Jazz
Billie Davies
51 products
Copland: Appalachian Spring, Nonet, 2 Pieces For String Quartet / Davies, Et Al
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas / Connolly, Meachem, Hogwood [blu-ray]
"The sensitivity of her (Sarah Connolly's) acting and her intense musicality was striking throughout. Lucy Crowe made a delightful Belinda, with Lucas Meachem a quarterback hunk of an Aeneas. The young ad-hoc chorus sang beautifully." - The Telegraph
Henry Purcell
DIDO AND AENEAS
(Blu-ray Disc Version)
Dido – Sarah Connolly
Aeneas – Lucas Meachem
Belinda – Lucy Crowe
Sorceress – Sara Fulgoni
Second Woman – Anita Watson
First Witch – Eri Nakamura
Second Witch – Pumeza Matshikiza
Spirit – Iestyn Davies
Sailor – Ji-Min Park
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera Extra Chorus
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Christopher Hogwood, conductor
Wayne McGregor, choreographer and stage director
Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, on 3 and 8 April, 2009.
Bonus:
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery - Interview with Wayne McGregor
Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: 2.0 and 5.1 PCM
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian
Running time: 72 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 25)
Henry V / Royal Shakespeare Company [Blu-ray]
Also available on standard DVD
Henry IV is dead and Hal is king. With England in a state of unrest, he must leave his rebellious youth behind, striving to gain the respect of his nobility and people. Laying claim to parts of France and following an insult from the French Dauphin, Henry gathers his troops and prepares for a war that he hopes will unite his country.
Sound Format: 2.0LPCM, 5.1 DTS
Subtitles: English
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)
Rossini: Maometto Secondo / Parry, Hulcup, Davies, Nilon, Jeffery
Set in the 15th century, Rossini’s hugely ambitious undertaking depicts the Turkish Sultan Maometto’s siege of the Venetian outpost of Negroponte and his ultimate defeat. The superb international cast is led by the suitably menacing bass-baritone Darren Jeffery in the title role, with American soprano Siân Davies in her European debut as his anguished daughter Anna, Australian mezzo Caitlin Hulcup as the general Calbo, and tenor Paul Nilon as the Venetian Governor. The assured baton of David Parry conducting the Garsington Opera Orchestra and Chorus highlights the brilliant and dramatic score.
This outstanding release mirrors Garsington Opera’s exceptional artistic standards presented in the spectacular, award-winning Pavilion, set in the extraordinarily beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside. - Avie
Dutilleux: Le Loup / Wilson, Sinfonia of London
Following the success of their previous album, English Music for Strings, John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London turn their attention to the music of Henri Dutilleux. His ballet Le Loup was composed as a commission for Roland Petit’s dance company and premièred in Paris in March 1953. Rarely recorded – this is the first recording by a non-French orchestra – the work unfolds in three tableaux and tells a convoluted tale of a bridegroom who jilts his bride (to run away with a gypsy) by persuading her that he has been changed into a wolf. Over time she discovers that the wolf is real, but her feelings turn from terror to love and when the alarmed villagers hunt the wolf, she defends him and dies at his side. The album is completed by three world première recordings of new orchestrations (by Kenneth Hesketh) of wind solos written for the Paris Conservatoire in the 1940s. Both the Sarabande et Cortège and Sonate pour hautbois are virtuosic tours de force for their soloists, as is the Sonatine pour flûte, which displays the lyricism, agility, and sparkling incisive qualities of the flute in what became Dutilleux’s most-performed work.
Dyson: Nebuchadnezzar / Hickox, BBC Symphony
Shakespeare: Henry IV, Part II
BACH: CANTATAS NOS. 35 & 169
Handel: Saul / Purves, Davies, Bolton [Blu-ray]
Handel’s oratorio Saul is taken from the First Book of Samuel, and focuses on the first king of Israel’s relationship with David, his eventual successor, which eventually leads to his demise. The three act work with libretto by Charles Jennens premiered in January 1739, and was an immediate success. This production directed by Barrie Kosky was recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, Lewes, October 2015. It was ranked by The Independent amongst five top opera and classical performances of 2015. “Musically this evening is well-nigh flawless.” (The Independent) “A theatrical and musical feast of energetic choruses, surreal choreography and gorgeous singing.” (The Guardian)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Korean
Sound Formats: 2.0 LPCM, 5.1 (5.0) DTS
Running Time 185 mins
Region Code: 0 (All)
Fancies - Music By John Rutter / Cambridge Singers
A mid-price reissue of the popular 'Fancies' album, collecting together John Rutter's best-known concert works. As well as the virtuosic 'Suite Antique' (for flute, harpsichord and strings), this disc contains the three choral song-cycles 'Five Childhood Lyrics' (for unaccompanied choir), 'When Icicles Hang' and 'Fancies' (both for choir and orchestra).
Rossini: Stabat Mater
This disc forms part of Chandos’ ongoing Richard Hickox legacy series. The re-release features Rossini's Stabat Mater, performed by Richard Hickox and the City of London Sinfonia. They are joined by the London Symphony Orchestra Chorus and four excellent soloists: Helen Field, Della Jones, Arthur Davies and Roderick Earle.
Peter Hope: Wind Blown – Sonatas for Wind Instruments
Honegger: Symphony No. 2 - Symphony No. 4, "Deliciae Basilie
Vaughan Williams: Songs Of Travel; Job / Neal Davies, Sir Mark Elder, Halle
DANCES, ELEGIES & EPITAPHS
Jones: Symphonies Nos. 12 & 13; Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life
A fine example of Jones at his most succinct and incisive, the Twelfth Symphony (1985) was commissioned by the Civil and Public Services Association as a farewell gift to their retiring General Secretary, Ken Thomas The Twelfth Symphony was first performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Erich Bergel at a gala concert at St David's Hall, Cardiff on 26 September 1985. The score bears a superscription consisting of a brief quotation from Pushkin, which reads 'Yet one last tale, And my chronicle is ended'. Daniel Jones's Symphony in memory of John Fussell (Symphony No.13) (1992) was first performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Richard Hickox at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea on 17 October 1992 at that year's Swansea Festival. The work is a personal tribute to a friend of the composer, who was Swansea's Director of Music and City Organist from 1970 until 1990, the year of his death. The cantata Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life (1987) was written in memory of John Aeron-Thomas, whose widow Margaret commissioned the work. A devout Christian, John Aeron-Thomas had been a founder-member of the Swansea Festival, who commissioned Jones's First Symphony. among other works. The text is taken from poetry by George Herbert (1593-1633), which details his sacred journey.
Stravinsky: Ballet Music
Riehm: Shifting - Archipel Remix
Bach, J.S.: Flute Sonatas, Bwv 1030-1032, 1034, 1035
The Complete Songs of Faure, Vol. 2

Elgar: Caractacus & Severn Suite / Howarth, Hickox, London Symphony
-----
REVIEW:
Although the work itself is uneven, this 1992 recording is yet another classic recording from the late maestro, and well worth hearing when done as brilliantly as this.
– MusicWeb International
Lamento / Davies, Fretwork
Shortlisted for the Gramophone Awards!
Counter-tenor Iestyn Davies and and the viol consort Fretwork present a new recording of works for viol consort and voice drawn from 17th-century Germany, following their critically-praised 2019 album of works by Michael Nyman and Henry Purcell. Featuring performances from organist Silas Wollston and counter-tenor Hugh Cutting, the recital ranges widely over the 17th century – from the early years with three curiously similar sounding friends: Schein, Scheidt and Schütz, to the most significant member of the Bach family before Johann Sebastian, Johann Christoph Bach. From their they travel down North Sea to the foothills of the Alps, including Buxtehude’s predecessor at the Marienkirche in Lübeck – Franz Tunder (whose daughter Buxtehude was to marry) and another north German composer who worked in Copenhagen, Christian Geist. Giovanni Felice Sances is an outlier here: he was born in Rome, but spent the second part of his life working for three successive Emperors in Vienna, where viol playing was still very much in vogue. In 2021, Fretwork celebrates its 35th anniversary. In the past three and a half decades they have explored the core repertory of great English consort music, from Taverner to Purcell, and made classic recordings against which others are judged. In addition to this, Fretwork have become known as pioneers of contemporary music for viols, having commissioned over 40 new works. Iestyn Davies is a British countertenor widely recognised as one of the world’s finest singers celebrated for the beauty and technical dexterity of his voice and intelligent musicianship. Critical recognition of Iestyn’s work can be seen in two Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, a RPS Award for Young Singer of the Year, the Critics’ Circle Award and recently an Olivier Award Nomination. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List 2017 for services to music.
Gilbert & Sullivan: H.M.S. Pinafore / Egarr, Scottish Opera
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 / Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan
Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Tolstoy’s War and Peace – those works of art that are truly part of the canon of global culture are few and far apart. In music, one work that holds significance for people all over the world is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and especially its choral finale. Even today, as we are getting ready to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of its creator, the sheer size and complexity of the symphony is daunting. There are some eyewitness accounts from the first performance, at the Kärntner-Tor-Theater in Vienna on 7th May 1824: we know for instance that Beethoven was on stage himself throughout the performance, but that owing to his deafness he did not notice the audience’s overwhelming enthusiasm. What the Ninth sounded like that evening in Vienna is something we will never know, however – which is why hearing it in a historically informed performance on period instruments is all the more interesting. With impeccable credentials from their 65-album series of Bach’s complete cantatas, and acclaimed recent recordings of Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki now give us their rendering of Beethoven’s last and greatest symphony, joined by a fine quartet of vocal soloists.
