When I was One-and-Twenty: English Song

When I was One-and-Twenty: English Song

By C.W. Orr and his contemporaries Ben Alden tenor Andrew Plant piano    CD available at www.ben-alden.com The background to this disc is given in its subtitle ‘A celebration of love and the English Landscape underpinned by the poetry of A.E.Housman’.  Ben...
BARRY MILLS: Unfoldings Volume 10

BARRY MILLS: Unfoldings Volume 10

Ensemble RezaThe Barefaced Violas CLAUDIO Contemporary  CC6054-2  Unfoldings, the 10th volume of music by Barry Mills (b. 1949) contains five String Quartets, one String Quintet (an extra viola) and one Viola Quartet. The overall title Unfoldings, comes from the final...
HOLST: The Planets and Earth

HOLST: The Planets and Earth

Melbourne Symphony OrchestraJaime Martin conductor  MSO 0003 It is now 25 years since Colin Matthews produced his masterful Pluto, the Renewer to append to Holst’s wondrous score. In his second recording of the main work (2006), Simon Rattle also added four more...
WILLIAM BOUGHTON: A celebration on record

WILLIAM BOUGHTON: A celebration on record

English String OrchestraEnglish Symphony OrchestraBBC National Orchestra of WalesWilliam Boughton conductor NIMBUS RECORDS NI 1712 This is a budget-priced four-disc set in celebration of the conductor’s distinguished career. The tracks were recorded in different...
BAX: Spring Fire

BAX: Spring Fire

Alexander Baillie celloJohn Thwaites piano SOMM CD 0704  This disc of Bax’s complete music for cello and piano takes its title from the thematic links between that orchestral work and his Cello Sonata. This is a big serious piece; its earnest first movement has...
MALCOLM ARNOLD: Orchestral and Choral Works

MALCOLM ARNOLD: Orchestral and Choral Works

London Choral SinfoniaMichael Waldron conductor Orchid Classics ORC100362 It would be hard to overstate the pleasure that this revelatory disc has afforded, and unfamiliarity with the works in question should hinder no-one from obtaining a copy with alacrity. The...