Classical Music

Classical Music

This new release features music, verse and recollections from the time of Queen Victoria from Kenneth Williams, Miss Dorothy Blake’s personal account of life with the Queen at Osborne House, The Broadside Band, Richard Burnett & many more with a detailed 32 page booklet with numerous quotations from Queen Victoria’s journals, Mendelssohn letter and other historical background information. Queen Victoria’s love and appreciation of the arts was shared by Prince Albert who was also a talented player on piano and organ and a fine singer and composer. In fact it was this shared love of music that was the initial attraction, with the Queen saying “… he sang to me some of his own compositions, which are beautiful, and he has a very fine voice. I also sang for him.” They enjoyed playing piano duets together and accompanying as the other sang and they would take their sheet music with them on all their travels.

This compilation album features tracks from 13 different prior Saydisc albums, and takes the listener on an auditory journey around the globe. These exotic sounds unite far-flung communities and cultures of the world through the common thread of music. In the Chinese Village Song for Bamboo Flute, performed by the Jing Ying Ensemble, we hear the bamboo flute, also known as the di-zi, which carries the same associations as it's Western counterpart, but is more piercing in timbre. World percussionist Joji Hirota dreams up an exotic, hot, and humid Amazonian scene with the evocative composition, "Amazon Rain Forest Dream." The ensemble The Burning Bush presents "Israeli Chassidic Melody 10," which comes from the repertoire of the Klezmer. Other highlights include performances of Carribean steel pan music, a song with voice and Tibetan singing bowls performed by Alain Presencer, a Turkish Longa, and many more exciting world elements.

Tune playing on handbells has been practiced in England for many hundreds of years, originally on small sets of about twelve bells intended primarily for change ringing. Later, much larger sets of at least five octaves were used to thrill Victorian audiences with selections from operetta, oratorio and the popular music of the day. The art of playing music on large sets of bells I snow little known although, in it's heyday, handbell ringing was as popular as brass band playing and in some parts of the North of England almost every village could boast a team. The works on this release were compiled from three previous Saydisc albums: 'Ringing Clear- the Art of Handbell Ringing,' 'Church Bells of England,' and 'Church Bells of Britain.' The pieces include "off the table" style works, "four in hand" style works, "change ringing," and "carillons."

Gef Lucna reads his on poems on this new release. These poems are on various subjects and have been highly praised by other poets, musicians, artists, historians and in particular, wildlife experts. "Inspirational", "ver accessible and evocative", "delightful and beautifully produced", "I am absolutely bowled over, it is such a delightful compilation" - These are just some of the comments received on this astounding album.

Founded in 1981 by James Wood, New London Chamber Choir is one of Europe's foremost vocal ensembles. It has given many world and British premi�res and, under it's current musical director, Matthew Hamilton, continues to commission and promote new work. New London Chamber Choir has enjoyed close working relationships with composers including Jonathan Harvey, Mauricio Kagel, Gy�rgy Kurt�g, Gy�rgy Ligeti, Toru Takemitsu, and Iannis Xenakis - several of whom have written works especially for it. NLCC has worked with ensembles including Ensemble InterContemporain, London Sinfonietta, Champ d'Action, Ictus, Amadinda, Rasch�r Saxophone Quartet, Kreutzer Quartet and Percussive Rotterdam, as well as the Michael Clark, Mark Morris and Rambert dance companies and Ivan Putrov's Men in Motion. This new album features the finest Renaissance choral polyphonic music from the Low Countries.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Gef Lucena writes of this new release featuring a compilation of Irish and British dance music curated from previous Saydisc albums and the catalog of Peter Kennedy: "It will probably be a brave or dedicated listener who plays all of these tracks at one sitting. However, drawing on our extensive archives of this genre we have arranged the dances with the greatest variety of instrumentation, provenance and periods of history. Many of the tracks are from Peter Kennedy's renowned mono recordings from the 1950s and 60s with the remainder from Saydisc's own stereo and digital recordings over the decades. Dip into this exhilarating selection or go for the long haul, but, however you listen, we hope that you enjoy the rich heritage of sound from the British and Irish traditions."

Gef Lucena writes: “1962 marked the year of a traditional folk revival in Bristol and surrounding counties. I was half of the folk duo, The Crofters, the other half being Martin Pyman and the formation of our duo coincided with the ‘Centre 42’ movement initiated by London playwright Arnold Wesker whose aim it was to ‘bring folk music back to the people’. This objective was not entirely successful, but it helped to eventually bring about the formation of a number of folk clubs in the area. For us it was of immense importance as we were being sent out to very unlikely pubs to sing alongside the likes of Francis McPeake, Louis Killen, Bob Davenport, Cyril Tawney and other top traditional singers of the day. I started songwriting around this time – songs mostly now long forgotten. The ITV station of the day (TWW – Television Wales and the West) picked up on this ‘new’ music and ran the series ‘At the Cider Apple’ and The Crofters were fortunate to be on each programme. The TWW connection lead to a commission for me to write a song to commemorate the opening of the first Severn Bridge crossing in 1966 which we performed on the day and the scratchy old version with its bucket reverb reproduced on this album is probably that very performance. Apart from three early songs most of the remainder of the songs are 2017 to 2019 compositions with some based on early drafts from around 1985.”

Gallery hymns of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Carnival Band made their debut in the summer of 1984. Their repertoire ranges from medieval dances to music hall songs in a style that draws on early music and folk from Europe East and West, and America North and South. Maddy Prior enjoys many and various musical activities. Working with the Carnival Band holds a special affection for her. She says that the joyful and enthusiastic way the projects are approached make them a delight to do. Elsewhere she has been singing with Steeleye Span for around twenty years and continues to do so with undiminished enjoyment. She also works regularly with her husband Rick Kemp, writing and performing their own compositions. She had done projects with June Tabour and numerous television and radio appearances. Maddy Prior and The Carnival Band were first brought together in 1984 for a BBC Radio 2 broadcast of Christmas carols. This became the basis of 'A Tapestry of Carols' (CDSDL366) which was enthusiastically received by the press and the public. Another commission from Radio 2 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of John Wesley's spiritual awakening and the 200th of his brother Charles' death led to this, their second recording. While Maddy Prior and The Carnival Band are happy to maintain their separate identities and careers, they enjoy these occasional collaborations which give them the opportunity to combine their different styles and talents.

THE YORK WAITS, MUSIC FROM RIC

Classical Music