English Chamber Orchestra
b. 1960. British orchestra.
Renowned British chamber orchestra known for Mozart and Baroque repertoire; broad stylistic range including crossover collaborations.
32 products
Elgar: Piano Quintet & Sea Pictures (Orch. Fraser) / Woods
A lazy unobservant glance at the details of this disc had me assuming that the Piano Quintet had been re-engineered into a Piano Concerto to join the Elgar/Walker. No such thing. What we have here is something of symphonic proportions and character. While there are some dark and dramatic moments and even some hints of the Second Symphony this now comes across as reflective and in the same territory as Falstaff. The first movement has an air of halting even fearful uncertainty. It's all very smooth though, suave even. A Viennese lilt at 10.00 is one of several instances where things become quite Brahmsian. The second movement is almost Finzian as details entwine much as they do in the woodland Interludes in Falstaff. The finale has its exciting moments but is overall quite nostalgic, philosophical, and regretful.
These two works in new colors should give many more opportunities to hear this music although ironically each requires a greater number of performers than the originals. Of the two Sea Pictures strikes me as the more attractive.
– MusicWeb International (Rob Barnett)
Songs for Strings / Fraser, English Symphony & English Chamber Orchestras
In the 1990s, Donald Fraser scored a hit with his orchestral arrangement of Marin Marais’ baroque classic The Bells of Genevieve which reached the Top 5 of Billboard’s Classical Chart and remains a radio evergreen to this day. Numerous commissions for arrangements followed for musicians such as The King’s Singers, Yehudi Menuhim and the English Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, AVIE released Don’s large-scale orchestration of Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet and choral version of Sea Pictures, which charted in the Top 10 of the UK Specialist Classical Chart. Don now returns to the art of arranging smaller scale, classic works by John Dowland, Henry Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi and others, including new versions of his own “Amen” from A Christmas Symphony which was written for and premiered by soprano Jessye Norman, a new remix of The Bells of St. Genevieve and orchestrations of four Elgar art songs that evoke the album’s title, Songs for Strings.
Wynton Marsalis - The London Concert - Haydn, Hummel, Mozart / Leppard, English CO
This selection is also available in Super Audio CD format.
Mozart: Oboe Concertos / Miyamoto, Garcia, English Co
Mozart: Violin Concerto No 2, Etc / Lin, Leppard, English Co
Ireland, Bridge: Suites, Etc / Garforth, English Co
Norman del Mar's performance of the Bridge Suite, also on Chandos, is most sympathetic and there is little to choose between his version and that of Garforth. But Del Mar's original 1978 recording is a little pale in comparison with the new issue, and though the strings of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta play well they sound fewer in number and less tonally opulent than the ECO players.
-- Gramophone [5/1987]
Mozart: Piano Concertos No 19 And 27 / De Larrocha, Davis
Alicia de Larrocha’s and Sir Colin Davis’s Mozart concerto cycle, while rarely less than distinguished, grows in stature with each new issue. Indeed, so musicianly and distilled are both these performances that the casual listener is in danger of taking them for granted, mistaking their classic sobriety for monotony and their devotion for a monochrome quality.
Sir Colin’s unforced way with the opening tutti of K595, his awareness of “all passion spent” is haunting but unobtrusive. Such sensitivity is effortlessly mirrored by Larrocha with her enviable ease, her avoidance of all artifice or attention-seeking dalliance. Few other pianists are more attuned to Mozart’s mix of pain and radiance, of the subtle major-minor shifts commencing at 6'34'' and, throughout, her economy ensures that every passing mood is unmistakably yet unobtrusively registered. Again, tempos are ideal whether in K595’s gently paced final Allegro (less idiosyncratically slow or autumnal than from Kempff on DG) or in the central Allegretto of K459. Even in the finale’s opera buffa high-jinks she captures the music’s undertow, a poise and equanimity like “the still point of the turning world”.
Balance and sound (grainy but apt) are exemplary, and this issue is graced with a fine portrait of the pianist by Christian Steiner.'
-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone [12/1997]
Bach: Violin Concertos / Zukerman, English Co
Pinchas Zukerman’s accounts are appealing for their emphasis on line and phrasing, and for their restraint. They are intelligently drawn, though a little drawn out (and Russianized, with un-idiomatic slides) in some of the slow tempos; there is also a tendency to hasten a little in the Allegros. But most of the time, in spite of his urge to keep a high expressive profile, Zukerman is able to scale down his sound and gestures to fit the music. The Largo of the D minor concerto is especially lovely. The recording is an excellent one, with the soloists ever so slightly forward. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection.
Mozart: Flute Concertos, Clarinet Concerto / Zukerman, Et Al
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos 17 & 18 / P Serkin, Schneider
Lambert: Orchestral Works
Maw: Sinfonia - Gardner: Theme & Variations - Dodgson: Sonat
Imogen Holst Conducts Gustav Holst
Performances throughout possess unfailing insight, and the present remasterings are superb. An essential companion disc to Lyrita's classic Holst/Boult compilation from last year (7/92).
-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone [4/1993]
Hawes: Song Of Songs / Elin Manahan Thomas, Roger Sayer, English Chamber Orchestra
Patrick Hawes has quickly established himself as one of the UKs leading composers, writing in a personal and thoroughly English style that has endeared him to the listening public. This new disc of choral and organ works centers on the mystery and beauty of the words of the Old Testament with stunning performances from Welsh soprano Elin Manahan Thoms, alongside Patricks own choral group Conventus and the English Chamber Orchesta.
Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy / Schumann: Fantasie
Gliere, Debussy, Mozart: Harp Concertos / Claire Jones
Claire has performed for members of the Royal Family on more then 70 occasions and has recently performed a brand new Royal Commission by Patrick Hawes at Highgrove House with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
She is joined by renowned flautist William Bennet OBE, and the English Chamber Orchestra to complete the release with Mozart’s Concerto for flute, harp and orchestra and Debussy’s Danses pour Harpe Chromatique.
Czerny: Grand Concerto in E-Flat Major & Other Works / Tuck, Bonynge, English Chamber Orchestra
Carl Czerny penned an astonishing amount of music, including the numerous potpourris, fantasies, teaching pieces and studies for which he became known. This recording features the delightfully entertaining Concertino in C major, Op. 210/213, as well as the highly enjoyable Rondino, a work based on an enchanting theme taken from Daniel Auber’s opera comique Le Macon. A pupil and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Czerny was just 21 when he wrote the pastoral Second Grand Concerto in E flat major. Begun only twelve days after he had given the Viennese premiere of his mentor’s Emperor Concerto, the same choice of key seems a fitting homage to the grand master he so revered.
Hummel: Piano Concertos Opp 89 & 85 / Hough, Thomson
Recorded in: All Saints' Church, Tooting, London 22,23 September 1986 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Trygg Tryggvason Ralph Couzens [Assistant]
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 24 / Hochman, English Chamber Orchestra
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REVIEW:
His rendition of the G major concerto is captivating: fluent and subtly shaded throughout, Hochman directs the English Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard with aplomb. Avie’s sound, as always, is clean and natural, allowing the music to bloom.
– International Piano
Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations; Gloriana Excerpts / Rostropovich, Pears, Britten
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Variations on a Roccoco Theme, Op. 33
Pezzo capriccioso, Op. 62
Romeo and Juliet – Fantasy Overture
Mstislav Rostropovich, cello
English Chamber Orchestra
Benjamin Britten, conductor
Recorded live from Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh, 16 June 1968
Bonus:
BRITTEN, B.: Gloriana, Op. 53 (excerpts)
Peter Pears, tenor
Aldeburgh Festival Singers
English Chamber Orchestra
Benjamin Britten, conductor
Recorded at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh, 5 June 1970
Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: Enhance Mono
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Booklet notes: English, French, German
Running time: 68 mins
No. of DVDs: 1
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 / Britten: Nocturne
Divertimentos & Sinfoniettas
Under the Stars / Charlie Siem
– James Manheim, All Music Guide
Alicia de Larrocha plays Mozart
Alicia de Larrocha will always be remembered as one of the most idiomatic and poetic interpreters of Spanish piano music, but this beloved artist – born in Barcelona in 1923 to two pianists – was hardly less devoted to Mozart. In the 1990s, towards the end of her career, she undertook a series of concerto recordings for RCA with Sir Colin Davis – one of the great Mozartians of his time – conducting the English Chamber Orchestra, formidable Mozart veterans themselves. Now collected for the first time in a 6-album set, these performances were widely admired by music lovers and critics. Gramophone wrote: “In their transparency and vitality these performances are outstanding. Sir Colin’s partnership is affectionate and exemplary [Nos. 25 and 27].” And of their collaboration in Nos. 19 and 27: “Sir Colin’s unforced way with the opening tutti of K 595, his awareness of ‘all passion spent’ is haunting but unobtrusive. Such sensitivity is effortlessly mirrored by Larrocha with her enviable ease, her avoidance of all artifice or attention-seeking dalliance. Few other pianists are more attuned to Mozart’s mix of pain and radiance.”
English Choral Music - Britten: St. Nicolas, Etc / Bedford
– Bradley Bambarger, Listen [Winter 2011]
Serenata - Braga, Gomes, Miguez & Nepomuceno / Thomson, English Chamber Orchestra
You can’t go wrong with 68 minutes of gentle, relaxing, and intelligent music.
Brazilian composers in the 19th century often sought state scholarships to enable them to study in Europe where they were to become influenced by the German, Italian and French compositional schools. They also became involved in the vogue for writing suites based on ancient dances, such as Nepomuceno’s delightful Ancient Suite, premiered at Grieg’s home, or Braga’s Madrigal-Pavana which evokes the belle époque ballrooms of Rio de Janeiro. Miguéz’s Suite in the Old Style is polyphonic and lively, while Gomes’ Sonata for Strings is his finest non-operatic work.
REVIEWS:
Though these Brazilian composers—all born from 1836 to 1868—aren’t household names, they’re well worth your attention. Carlos Gomes's perky, witty Sonata for Strings reminds me a lot of Rossini; the melodies are reserved almost solely for the violins, and they sound like they should be arias instead of a sonata. Alberto Nepomuceno studied in Italy and Germany, but his Suite Antique is a cousin to the Holberg Suite by his friend Grieg. Brass, winds, and timpani join strings in Leopoldo Miguez’s Suite a Antiga, and the oboe solo in the “Aria e Double” is spare yet beautiful. His tunes are fetching, and his countermelodies are inventive and attractively detailed. He gets more chromatically adventurous than the others, too. You can’t go wrong with 68 minutes of gentle, relaxing, and intelligent music. The sound is reverberant though not plush.
-- The Absolute Sound
The English Chamber Orchestra give suitably refined performances, its elegant sound being ideal for this repertoire.
-- Gramophone
The delightful Sonata for Strings by Carlos Gomes (1836–96) that opens the disc may remind some of, say, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence. The good humor continues thereafter in this enjoyable snapshot of the 19th-century Brazilian chamber orchestra music, all seemingly played with relish by the ECO.
-- BBC Music Magazine
Seasons Interrupted / Trey Lee, ECO
An album combining works by Schubert, Piazzolla, and Lintinen, cellist Trey Lee is joined by the English Chamber Orchestra to perform compositions exploring the effects and impacts of climate change on both the environment and society. The album has two world premiere recordings of new arrangements for both cello and piano, and cello and orchestra by Trey Lee. “With the cello as a platform, I seek a sober yet trenchant means to tell the story of our seasons, and concurrently, create a musical narrative to account for how this crisis unfolds. This album is a journey across our world from the past to the present, and finally, to an increasingly plausible future through the prism of works by three composers from three eras.” – Trey Lee
Czerny: Music for Piano and Orchestra / Tuck, Bonynge, ECO
Much of Carl Czerny’s concert music for piano was considered ‘wild and almost unplayable’ in his day, but these world premiere recordings reveal inspired melodic writing, great skill in orchestration and colourful virtuoso challenges in a programme that includes his final Concertino, Op. 650. This is the final release in the Naxos edition of works for piano and orchestra by Czerny. Previous releases can be heard on 8.573998, 8.573688, 8.573417 and 8.573254.
