When Michael Nyman started reinventing the English baroque back in the 1980s, one critic described the result as “pump- action Purcell”. This recording combines these two singular musical styles through the stunning voice of countertenor Iestyn Davies and viol consort Fretwork, serving as the bridge across three centuries. The programme combines bold harmonies, wondrous inventions, and melodies that will haunt your dreams – whether from the 17th century or the 21st. Recorded following a concert tour of the programme, the release includes the premiere recording of a new commission from Michael Nyman, Music after a While – based upon Purcell’s song, or more particularly upon its strikingly original bass-line, with its insidious rising chromatics. This was a near-perfect concert, contrasting two composers whose links are stronger than many people might think and performed by musicians at the top of their profession.” Early Music Reviews, following a concert of the programme.

Organist David Goode continues his series of recordings of the organ works of Max Reger on Signum with a new recording of his Fantasias and Fugues, recorded on the organ of Bath Abbey. The album includes his Fantasia and Fugue on BACH and the ‘Symphonic’ Fantasia and Fugue. David Goode is organist at Eton College, and is also much in demand as a teacher. In recent years he has composed a number of organ and choral works, and has received critical acclaim for his recordings.

Joseph Nolan follows his five internationally acclaimed volumes of the Complete Organ Symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor with a collection of the composer's other works for solo organ. The release includes his Trois Nouvelles Pieces, March americaine and Marche Nuptiale and Memento - a collection of transcriptions of works by J.S. Bach. This release completes a collection of 6 albums that span Widor's complete solo organ works, performed by Nolan on period Cavaille-Coll organs from the French churches of St. Sernin, Toulouse, St. Francois-de Sales, Lyon and La Madeleine, Paris.

Classical Music

Seasons combines Antonio Vivaldi's timeless concerto cycle The Four Seasons, performed by the Trafalgar Sinfonia and soloist Kerenza Peacock, with a new contrasting composition by British composer Oliver Davis. Inspired by the same set of poetry upon which Vivaldi based his Four Seasons, Davis's new work Anno, performed by Grace Davidson, is a composition for orchestra and solo soprano. This release follows the success of Davis's debut Signum album Flight earlier this year (SIGCD411): "... exuberant works are performed with charisma and sensitivity by Kerenza Peacock and the LSO." (BBC Music Magazine) Since graduating the RAM in 1994, Oliver Davis has composed and produced numerous concertos, albums, soundtracks and television scores working with all the major London orchestras.

Classical Music

Huddersfield Choral Society return to Signum with the follow-up to their massively successful Hymns Album. Founded in 1836, the Huddersfield Choral Society has developed an international reputation as one of the UK's leading choral societies, famed for their 'Huddersfield Sound,' which was first recorded in 1927. Over the years the ensemble has performed most of the major works in the choral repertoire, and has had numerous works commissioned for it, including works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Walton. The choir has made numerous recordings, with two of their albums making an appearance on the UK Albums Chart. The choir performs regularly with the leading orchestras in the north of England, including the Orchestra of Opera North, The Halle, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, and the Northen Sinfonia.

Celebrated soloists Roderick Wiliams and Christopher Glynn perform a new English translation of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise. Composed in 1827 whilst in the grip of the illness that would ultimately kill him, Schubert’s setting of Wilhelm Muller’s poetry takes on an added tragic interpretation as it follows the narrative of a spurned lover travelling through a cold and barren landscape. Christopher Glynn writes on this new recording: “We hope this Winter Journey can offer English-speaking listeners a way to experience the story’s sense alongside the music’s sound, with something of the same directness that Schubert surely intended when he sat down at the piano in 1827 and sang these songs for the first time to his friends.” This release is the first in a series of three English language programmes of Schubert’s song cycles. Future releases include The Shepherd on the Rock (Der Hirt auf dem Felsen) and The Fair Maid of the Mill (Die schöne Müllerin).

Classical Opera continue their series of the complete Mozart operas on Signum with Zaide - a new completion of Mozart's unfinished work by conductor Ian Page. Composed during his early 20's, Mozart began work on the opera in Salzburg but later left the work to compose Idomeneo, subsequently leaving no overture or third act. The opera is set in a totalitarian regime where a couple have fallen in love, incurring the jealous of the ruling sultan.

The Myrthen Ensemble has been praised for their “irresistible combination of arresting programing and vocal flair assembled around pianist Joseph Middleton.” (BBC Music Magazine) Consisting of Mary Bevan, Clara Mouritz, Allan Clayton, Marcus Farnsworth, and Joseph Middleton, the recently formed ensemble specializes in art-songs and Lieder. All of the tracks on this new release focus around the moon. Composers include Brahms, Barber, Duparc, Faure, and more.

This new release launches The Choir of St. John’s College Cambridge’s new series of recordings. With this album, the choir explores the connection between the college and influential British composer Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012). The choir is joined for this release by organist Edward Picton-Turbervill, and conducted by director Andrew Nethsingha.

Considered among the finest of contemporary vocal ensembles, the London-based Tenebrae conducted by Nigel Short have gained renown for their powerfully commanding recordings that range from medieval to contemporary works. Their latest release is no exception as Tenebrae give movingly gorgeous and intricate performances of a selection of motets by Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner. A portion of the proceeds from sales of this recording will be donated to MacMillan Cancer Support.

The King’s Singers:
David Hurley, counter tenor; Robin Tyson, counter tenor; Paul Phoenix, tenor; Philip Lawson, baritone; Christopher Gabbitas, baritone; Stephen Connolly, bass

Combining perennial favorites with wonderful new discoveries, these immediately appealing pieces reflect the much-loved repertoire at the heart of a King’s Singers program with the skill and flair that distinguishes the group as one of the world’s most popular a cappella ensembles. Includes works by Elgar, Schumann, Schubert and Saint-Saens, as well as a new piece by popular American composer Libby Larsen. This latest venture between Signum Classics and The King’s Singers follows hot on the heels of a Live DVD and CD release of their 2008 performance for the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall and the 2008 Grammy-nominated album Simple Gifts.

"This recording presents violinist Kati Debretzeni leading the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. From the commanding heat of the Summer sun, to Winter’s foreboding darkness, the power of Vivaldi’s masterpiece is inescapable. The booklet includes a ‘Guided tour of the Four Seasons’, allowing listeners to follow the poetry that inspired Vivaldi as they hear the performances on the disc, including additional composer notes from Vivaldi’s own scores."

Classical Music

Coupling powerful interpretations with path-breaking scholarship, the choir Contrapunctus presents music by the best-known composers as well as unfamiliar masterpieces. Directed by Owen Rees, a specialist in music of the 16th and 17th centuries, the group presents imaginative programmes revealing previously undiscovered musical treasures and throwing new light on familiar works.

This recording explores the musical 'cries of the oppressed' from opposite ends of Europe, which include some of the most powerful works composed in England and Portugal during this period by Byrd, Tallis, de Monte and Cardoso. The highlight perhaps is the first recording of a newly reconstructed vocal work by Thomas Tallis, 'Libera nos'. This has long been thought to be an instrumental work, and has been recorded as such, but there's persuasive historical evidence for us to be confident that this is in fact a choral setting of the antiphon 'Libera nos', and it is performed here with the relevant text restored to the five vocal parts.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

David Goode continues his new series of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, played on the Metzler Söhne organ of Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge. David Goode has been Organist and Head of Keyboard at Eton College since 2005. He was a music scholar at Eton, and then organ scholar at King's College, Cambridge from 1991-1994, studying organ with David Sanger and, in Amsterdam, with Jacques van Oortmerssen. He made his Royal Festival Hall and Symphony Hall debuts in 2002, and played Bach's Art of Fugue in 2009. His past releases have received excellent reviews and have been highly praised.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Although the music of Dufay is no stranger to CD--groups such as Pomerium, the Binchois Consort, Gothic Voices, and Orlando Consort all have devoted discs to his masses and motets--this offering by The Clerk's Group, featuring selections from an important Italian manuscript known as Bologna Q15, provides a fascinating overview of both early and later works from this illustrious 15th century French composer. The hour-long program focuses on motets and mass movements that reveal a progression in Dufay's compositional style, from the rather square motet Vasilissa, ergo gaude (the composer's "earliest datable work") to the complex rhythms and free ornamentation of O gemma, lux et speculum and the sophisticated structure and highly developed melodic/harmonic relationships of the Credo (manuscript No. 108).

If you're an early music fan, you'll be right at home with this mostly male ensemble's finely focused, reedy sound (there's one woman among the group's six members, veteran alto Lucy Ballard), and there's no letting down of energy or concentration throughout the longest phrases within individual motets or across the more extended mass movements. The closely recorded voices and overall bright sonic quality wears a bit after 15 or 20 minutes, but you can't fault the singing, which brings a vibrant, assured presence to these ancient works; and if you're looking for fine, clearly sung, stylistically conscientious performances, you really can't go wrong here.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

British composer Oliver Davis’s works have been described as being ‘’ (The Times) and having ‘pulsating rhythmic energy’ (Classic FM), and has been heard the world over through his frequent collaborations with ballet companies, from Edwaard Liang’s 13th Heaven which premiered in Singapore to Secrets, choreographed by Erico Montes and premiered by The Royal Ballet. In this new recording Liberty, Davis explores works for violin, soprano, strings and orchestra, working with a host of world-leading performers including violinist Kerenza Peacock, soprano Grace Davidson and cellist Katherine Jenkinson, all alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Paul Bateman. Previous albums from Davis have been critically praised, entering in the top 10 in the UK specialist classical charts and becoming disc of the week on Classic FM and the Mail on Sunday and featuring in several ‘Best albums of the year’ listings.