Bringing Britain’s musical heritage alive

Founded in 1979, the British Music Society is dedicated to promoting and preserving Britain’s musical heritage with particular emphasis on 20th century composers through recordings, publications and events
Time to Declare book cover

New book charts life of distinguished musician

In Time to Declare: My Life in Church Music, the distinguished organist and choral conductor Martin Neary offers an extraordinary journey through his life in music…

All the Stars Looked Down CD

Choir of King’s College to release new Christmas album

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, is to release a new Christmas album featuring a selection of arrangements and original works for choir and orchestra…

CD collection

Bite-Back: selling CDs as recorded music evolves

After reading our recent article about the changing world of recorded music, a BMS member asks how to sell a CD collection…

Frederic Cliffe

Concert celebrates Bradford’s forgotten composer

The life and music of the forgotten Bradford composer Frederic Cliffe will be remembered at a special concert taking place next month…

Professor Raymond Warren

Obituary: Raymond Warren

Professor Raymond Warren, who has died aged 96, was part of that Interwar generation of British composers that owed a stylistic debt to Tippett and Britten…

 Latest features & reviews

TAVENER: No Longer Mourn for Me

TAVENER: No Longer Mourn for Me

… taken from Tavener’s set of Three Shakespeare Sonnets, originally composed for the South Iceland Chamber Choir is No Longer Mourn for Me. Although by far the shortest work, it gives its name to the whole CD. It sounds absolutely delicious in this version for eight cellos by Steven Isserlis.

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Glasgow Bells: Organ Music by Alan Gibb & Friends

Glasgow Bells: Organ Music by Alan Gibb & Friends

The first three works are unusual since they use different instruments along with the organ. The first of these gives its title to the CD as a whole. It is Glasgow Bells.

Based on an earlier composition by Gibbs, Glasgow Toccata, it brings together master organist Kevin Bowyer famed for his prowess with ‘very difficult music’, and celebrated percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.

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Loquacious: Music by Peter Fender

Loquacious: Music by Peter Fender

The very slim booklet note contains just the three song texts and a few minimal words from the composer about the music, so I had to go to his several websites to discover that he is a conductor and composer who works with ensembles in London and Sussex, and abroad such as in Bulgaria and Italy.

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LENNOX BERKELEY: Complete Piano Music

LENNOX BERKELEY: Complete Piano Music

Berkeley wrote piano music from the mid-1920s to a few years before he died in 1989, but these two CDs contain less than two hours’ music.

This is a quite comprehensive survey, but should it be called The Complete Piano Works when there are others for piano four hands?

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