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ModernMedieval Voices releases debut album The Living Word - March 2023

27/1/2023

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Vocal ensemble ModernMedieval Voices releases The Living Word, its debut album, in March 2023 on Ulysses Arts. More details will be published here soon.

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ModernMedieval was created by Dr Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, a member of world-renowned vocal quartet Anonymous 4, to explore the worlds of early and new music through lectures, workshops, masterclasses, performances and recordings. ModernMedieval Voices (MMV) is an all-female ensemble directed by Jacqueline. She is joined by early and new music specialists for concerts and special projects that combine medieval chant and polyphony with music from later eras and new commissions influenced by the poetry and sonorities of music from the Middle Ages.

ModernMedieval Voices takes the vocal techniques developed by Anonymous 4 for singing this repertoire and combines them with a fresh approach to programming that introduces this wonderful music to new audiences.

The Ensemble gave its debut performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, performing Hildegard's chant O Jerusalem as part of the Al-Quds : Jerusalem concert with MetLive Arts, described by Heidi Waleson of The Wall Street Journal as ‘exquisitely sung’. MMV has given performances at The National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., The Virginia Arts Festival, and the Ecstatic Music Festival in New York City, broadcast live on WNYC NewSounds Live, hosted by John Schaefer. The Ensemble has also given residencies and performances at Notre Dame University, East Carolina University NewMusic Initiative, Florida’s University of Tampa, Binghamton University, Pittsburgh Dance Project, Liquid Music in Saint Paul Minnesota, Princeton University Sound Kitchen, Electric Earth Concerts in New Hampshire, Dumbarton Oaks, and The Cloisters in New York City as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetLiveArts series.

ModernMedieval Voices feature on award-winning album To Shiver the Sky with music by Christopher Tin, which received its world première performance in May 2022 in Washington DC.

‘Although more than eight centuries separate us from this music, ModernMedieval’s approach to Hildegard is above all natural, emphasizing her fluent expressivity in perfect medieval Latin. Hildegard is always a good listen, and juxtaposed with sympathetic contemporary works, her beauties were especially resplendent.’ (Patrick Rucker, The Washington Post)


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ALBUM ARTISTS

Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
Chloe Holgate
Martha Cluver
 
ALBUM DETAILS

Hildegard von Bingen,  O Presul vere Civitatis
Daniel Thomas Davis, Three-Winged Wisdom *
Hildegard von Bingen, O Virtus Sapientie
Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, Meditation *
Hildegard von Bingen, Spiritus Sanctus Vivificans
Hildegard von Bingen, Karitas Habundat
Caroline Shaw, Caritas Abundat *
Hildegard von Bingen, O Viridissima Virga
Caleb Burhans, We Cannot Live *
Hildegard von Bingen, O Jerusalem
 
*Commissioned by ModernMedieval



Streaming and download links will be published here when released.

Electronic press kit available for reviewers.


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Ruby Colley EP launch and UK concerts - February - March 2023

27/1/2023

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Violininst and composerRuby Colley launches her EP 'Underheard' in spring 2023, with live concert in London, Bury and Stockport in February and March.
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Ruby Colley
Ruby's work seeks to unravel the connections between nature and music,  She draws upon a wide range of music styles including folk, improvisation and contemporary classical. Ruby creates instrumental soundscapes beyond the realm of traditional playing, introducing sounds from nature and electronics. Her latest commission - Edgeland - is an audio-visual work that explores people including Ruby's neurodivergent brother, and places within an 'Edgeland' near her home in West Sussex.

Ruby’s music is eclectic, unique and her performances are charged with emotional power and nuance. Her debut album Murmurations was released in 2010, followed by The Sussex Sessions, an EP with Isobel Anderson in 2014. Her latest album Overheard was released in April 2022, and explores connections between human presence and nature in response to the climate crisis.

Tour Dates

  • 28th February - City University, London, Concert Series, 7pm.

  • 11th March - The Met, Bury
                             Market St, Bury BL9 0BW
                             Tickets and performance details

  • 12th March, 7pm - Where the Light Gets In
                             7, Rostron Brow, Stockport, SK1 1JY

                             Tickets, venue and performance details

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EP releasing in spring 2023 - more details to be announced here

Electronic press kit for concert and recording reviewers available from Ulysses Arts.


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PHILLIP COOKE, FOUR MARIAN ANTIPHONS - CARITAS CHAMBER CHOIR AND BENEDICT PREECE - RELEASING ON 31 MARCH 2023

21/1/2023

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Ulysses Arts releases the première recording of Phillip Cooke's Four Marian Antiphons on 31 March 2023, performed by the Caritas Chamber Choir directed by Benedict Preece.


Four Marion Anthems

1. Ave Regina Caelorum
2. Salve Regina, Mater misericordiae
3. Alma Redemptoris Mater (pre-release on 10 February)
4. Regina Cœli (pre-release on 3 March)
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Phillip Cooke

Released in partnership with Platoon.
Streaming and download links will be published here on release day.

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Blessed Among Women, Weeping: Sacred Choral Music of Father Ivan Moody, from Coro Volante conducted by Brett Scott, released by Ablaze Records on 24 March 2023

20/1/2023

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PictureFr. Ivan Moody
Fr. Ivan Moody was born in London in 1964. He studied music and theology at the Universities of London, Joensuu and York (where he took his doctorate). He studied composition with Brian Dennis, Sir John Tavener and William Brooks.

He has worked with soloists and ensembles of world renown, such as the Hilliard Ensemble, Singer Pur, Trio Mediaeval, the Tallis Scholars, the English Chamber Choir, Cappella Romana, New York Polyphony, the Regensburger Domspatz, Singcircle, Lumen Valo, Tapestry, Cappella Nova, Ars Nova Copenhagen, the Taverner Consort, Fretwork, the Raschèr Quartet, Raphael Wallfisch, Suzie Leblanc, Artur Pizarro and Paul Barnes. Over the years he has written a series of substantial choral and choral-instrumental works, including Passion and Resurrection (1992), Revelation (1995), Akathistos Hymn (1998), The Dormition of the Virgin (2003), Passione Popolare (2005), Ossetian Requiem (2005), Moons and Suns (2008), Stabat Mater (2008), Qohelet (2013) and Stephans-Weihnacht (2019). Instrumental music includes a series of concertante works for viola, cello, recorder, double bass, piano, harp, tuba, bass clarinet and marimba, and many works for chamber ensembles (notably the piano quartet Nocturne of Light, from 2009) and solo instruments.

Ivan Moody is also a conductor and musicologist; his book Modernism and Orthodox Spirituality in Contemporary Music was published in 2014. He is a Researcher at CESEM—Universidade Nova, Lisbon, and a priest of the Orthodox Church.


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Lines from Poetry - Davis Brooks plays music by Filipe Leitão, Richard Einhorn, Ronald Caltabiano, Frank Felice, Balee Pongklad, released by Ablaze Records on 10 March 2023

20/1/2023

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American violinist and viola player Davis Brooks records all the parts in the music on album Lines from Poetry, released by US label Ablaze Records on 10 March 2023, featuring composers Filipe Leitão (Brazil), Richard Einhorn, Ronald Caltabiano, Frank Felice (USA), Balee Pongklad (Thailand/USA).


PictureDavis Brooks
'It become commonplace for many artists to produce a “covid project,” - this is mine. The Pandemic gave me the opportunity to collaborate personally with five composers in recording their music, resulting in a wide assortment of musical styles.

Two works, String Samba and Two by Four, were projects enabling me to explore performing and recording all the parts, enabling me to control every interpretive and technical variable. String Samba originally was intended to be performed by a traditional string quartet, but Filipe and I were intrigued by the possibility of a three violin and viola format. In addition to the original scored notation, I recorded additional ponticello and pizzicato effects and the piece was reinvented anew.

The recording of Two by Four, like String Samba, became a late-night home studio project. Having been part of the première of Two by Four in 2004, I simply wanted to record a version where I played all of the parts, and to see where my own interpretation might go.' (Davis Brooks)


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Download and streaming links will be published here. Electronic press kit available for press use.

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Rameau Re-Imagined: Edward Higginbottom, Holly Teague, Felix Higginbottom - CRD Records, 7 July 2023

20/1/2023

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Pre-order on iTunes: click above
Edward Higginbottom is joined by rising star soprano, Holly Teague and percussionist, Felix Higginbottom as he takes Rameau's most theatrical compositions into the organ loft and 'reimagines' their performance, meanwhile taking us on a journey through exotic landscapes and arresting scenes.

To be released by CRD Records on 7 July 2023.  More details published here soon.


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Viriginia Black, Beethoven Piano Sonatas: Power, Passion and Ecstasy: CRD Records, 7 April 2023

20/1/2023

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Pre-order on iTunes: click above
Virginia Black returns to the keyboard and her lifelong love - Beethoven's piano sonatas - in her latest album from CRD Records, released on 7 April 2023.

The three sonatas programmed here - The Tempest, Pathétique and Opus 110 - afford us a window onto Beethoven's life and his increasing struggle with hearing loss. Meanwhile we experience Beethoven at his best: breaking the rules of the sonata form and transcending them.




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Neil Wright, Tota Pulchra es - Caritas Chamber  Choir conducted by Benedict Preece - releasing on 27 January 2023

17/1/2023

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Stream on Apple Music or download in iTunes - click above
Tota pulchra es is a 1,600 year old Roman Catholic prayer, meaning 'You are completely beautiful', referring to the Virgin Mary. It glorifies her immaculate conception, and takes its text from the Bible's Book of Judith and Song of Songs.

It has inspired great composers for centuries, from Guillaume du Fay and Heinrich Isaac in the late Middle Ages, through Schumann, Bruckner, Pablo Casals, Duruflé and Gorczycki to contemporaries such as Sir James MacMillan and Ola Gjeilo: Neil Wright's new settting revels in the opportunity for musical beauty and spiritual yearning.

Tota pulchra es is Wright's debut commission and recording with Caritas Chamber Choir. Studying the Royal Northern College of Music, as an organist, composer and improviser, he has performed throughout the UK (including Cadogan Hall; Westminster Central Hall) and in Germany (Dresden Cathedral, Stuttgart-Schondorf Orgelnacht, Friedenskirche Potsdam, Maria Laach Abbey), USA (Carmel Valley California), Italy (Tagliacozzo Festival, Cremona Cathedral), Finland (Åland Orgel Festival) and France (Vannes Cathedral, Eglise de La Trinité Paris).

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Neil Wright
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Caritas Chamber Choir with Benedict Preece
Caritas Chamber Choir, based in Canterbury, UK, is one of the world's leading commissioners of contemporary choral music, performing frequently around the UK and Europe, directed by Benedict Preece, a Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar.

Streaming and download links:



Released in partnership with Platoon.
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Orchestral Masters Vol. 10, released by Ablaze Records on 17 March 2023 - Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Mikel Toms

16/1/2023

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Pioneering US contemporary music label Ablaze Records releases the tenth album of its innovative Orchestral Masters series worldwide on 17 March 2023. Performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Mikel Toms, it features music by composers from the USA (Edward Smaldone, Jeffrey Holmes, Jason Phillips), Cem Güven (Turkey/UK), Fang Ke and Zou Hao (China/USA) and Hojin Lee (South Korea/USA).

Pre-order and streaming links will be added here.
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Caritas Chamber Choir - John Kelley, When You are Old - world première recording released by Ulysses Arts on 30 December 2022

21/12/2022

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John Kelley's When You are Old is an atmospheric setting of W.B. Yeats’ famous poem: its retrospective nature is a perfect work to precede the New Year, performed by the Caritas Chamber Choir conducted by Benedict Preece.

American composer John Kelley studied at Yale University and is a lay clerk at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. His setting of When You are Old won the 1997 National Award for Schirmer’s Young American Choral Competition; it is performed annually by Redhot & Blue, Yale University’s world-renowned mixed a capella ensemble.


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Caritas Chamber Choir

Links to listen or download on digital service providers will be posted here on 30 December.

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John Kelley
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Benedict Preece
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Tailleferre Ensemble Debut Album: Tailleferre, Röntgen, Hoffmann, Jenni Brandon, Bill Douglas, Cecilia McDowall, Rhian Samuel and Ingrid Stölzel, released on 24 February 2023 by Ulysses Arts

18/12/2022

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PictureThe Tailleferre Ensemble
The Tailleferre Ensemble, founded in 2019 by Nicola Hands and Penelope Smith, is a UK-based chamber collective whose principal aim is to promote women in music. The group is a flexible chamber ensemble of varying line-up who perform works of diverse instrumentation and genre, from works by established composers to those that are lesser-known and contemporary. As a group they have been praised for their fine performances and ‘extensive palette of timbres’, and they work to redress the balance of works performed by men and women composers in classical music.

The Ensemble has performed across the country since its inception, ranging from prestigious venues and chamber music festivals to local chamber series, and have also collaborated with other groups.  In 2021 they were grateful to receive funding from the Ambache Charitable Trust to make recordings of works by Cecilia McDowall and Rhian Samuel. In 2022 they were invited to perform for a production of the under-played Mass in D by Ethel Smyth. Since then, they received further invitations to collaborate on similar performances.

This album is the group’s first recording, exemplifying their work, featuring music from various historical periods and for different ensemble sizes. Of particular note is the première recording of Sonate Champêtre by the group’s namesake, Germaine Tailleferre: they are very pleased to be sharing this work in recorded form for the first time. Another piece they are glad to introduce is the première of Little Duos by Rhian Samuel, dedicated to the group’s founders Nicola Hands and Penelope Smith.

Most of the album comprises works by living composers, but lesser-known pieces from further back, by Röntgen and Hoffmann, also feature. There are Things to be Said by Ingrid Stölzel inspired the album’s title, evoking concepts of loneliness and struggle but also reflects the hopefulness, determination and creativity of this new chamber collective.



ALBUM DETAILS

Germaine Tailleferre, Sonate Champêtre (première recording)

I. Allegro moderato
II. Andantino
III. Allegro vivace: Gaiement


Ingrid Stölzel, There Are Things to be Said (2009)
 
Bill Douglas, Three Lyrical Pieces

                                                                                              
I. Wings of the Wind
II. The Hills of Glencar
III. Autumn Song
                         
Jenni Brandon, Metamorphosis *

I. Vulnerable
II. Evolving
III. Transformation
IV. Rebirth
V. Transfiguration
VI. Breaking through the mold
VII. Regeneration
VIII. Emerging
IX. “The metamorphosis excites in the beholder an emotion of joy…”

* First performance and recording by Dr Lindabeth Binkley (oboe) with Dane Philipsen (oboe) and Mary Jo Cox (piano) on Dr. Binkley’s album FROM EARTH AND SKY: MUSIC OF JENNI BRANDON on Blue Griffin Record label in 2020.
 
Rhian Samuel (première recording), Little Duos for oboe and cor anglais

I. Morning Glow
II. Whispers
III. Sentries
 
Cecilia McDowall, Century Dances: Trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon

I. Allemande
II. Menuet – ghost dance
III. Mazurka
IV. Tango
V. Last Dance 

Melchior Hoffmann, Trio Sonata in C minor

I. Adagio
II. Allegro
III. Adagio
IV. Vivace

Julius Röntgen, Trio for Flute, Oboe and Bassoon in G Major, Op. 86

I. Allegretto con Spirito
II. Poco andante, quasi una fantasia
III. Allegretto


The Tailleferre Ensemble

Emma Halnan and Nicola Crowe, flute
Nicola Hands and Penelope Smith, oboe / cor anglais
Jennifer Dunsmore and Helen Pierce, clarinet
Amy Thompson, bassoon
Lana Bode, piano
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Penelope Smith and Nicola Hands

Electronic press kit available for reviewers.
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Nimbus Alliance releases Philip Sawyers Concertos Album: Daniel Rowland and Maja Bogdanović with English Symphony Orchestra/English String Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Woods, 3 March 2023

14/12/2022

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Philip Sawyers (b. 1951)
Kenneth Woods, conductor
NI 6436

Double Concerto for Violin and Cello
1. I. Allegro moderato
2. II. Andante
3. III. Allegro vivo
Daniel Rowland, violin • Maja Bogdanović, cello
English Symphony Orchestra • Zoë Beyers, leader

4. Remembrance for Strings
English String Orchestra • Emily Davis, guest leader

Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
5. I. Allegro
6. II. Andante
7. III. Allegro moderato
Daniel Rowland, viola
English Symphony Orchestra • Zoë Beyers, leader

8. Octet
English Symphony Orchestra soloists


'In 2009 I was commissioned to write a cello concerto by the Sydenham International Music Festival for one of their rising stars, Maja Bogdanović. Since her musical and personal connection with the amazing violinist Daniel Rowland, it had been in my mind to write them a double concerto. Overshadowed by the famous Brahms Double Concerto, this was a somewhat daunting task. It is a piece which reflects ideas of journeys which develop initial ideas as the music unfolds and unlike previous concertos, there is no first movement cadenza. In 2020-21, a friend and colleague asked me if I would write a piece to mark the loss of his mother. He also wanted it, in some way, to be for both of his late parents. He told me how fond of my tone poem the Valley of Vision she was, so I ‘hid’ a few quotations from that piece in the new one. He also requested something akin in mood to Elgar's Elegy for Strings. The resulting composition, I hope, meets all these wishes.

The viola concerto was written in 2020. The idea came after attending recording sessions and performances of a double concerto for violin, viola and string orchestra by my fellow composer and friend David Matthews. The lovely playing of the viola part by Sarah-Jane Bradley set off some ideas for a viola concerto of my own.

In 2007 the mixed chamber music ensemble ‘Liquid Architecture’ commissioned me to write them an octet for their appearance at the Chelsea Schubert Festival. The Schubert Octet was on their programme so the instrumentation was pre-determined: clarinet, horn, bassoon, two violins, viola, cello and double bass. The piece is in one continuous movement in four sections: Adagio, Allegro, Andante and Allegro.' (Philip Sawyers)

This is the sixth title available in the Philip Sawyers series available on Nimbus Alliance.

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Electronic press kit available for review use.
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British Cello Works Volume 2: Smyth, Delius, Gibbs and Britten - Lionel Handy and Jennifer Walsh, released by Lyrita on 3 February 2023

2/12/2022

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SRCD412 British Cello Works Volume 2
Smyth, Delius, Gibbs, Britten
Lionel Handy, cello, Jennifer Walsh, piano

Also Available: British Cello Works, Volume 1
Lionel Handy, cello and Jennifer Walsh (née Hughes), piano
Lyrita Records SRCD.383; UPC: 5020926038326


'A key figure in the British musical renaissance, Dame ETHEL SMYTH (1858-1944) was critically acclaimed for her music and for her writing during her lifetime. Smyth’s Sonata in A minor for cello and piano, Op.5 was written in 1887 and published the following year by C. F. Peters in Leipzig. The score is dedicated to the German cellist Julius Klengel, whom she met through her friendship with the Röntgen family.

In her A minor Sonata, Op. 5, as in her earlier Sonata in C minor for cello and piano (1880), Ethel Smyth favours expressivity over virtuosity, emphasising the cello’s warm and lyrical tone. The piano enjoys a key role in all three movements and is often invited to present the chief subject matter rather than merely playing a supporting role accompanying the cello line. Thus, the piece constitutes a true ‘sonata for cello and piano’. Fluent and tightly constructed,the score reveals a gift for melody, pacing and characterisation which the composer would use to good advantage in her stage works.

One of Delius’s most satisfying chamber works, the Cello Sonata is distinguished by the expressive power of its material. Both instruments enter at the same time, the cello unfolding a songlike, long-limbed line, while the piano presents the main idea. A second key theme, introduced by the cello over the piano’s rippling, arpeggiated chords, is more forthright and sharply defined.

In the late 1940s and the 1950s, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs wrote a series of instrumental works, two of them written for, and dedicated to, the cellist Eileen Croxford. They consist of Three Pieces, Op. 121 and the Cello Sonata in E, Op. 132. The Sonata is dated 12 January 1951 and was published by Oxford University Press the following year. The opening Allegro moderato is a substantial movement in sonata form. Over a syncopated, chordal piano accompaniment, the cello unfurls a sweeping, unsettled melody which contains some unexpected tonal shifts and covers a wide dynamic range.

Britten’s Cello Sonata is a challenging, bravura piece that benefits immeasurably from the natural affinity between composer and player which would inspire Britten to produce four more major works for Rostropovich over the next decade. Rostropovich wrote of the work, ‘This is a sonata full of surprises, innovations for any cellist, gifts for the musician flowing freely from the horn of plenty. We meet not merely a novelty in finger-work but, what is most important, a new kind of expressive and profound dramatic composition.'

© Paul Conway, 2022


Electronic press kit available for reviewers
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Camille Saint-Saëns, Volume 4 - Duos for Harmonium and Piano - Miloš Milivojević, classical accordion and Simon Callaghan, piano, released by Nimbus Records on 3 February 2023

2/12/2022

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'The rise in popularity of the harmonium in the second half of the nineteenth century brought with it a large repertoire of chamber music, especially in France, where the instrument had been developed and refined. The combination of harmonium with piano was an especially popular one. As well as original compositions, the harmonium attracted composers making arrangements for reduced forces. The accordion, taking the role of the harmonium on these recordings, produces sound in a near identical way – air passes over vibrating free reeds made of metal.' Dr David Jones

It is the performers’ hope that the subtle shift from the 19th century French harmonium to a modern classical accordion will enable these delightful pieces to be performed more often and to gain the widest possible audience.


Electronic press kit available for reviewers.

ALBUM DETAILS

Camille Saint-Saëns. Volume 4: Duos for Harmonium and Piano
Miloš Milivojević, classical accordion
Simon Callaghan, piano

Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
1. Scherzo capriccioso Op. 36
2. Pastorale Op. 26

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
3. Duos Op. 8 : V. Scherzo

César Franck (1822-1890)
4. Prélude, fugue & variation Op. 18 [FWV.30]

5. Camille Saint-Saëns Duos Op. 8 : VI. Capriccio

6. Alexandre Guilmant Prière in F Op. 16

7. Camille Saint-Saëns Duos Op. 8 : III. Choral

8. Alexandre Guilmant Finale alla Schumann, Op. 83 - on a Languedoc Carol

Camille Saint-Saëns
9. Duos Op. 8 : II. Cavatina
10. Duos Op. 8 : I. Fantasia e fuga

11. Alexandre Guilmant Élégie Fugue Op. 44

12. Camille Saint-Saëns Duos Op. 8 : VI. Final

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Electronic press kit available for reviewers.
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SCHUMANN FIRST MASTERWORKS PLAYED BY VLADIMIR FELTSMAN RELEASING BY NIMBUS ALLIANCE ON 6 JANUARY 2023

2/12/2022

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Click above to download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music
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Nimbus Alliance releases a new album of Schumann piano music on 6 January 2023 (NI 6433), including rarely recorded early works, performed by internationally renowned Pianist and Conductor Vladimir Feltsman.
 
Variations on the name “Abegg” Op. 1 was written by the 20-year-old Schumann in 1830 and dedicated to the fictitious “Countess Pauline von Abegg”, whose last name provided Schumann with the theme for his variations – A, B-flat, E, and double G. Abegg Variations is a delightful, unpretentious, and elegant work free of the care, tension, and unresolvable conflicts that would haunt Schumann for the rest of his creative and personal life.
 
Papillons (Butterflies) comprises eleven seemingly unrelated parts and a grand finale that brings back the main tune (a waltz) of the opening piece, creating an arch that binds the set together. Like a phantasmagorical theatrical vision, the parts follow each other in a rapid succession, each having its own special character, texture, purpose, and expressiveness.
 
Davids bündlertänze (“Dances of the League of David”) Op. 6 was written in 1836. It includes 18 pieces grouped in two volumes of 9 pieces each. One of the most complex and sophisticated of Schumann’s works, it vividly articulates his essential creative principles, imagination, and unique approach to composing. It is a real artistic manifesto, a self-portrait of the artist.
 
Carnaval (Carnival), Op. 9 was written during 1834-35. Its twenty-one short pieces represent masked revellers during Carnival, the festive season that precedes the austerities of Lent. The music is filled with cryptograms, riddles, humour and misdirection, as if he was teasing the future ‘readers’ of his works, challenging them to figure out what is really going on and why; as he wrote, ‘deciphering my masked ball will be a real game for you’.
 
Arabeske (Arabesque) is a subtle, intimate and unpretentious work, beautifully crafted. The main episode is presented three times without any alteration. The two middle episodes are contrasting in character, and the conclusion is dreamy and hushed. Blumenstück has five thematic episodes (five petals), the second of which is presented three times, making it an eight-petalled flower. The form is unique and not easy to define—it just is a flower (‘A rose is a rose...’).
 
Nachtstücke Op. 23 (“Night Pieces”) was written in 1839 and published a year later. The title Nachtstücke suggested the distinction between the vocalized romantic idioms associated with night music such as the nocturnes of Field and Chopin and Schumann’s much darker visions.



Electronic press kit available for review use.
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