Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

“Short Stories is a suite of 24 evocative piano pieces of widely varied moods. These “tales” for piano take the player and listener through imaginative harmonic and contrapuntal explorations; each reflecting its characterful title and projecting a vivid mental image. Icarus; a virtuoso single-movement work; evokes the Greek myth in a dazzling — yet ultimately tragic — flight across the piano keyboard.” Carson Cooman (Producer)

This album features relatively unfamiliar and previously unrecorded music written by contemporary female composers, and Renaissance composers. The repertoire features several texts based on a Marian theme.

The present release is a new recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Goldberg Variations', performed by world-renowned musician, Malcolm Archer on a harpsichord built by Alan Gotto. Malcolm Archer has had a distinguished career in church music which has taken him to the posts of Organist and Director of Music at three English Cathedrals: Bristol, Wells and St Paul's, and for eleven years, Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College. He has for many years directed the choir for the Jean Langlais Festival in France. His active career as a conductor and composer has taken him all over the globe, directing choirs and courses in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Europe. As an orchestral conductor, he has worked with the London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia and the BBC Concert Orchestra in addition to many other professional groups. He conducted a performance of John Rutter's Requiem for the composer's 70th birthday concert in the Temple Church, London, in the presence of the composer and recorded by Classic FM, and for several years, his choir in Winchester sang for the Classic FM Carol Concert. He also conducted the 20th anniversary performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Requiem' in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Explore this album of Dan Locklair's Sacred Choral Music, performed by The Choir of Royal Holloway, with David Goode and Onyx Brass, directed by Rupert Gough.

This new large-scale setting of the Magnificat has been written as a companion piece to J.S. Bach’s famous setting (BWV 243). Although making use of a more contemporary musical language, it uses similar instrumentation, follows the same framework of chorus and solo movements, and makes use of a number of features that are typical of Bach’s music.

This new large-scale setting of the Magnificat has been written as a companion piece to J.S. Bach’s famous setting (BWV 243). Although making use of a more contemporary musical language, it uses similar instrumentation, follows the same framework of chorus and solo movements, and makes use of a number of features that are typical of Bach’s music.

This album showcases sacred Scottish choral music, much of it little known, from the repertoire of the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir. From reformation psalms to contemporary motets, this selection illustrates the rich and vibrant choral music of Scotland.

Composed in 2020, Miniature is a compilation of 27 short musical pieces for solo harp. Each is a fragment which tells a personal story inspired by an emotion, reflection, childhood memory or emblematic place for Francesca - from her past in Italy or her present in the Basque Country. The music evokes both images and emotions related to the places they represent. These impressions and emotions are invoked through the use of rhythm, by which the individual nature of each piece reveals itself. Minature is thematically held together as a set by the concept of the flow and passage of time. The Poetic Reflections are written by Juan Kruz Igerabide Sarasola, inspired by the music. Each correlates to a specific ‘minature’, sharing its title and offering a visual context to it.

“The music is really wonderful, and the choice of specific works is brilliant, precisely because it brings to light so much about what was going on inside Gibbs at two really difficult times in his life. These are set alongside works that include an intimate gesture of friendship and gratitude to Ralph Vaughn Williams, as well as music that was published and heard by audiences in Gibbs’s lifetime. It’s very effective to have all these aspects of the composer portrayed in this way.” Nicholas Riddle (Musicologist)

“This collection vividly shows the poetic and wide-ranging expressive qualities of Hugh Shrapnel’s piano music over the last 20 years. Ranging from the formal, classical restraint of the Sonatina to the impassioned elaborate textures of For an Alternative, the light hearted witty Esquisse mécanique to the sombre and brooding Premonition.”