Exclusive Chandos artist Tasmin Little and pianist Martin Roscoe immerse themselves in music of three of the best late 19th c. French composers: Gabriel Fauré, Guillaume Lekeu and Maurice Ravel. + Despite its daunting reception, Faure’s ́ Sonata in A major (1875) has often been regarded as his first masterpiece. + As the last arrival in the ‘Bande à Franck’, Lekeu’s Violin Sonata, of 1892–93 is by far the best known of his fifty or so pieces of ‘tremulous emotion’. + The opening movement of Ravel’s early, unfinished violin sonata convincingly unites several different romantic French styles.

The flute takes a very special place in French music, particularly so in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As a result (and in addition to a great deal of original repertoire for the instrument) there is a significant body of work transcribed for flute and piano, which Lisa Friend and Rohan De Silva explore in this exquisite programme. Fauré’s first Violin Sonata, composed in 1875 – 76 works particularly well in transcription, with is sweeping melodies and lack of double-stopping. The rapid scale passages in the third movement are especially effective. Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, based on a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, is regarded by many (including Boulez) as the birthplace of modern music, Ravel choosing it to be played at his funeral. The original orchestral version opens with one of the best-known flute solos in the repertoire, making this transcription particularly appropriate.

Having recently suffered a series of career threatening injuries, pianist Margaret Fingerhut once again finds her ‘song’. This album is an eclectic and highly personal collection of song-like encores for piano, featuring, alongside John Metcalf’s lyrical title piece, works by Mendelssohn, Liszt, Gershwin, Poulenc, Albéniz, Guastavino, Rachmaninoff, and Suk.

Following the success of The Dream of Gerontius in 1900 and The Apostles in 1903, Edward Elgar was commissioned to produce another large oratorio for a 1906 music festival. + The Kingdom continues the narrative of the lives of Jesus’ disciples, depicting the community of the early church, Pentecost, and the events of the next few days. + The Kingdom is considered one of his greatest choral works, fully deserving its ranking alongside Gerontius. + Recorded in 1989, and also featuring Sursum Corda and Sospiri, this Chandos re-release honors the legacy of the late English conductor Sir Richard Hickox.

The three great chamber works, the String Quartet, Piano Quintet, and Violin Sonata, were among the very last works that Elgar wrote, composed during an intensive and productive period in 1918 and 1919 whilst living at Brinkwells in Sussex, and under the twin shadows of the horrors of the Great War and the terminal illness of his wife, Alice. The String Quartet was dedicated to the original Brodsky Quartet (the name subsequently taken by the current group when they arrived as students at the Royal Northern College of Music) and was championed by this new Brodsky Quartet from the off, sitting alongside Delius’s Quartet on their debut recording (1984). It has remained a cornerstone of their repertoire ever since. The Brodsky Quartet took the opportunity of the centenary year of both works to perform the String Quartet alongside the Piano Quintet with their frequent co-performer Martin Roscoe, and this recording is a result of that commemoration.

This re-release of The Canterbury Pilgrims forms part of the new Hickox Legacy commemorative series on Chandos Records, leading up to (and continuing beyond) the fifth anniversary, in November 2013, of the conductor's untimely death. The two-disc set is issued for the price of 1 CD. The pioneering account of The Canterbury Pilgrims, a colorful but neglected work by Sir George Dyson, brilliantly depicts assorted characters from the prologues of Chaucer’s famous Canterbury Tales, while highlighting key aspects of Hickox’s recorded legacy: the championing of neglected repertoire in general, and British repertoire in particular, as well as his special affinity with choral music. ‘Chaucer’s amusingly ironic depictions and Dyson’s memorable tunes and imaginative orchestration are a winning combination. If you like Gerontius, Vaughan Williams and Ireland, you’ll like Dyson. Go out and buy this disc *****’. - BBC Music Magazine ‘This is a very fine recording… Every layer in the texture is exceptionally well defined and integrated, which is no mean feat when such elaborate forces – soloists, choir, and orchestra – are involved’ – Gramophone Magazine