CELLOPHONICS: Wood on the Tracks
Cello ensembles offer a hugely varied palette of sound, and the world of this vibrant and assured quartet is equally alluring…
MENTOR AND MUSE: Songs by Vaughan Williams
The significance of this excellent issue resides primarily in the items by Maconchy and Grace Williams. Both composers enjoyed close support from RVW…
HAVERGAL BRIAN: Doctor Merryheart
Psalm 23 is an early (1904) work, and previous recordings had left me unconvinced of its merits. It starts impressively with a ponderous march, but thereafter the music remains stubbornly ponderous…
ANDREW DOWNES: Sacred choral works
Those new to Downes should begin with this issue, rather than the two larger cantatas that I have also reviewed. All the works here are of great integrity and effectiveness…
DAVID MAW: Accende lumen sensibus
The work which gives the disc its title is the earliest, Accende lumen sensibus, which translated means ‘kindle light in the senses’. This is taken from the fourth verse of one of the great Christian hymns Veni creator spiritus…