How about composing a new Young Person' Guide to the Orchestra? suggested Ian Maclay, the General Manager of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. I've always loved composing for full symphony orchestra, so this was a challenge that simply had to be met!

Stephen Gryc and Nebojsa Zivkovic composed their concertos-Passaggi and Tales from the Center of the Earth, respectively-for the instruments they play themselves.

First Prize Winner of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation' Violin Competition and the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition, Frank Huang has now embarked on a major career as a violin virtuoso.

Three songs were drawn in 1932 from a 1923 group of five settings of poems by Edith Sitwell from Fa�ade, under the projected title Bucolic Comedies, Edith Sitwell's title for a set of poems. The three songs are dedicated to Walton's publisher, Hubert Foss, and to the latter's wife Dora, who gave the first performance. Daphne and Through gilded trellises lack that wilder element of fantasy that marks the poems eventually included in Fa�ade itself. The first of the set, Daphne is a lyrical reflection on the myth of Daphne, and her metamorphosis into a laurel. Through gilded trellises has the necessary Spanish flavor, skillfully handled, and Old Sir Faulk, which finally retained a place in Fa�ade in spoken form, is a true Foxtrot. The six settings of poems from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for tenor and guitar, Anon in Love, were commissioned by Peter Pears and Julian Bream and first performed at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1960. Walton later arranged them for tenor and small orchestra. The poems, chosen for the composer by Christopher Hassall, are set in a style well suited to Pears and echo in some ways the writing of Britten, a reflection of Walton's underlying respect for the achievement of his younger contemporary. The cycle starts with Fain would I change that note, marked Lento amiable and offering a characteristic melodic line, exploiting the instrumental quality of Pears's voice and technique. O stay, sweet love, marked Allegretto, offers a lively contrast of mood, followed by the beauty of Lady, when I behold the roses, marked Lento sostenuto, with it's subtle cross-rhythms. The Allegro leggiero fourth song, My love in her attire, is light-hearted in text and mood, matched with the more robust I gave her cakes and I gave her ale, an Andantino. The group ends with the insistent jocular Allegro giocoso of To couple is custom. Fa�ade, poems by Edith Sitwell, recited with a musical accompaniment, was first heard in a private concert in the drawing-room of the Sitwells' London house in January 1922 and created something of a sensation at it's public airing at the Aeolian Hall the following year. The work grew and changed, as items were removed and added, reaching a final revision in the 1940s, for eventual publication in 1951. Christopher Palmer transcribed three of the items for singer and piano, the original declamation replaced by a vocal line derived from the instrumental score. Long steel grass (Noche espagnola), which for a time became Trio for Two Cats and a Trombone, is followed by the Tango-Pasodoble, with it's transformation of I do like to be beside the seaside. The well known Popular Song ends the group.

Composed and revised over a seven-year period Schubert' fifth Mass setting is arguably his most songful and inventive. His integration of the soloists and chorus, mastery of fluid harmonies, and idiomatic treatment of the orchestra' woodwind section give life to the genre.

This disc celebrates both the quality and variety of the internationally popular American wind band repertoire. Gershwin' Catfish Row includes several hits as well as music cut from Porgy and Bess, while Grainger' Country Gardens and Blithe Bells.

This collection of piano music is a welcome reminder of the many fascinating stylistic strands that colour George Enescu' work. Seriously under-rated today, he exerted a powerful influence on all those who came under his spell.

A virtuoso pianist, Ferdinand Ries began composing piano sonatas at a time when the genre was undergoing significant changes from the models of Haydn and Mozart to new developments by Clementi, Beethoven and Hummel.

Soprano Arias

JONGEN: Flute Sonata / Flute Trio / Danse lente / Élégie

FIOCCO: Missa Solemnis / Ave Maria / Homo Quidam

Although the British composer Liza Lehmann had begun her career as a singer - she appeared in concerts and recitals, performing in oratorio and in various London concert series as well as overseas.

Britten' song cycles form a substantial and important part of his work. The Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo belong to the period when Britten had begun to set foreign languages in an attempt to broaden his musical horizons.

Winner of the of the 2005 German Music Competition, the 2005 Stuttgart International Cello Competition and the 2006 Adam International Cello Competition, New Zealand, as well as the recipient of a 2009 Borletti Buitoni Fellowship.

Each of the works on this disc embodies Swedish composer David Lampel' paradoxical idea that 'music can be heard before it starts, and continues after the last note'.