BRITISH MUSIC FOR STRINGS IV

Jul 14, 2025 | CD reviews

Jacob | Dunhill | Holst | Bush | Pitfield | Gibbs Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim Douglas Bostock conductor  CPO 555 452-2 While welcome for its championing of rarely-heard repertoire, most of this disc (under the title British Music for Strings IV) falls...

GABRIEL JACKSON: Choral Works

Jul 9, 2025 | CD reviews

The Choir of Canterbury Cathedral David Newsholme conductorJamie Rogers organ Resonus RES10360 This disc of Gabriel Jackson’s choral music seems to be something of a homecoming for the composer. He was a chorister at the Canterbury Cathedral under Allan Wicks. In his...

CECILIA McDOWALL: Cantatas

Jul 9, 2025 | CD reviews

The Choir of Royal Holloway Rupert Gough Music DirectorOrchestra Nova George Vass conductor Resonance RES10359 Cecilia McDowall is a composer in whose catalogue of works music for the voice or voices occupies a central place. This disc features four of her most recent...

TRANSATLANTIC: Brass Music from Britain and America

Jun 25, 2025 | CD reviews

Onyx BrassJohn Wilson conductorCHAN 20399 This mixed bag of British and American music by the distinguished Onyx Brass is never less than entertaining, though I doubt I shall return to some of them often. World premières  of fanfares by Britten, Walton and Vaughan...

A CELLO GALAXY: British Women Composers

Jun 25, 2025 | CD reviews

Catherine Wilmers cello Jill Morton piano  DIVINE ART DDX 21134 Whilst listening to the middle movement, a set of variations in the 1899 Cello Sonata by Amy Horrocks (d.1919) I found myself asking, why don’t we know this music? The whirlwind finale is also captivating...

BLISS: The Composer Conducts

Jun 24, 2025 | CD reviews

A Fiftieth anniversary Tribute SOMM ARIADNE 5039-2 [2CDs] Sir Arthur Bliss was an excellent conductor of his own music, but surprisingly he made very few commercial recordings. SOMM here celebrates the 50th anniversary of his death with a 2-CD set of archive...