Written after Mussorgsky had met Russian artist and designer Viktor Hartmann, Pictures at an Exhibition is by far Mussorgsky’s most played work. The piece was written when Hartmann gave Mussorgsky two ‘pictures.’ Hartmann very suddenly died aged 39; following his death, a memorial exhibition was put on in St. Petersburg. Mussorgsky donated the two ‘pictures’ which Hartmann had given him before he died. Mussorgsky is said to have based the piece on his experiences at this exhibition, which was in memory of Hartmann. The concerto version is performed here by Tamas Ungar in an arrangement by Lawrence Leonard. 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, Bournemouth, Canberra, City of Birmingham, Fort Worth, Melbourne, Milwaukee, Queensland, Sapporo, Shanghai, St Louis, Sydney, Tasmanian, Vermont and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, the Israel, Moscow, Munich and New Japan Philharmonic Orchestras, the American Symphony, the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and the Australian Opera.

With a title inspired by Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight in Paris’ (the opening scenes of which were filmed on the church steps), ‘Midnight at St Etienne du Mont’ explores the music of Duruflé, who was Titular Organist there from 1929 until his death in 1986. As well as Durufulé’s own Suite Op. 5, at the centre of the programme is the premiere recording of David Briggs’ Le Tombeau de Duruflé – a brilliant work built on plainsong themes that Duruflé so loved himself. British-Australian organist and choral conductor Joseph Nolan has been hailed by ABC Classic FM as “an extraordinary musician”, BBC Radio 3 CD Review as a “virtuoso”, and Limelight Magazine, Australia as a “remarkable musician”. In 2016 he was awarded the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government for services to French music

Christopher Gunning returns with recordings of his Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto and Birdflight. Not composed until 2011, Gunning’s Violin Concerto was composed after inspiration whilst the composer was out hiking in Wales. The violin is supposed to represent ducking and weaving, rather like the insects and animals found in the Welsh hills and valleys. However, despite this positive venture for the composer, the emotions of sadness and melancholy are never far from this music – feelings which never seem far from Gunning’s music. The Cello Concerto is quite different. Although composed hard on the heels of the Violin Concerto, it is generally darker though equally expressive. The third piece, Birdflight, is for the orchestra alone; a kind of tone poem. At the opening and close there is some quiet night music with spacious strings. The birds take flight but encounter a problem; a hawk is on their tail. The birds manage to hide and there is a pause. Then, when danger has passed, they take off and once again enjoy the sheer pleasure of flying.

Following the celebrated releases of Gunning’s Symphonies Nos. 2, 10 & 12 in 2019 and his concertos for Violin and Cello with the piece ‘Birdflight’ in 2020, Signum presents the recording of Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7 as well as his piece ‘Night Voyage’, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Linked by the theme of journeying, Symphonies 6 & 7 explore Gunning’s fascination with a single movement form broken into several sub-sections. The piece ‘Night Voyage’ is a sea piece born on a rainy evening whilst the composer was standing on the edge of the Mersey river. Four-time BAFTA winning composer Christopher Gunning, has composed twelve symphonies as well as concertos for the piano, violin, cello, flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and guitar.

Formed in 2016, the Albion Quartet unites four outstanding young string players, brought together by a shared belief in the visceral power of the string quartet. The upcoming season sees the quartet returning to the Wigmore Hall and Aldeburgh Festival, as well as continuing residencies at Sainte-Mère Festival in France and RWCMD in Cardiff. They will be making a number of broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, whilst continuing their recording projects for Signum Records, for whom they are exclusive artists. Performances in the 2019-20 season include their US debut at the Phillips Collection in Washington, alongside appearances at several festivals including the Oxford Lieder, Stratford International, Belfast International, Cheltenham, Presteigne, and Lichfield, and participating in Beethoven cycles in the UK and Portugal. Here, the quartet continue their Dvorák series on Signum with spectacular renditions of his 8th and 10th quartets.

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REVIEW:

What a gorgeous disc!. Anyone who thinks that the new generation of super-quartets are merely about virtuoso brilliance should hear the myriad shades of russet and gold that the Albion Quartet find in these two enchanting works. This, surely, is how Dvorák’s chamber music is supposed to sound: luminous, playful (there’s a real kick to his dotted dance-rhythms), and simultaneously generous and touchingly intimate. I know it’s early, but I can already see this being my pick of the year.

– Gramophone

Formed in 2016, the Albion Quartet brings together four of the UK’s exceptional young string players who are establishing themselves rapidly on the international stage. This disc marks the first release in a new Dvorák cycle with Signum Records, as well as future releases of Walton and Britten plus the premiere recording of Richard Blackford’s Kalon with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra later in 2019. Having made their debuts last season at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam as well as the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, the 2018/19 season sees the Albion Quartet’s debuts at the Wigmore Hall and at Town Hall/Symphony Hall Birmingham. They also continue their residency at London’s Kings Place, become quartet-in residence at the Stratford Festival of Words and Music and perform at the Oxford Lieder Festival. Violins Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Emma Parker | Viola Rosalind Ventris | Cello Nathaniel Boyd

David Goode continues his Bach series on the Metzler organ of Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge. This seventh volume includes festive works such as In dulci jubilo.

Paul McCreesh leads the Gabrieli Consort in a collection of works that explores the diverse and extensive body of works dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary over the centuries. Music by Tallis, MacMillan, Howells and Leighton frames the world premiere of a new work by the young British composer, Matthew Martin: a setting of the Magnificat, interpolated with verses from the atmospheric medieval poem ‘There is no rose’. The Gabrieli Consort are world-renowned interpreters of great vocal and instrumental repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day. Formed as an early music ensemble by Paul McCreesh in 1982, Gabrieli has both outgrown and remained true to its original identity through live performances and award-winning recordings for their Winged Lion label.

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REVIEW:

The vogue for pairing Renaissance and contemporary choral works is well established but this is a programme that draws the dialogue between the two repertories into fresh animation. McCreesh’s ear for a contemporary classic is unerring, and this is a programme to win new audiences for composers who aren’t (yet) household names. The Park and Lane, along with MacMillan’s Ave maris stella, are easy wins but it’s Martin’s A Rose Magnificat that demands a second and third return to the disc.

– Gramophone

Charles-Marie Widor was born to the organ. Raised in a family of organ-makers, he showed early talent for the instrument and would later come to embody all its might and splendour. His life heavily intertwined with that of the great French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, this new collection of Widor’s complete organ works brings together eight years’ worth of recordings; captured across France on period Cavaillé-Coll instruments. Performed by Joseph Nolan, this celebrated cycle saw him visit St Sernin, Toulouse, St. François-de Sales, Lyon and La Madeleine, Paris.

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REVIEWS:

Nolan’s combination of vivid virtuosity, towering technique and inspired interpretative intensity makes his set the current yardstick in Widor symphony recordings.

– Gramophone

Nolan transcends Widor's scores, truly reveling in the Gothic beauty of this music and the grandiose instruments of this belle époque. – Choir & Organ

The Sacred Veil - a project led by Eric Whitacre and Charles Anthony Silvestri - was created following the passing of Charles’ wife, Julia in 2005. It represents a journey towards the answer for many questions, including whether departed loved ones are truly gone, and how can we mourn those we have lost whilst still moving forward? In Charles’ own words, the project became “a significant part of my journey toward healing and wholeness after great loss.”

Poet, author, composer, and speaker Charles Anthony Silvestri has worked with other artists from all over the world to create texts tailor-made for their commissions and specific artistic needs. He enjoys the challenge of solving these creative problems and has provided custom choral texts, opera libretti, program notes and other writing for composers including Eric Whitacre, Ola Gjeilo, Kim Arnesen, and Dan Forrest, and for ensembles ranging from high schools to the Houston Grand Opera, from the King’s Singers to the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, from Westminster Choir College to Westminster Abbey.

Grammy® Award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre is one of the world’s most performed living composers. His works have been programmed worldwide by millions of amateur and professional performers, while his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united singers from over 120 different countries. Eric, a graduate of the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, is presently Artist in Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, following five years as Composer in Residence at the University of Cambridge, UK.As conductor of the Eric Whitacre Singers, he has released such chart-topping albums including Light and Gold and Water Night. In high demand as guest conductor, he has drawn capacity audiences to concerts with the Netherlands Radio Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Flemish Radio Choir, and Minnesota Orchestra.

REVIEWS

The Sacred Veil is notable simply as one of the most deeply personal pieces of concert music heard in quite some time. Yet there is more to its profound effect than this. Whitacre responds to the texts with a sober language akin to but quite distinct from his usual style, something like the dark language cultivated by Renaissance composers for the requiem mass and other serious texts. The performances by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, under Whitacre's direction, are superb, and the sound, from California's Musco Center for the Arts, is exemplary.

– AllMusicGuide.com (James Manheim)

Composer Eric Whitacre and poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, longtime collaborators and close friends, come together for their most personal and expansive work to date. Whitacre has created a powerful score for Silvestri’s heartfelt poetry in the 12-movement work The Sacred Veil. Silvestri’s wife, Julie, died of ovarian cancer at age 36 in 2005, leaving two young children. His texts, written collaboratively with Whitacre, and the intimate, compelling score tell a story of courtship, love, loss, and the search for solace. Whitacre leads the Los Angeles Master Chorale in the world-premiere recording.

– WFMT-FM (Lisa Flynn)

Celebrating their 100th anniversary, the London Chamber Orchestra release a live recording taken from a highly-celebrated performance at Cadogan Hall, London in 2019, featuring three sublime works for string orchestra. When you go to an LCO concert, you do not just go to listen to a concert, you go to experience a performance and this live recording is no exception. Christopher Warren- Green and the orchestra capture the quintessential ‘Englishness’ of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and explore the emotional and musical connection between Suk and Dvorák's Serenade for Strings.

REVIEW:

Sometimes you just need to be reminded how lovely certain music can be. With more that 70 minutes of lovingly performed, warmly recorded music for strings, this is truly a recording to both stir and soothe the soul, delivering whatever your soul might need during these difficult days.

– Classical Candor

This is the second volume in the EP series ‘The Library’. The idea behind this series is to explore both the history, and the new horizons, of The King’s Singers close-harmony repertoire. Close-harmony is the part of their work for which they are best known, and their library of thousands of arrangements is one they’re determined to explore, maintain and develop. The track -listing is designed to celebrate some old favorites from the library alongside brand new arrangements and adaptations, created especially for these recordings, which may perhaps become ‘old favorites’ of the future. Volume 2 was recorded in the beautiful surroundings of Snape Maltings, Suffolk (UK) - a place most famous for its association with Benjamin Britten - and it proved to be a relaxing and inspiring place to work for two beautiful wintry days. The King’s Singers were founded on 1 May 1968 by six choral scholars who had recently graduated from King’s College Cambridge. Their vocal line-up was (by chance) two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones and a bass, and the group has never wavered from this formation since.

This series of ‘Sturm und Drang’ recordings incorporates iconic compositions by Mozart, Gluck and, above all, Joseph Haydn, but it also includes largely forgotten or neglected works by less familiar names. All of the music featured on this second recording in the series was composed between 1765 and 1770, with three turbulent minor-key symphonies alternating with sacred and operatic arias. This is the second of a seven-volume series by the Mozartists and Ian Page exploring the ‘Sturm und Drang’ movement, which swept through all art forms in the between the early 1760s and 1780s. Its general objectives were to frighten and perturb through the use of a wildly subjective and emotional means of expression, invoking ground-breaking extremes of passion and sentimentality.

Ian Venables studied composition with Richard Arnell at Trinity College of Music, London and later with John Joubert, Andrew Downes and John Mayer at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. His works encompass many genres and he has added significantly to the canon of English art song.

Described as ‘Britain’s greatest living composer of art song’ (Musical Opinion) and ‘a song composer as fine as Finzi and Gurney’ (BBC Music Magazine), Venables has written over 80 works in this genre, including nine song-cycles. As the title suggests, the works on this disc are predominantly reflective in mood although this does not preclude the use of faster-moving music whenever the poetry requires it. Its subject matter celebrates the timelessness of love through the poetry of James Joyce, John Drinkwater, Edward Thomas, John Clare, Robert Nichols and the modern poet Jennifer Andrews; the celebration and commemoration of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, in Sir Andrew Motion’s remarkable narrative poem Remember This and the collective remembrance of those who died in the First World War: the poetry of Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy and the less well-known Francis St. Vincent Morris providing the impetus for one of Ian Venables’ most dramatic and profoundly moving cycles. 

REVIEW

This disc is a notable addition not only to the Ian Venables discography but also to the discography of English song. The composer has been superbly served by the musicians, who have brought his music memorably to life. The recording itself is also excellent. The artists can all be heard very clearly as individuals and in well-judged balance with each other. There’s also a pleasing ambience round the sound. The documentation is comprehensive, including very detailed notes about the songs by Graham Lloyd and Ian Venables himself.

– MusicWeb International

This truly unique recording for Signum sees Joby Burgess arrange some of Eric Whitacre’s ever-popular choral works for Marimba quartet. The warm, earthy sound of the marimbas makes for a spectacular record. One of Britain’s most diverse percussionists, Joby Burgess is best known for his virtuosic performances, daring collaborations, extensive education work, and regular appearances throughout Europe, the USA and beyond. Dedicated to the development of the percussion repertoire, often in combination with electronics, Joby spends much of his time commissioning and recording new music. Recent highlights have included the release Gabriel Prokofiev’s Bass Drum Concerto with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra on Signum Records, ‘PUNKIT’ – an adventurous participatory project for massed percussion ensemble by Stephen Deazley, and ‘Pioneers of Percussion’ – a solo recital programme featuring new work by Nicol Lizée, Linda Buckley and Rebecca Dale.

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REVIEW:

Anyone who knows Eric Whitacre’s choral works will doubtless have been struck by their supremely lush harmonies and overall gorgeous sounds. With these clever arrangements of some of them for various combinations of marimbas and vibraphones, with either two or four instruments being employed, Joby Burgess has managed to breathe new life into what will I’m sure become timeless works. Who knows perhaps this opens the way to treating these pieces to the same kind of arrangements that has been the case for Arvo Pärt’s Fratres which shows that the same music can sound quite different when passed through the prism of varied and different instruments, each one equally valid in its own right.

Marimbas have that ethereal almost unworldly sound that so perfectly matches the similar qualities found in Whitacre’s music. In Lux Aurumque (Light, warm and heavy as pure gold) one can almost feel the warmth while similar aural textures come to the fore in October which describes the colours of autumn again with palpable luminosity. One of the features of marimbas and vibraphones is the resonance that comes from the sustained note that lingers after being hit adding to its other worldly sound.

A Boy and a Girl is played in short passages which serve up another way of hearing these evocative instruments and Sleep rounds off an experience that is quite unique and almost defies description; this is music that must be heard since words cannot do it the justice it deserves. The composer is quoted as saying that Joby Burgess is a “musical genius” in achieving “these really clever, beautiful arrangements” and I couldn’t agree more. At less than 22 minutes this is a very short programme but the asking price is commensurate with its length so if you are a marimba fan I can confidently predict you will love this sumptuous sounding disc.

– MusicWeb International (Steve Arloff)