Recorded in the recently restored 1875 Victorian Theatre at Alexandra Palace, Crouch End Festival Chorus and David Temple present Elgar's The Kingdom. Joined by London Mozart Players the soloists include Francesca Chiejina, Dame Sarah Connolly Benjamin Hulett and Ashley Riches. Arguably Elgar's least well-known choral work, The Kingdom is a mixture of gentle conversational sections and astonishing dramatic passages, and David Temple believes it is the quality of the orchestral writing that elevates it to justifiably sit alongside Elgar's other notable works. "I am so taken with it It is a gem from the first note to the last, and my desire to share this as widely as possible is reinforced by the present recording One thing that cannot happen in a concert performance is 'repeated listening'. A recording, by contrast, holds an open invitation at the end to return to the beginning! This drip-feed allows the music to be deeply absorbed, and it is this which I believe will enable The Kingdom's true quality to be more widely appreciated" - David Temple.
The Bevan Family Consort return with a selection of choral works celebrating the season of lent and passiontide, including a world premiere recording of of the six-voice Lamentations by Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder. The programme follows the liturgy from the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday to the darkness of Holy Saturday. For each day of Tenebrae, they've included a setting of a Lamentation. "Recording an album with the family is always moving, but this one was especially so because of the theme of the music... Like previous albums, this one contains well-worn family favourites beside newly-discovered or un-recorded rarities, thanks to our in-house editor and arch-polyphony enthusiast, Francis... We hope you enjoy our selection and that it can be a prayerful accompaniment to the Lenten season." - Michael Bevan
Santtu conducts Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 is the fifth album from Philharmonia Records. Largely interpreted as depicting Stalin's regime in Russia, the orchestra delivers tragedy, violence and gloom before the brief but triumphant finale. Conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, this performance was recorded at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in April 2024.
The last album with the current line-up, The King's Singers present a new album of choral music from the early 20th century, with a feature from sopranos Grace Davidson and Victoria Meteryard. "Such stuff as dreams are made on is an exploration of European choral music from the early 20th century (and a bit either side), much of it shaped and scarred by the spectre of conflicts that dominated the continent in that period. For us, the album has been a chance to develop and exercise new and different colours in our singing, to dive deeply into text-centric interpretations and historical context, to savour and cherish the four languages in which we sing here, and - in one instance - even to expand our forces a little. " - The King's Singers PRAISE FOR SIGCD912 CLOSE HARMONY 5 stars "The current line-up of King's Singers demonstrates their continued pre-eminence with these outstanding recordings of often very difficult arrangements. The Singers deliver with their usual mix of charm and skill" - Choir & Organ
C. Schumann & R. Schumann: Music for Clarinet & Piano
Signum Classics
CD
$20.99Mar 07, 2025
Joining forces again for their second album on Signum Classics, duo JULIAN BLISS And JAMES BAILLIEU perform works by composer giants Clara & Robert Schumann. Many of the tracks on this recording are new arrangements by Bliss himself, and world premiere record- ings.
Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) and Cambridge Handel Opera Company (CHOC) follow their Gramophone-nominated recording of Eccles' Semele with a world-premiere recording of John Weldon's masque The Judgment of Paris. In 1700 the Earl of Halifax decided England needed all- sung opera. He offered a 'Musick Prize' of £210 for the best setting of the libretto of The Judgement of Paris by William Congreve, with entries by composers like John Eccles and Daniel Purcell. Weldon's setting, which won the competition but was never published, is recorded here for the first time. Released as a hardback mediabook, the CD is accompanied by a host of fascinating essays written specially by historians, musicologists and other experts - finally giving this winning masque the attention it deserves.
"In Chains of Gold", The English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthe
Signum Classics
CD
$19.99Feb 28, 2025
Leading performers of 17th-century music the Magdalena Consort, Fretwork and His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts combine forces under the artistic direction of William Hunt for their third release exploring the English Anthems with instrumental consort for ceremony, reflection and prayer to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Orlando Gibbons. Praise for Chains of Gold Vol 1 5 stars "Subtle, seductively supple and sinuous singing and playing... Volume 2 from this dream-team will be eagerly awaited" - Choir and Organ 5 stars "This is the finest recording of this quintessentially English music that we are likely to have... a real treat, and an impressive master-class in how these texts should be declaimed" - Early Music Review
The Sacconi Quartet join forces again with celebrated composer Jonathan Dove for the latest instalment of their many fruitful collaborations and journeys. The String Quartet no 2 On the Streets and in the sky was written during the recent pandemic and was commissioned for the Sacconi Quartet to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Between Friends, is a world premiere recording, and a memorial to Graeme Mitchison (1944-2018), a multi-disciplined scientist, intrepid adventurer, cyclist, paraglider, mountaineer and a possessor of two pianos on which he and Dove would play together for over forty years. Who Wrote the Book of Love? Is an extended song cycle written for baritone Philippe Sly who performs the work here. Vanishing Gold is a compact five-minute piece written for the 40th anniversary of the Endellion Quartet, who then retired. Dove's previous release with the Sacconi Quartet on Signum "In Damascus" was awarded Gramophone Recording of the Month and Presto's Editor's Choice in 2017. ? The beauty of the piece, for tenor and string quartet, is it's restraint. It doesn't sensationalise, get maudlin, moralise or politicise. The words are direct and the music respects that. The performance does, too: focused playing from the Sacconi Quartet and lucid, unswerving narrative from tenor Mark Padmore - The Guardian
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons & other concertos, Vol. 1 / Chandler, La Serenissima
Signum Classics
CD
$20.99Feb 14, 2025
Baroque giants La Serenissima return with their new recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, among other concerti for ensemble by Antonio Vivaldi. Recognized for 'whipping up a storm with Vivaldi,' La Serenissima is 'one of Britain's best-loved chamber orchestras' (The Telegraph) known for championing a host of neglected Italian baroque composers and its outstanding performances. Uniquely, the group's entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist Adrian Chandler. Praise for Vivaldi recordings by La Serenissima on Signum Classics: "After being obsessed by the composer and his music world for more than 30 years, Chandler by now is Vivaldi incarnate" - The Times
Beethoven: Quartets, Vol. 3 - Early String Quartets
Signum Classics
CD
$37.99Jan 24, 2025
The third and final instalment in their award-winning series, the Calidore Quartet return with a three-disc release of Beethoven Early Quartets. Their previous Beethoven recordings have been described as 'highly collectible' by BBC Music Magazine. The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024, and the second awarded Recording of the Month by Gramophone Magazine. The contents of this recording project serve as a snapshot of their fourteen years of working, growing, listening and collaborating together. "Our interpretation speaks to the influences of our teachers and the great traditions associated with this repertoire, but also to that of our own generation, contemporary research, style and experience. Though this music speaks in a language that is hundreds of years old, it's message remains immediate, relevant and comforting to listeners of today and of generations to come even, and especially, in the most challenging of times". Their interpretations of Beethoven are already critically acclaimed with performances at the Lincoln Centre planned as part of their residency.
The first collaboration on record of long-time recital partners Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque. Ranging from the Schubert Fantasy of 1827 to Stravinsky’s 1933 Suite Italienne, this fascinating programme spans a tremendously exciting 100 years, in which music changed radically, rapidly, and irreversibly. These works demonstrate the massive alterations wrought in those years; the contrast between the Romanticism of Schubert and Clara Schumann, and the innovation of Ravel and Stravinsky. Yet Stravinsky’s use of Baroque music and Ravel’s appropriation of jazz show that the 20th century embraced diverse influences, including those of the past. Viktoria Mullova and Katia Labèque have played this recital together many times, and, as is clear from this recording, relish each composer’s distinctive approach to writing for violin and piano. This is a re-release of the original 2006 production.
Scarlatti: Daniele - Il Daniele nel Lago de' Leoni
Signum Classics
CD
$20.99Jan 10, 2025
Armonico Consort present their next instalment of works by Franceso Scarlatti, this time his only surviving oratorio 'Il Daniele nel Lago de'Leoni' or Daniel in the Lions' Den. Scarlatti's Daniele conforms in all general aspects to the typical Sicilian oratorio of the late-seventeenth century, which was itself closely modelled on Roman practice: four or five singers inhabit character roles, without a separate narrator, together with a chorus often consisting of the soloists singing in ensemble.
Dedicated to Bramwell Tovey, this album of world premiere recordings by celebrated composer Roderick Elms features soloists Carlos Bonell, Derek Hannigan (bass clarinet) and Joanna Smith and Roderick Elms himself, with the BBC Concert Orchestra under the baton of Barry Wordsworth.
The Song of Songs, The Poet in Exile - Works by Walter Arlen
Signum Classics
CD
$20.99Nov 15, 2024
Two collections of art songs by the American composer Walter Arlen, who escaped Vienna at the time of the annexation of Austria in 1938 and moved to Chicago where he worked as a journalist and composer. He died in Santa Monica at the age of 103 in 2022. The album features mezzo soprano Anna Huntley, tenor Gwilym Bowen, baritone Thomas Mole, the English Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Women's Chorus of Wales and is conducted by Kenneth Woods
REVIEW:
The Poet in Exile sets five poems by the late Nobel Prize-winning Polish-American Czesław Miłosz to music of personable warmth, substance and no little autobiographical resonance. In sum, this is well worth investigating – and how heartwarming to discover that Arlen managed to hear and give his approval to the mastertape shortly before his death at an advanced age.
Bach, in his time, could never have envisioned his music being recorded. When we first embarked on our journey with the Oxford Bach Soloists, our focus was not on recording. We were immersed in the live experience, discovering Bach's vocal works chronologically, in real-time. It was about living the music as all those who performed and heard it did, tracing his steps through each note and phrase. Featuring two of our core Soloists, Nick Pritchard and Yu-Wei Hu, this album presents three of Bach's Cantatas. These include possibly his earliest vocal work, Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4), his only extant tenor cantata, Ich armer Mensch (BWV 55), and the much-beloved cantata, Ich habe genug, showcased here in it's arrangement for high voice and flute (BWV 82.2). This recording is a celebration of our journey with Bach, and an invitation to experience his timeless music through our own journey of dedication and discovery.
Santtu conducts Shostakovich is the fourth album from Philharmonia Records, featuring Shostakovich's colourful Sixth Symphony alongside his subversive and sardonic Ninth Symphony. Conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, these performances were recorded at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in 2023.
His 16th album with Signum Classics, the Welsh pianist, Llyr Williams, brings a profound musical intelligence to his work as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. His new album of compositions by Johannes Brahms offers a comprehensive exploration of Brahms' introspective and expressive piano works. In addition the album features Variations on a theme by R Schumann, Op 9 - harking back to Williams' celebrated album of works by Robert Schumann (SIGCD756) released in January 2024. ? "... The performances are always immaculate, their working out totally lucid; it's unquestionably thoughtful, authoritative playing." - The Guardian. Llyr Williams' long and successful collaboration with Signum Records includes the 8-disc box-set 'A Schubert Journey' (2020), the 12-volume 'Beethoven Unbound' (2018), a 'Wagner Without Words' double album (2014) and highlights from Liszt's 'Annees de pelerinage' (2012).
'Close Harmony' is the latest musical offering from Grammy Award winning and internationally acclaimed vocal group The King's Singers. Accompanying the new album, this limited edition LP features a selection of the newly recorded tracks, recorded in 2020 and 2024.
'Close Harmony' is the latest musical offering from Grammy Award winning and internationally acclaimed vocal group The King's Singers. A combination of newly recorded works and tracks from their The Library EP series, the album takes a deep-dive into one of the most beloved and unique corners of their music library: the close-harmony arrangements. New arrangements feature from composers Daryl Runswick (such as an imaginative, exciting version of Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture) and John Rutter (Jerome Kern's The Way You Look Tonight) showcasing the diversity of both their talent and the repertoire they present.
Star pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard presents Landler, a collection of delightful dances composed by Franz Schubert. Rustic and cheerful, these miniatures display a fascinating side of Schubert's musical persona. Their simplicity is deceptive, as these dances are frequently shaken up by Schubert's harmonic wandering soul, yet remaining lyrical, picturesque and tuneful. For Aimard, there is a kinship between Schubert's Landler and Kurtag's Jatekok, pieces that he often performs side by side, sharing a combination of playfulness and Modernism that also calls the great twentieth-century miniaturist Anton Webern to mind. By avoiding almost any repetition, Aimard evokes a sleepwalker's journey rather than a series of dances. 8717306260343 PNTA5187034.2 44281755 .00 19.99 .16 PENTATONE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 05/24/2024 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/42/4327442-3147656.jpg 49 1 N
DEBUSSY / TSYBULEVA COMPLETE DEBUSSY PRELUDES FOR SOLO PIANO Following her acclaimed Brahms release on Signum Classics in May 2021, Leeds International Piano Competition Winner (2015), Anna Tsybuleva, releases a new album of Debussy's 24 Preludes pour solo piano. Tsybuleva has been described by as embodying superb pianism and intelligent musicianship" (Gramophone Magazine) and "A pianist of rare gifts: not since Murray Perahia's triumph in 1972 has Leeds had a winner of this musical poise and calibre" (International Piano Magazine). Praise for Tsybuleva on Signum Classics "One is speechless. As far as their performance is concerned, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the soloist and the conductor Ruth Reinhardt are an extremely eloquent team that realizes their musical ideas together. You can hear a direct and gripping Brahms, without any airs, without frills - music that speaks to you directly" - Piano News
Venus & Adonis is the premiere recording of the eponymous song cycle by Billboard-charting composer Rodrigo Ruiz. Released to celebrate William Shakespeare's 460th anniversary, this album is a tribute to the poet's unmatched inspiration. When the composition was finished in 2020, Venus & Adonis became the first song cycle known to be written by a Mexican composer, as well as the only known song cycle (in English or otherwise) set entirely to Shakespeare's texts. Despite the newness of the cycle, the music 1 lacks no lyricism and will gladden singers, pianists, artistic directors and all those longing to perform and programme such lyrical and well-crafted music. These seventeen songs, performed by British duo Grace Davidson and George Herbert, exemplify the enormous variety of expression that Ruiz is able to conjure in his writing, making of Venus & Adonis a truly exciting and refreshing addition to the art song tradition -one that will touch audiences and musicians alike.
Released as part of a double launch, 'Music for Wind' is an album of world premiere recordings by composer Brian Elias, winner of two British Composer Awards. He has had previous compositions performed and recorded extensively by leading orchestras and soloists including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia among many others. The album artwork is by world-renowned artist Anish Kapoor. "Every inflection tells, the balance of sound is exact, and the sound seductive in the best traditions of glamorous 20th century orchestral writing." - Paul Driver, The Sunday Times
Signum Classics is proud to release an album of string works by the award-winning composer, Brian Elias. Spanning almost half a century, this survey of Brian Elias's chamber music for strings arose from a retrospective staged in 2020 by the Music@Malling festival in Kent. His first album on Signum, it is released alongside 'Music for Wind' and will be launched at Music@Malling in September 2024. The album artwork is by celebrated artist Anish Kapoor. "Amply gifted as an orchestral composer... purified intensity, immediacy and unrestrained lyricism" - Paul Griffiths, The Sunday Times
An album of world premiere recordings of works written to accompany poems by celebrated Irish novelist and poet James Joyce, Desmond Earley and the University Choral Scholars of University College, Dublin release their fourth album on Signum Classics. Following their EP "Ireland is My Home" which was Scala Radio's Album of the Week, this new album aims to encapsulate the influence of singing and music in Joyce's work. A tenor himself, it was Joyce's wish that his words be set to music, and through commissioning new works, the choir are proud of their unique connection to Joyce's Dublin story. "It is a pleasure and honour for us to be the first choral ensemble to wrap James Joyce's 'suite of songs' in an Irish choral voice" - Desmond Earley (Artistic Director)
The second in their award winning series, the Calidore Quartet return with a three disc album of the Middle Quartets. Their Beethoven performances have been described as 'shockingly deep' by LA Times. The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024. Their interpretation is informed by their diverse set of mentors which include Alban Berg, Emerson, Guarneri and yet still uniquely representing the sentiments, aesthetics and research of their generation. Their interpretations of Beethoven are already critically acclaimed with performances at the Lincoln Centre planned as part of their residency.
His ninth solo album on Signum Records, Alessio Bax combines exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique and is without a doubt "among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public" (Gramophone). Here he presents an album of works for dancing, including tangos and waltzes spanning three centuries. Featuring composers such as J S Bach, Manuel de Falla and Franz Liszt a variety of cultures are showcased in this album for solo piano, and features contributions to an arrangement by Bax himself.
C. Schumann & Grieg: Piano Concertos / Dariescu, Tianyi Lu, Philharmonia Orchestra
Signum Classics
CD
$10.49$20.99Save 50%Aug 30, 2024
Acclaimed Signum artist Alexandra Dariescu brings a new combination of concertos: Clara Schumann's Concerto in A minor Op. 7 coupled with Grieg's A minor concerto Op. 16. Alexandra Dariescu is a trailblazing pianist who demonstrates fearless curiosity and ground-breaking innovation. As part of her artistic journey, Dariescu has achieved gender equality in her concerto programming for three consecutive seasons, reviving and premiering important works by both male and female composers, championing inclusion and diversity. "I got to know Clara Schumann's Concerto and fell in love with this youthful piece, full of dreams, fiendish virtuosity and a testament to what an innovative performer and composer Clara was, even as a teenager. [Recording these works] It made me realise once again what a responsibility we all have to show both sides of history, to mirror our society in concert programmes and to shine a light on the often-overlooked brilliance of women composers" - Alexandra Dariescu.
