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SOMM Recordings

Quiet Summer Evening

$20.99

Details

Composer
Lennox Berkeley, Nigel Brooks, Geoffrey Bush, Frederick Delius, Edward Elgar, Terence Higgins, Gordo
Artist
Peter Cigleris, Sarah Watts, Alexei Watkins, Michael Mace, Chamber Ensemble of London
Format
CD
Label
SOMM Recordings
Released
Jul 17, 2026
Catalog #
SOMMCD0727
UPC
748871072725

About

SOMM Recordings is pleased to release their second recording with the Chamber Ensemble of London, a virtuoso group of hand-picked string players directed by violinist Peter Fisher, whom The Times counts amongst "a handful of the world's finest musicians." Following the ensemble's 2022 SOMM release, Eclogue - British Chamber Music, which Gramophone praised for it's "unfailingly sympathetic music-making throughout," this new release is Quiet Summer Evening - British Concertante Music, drawing on the rich tradition of light classical music. The programme opens with Rhapsody for Clarinet & Strings by Geoffrey Bush. He was initially taught by John Ireland and, on his advice, studied composition and classics at Balliol College, Oxford, emerging with degrees in both subjects in 1946. Bush's hauntingly beautiful rhapsody features the sought-after clarinettist Peter Cigleris, whose growing discography includes three previous releases with SOMM. He is also the soloist in 5 Pieces for Clarinet & String Orchestra by Clive Jenkins, CEOL's associate composer. Jenkins was born in Plymouth, and he shows his roots in many of his compositions-including these pieces, each of which has a name connected with Plymouth. Another work by Jenkins included here is Fantasy for Horn & Strings, featuring Alexei Watkins, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the Dennis Brain Prize. Watkins is also featured in Orion (Serenade for Horn & Strings) by prize-winning conductor-composer Andy Meyers, as well as Lullaby, an expressive and programmatic piece by composer and BBC Radio 3 producer Luke Whitlock. Bassoonist Sarah Watts is a multi-instrumentalist who has become well known worldwide as a prolific composer of colourful and inspiring music. Here, she performs her composition Everywhere Is Somewhere Else. Additionally, she is the soloist for the contemplative Sunday Afternoon by notable arranger, conductor, and composer Nigel Brooks, excerpted from the broadcast series Stars on Sunday, and also A Little Waltz by the prolific mid-twentieth-century composer, arranger, and master orchestrator Gordon Jacob. Other pieces by composers from former generations include Canto popolare, extracted from Edward Elgar's concert overture In the South; Lennox Berkeley's single-movement Andantino, which he adapted from his Festival Anthem; and one of Frederick Delius's earliest surviving compositions, Romance. The soloist for Berkeley's Andantino and Delius's Romance is cellist Michael Mace, who pursues a wide and varied musical career as performer and teacher. Peter Fisher is the violinist for Elgar's Canto popolare and the appealing Vers le Sud (Towards the South) by Terence Higgins who, notwithstanding his early promise, decided against a full-time professional musical career and-like composers Wilfrid Josephs and Alan Rawsthorne-qualified as a dentist. Fisher also plays the CD's title piece, Quiet Summer Evening, a contemplative piece by composer-pianist Don Shearman, who enjoyed a long and distinguished career in light music.

Tracklist 17 tracks

  1. 1 Rhapsody 09:27
    Track
    1
    Title
    Rhapsody
    Duration
    09:27
    Composer
    Geoffrey Bush
    Performer
    Peter Cigleris
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  2. 2 Vers le sud (arr. D. Stowe for violin and orchestra) 07:58
    Track
    2
    Title
    Vers le sud (arr. D. Stowe for violin and orchestra)
    Duration
    07:58
    Composer
    Terence Higgins
    Performer
    Peter Fisher
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  3. 3 Fantasy for Horn and Strings 05:53
    Track
    3
    Title
    Fantasy for Horn and Strings
    Duration
    05:53
    Composer
    Clive Jenkins
    Performer
    Alexei Watkins
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  4. 4 Sunday Afternoon 05:02
    Track
    4
    Title
    Sunday Afternoon
    Duration
    05:02
    Composer
    Nigel Brooks
    Performer
    Sarah Watts
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  5. 5 Everything Is Somewhere Else 03:35
    Track
    5
    Title
    Everything Is Somewhere Else
    Duration
    03:35
    Composer
    Sarah Watts
    Performer
    Sarah Watts
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  6. 6 No. 1. Richmond Walk 02:09
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 1. Richmond Walk
    Duration
    02:09
    Composer
    Clive Jenkins
    Performer
    Peter Cigleris
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  7. 7 No. 2. Plym Valley 02:10
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 2. Plym Valley
    Duration
    02:10
    Composer
    Clive Jenkins
    Performer
    Peter Cigleris
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  8. 8 No. 3. Tamarside 03:59
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 3. Tamarside
    Duration
    03:59
    Composer
    Clive Jenkins
    Performer
    Peter Cigleris
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  9. 9 No. 4. The Barbican 01:56
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 4. The Barbican
    Duration
    01:56
    Composer
    Clive Jenkins
    Performer
    Peter Cigleris
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  10. 10 No. 5. Drake Circus 01:51
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 5. Drake Circus
    Duration
    01:51
    Composer
    Clive Jenkins
    Performer
    Peter Cigleris
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  11. 11 Serenade 02:55
    Track
    11
    Title
    Serenade
    Duration
    02:55
    Composer
    Andy Meyers
    Performer
    Alexei Watkins
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  12. 12 A Little Waltz 01:02
    Track
    12
    Title
    A Little Waltz
    Duration
    01:02
    Composer
    Gordon Jacob
    Performer
    Sarah Watts
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  13. 13 Lullaby 03:28
    Track
    13
    Title
    Lullaby
    Duration
    03:28
    Composer
    Luke Whitlock
    Performer
    Alexei Watkins
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  14. 14 Canto Popolare (arr. C. Jenkins for violin and orchestra) 03:19
    Track
    14
    Title
    Canto Popolare (arr. C. Jenkins for violin and orchestra)
    Duration
    03:19
    Composer
    Edward Elgar
    Performer
    Peter Fisher
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  15. 15 Andantino, Op. 21, No. 2a (arr. C. Jenkins for cello and orchestra) 02:50
    Track
    15
    Title
    Andantino, Op. 21, No. 2a (arr. C. Jenkins for cello and orchestra)
    Duration
    02:50
    Composer
    Lennox Berkeley
    Performer
    Michael Mace
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  16. 16 Romance for Cello and Piano (arr. C. Jenkins for cello and orchestra) 05:31
    Track
    16
    Title
    Romance for Cello and Piano (arr. C. Jenkins for cello and orchestra)
    Duration
    05:31
    Composer
    Frederick Delius
    Performer
    Michael Mace
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher
  17. 17 Quiet Summer Evening (arr. C. Jenkins for violin and orchestra) 06:21
    Track
    17
    Title
    Quiet Summer Evening (arr. C. Jenkins for violin and orchestra)
    Duration
    06:21
    Composer
    Don Shearman
    Performer
    Peter Fisher
    Ensemble
    Chamber Ensemble of London
    Conductor
    Peter Fisher