Classical Music

John Ireland's Cello Sonata in G minor was written in 1923 and premiered the following year on April 4th by the Cellist Beatrice Harrison wit pianist Evlyn Howard-Jones at teh Aeolian Hall, London. The composer himself performed the Sonata many times as pianist with several cellists including Antoni Sala, who prnounced it ''the best cello sonata of modern times'', and recorded it with Ireland on the Columbia label in October, 1928. Frederick Delius' four violin and piano sonatas were written between 1892 and 1930 and so chart comprehensively his creative development. Violin Sonata No. 3 forms a part of the remarkable Indian summer of composition made possible by the blind and paralyzed composer's collaboration with Eric Fenby. Lionel Handy arranged the Sonata for cello and piano in 2012 and on November 23 of that year he gave the first public performance of his transcription with Nigel Clayton as pianist at a concert held in The Warehouse, London to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Delius's birth. Arnold Bax is widely regarded as an orchestral composer. However, he also wrote a significant quantity of chamber music. One of his most impressive works for the instrument, the Cello Sonata in E flat was writte in 1923 at a time when his popularity and standing aong British composers was at its height. Completed on November 7 of that year, the Sonata was premiered on February 26, 1924 at the Wigmore Hall with Harriet Cohen accompanying Beatrice Harrison, to whom the score was originally dedicated.

Classical Music

Martin Jones selected works on this release to include extended concert works, picturesque pieces, and short studies for educational use. Alan was a complete musician - a composer, performer, teacher, and a person of extraordinary natural musicality. Small wonder then that he was viewed with profound respect by all those within the musical profession who were privileged to come into contact with him. As a pianist one was struck by his innate rhythmic verve, a facet which indeed radiated through all his compositions - but perhaps the quality above all else that will be remembered was that which can best be described as a mezzo voce bel canto, the realization of a choice and refined ear, and the product of a deep thinker and inner tranquility'. It is that satisfying synergy of elegant lyricism and rhythmic energy which distinguishes the keyboard works of pianist and composer Alan Richardson. After WWII he gave piano lectures at the RAM and in 1960 he was appointed professor of piano at the Academy. The following year he married the oboist Janet Craxton, daughter of Harold Craxton, himself a distinguished professor at the RAM. This happy personal and musical union resulted in the formation of a duo partnership of great distinction. (Paul Conway)

Composers do not usually make conscious choices about the music they write: they write in accordance with the talents given to them. For this reason I do not write complex or experimental music: I have no gift for such things. Instead, my music is lyrical, rhythmic, economical, clear cut in texture and, as far as I can make it, direct of utterance. This incisive assessment by Georffrey Bush of his own output is indicative of his lucidity on the printed page as well as on the stave, both accomplishments the result of a compulsive urge to communicate effectively. (Geoffrey Bush) Though composition was foremost among his many gifts, Bush was something of an all-rounder. He performed as both pianist and organist, made regular broadcasts for the BBC and was also a successful writer. His eminently readable guide to music, Musical Creation and the Listener, first appeared in 1954. His wide-ranging catalogue includes music for the stage, choral works, church music, orchestral pieces, chamber music and songs. Of his two symphonies, the first, which has at its core an elegiac blues in memory of Constant Lambert, was premiered at the Cheltenham Festival in 1954 and performed at the Proms four years later, whilst the second, subtitled "The Guildford", was commissioned for the 700th anniversary of the City of Guildford in 1957. He wrote a number of works for chamber orchestra in which his understanding of the intimacy and inherent reciprocity of the medium resulted in scores that are eloquent and conversational, epitomising his credo quoted at the head of these notes.

This release presents a program of British works for violin and piano from the first half of the 20th century. Premieres include Thomas Pitfield's Sonata No. 1 and smaller scale works by C.W. Orr, Cyril Scott, and Percy M. Young. Doreen Carwithen's Sonata is the program's centerpiece, and works by John Ireland, Lennox Berkeley, Frederick Delius complete the album. With playing described as "alluring", "unforgettable" and "a wonder", violinist Fenella Humphreys enjoys a busy career combining chamber music and solo work. Performances have taken her around the world to venues including the Wigmore Hall, the South Bank Centre, and the new Helsinki Music Centre. Pianist and composer Nathan Williamson studied with Joan Havill, Malcolm Singer, Martin Bresnik and many others. Nathan gives regular solo recitals and concerto performances and is in demand for new work from artists both at home and abroad.

Philip Cannon’s catalogue embraces a broad range of genres from operas and symphonies to songs and keyboard works. His first significant pieces were written whilst he was still a student at the RCM. Musicologist Rollo Myers wrote of Philip Cannon, ‘One is conscious of a strong and instinctive musical personality and a purposefulness which excludes all irrelevancies and anything in the nature of “padding” ... in listening to his music one is never conscious of any deliberate striving for effect; what one hears is a direct and personal utterance’. Each of the three works presented here demonstrate that powerful combination of clarity and originality. The music is an extension of the man – unaffected, fearlessly independent and emotionally honest - and he was unsparing of himself in his quest to realise the full potential of his material. As Cannon himself put it, ‘it is what the music says that counts in sincere compositions, and this should be said as simply, lucidly and directly as possible, and should flow inevitably’. Paul Conway

Miriam Beatrice Hyde was born in Adelaide on 15 January, 1913 into a prodigious musical and artistic family that helped shape her own musical tastes. A child prodigy, Hyde's musical education began at an early age with her mother as her first teacher. After gaining the Bachelor of Music at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide, she won the Elder Overseas Scholarship in 1931 for study at the Royal College of Music, London from 1932-35. Undoubtedly, Miriam Hyde is best known for her piano works for students ranging from beginner to advanced, such as Valley of Rocks, but what of her songs? Often overlooked these charming, often inspirational and personal works evoke Hyde's love of nature, of the landscape, of emotions, of life itself. A lover of the English language and its poetry and a writer of hundreds of poems herself, Hyde's choice of poets is an eclectic one, ranging from the well-known to the obscure, the composer preferring to set words that have meaning and passion for her rather than what will appeal to the commercial market. The songs on this release represent 50 years of Hyde's writing, the first Dream Land written in 1933 and Yorkshire Picture in 1982. Thirteen poets are represented in this collection, including the composer herself.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Francis Shaw has become one of the most versatile British composers of this day, having written a wide range of music, most notably for film and television. As with many composers whose work has taken them into diverse musical fields, the range of his accomplishments has tended to draw attention away from what lies at the heart of his output - his serious music, less extensive than that of his more commercial work, but which - is of a quality and achievement manifestly deserving of far greater recognition than it has received hitherto.

The international reputation of Bernard Rands as one of the leading composers of his generation rests on over a hundred well-crafted scores of notable formal cohesion, dramatic intensity and lyrical beauty. The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2013) was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in celebration of Rands's eightieth birthday year and as implied by it's title, the piece is for piano and orchestra rather than a piano concerto. Hence, the solo part is primus inter pares and is not required to play the conventional role of a protagonist striving heroically for supremacy over the masses. Canti del Sole, for tenor and orchestra (1983) describes a day's progression from dawn to dusk through a continuous setting of fourteen poems about the sun. The poems are arranged into two groups of seven. Music for Shoko: Aubade is an atmospheric mini-tone poem for English horn and string quartet (2017). It is dedicated to Bernard Rands's friend Shoko Suzuki in appreciation of their many years of friendship and her devotion to the composer's music. The piece is a transcription of the central 'Aubade' movement from the Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra, which was written for the soloist Robert Walters. The solo part of the chamber piece is identical to that of the concerto movement, while the orchestral music is accommodated, with adjustments, by the string quartet.

The Third Symphony was written between March and May 1951 and played by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra under the composer in a studio performance broadcast on 26 June 1952. It was first performed in public at the Cheltenham Festival on 9 July 1956 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult. In the same year, the third movement was used as an examination piece for conductors at the Royal National Eisteddfod. The Third Symphony is terse and closely argued. Reviewing the concert premiere at the 1956 Cheltenham Festival, the New York Times critic described it as 'a work of stubborn force'. In his review of the same event, Kenneth Loveland hailed the score as 'logically and boldly written', observing that it conveyed 'an idea of strength in composition, and an acute understanding of the capacity and projecting qualities of the individual instruments, and choirs of instruments'. By the time Jones turned to the medium again, his position as one of foremost symphonists of his generation was assured. Commissioned by the BBC, the Fifth Symphony was written between August and December 1958 at Jones's home on the outskirts of Swansea high up on the Gower Peninsula in a room looking down on Oystermouth Castle and out over Swansea Bay. The work was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the composer at the Royal Festival Hall on 18 February 1959 and on 25 October 1962 the symphony was broadcast on the Radio Welsh Home Service by the BBC Welsh Orchestra conducted by the composer.

It is significant that, when Lloyd turned his attention to writing concertante works for the violin, he avoided using full orchestral forces. His sensitivity to issues of balance and scrupulousness in scoring in his operas was matched by his determination that the solo instrument in his concertos should not be overwhelmed by thick orchestral textures. As he put it, 'I don't really like the relationship between the violin and the big modern orchestra. I hate to hear that poor little fiddle being totally swamped'.

At the head of the score of The Lily-leaf and the Grasshopper (1972), Lloyd has written, 'One evening as I lay in my canoe by the banks of the Avon, I saw a large lily-leaf come floating down stream, on it sat a grasshopper'. The painterly outer portions of the piece generate a languid, serene atmosphere. In the lighter and more animated middle section, the grasshopper holds sway. This principal character in the narrative even gets a dramatic lead-in, replete with expectant trills. As ever with Lloyd, the material is meticulously proportioned, so that the scene-setting opening sequence and the summatory close are both given due weight to counterbalance the dynamic, wide-ranging central exploits.