet includes background notes on each piece, as well as an essay by US composer William Bolcom on his completion of Schubert’s unfinished Sonata in C major, D. 840. “These precious five minutes alone are worth a whole string of concerts” (Le Devoir) “ease into melting loveliness” (Classical Source) “Remarkable artistry and authority” (The Guardian)
REVIEW
In live performances such as these, one would expect a certain amount of casualness and distraction, a tendency to slur over passages, rush an accelerando to impress the audience and miss the occasional staccato dot or complete grace note. That is not the case. Williams brings to each work, no matter how slight or monumental, the same integrity and an honoring of the composer’s voice. Technically, I can’t help but be impressed, even amazed, by the strength of his playing and the consistency of pressure on each finger. Yet, there is an overarching individual expressiveness that conveys, as few others can, the unique wistfulness of the Schubert “sound”, the composer’s yearning for recognition and, later, for health, and knowing full well what little time he had in which to accomplish so much. I have never before heard the essential Schubert discerned and revealed at this level of perfection.
–ConcertoNet.com (Linda Holt)
A Screenshot of Now
A SEA SYMPHONY
A SEA SYMPHONY
A Secret Labyrinth - Agricola / Van Nevel, Huelgas Ensemble
Van Nevel is easily as eccentric as Agricola ever was, and while the singers of the Huelgas Ensemble cope admirably with even his most bizarre directions, some ideas seem to be almost beyond the pale. He claims that fully vocal performance of the instrumental music is at least plausible. In the case of the six-voice Fortuna desperata (now, with at least four recordings, a staple of the Agricola repertoire) one can hardly disagree, but to hear the soprano clambering up two-and-a-half octaves in semiquavers (Dung aultre amet) forces admiration and disbelief in equal measure... The amazing thing is that the singers’ sheer athleticism and musicality lends such dotty notions an air of plausibility. More than that, they confirm the growing perception of Agricola as a composer of the very first rank. I have no hesitation in singling out [this recording] among this year’s high points.
-- Fabrice Fitch, Gramophone [9/1999}
A Serenity of Soul / Jordan, Westminster Choir
Westminster Choir 100th Anniversary Recording
Music has the ability to illuminate aspects of the human condition in ways that only sound married to texts can achieve. One of the greatest preachers of the twentieth century, William Sloan Coffin, often remarked that music in most cases was more powerful than the spoken word. This recording represents just that. All the music on this recording reflects, in sound, that serenity (and, yes, beauty) is within all of us if we choose to go there. This recording celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Westminster Choir in 1920 by John Finley Williamson, albeit a bit later.
À ses derniers pas entrant dans la boue
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) / Howe
A SIMPLE MAN
A Simple Song / Otter, Forsberg
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REVIEW:
A Simple Song’ is a thoughtful, even challenging recital, given extra colour by the fact that Forsberg, her longtime song partner, here swaps his piano for the organ of the Stockholm church where the young von Otter started singing as a teen. This is a delightful, surprising and thought-provoking programme – difficult to classify, perhaps, but very easy to enjoy.
– Gramophone
A Song in the Wood / Duo Daluna
It was a matter of concern for the artists not only to record music that they personally like very much and that is close to their hearts, but also to bring composers who have unfortunately fallen into oblivion, such as Roger Quilter (1877-1953), back into the musical consciousness and thus also onto the current programs of the recitals and lieder evenings.
A Song Of Farewell - Music Of Mourning & Consolation
Continuing Signum’s new partnership with Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort following the triumphant success of Berlioz’s 'Grande Messe des Morts' (SIGCD280 –, their next release will be a recording of the groups' renowned a cappella programme of music for mourning and consolation. This is a beautifully poignant programme of British choral music, including works by composers as diverse as Morley and Dove, Sheppard and Walton and featuring Howells’ sublime 'Requiem'.
A Song Of Naples / Jerry Hadley
Recording information: Clinton Recording Studios, Studio A, New York, NY (05/24/1995-09/27/1995); Soundtrack Recording Studios, Studio A, New York, NY (05/24/1995-09/27/1995).
A Song Without Words: The Legacy of Paul Taffanel
A Soul Contract
A Soul to Claim / Doug MacLeod
A Sousa Celebration / Jarvi, Royal Scottish National Orchestra
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REVIEW:
This fun album mixes the familiar — the thunderous trombone scales and tootling piccolo descants of The Liberty Bell (of Monty Python fame), The Washington Post, and The Stars and Stripes Forever — with elegant extracts from such forgotten operettas as The Irish Dragoon and El Capitan. It’s an infectious selection.
– The TImes (U.K.)
A Star Over Bethlehem - Choral Jewels for Christmas
Organist J. Reilly Lewis treats us to a brilliant performance of Bach's chorale prelude BWV 615 (In Dir ist Freude), and another Bach piece, O Jesulein süss (harmonized by Martin Shaw) gets a tender and lovely a cappella rendition by the choir. This is a very well-disciplined ensemble--and it has to be in order for this many voices (around 100) to sing with such precision and clarity. (The liner notes list only sopranos and altos--I swear there are lots of men singing too!) The sound, optimally recorded in an ideal church setting, is excellent. [11/3/2000]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
A Summer'S Day - Swedish Romantic Songs
A Sunday in Paris / Verdin, Kennedy, Christ Church Schola Cantorum
This album shows the listener what a Parisian would have heard on a Sunday in the 19th century, with these recordings of harmonium works. It was common practice for the harmonium toaccompany the choir during morning Mass, then Benediction of the Blessed Sacraments in the afternoon. This two disc set includes a disc of music from the church, and a disc of a salon concert. Joris Verdin is the harmonium performer on this recording. For the sacred works he is joined by the Christ Church Schola Cantorum.
A Swedish Pastorale / Wedin, Stockholm Sinfonietta
The real highlights are the modest Atterberg Suite, and the Rosenberg cello miniature. The latter is sadness, packed ready to go, but the violin and viola in the Atterberg spin threads of Romantic ardor that float into the air, and resound in your consciousness forever, like it or not. As do the wonderful tunes. The slow middle movement, Pantomim, really lets Sparf’s artistry and phrasing shine, closely shadowed by Mansnerus. They should have done the Mozart Sinfonia concertante at the same sessions, but this is inspired playing, and arguably Atterberg’s finest 12 minutes. You’re the poorer, if you don’t know it yet. Roman’s 15-minute oboe d’amore concerto represents the Swedish 18th century at its considerable best: a warm contrast with the rest of the program, the soloist sounding rather close, but with memorable invention and interplay in the fast movements.
Fine notes, by the eminent Per Skans. There have been a few digital anthologies rather like this one in the intervening 20 years, but Wedin said it all in 1980. A CD of relaxing Swedish lighter classics might not be anywhere near the top of your Want List, just now. Hidebound Romantics should head straight for the Blomdahl Adagio, but I urge you all to sample the whole recital. BIS CD165 is certainly not one of the structural pillars of the Hall of Fame, but it makes a very attractive Swedish display case, for some little-known, meltingly beautiful music.
Paul Ingram, FANFARE
A Symphonic Journey From Philly To Utopia / Dirk Brosse, Brussels Philharmonic
A Tapestry of Carols / The Carnival Band
This recording from Maddy Prior is a collection of ancient carols from across Europe, played by The Carnival Band on replicas of medieval instruments. It was recorded at The Quaker Meeting House, Frenchay, near Bristol. Tracks include "The Sans Day Carol," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman," "The Holly & the Ivy," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," and more. (Saydisc)
A Taste Of Doo Wop, Vol. 1
A Taste Of Doo Wop, Vol. 2
