In 35 years the British male vocal sextet known as the King's Singers has experienced many turnovers of personnel, including the retirement of virtually all of its original members--but three important things haven't changed one little bit: quality of the performances, camraderie among the singers, and compatibility of the voices. And on evidence of this new release on the Signum label, this premier ensemble has found a recording team that shows the group's talent to an even higher engineering standard than we've ever heard before in previous issues from EMI and RCA.

Throughout these 70-plus minutes and 25 tracks, we hear nothing but absolutely first-class musicianship, top-notch arrangements, and always thoughtfully chosen, entertaining repertoire that invariably and ideally suits the group's sound and style. Among the selections are a few standard carols and arrangements--Vaughan Williams' This is the truth, Ravenscroft's Remember, O thou man, Bach's harmonizations of In dulci jubilo and O little one sweet, and the familiar, anonymous settings of There is no rose, and The Coventry Carol--but there also are many more newer and captivatingly original pieces, several exceptional ones created by King's Singers member Philip Lawson (Lullay my liking; Veni, veni Emmanuel; Noël nouvelet). Notable too are a nifty (and most uncharacteristic) Bogoroditsye Devo by Arvo Pärt, an exquisitely lovely and dramatic rendition of Tchaikovsky's The Crown of Roses, "transformed by the great jazz arranger Jeremy Lubbock", and the concluding re-working (with new, Christmas words by Lawson and a string quartet accompaniment) of the King's Singers signature You are the New Day.


For sheer vocal beauty, you can't beat the performances of Rutter's There is a flower and Stille Nacht, Lawson's Away in a manger, Praetorius' Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen, or Bach's O little one sweet. But then, the whole thing is just gorgeous, and if you love Christmas music recordings, well, what are you waiting for? This is one of the best ever. [11/15/2003]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Locus Iste celebrates two milestones for the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge: as well as 2019 marking the 150th anniversary of the consecration of the college chapel, this release is coincidentally the choir's 100th recording – 60 years on from George Guest’s iconic first recording of ‘Hear my prayer’ for Argo, released in 1959. Directed by Andrew Nethsingha, the programme makes great use of the chapel's renowned acoustic, and celebrates the choirs past, present and future – including an anthem by a former director of music, a motet by one of their recent student composers and the cello-playing of a current undergraduate. The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the world – known and loved by millions from its broadcasts, concert tours and recordings. Founded in the 1670s, the Choir is known for its rich, warm and distinctive sound, its expressive interpretations and its ability to sing in a variety of styles.

This new Christmas DVD was recorded in the stylishly distinctive setting of Jerwood Hall in LSO St Luke’s, London.

The King’s Singers are world-renowned for their live performances, and this concert captures the charm and skill that you’d expect from a group of this calibre. It is a musical treat as well as a visual one, recorded in both CD quality stereo and in 5.1 surround sound.

The DVD also features a 10-minute bonus documentary feature, titled “Life as a King’s Singer”.

Alessio Bax plays an Italian inspired programme, picking his favourite pieces taken from a rich history of music from one of the most romantic countries in the world.

He opens the programme with a J.S. Bach transcription of a oboe concerto by Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello, which reveals a deep insight into Bach’s mind. This is followed by Rachmaninov’s last ever work for solo piano, which is incredibly eloquent, introspective and personal. The Dallapiccola continues this eloquent theme, showing some beautifully crafted dodecaphonism. The recording is rounded off with two pieces of Liszt, which take the listener on a multi-legged journey through hell, purgatory and heaven, with beauty and drama along the way.



REVIEW:

This Italian’s salute to his home country is inspired indeed. The standout performance is a spellbinding account of the Dante Sonata in which Bax masterfully combines scrupulous observation of Liszt’s agogics and dynamics (trusting the composer here really does pay dividends) with quite thrilling bravura in which he throws caution to the wind. Few accounts of the first two pages are so filled with menace and mystery.

– Gramophone

The Mozartists continue their MOZART 250 project of staging operas by Mozart and his contemporaries with their recording of the UK premiére of Niccolò Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, first performed over 250 years ago on 11 February 1766 for the Stuttgart court in Ludwigsburg. For this eagerly awaited performance The Mozartists assembled a superb young cast, headed by the Irish mezzo-soprano Rachel Kelly, a graduate of the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, tenor Stuart Jackson, a former Mozartists Associate Artist, and soprano Gemma Lois Summerfield, winner of the 2015 Kathleen Ferrier Award. Jommelli was born just north of Naples in 1714 (the same year as Gluck) and died there in 1774. Largely forgotten now, he was one of the most celebrated composers of his day, and during a career which spanned thirty-seven years he wrote some eighty operas as well as a great number of sacred works. He was seen as an important and progressive composer in combining the vocal melodiousness and lyricism of Italian opera with more elaborate and dramatically charged elements of French opera. Set in Ephesus, on the western extremes of the Parthian Empire, in c.164 AD, Il Vologeso centres on Berenice, a woman who becomes caught between two men – the victorious Roman general Lucio Vero, and Vologeso, King of the Parthians (thought dead, but recently returned after his defeat battle). The Mozartists, under the dynamic leadership of conductor and artistic director Ian Page, are leading exponents of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries. Originally called Classical Opera, the company was founded in 1997, and has received widespread international acclaim for its stylish and virtuosic period-instrument orchestra, its imaginative and innovative programming, and its ability to nurture and develop world-class young artists.

Christopher Gunning’s Symphony No. 5 was composed during 2009 and was the composer’s most ambitious to date, in four extended movements. There is no strict programme, but the music moves through several phases which could be said to correspond to one’s journey from birth to death. The symphony is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Gunning’s sister Rosemary, who grappled with illness throughout the composition of the work, and died as he was completing it. The String Quartet No. 1 was composed in 1999, and revised in 2006. Each of the four movements is based on on a three note motif, C-D-G, with its four possible transpositions. The first is an arch-shaped passacaglia, and the second is a fast semi-fugal scherzo. The third is quietly expressive and the last is a bright rondo with ostinati based on the 3 note idea. 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.

Following an acclaimed tribute album to Benny Goodman, the 'King of Swing', the Julian Bliss Septet returns with a new album that showcases the music of jazz legends, George and Ira Gershwin, and - by popular demand - some of Benny's compositions and much-loved tunes. The Julian Bliss Septet was formed in 2010 and quickly became known for their trademark inspiring jazz-fuelled shows which have captivated audiences across the globe. Their dazzling virtuosity, extraordinary musicianship and charming humor shines through their programmes of swing, Latin, American and jazz music. The band has played at some of the most prestigious venues and festivals around the world, including the famous Ronnie Scott's and Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Bermuda Jazz Festival and on multiple US tours to sold-out clubs and concert halls including Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center (New York).

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.

As 2014 heralds the composer's 80th year, Harrison Birtwistle remains one of the most popular voices in contemporary composition in the UK and beyond. This new collection of premiere recordings draws together recent commissions with older works to mark the occasion, with characteristically flawless performances from the BBC Singers under Nicholas Kok. They are joined on this disc by the Nash Ensemble and baritone Roderick Williams. This is the fourth in Signums ongoing series of composer-led releases with the BBC Singers, with past discs featuring the works by Judith Bingham, Richard Rodney Bennett, and most recently Edward Cowie.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen continues her series of concerto recordings on this release with works by contrasting American composers. Already considered by many to be a mdoern classic, John Adams' Violin Concerto was described by the composer as having a "hypermelody", in which the soloist plays long phrases without stop for the uration of the piece. Although composed in 1949, the first performance of Roy Harris's Violin Concerto didn't occur until 1984. Since then it has been championed for it's "luminous orchestration and exalted tone."

REVIEW:

Roy Harris' 1949 Violin Concerto is an ambitious work, sprawling but dynamic. Slower sections are rhapsodic, drawn-out and soariing, while more driven passages have the wide open landscape sound so evocative of the US. The exuberant opening and abrupt ending sound more modern; they could almost be by John Adams, whose dense, multi-layered 1993 concerto is the other work recorded here. Tamsin Waley-Cohen handles its grueling solo part with athleticism and conviction, and both pieces benefit from the punchy playing of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and insightful conducting of Andrew Litton.
– Guardian (UK)

The King’s Singers celebrate their 50th anniversary with a celebratory 3-album set, combining three complete programs of Close Harmony, Spiritual and Secular pieces. The King's Singers write: “The current incarnation of King’s Singers approached this 50th Anniversary release with great excitement – albeit with some trepidation! How could we possibly create an album (or, as it turned out, three albums!) that would reflect all the group’s work over five decades, honoring its history and the achievements of our predecessors? In the end, we decided to go back to basics. We spent months trawling through programs and recordings to finalize this selection of music: old favorites that the group has performed for decades jostle for position with more recent additions (both classical and pop), and compete with brand new works commissioned especially for this project. A long-list of well over a hundred pieces has been whittled down to a final track-list of around sixty that, we feel, represents all the styles and musical epochs that The King’s Singers have championed across five decades of performance and recording.”

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REVIEW:

Looking back over 50 years of performances and recordings by the King;s Singers, it's hard to think of a group whose music-making has aged so well. The joy, generosity, and the eclecticism of their earliest recordings are all still the defining qualities of their latest. Here's to 50 more years.
– Gramophone

Armonico Consort return to album on Signum with a collection of Handel arias, performed by leading counter-tenor William Towers. A noted soloist in both opera and oratorio, the programme is taken from roles which Towers has sung across his career in various productions across the globe. Towers writes: “It is the life-affirming, live-giving aspect of Handel that I’m aiming to celebrate. So frequently his operas reveal their most devastatingly beautiful and uplifting music when life is at its darkest. Here the arias shine brightest, here we find Radamisto’s ‘Ombra cara’ and the boundlessly optimistic ‘Dopo l’orrore’, looking out beyond the darkest clouds to the faint glimmer of a dawning hope. This is the uncrushable, indomitable spirit that lies in all of us ... We just need to take the time to listen.”

Handel’s Queens features some of the most exquisite pieces of music written by G.F. Handel and his contemporaries for the two finest singers of the eighteenth century, Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni. Often wrongfully framed as rivals, these dazzling new recordings with Mary Bevan and Lucy Crowe reveal the distinctive yet versatile talent of the Italian vocalists. Led by London Early Opera Director, Bridget Cunningham, Handel’s Queens serves an example of the group’s dedication to imaginative programming and outstanding period performance, placing them at the forefront of baroque research.

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REVIEW:

The choice of singers in Handel’s Queens seems perfect, for the two excellent and appropriate voices are neatly contrasted while displaying the required virtuosity. Cunningham’s contribution is adroit, with pace and style aplenty and she conducts from the harpsichord.

– Opera Now

This is a musical trip from the mid-sixteenth century to around 1700, involving music in Late Renaissance style, carrying Spanish Catholicism across the Atlantic to supplant an Indigenous culture. Once the invasion had taken root with the conquest of Tenochtitlán and its transformation to Mexico City, the country became the target of fervent friars and preachers. Franciscans were first in 1523, then Dominicans, all fired with Christian zeal to convert the native population. From the outset they used music to great effect. The accounts that survive show how successful they were in teaching singing and playing, training choirs to perform liturgical music. By the mid-century it was claimed that standards had reached that of Charles V’s chapel. Churches and cathedrals were established throughout the rapidly expanding New Spain. Conquest and Christianity imposed an almost exact replica of Old Spain. Liturgical books, prints of plainchant and polyphony were shipped in throughout the century. In this recording the singers present music by eight composers. Four of them never went to the New World; their music did. Three of them were born in Spain and were trained in music there; they held appointments in Spain and later emigrated to the new colonial cities. One more became the first composer-choirmaster to be born there of Spanish parents, thus criollo.

REVIEW:

Much of the program has the dark hue and deliberate pace characteristic of the Spanish repertory, and there are some very powerful examples: try the stark, riveting motet In horrore visionis of Francisco López Capillas. There are also some brighter pieces, and although the musical universe of the Mexican cathedrals rivaled that of Spain, there is a trend toward a brighter New World simplicity evident in some of the music, and The Queen's Six makes effective use of the contrast...the singing is beautiful and expressive in an idiomatic way.

– All Music Guide (James Manheim)

Around the time The King's Singers was starting up, one of the most productive periods of songwriting in history was coming to a close in America, starting with composers such as Gershwin, Kern, Berlin and Porter in the early 1920s, and continuing through to the early 1960s. In this new 2-CD studio recording - featuring brand new a cappella arrangements by jazz composer and arranger Alexander L'Estrange, and swing-orchestra performances with the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra - The King's Singers bring their own unique performance style to this wonderful music.