New French Song has created a whole new repertoire of songs by British composers. The artists commissioned twenty exceptional British composers, some of whom were well established, others of whom were yet to receive the recognition they deserve. The composers were asked to set French literature of their choice from the past two hundred years. The result is a fascinating rainbow work covering all the major literary movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, overlapping into the twenty-first century - Romanticism, Symbolism, Surrealism, Cubism, Modernism and post-Modernism.

Ian Mitchell is a leading performer on all members of the clarinet family and has made recordings with most of them. Here, a range of contemporary pieces (and one Romantic) demonstrate the range and mellifluousness of the bass clarinet, in music of several styles from the jazz-influenced to vocal and ensemble pieces. Works by leading American and British composers and some who deserve wider recognition based on the fine pieces presented here are featured. Included is a suite by William O. Smith, better known as jazz legend Bill Smith, for two bass clarinets. Ian Mitchell has for many years also led the Gemini ensemble, which is very highly regarded in the UK for it's work in modern music. Guest appearances from Friends complete a fine line up of expert musicians.

Keith Barnard is a British composer whose music, rooted in spiritual exploration, both Eastern and Western, and is what is generically and rather loosely called "New Age" but which description does his thoughtful and deeply felt compositions a disservice. This world premiere recording is finely executed by American pianist Jeffrey Grossman.

Leading Irish composer Gr�inne Mulvey writes for many combinations of traditional instruments; this work for electronics was composed for an installation by sculptor Mark Garry at the Dublin Institute of Technology, using the sounds of one of his Aeolian harps (for which the piece is named). Christopher Fox is one of the most individual and creative composers of today with a bewildering variety of styles at his disposal - often as in his new piece 'untouch' using the very simplest of materials in expressive ways. This clever work is for a percussionist who instead of striking his instruments, passes his hand over them creating sine waves. The work was premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2017. Each piece was realized by it's composer and receives on this release it's world premiere recording.

Thomas Fortmann is a composer with a rich and varied set of styles and inspirations, ranging from jazz, rock (he was a rock musician for many years), German cabaret and theatre-music, to serialism and modernist techniques. This creates a unique sound world of likeable, fascinating music, often with a distinct sense of humour. These first recordings of music for saxophone (and saxophone quartet) demolish boundaries and are played by some of Europe's foremost sax players.

In the world of new music where ‘anything goes’ it is a very special composer who can create a sound and style so individual that it stands out as exceptional; such a composer is David Braid, whose writing is truly ‘art-music’ but has resonances with gentle jazz and other genres which make its appeal almost universal as seen by his recent album on Toccata Classics. The key to his sound is first a choice of awesomely good performers, including the most perfect mezzo-soprano voice of today, owned by Emily Gray; and also to Braid’s use of the gentle and resonant archtop (electric) guitar which is a perfect accompaniment to the vocal tracks and a nicely matched partner for the piano. This new release is certainly one of the most distinctive and beautiful new-music albums of recent times.

Betty Roe is quite a phenomenon - unknown to most people! Composer of six operas, orchestral works and light music for theater and cabaret, her firs tlove is art-song of which she has produced over 300 examples. Her style is eclectic, ranging from the serious to the comical, displaying a wonderful wit as well as a firm grasp of vocal writing and a way of providing music that seems totally at one with the texts; and at the age of 87, she remains a major force in the music world. In 2011, she was award the MBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to classical music and composition. This program of songs composed over the last 30 years is a delight and features topo English soloists Sarah Leonard and Anne Marie Sheridan, Robin Tritschler and Stephen Varcoe with Nigel Foster, English Song-accompanist extraordinaire at the piano. In several items obbligato French horn, recorder or violin add to the texture.

Fumiko Miyachi writes of this new release: “Transitional Metal is my first portrait album featuring six pieces written between 2003 and 2016. I have always been drawn to the neatness of the periodic table; the rhythmic drive and clarity of texture inherent in my music somehow conjure the “metal” connection. Starting with carbon (which is not a metal, I know!) in 2010, I have named four more pieces after metal elements, three of which are included here.” Having had piano lessons since the age of three, music has always been part of Fumiko’s life. She was born in Tokyo, Japan in 11979 and has been living in the UK since 1993. She stumbled into composition when she was asked to take up a second study at Royal College of Music Junior Department; though she took up the cello a few years later, composition came to mind first, as she had always enjoyed notating familiar tunes like movie themes and pop songs. Since then, she has been a composer and pianist. After completing her BMus and MMus studies in composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she obtained a DPhil from University of Sussex under Martin Butler’s supervision.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen's Music, is without doubt one of the most important composers of the current age. This new disc presents the first new recording of his major work Ave Maris Stella since Max's own Fires of London recording over 30 years ago, and the premiere recordings of three fine and varied works.

This set presents the premiere recordings of double concertos by two senior and much respected English composers. Sir John Manduell contributes two brilliant pieces for soloists with string orchestra and percussion, while the perhaps better known (internationally) Gordon Crosse came out of "retirement" in 2009 to compose his three works, and has since been inspired to take up composition again with vigor. These are all important works for the modern string orchestra and are fronted by soloists of high caliber, all of whom are orchestral principals or esteemed chamber players.

Greek composer-pianist Panayiotis Demopoulos is a man who plays many parts: an established composer and pianist in the contemporary classical genre, with highly-praised recordings, he is also, alongside his 'day job' as a high-level local government officer, an accomplished composer and performer of modern jazz. The suite "Nina's Clock" employs solo piano with some 'preparation' and is part improvised on a structured skeleton, and follows the story of one night after recording sessions, a variety of moods and styles. The suite has eleven movements and is not set out on anything like the normal twelve "O'clocks" but is a reflection of moods, external stimuli and events as felt by the composer. Demopoulos has recorded classical and contemporary music for both the M�tier and Diversions labels and is busy preparing two more classical albums.

The sparkling, shimmering surface of music of Castiglioni's work is quite unlike anything else in modern Italian music. Coloured by his work in the theater and literary allusion these piano pieces are wonderfully played by Sarah Nicolls.

Christopher Fox, according to pianist Ian Pace, is one of the few British composers to have managed to move beyond the problems and questions posed by modernism; certainly his is a voice most distinctive, interesting and entertaining.. no more so than on this fine record.

David Dubery is a fine example of a modern composer refusing to be boxed in by boundaries, and like a growing number of his contemporaries, has developed a thoroughly individual, yet traditionally tonal and lyrical, style. Dubery's special gift for enchantingly beautiful melodies is well demonstrated here as is the wide range of impressionist, abstract and quasi-autobiographical works, all of which are an absolute joy..

The works on this CD span almost 30 years, from 1965 to 1994. The most striking factor is the varying yet equally successful approach adopted in writing for the clarinet by these very different composers, all of whom cater for the unique character of the instrument.