Elena Xanthoudakis, a rising star on the European, and increasingly, international operatic and concert stage, is the feature attraction on this album of Bel Canto arias from the collective pens of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi. Richard Bonynge, famed conductor and a bel canto scholar, directs the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

The King’s Singers explore the folk songs and melodies of the world in a new program entitled Postcards. In their own words: “In our travels we have amassed a wonderful collection of folksongs and popular songs from numerous countries, many of which we use as encores when we visit. The influences and sources are extraordinarily far-ranging, and each song has its own local characteristics. To celebrate the diversity of music that we perform and the numerous countries we visit each concert season, we have recorded an album of some of our favorite folksongs from around the world.” One of the world's most celebrated vocal ensembles, The King's Singers have a packed schedule of concerts, recordings, media and education work that spans the globe. Instantly recognizable for their spot-on intonation, impeccable vocal blend, flawless articulation of the text and incisive timing, they are also consummate entertainers: a class act with a delightfully British wit.

Classical Music

The choral works of Duruflé, like his organ works, are small in number but beautifully crafted. Frequently written and rewritten until he was completely satisfied, he was a composer who rethought and re-configured his music right up to the moment he had to let go of it. Often described as a man out of step with his times, his pieces look back to Gregorian chant and plainsong at a time when the musical life of his home city of Paris was steeped in radical new compositional ideas – a testament perhaps to Duruflé’s enduring love of France’s choral heritage. In a new recording produced by Grammy® winning producer Blanton Alspaugh, the Houston Chamber Choir are led by artistic director Robert Simpson on their first release with Signum Records.

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REVIEWS:

Recorded in warm, though not too reverberant acoustics, the choir’s tone is open and bright, and they and their conductor are sensitive to Duruflé’s demands. While they can be dramatic when needed, nothing is ever overstated – a temptation in this work, where there is little variety in tempi. The four unaccompanied Gregorian motets show offthe choir’s strengths to their best advantage.

– Choir & Organ

The unique selling point here is the highly polished, virtually flawless sound of the Houston Chamber Choir. Here is a group that clearly enjoys the art of choral singing and in Robert Simpson they have a director whose focus on producing a superbly homogenous sound makes for warm, comfortable listening.

– Gramophone

This release is one of a pair of distinctive Saint-Saëns recordings, made with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and featuring the rarely recorded Overture to Princesse Jaune Op. 30 and Requiem Op. 54. These remastered recordings feature rare solo performances from several renowned players including Robert Truman (principal LPO cello for over 20 years) and Stephanie Chase (violin). Australian conductor Geoffrey Simon is resident in London and has appeared there with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, and English Chamber Orchestra. Internationally he has appeared with the Adelaide, Atlanta, Israel, Moscow, and American Symphonies, among others. He is Music Director Emeritus of the Northwest Mahler Orchestra in Seattle, with which he has conducted the Mahler symphonic cycle and Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony. He is Consultant for Classical Special Projects for Arts Global, and has served as a jury member for Young Concert Artists, PianoTexas, Australian Cello Awards and Royal Over-Seas League.

Anna Lapwood is a trailblazing musician. As a broadcaster she is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 3 and hosts a live, weekly classical music show on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. This year she makes her TV presenting debut, hosting BBC Four’s coverage of BBC Young Musician 2020. Alongside her work as a conductor, Director of Music and public speaker, she performs an extensive number of organ recitals on some of the greatest instruments across Europe each season. Directed by Anna Lapwood, The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College has one of the most exciting and varied ranges of choral endeavors among Oxbridge choirs. Alongside their primary responsibility of contributing to worship in the College’s Chapel, they engage in regular artistic collaborations, media appearances and outreach work. The Pembroke College Girls’ Choir was founded in October 2018 and has quickly gained a reputation as one of the UK’s leading girls’ choirs. Made up of 18 girls aged 11–18, the Choir sings twice a week in the College Chapel, as well as regularly singing alongside the Chapel Choir. This album is the first commercial release for these choirs and Anna Lapwood as a conductor. It is a recording of some of the Choirs’ favorite music, some of which happens to have been written by women and some by men. It is the hope of all involved that the music on the record becomes more well-known and is performed more throughout the UK and worldwide.

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 second release exploring the English Pre-Restoration Verse Anthem – Psalms and Royal Anthems, particularly those of William Byrd. More than any composer before him, William Byrd catered prolifically to a wide variety of musicians. Connoisseurs of Latin motets at home and abroad, troupes of boy actors with their viols and their unbroken voices, solo keyboard players, the choirs of the established English church, and the underground ensembles of Catholic households where mass was celebrated in secret—performers of all these kinds could look to Byrd for quantities, in some cases vast, of music of the highest excellence.

This record celebrates the music of Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds. One of the most sought-after composers of today, Ešenvalds studied both in Latvia and the UK. He has had works premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which have won him many awards.

The Choir of the West is the premier choral ensemble of the Department of Music at Pacific Lutheran University, located in Tacoma, Washington. The choir was founded in 1926, and was the third Lutheran college choir to tour extensively throughout the United States. Choir of the West has toured to Europe, Scandinavia, Japan and China, and has been selected to appear at several regional and national conferences of the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association. In November of 2015 the choir was a featured ensemble at the National Collegiate Choral Organization Conference, held in Portland, Oregon, performing with renowned conductor Simon Carrington. During the summer of 2011, Choir of the West competed among choirs from 47 nations at the prestigious Harmonie Festival in Lindenholzhausen, Germany, winning two gold certificates and one silver. In 2015 the choir competed in the Anton Bruckner Choir Competition, held in Linz, Austria.

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REVIEW:

Richard Nance has polished his Pacific Lutheran choristers to perfection. Balance and tuning are beyond reproach, with superb control of a full dynamic range. The soloists’ contributions are another great attraction.

– Gramophone

Tchaikovsky’s contemporaries tell us that he was good enough to become a concert pianist, if he had chosen to follow that path. But he preferred to focus on composition, and rarely performed in public concerts. His interest in the piano is mainly to be found in his many pieces for the instrument, and since most of these were suitable for amateurs with solid skills, they sold well and played an important role in building up his fame. Despite this, some view Tchaikovsky’s solo piano works are not performed as regularly as his orchestral works. Peter Donohoe disagrees with this take on Tchaikovsky’s solo piano works, insisting that all music requires performers to find the right approach, so he does not see Tchaikovsky as any kind of exception. He writes: “It is inexplicable to me that Tchaikovsky’s solo piano music should remain so infrequently performed, containing as it does all of the composer’s characteristic harmony, his wonderful melodic gift, his capacity for majestic gesture, magically beautiful moments, immense sadness, and passages of extreme excitement. His piano writing is often orchestral in texture, but also demonstrates the direct but very diverse pianistic influences of Liszt and Schumann, and incorporates in an almost naive way folk-style dance rhythms and melodies from Russia. This treasure trove is immensely rewarding to play, whether it be a small-scale salon piece such as the Humoresque Op. 10 No 2, or large in scale, such as is the gigantic Grand Sonata in G Major.”

REVIEW:

My instant reaction on pushing ‘play’ and hearing the first bars was ‘Ah – this is going to be good’. And so it proves, perhaps the most consistently enjoyable and satisfying recording of Tchaikovsky piano solos of recent years. There’s a lightness of touch, a crisp transparency and clarity of texture that sends the opening ‘Scherzo à la russe’ spinning off into the realms of sheer delight. A very fine issue indeed.

– Gramophone (Editor's Choice, February 2020)

The musical world of eighteenth-century Europe was a small one. Despite the problems presented by contemporary standards of transport, it was quite normal for composers in one part of Europe to be entirely au fait with what was happening elsewhere. This is borne out by the closeness of three German composers: Telemann, godfather to C.P.E. Bach; Pisendel; and J.S. Bach, who admired both his compatriots and composed some astoundingly difficult music for the violinist Pisendel. This programme celebrates their music as well as the music of those who contributed to their musical heritage. Included alongside the German triumvirate are works by Vivaldi who physically helped with the composition of Pisendel’s A minor concerto movement, Fasch who was a great friend of Pisendel and Telemann, and Brescianello, an Italian who helped the dissemination of Italian instrumental music throughout the German-speaking lands and whose concertos were played in Dresden by Pisendel.

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REVIEW:

La Serenissima’s proven expertise in the performance of music of the Baroque is on full display once again. The ensemble's playing of Vivaldi is already a proven winner, their Telemann here breaks new ground. This is yet one more first-rate addition to their growing discography.

– MusicWeb International

The Choir of Westminster School blends the ancient and modern in this festive collection of choral works, drawing on Advent and Christmas music by composers including Judith Weir, James MacMillan, John Tavener, Roxanna Panufnik and Ralph Vaughan Williams. With a national reputation for excellence, the Choir of Westminster school gives annual concerts at the Barbican and performs regularly at venues including Westminster Abbey, St John's Smith Square and the Houses of Parliament. Under the direction of Timothy Garrard, Director of Music, the Choir rehearses regularly throughout the week in preparation for twice-weekly services in Westminster Abbey and evensongs in the School Chapel.

Described in The Guardian (2019) as one of today’s leading composers for voice, Joanna Marsh is a British composer who since 2007 has divided her time between Dubai and the UK.

Her life in the Middle East has lead to many unique musical opportunities including writing an orchestral work to celebrate the building of the Burj Khalifa. Most recently she was commissioned by Dubai Opera to write an orchestral work for the first BBC Proms in Dubai in March 2017. This lead to her writing the 6 minute work Flare, for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, based on a short story called Oil Field, by Saudi writer Mohammed Hasan Alwan.

Joanna has been Composer in Residence, at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge from 2015 through to 2020 and during that time has written a number of choral works for the college choir and the college organ. She is a Co-Founder of ChoirFest Middle East in Dubai, an annual celebration of the region’s choral music scene which is reached its eighth edition in March 2020. She is also Founder and Artistic Director of the Dubai Opera Festival Chorus a large body of singers that was set up for the BBC Proms in Dubai and continues to undertake concert performances of various types across the UAE.

Knowles, B.: Vocal Music (Poetry Serenade)

A film drama about a man who, by his death at 36, had composed some of the most perfect gems of English songwriting and elevated hedonism to an art form.

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.