Blake: Orchestral Music

$15.99
Label
SOMM Recordings
Release Date
January 5, 2024
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      Howard Blake
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      Philharmonia Orchestra
    • PERFORMER
      English Northern Philharmonia, Howard Blake
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      January 05, 2024
    • UPC
      748871067820
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      SOMMCD 0678
    • LABEL
      SOMM Recordings
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Orchestral & Symphonic
    Works ⌄

    1. Symphony No. 1, Op. 42, "Impressions of a City"

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    2. No. 1. Parade

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    3. No. 2. Slow Ragtime

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    4. No. 3. Jump

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    5. No. 4. Medium Rock

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    6. No. 5. Folk Ballad

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    7. No. 6. Boogie

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    8. No. 7. Jazz Waltz

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    9. No. 8. Cha-cha

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    10. No. 9. Galop

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Performer: Howard Blake

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    11. I. The Enchantress

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    12. II. The Maiden and the Troubadour

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    13. III. The Queen

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra

      Conductor: Howard Blake

    14. I. Larghetto (Idyll)

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: English Northern Philharmonia

      Conductor: Paul Daniel

    15. II. Alla marcia

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: English Northern Philharmonia

      Conductor: Paul Daniel

    16. III. Adagio (Elegy)

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: English Northern Philharmonia

      Conductor: Paul Daniel

    17. IV. Scherzando

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: English Northern Philharmonia

      Conductor: Paul Daniel

    18. V. Andante espressivo

      Composer: Howard Blake

      Ensemble: English Northern Philharmonia

      Conductor: Paul Daniel


SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce the label debut of the acclaimed British composer Howard Blake with a disc of his orchestral music to mark his 85th birthday. Blake himself is heard at the piano and conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, with Paul Daniel also conducting the English Northern Philharmonia. Internationally recognised as the composer of The Snowman's 'Walking on Air', Blake's prolific and wide-ranging achievements extend into symphonies, concertos, oratorios and music for solo piano to embrace the concert hall, dance stage and cinema screen. This focus on his orchestral music which includes four first recordings begins with his single- movement Symphony No.1 in it's 1990 revision, a richly variegated work of vivid images and, as it's title has it, Impressions of a City. A work of dazzling, multi-faceted dimensions and execution, it is, writes Robert Matthew-Walker in his authoritative booklet notes, an "organic, truly symphonic, composition from a genuine creative figure". Concert Dances, for piano and orchestra, from 1992 and featuring Blake conducting from the piano, comprises nine relatively short dance movements in various styles to vivacious effect. Alluding to Eleanor of Aquitaine, 1979's The Court of Love is a ravishing concert suite of three movements drawn from Blake's ballet score for choreographer Lynn Seymour marking Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee two years previously. The suite taken from his soundtrack to the 1987 film A Month in the Country shows Blake at his most exquisite and expressive in a score, says Matthew-Walker, that "surely belongs in any collection of 20th-century English music for string orchestra". SOMM's long championing of British composers includes recent discs devoted to Stephen Dodgson (SOMMCD 0659; 0673), Penelope Thwaites (SOMMCD 0612; 0672), Kenneth Leighton (SOMMCD 0667), Holst (SOMMCD 279), Ian King (SOMMCD 0649) and Elgar (SOMMCD 278).