A series of new releases containing music by British composers has been announced by Orchid Classics.
Next month Mentor: Britten and Oldham (ORC100424), an interesting portrait of Britten alongside a significant British contemporary: Arthur Oldham (1926–2003), will be released.
The CD will feature Britten’s Serenade and Te Deum contrasted with several works by Oldham including his Laudes Creaturarum (The Canticle of all Creatures) performed by the London Choral Sinfonia.
Oldham was Britten’s only private pupil, and as well as a composer, he was a renowned chorusmaster and founder of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, the Choeur de l’Orchestre de Paris, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus.
In May Orchard plans to release Elements (ORC100457) which explores the distinctive sound world of saxophone and harp. The programme moves between Baroque masterworks and newly commissioned music inspired by the four elements of earth, air, fire and water.
Performed by saxophonist Huw Wiggin and harpist Oliver Wass, the album includes works written specially for the duo by British composers Charlotte Harding, Laura Bowler and David Wallace.
In June there will be a release of Eden (ORC100453) devoted to the music of prize-winning young pianist and composer, Edward Picton-Turbervill, who was recently selected as both a Britten Pears Young Artist 2024-25 and a 2024 City Music Foundation Artist.
Performed by the London Choral Sinfonia, this album features his first large-scale composition, Out of Eden, which was premiered in 2025 alongside his Songs of Eden and settings of two poems by Kathleen Raine.