Classical Music

Classical Music

Mahler composed some of the most powerful and emotive symphonic music of his age. As well as the big melodies, his symphonies are also full of beautiful moments of chamber music. This has inspired various arrangers to distill Mahler's monumental symphonic structures down to the more intimate proportions of a small chamber ensemble. The 2007 Klaus Simon arrangement is one of the most popular, and highlights the intimacy of Mahler's music while internalizing the power of the climaxes. This ensemble of talented students originally came together for an epic project with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in 2014. Spread over a four-month period, the group performed side by side with the Orchestra on a three-city tour to India conducted by James Macmillan, with soloist Nicola Benedetti. In order to capture the particular frisson of this group before many graduated, Nimbus brought them together in June 2014 for this special recording project.

Sir Nicholas Jackson (b. 1934) is an internationally renowned composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Jackson's music is written in a modern-romantic idiom and unashamedly draws on the influences of Langlais, Durufle, and Messiaen. His music has been recorded for Decca, Naxos, SOMM, and Herald, among others.

Classical Music

Most of the music on this recording consists of arrangements of chamber music pieces by Steven Gerber (1948-2015), commissioned by the Gerber Trust to help make performances of his music more accessible for chamber orchestras, smaller symphony orchestras and string orchestras. Taken together with Gerber's beautiful Two Lyric Pieces for Violin and Strings, they provide a fascinating overview of Gerber's development as a composer over most of the last 20 years of his working life. Steven R. Gerber was born in 1948 in Washington, D.C. and made his home in New York City, where he died on May 28, 2015, aged 66. He received degrees from Haverford College and from Princeton University, where he received a 4-year fellowship. His composition teachers included Robert Parris, J. K. Randall, Earl Kim, and Milton Babbitt.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Harmonia Sacra was formed by Peter Leech in the Summer of 2009. On Advent Sunday in the same year they presented their first concert at the church of St Thomas the Martyr in Bristol, entitled Advent Reflections. The event has since become a permanent and popular musical feature of the pre-Christmas season in that city. 2019 therefore marks the choir's 10th anniversary, so this new release has been created to celebrate a decade of choral music-making in South-West England (and much further afield), and to represent the diverse repertoire of Advent Reflections concerts.

Classical Music

David Ponsford writes: "My justification for arranging these works for two harpsichords derives from the preface to Fran�ois Couperin's L'apoth�ose de Lully (1725) in which he describes the manner in which he often played trio sonatas on two harpsichords: Trios... can be played on two harpsichords... I play them with my family and pupils with very happy success, namely, by playing the first treble part and the bass on one of the harpsichords; and the second treble part and the same bass on the other harpsichord tuned to the same pitch. Now, it is highly unlikely that Couperin knew Bach's Organ Trio Sonatas, but one of Couperin's musical missions was to render equal status to Italian and French styles, and many of his trio movements are written in Italian style. Likewise, Bach's trio sonatas are thoroughly Italian in style. Hence, for me, the experiment of arranging Bach's Organ Trio Sonatas (BWV 525-530) was too tempting to resist. Furthermore, with two harpsichords whose compasses extend down to bottom FF, a fifth lower than the organ, opportunities are presented for playing the bass down an octave, at both 8-foot and 16-foot pitches, and both the harpsichordists' right hands have the potential to fill in some continuo chords when opportunities arise. The result is a transformation of these famous trio sonatas, giving them a character that is neither better nor worse than interpretations on the organ, but very different and no less exciting."

At first glance, Gabriel Faur� seems to fit neatly into the history of French music as a pupil of Saint-Sa�ns and a teacher of Ravel. Yet he stands apart from the mainstream because of his unique musical language, and because rather than writing colorful orchestral pieces he preferred to work in the comparatively modest media of the song, solo piano, and chamber music. With the exception of the late String Quartet, all of his chamber works combine the piano - Faur�'s own instrument as a performer - with strings. Among the earlier works, written in the late 1870s and mid-1880s, are the two Quartets for piano and string trio presented here. Since their first concert in January 1983, the Schubert Ensemble has established itself as one of the world's leading exponents of music for piano and strings. Regularly giving around 50 concerts a year, the ensemble has performed in over 40 different countries, has over 80 commissions to it's name, has recorded over 30 critically acclaimed CDs, and is familiar to British audiences through regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 3.

Classical Music