SPLENDID TEARS: Settings of Alfred, Lord Tennyson

SPLENDID TEARS: Settings of Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Brian Thornsett tenorRichard Masters piano EMR Records CD087 Do you read poetry and if so, do you read Tennyson? He was extremely popular a few generations ago, but now? His most famous poems are Maud (1855) and In Memoriam (1850), an elegy on the death of his friend...
Errollyn Wallen appointed Master of the King’s Music

Errollyn Wallen appointed Master of the King’s Music

Acclaimed composer and singer-songwriter Errollyn Wallen has been appointed Master of the King’s Music by King Charles. The Belize-born British musician was the first black woman to have a work featured in the Proms and she composed music for the London 2012...
GERARD SCHURMANN: Orchestral Works

GERARD SCHURMANN: Orchestral Works

BBC PhilharmonicBen Gernon conductorXiayin Wang piano Chandos 20341 Gerard Schurmann was born in Java in January 1924, so in this, his centenary year, Chandos have brought out a disc of four fascinating works complementing their first Schurmann recording in 1980 (CHAN...
GEORGE LLOYD: Symphonies 7-12

GEORGE LLOYD: Symphonies 7-12

BBC Philharmonic OrchestraAlbany Symphony Orchestra Lyrita SRCD 2418 Lloyd’s seventh symphony ‘Proserpine’ of 1959 is a long three movement work opening with the joyful dancing side of life, beginning with a repeated xylophone anticipating John Adams’ Short ride in a...
THOMAS PITFIELD: His Friends and Contemporaries

THOMAS PITFIELD: His Friends and Contemporaries

Plus String Chamber Music Divine Art ddx 21246Divine Art ddx 21137 Here are three discs celebrating the musical accomplishment of Thomas Pitfield and his contemporaries. Thomas Pitfield (1903–1999) was a largely self-taught as a composer, but he was also an...