from the British Music Society
News, reviews & features
BMS Ambassador report
I was delighted to be invited back to Kansas State University to give this well attended class in British music for string players…
New Rutter release of orchestral carols
A new EP of Rutter Orchestral Carols featuring the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge will be released next month…
AGM2023 – reserve your place now
Sir Arthur Bliss: Standing out from the Crowd
It seems quite extraordinary that it has taken almost half a century since his death for a biography of such a significant figure as Sir Arthur Bliss to appear…
Festival celebrates Sir Malcolm Arnold
One of England’s most colourful and charismatic composers – Sir Malcolm Arnold – is to be celebrated across three days during October…
ROBERT SAXTON: Scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh
Given its foreshadowing of Job as an elemental attempt to confront the mysteries of human fate, it may be surprising that more composers have not turned to the myth of Gilgamesh…
DIARY OF THE BEE: Chamber Works by Helen Leach
The title of the disc is the longest work recorded here. The Diary of the Bee is a five-movement composition lasting 20 minutes…
BLISS: Works for Brass Band
As Master of the Queen’s Musick (he liked the old spelling), Sir Arthur Bliss was required to write much ceremonial music for brass instruments…
Bite-Back: Lloyd’s Brass Band music
I was interested to read Paul Jackson’s comment in his review of the CD of Lloyd’s Brass Band music, that Royal Parks was not considered challenging enough for the players…
GEORGE LLOYD: Symphonies 1-6
I seem to remember an essay title, when I was an undergraduate studying music, which read The symphony is dead. Discuss. Well, if that was a serious viewpoint in the early 1970’s it was seriously exaggerated…