The UA Blog - Press Centre

SAYDISC RECORDS RELEASES MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES SET 8: BIG ROAD BLUES 1966-1972 - THE TRADITION CONTINUES

1/10/2022

Saydisc Records releases Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Set 8 - Big Road Blues 1966–1972: The Tradition Continues - on 2 September 2022.

The Matchbox Bluesmaster series continues with a further five six-album sets containing albums released by Saydisc on its then newly formed Matchbox label a decade earlier, which introduced collectors to many blues, hokum, ragtime and gospel artists that had not been re-issued at that time, as well as recordings made in the USA between 1966 and 1972 of singers in the classic blues tradition. The final set is devoted to Matchbox’s central role in the 1960’s British Blues Boom.

Available now from all major retailers and digital platforms.

Click above for more details and to purchase the CD set

LONDON JAZZ NEWS
londonjazznews.com/2022/09/12/matchbox-bluesmaster-series-set-8-big-road-blues-1966-1972-the-tradition-continues/

TAMAYO IKEDA: SCHUBERT LIEDER ARRANGED BY LISZT AND IMPROMPTUS, RELEASING ON 14 OCTOBER 2022

24/8/2022

Japanese pianist Tamayo Ikeda releases her album of Schubert Lieder in their virtuosic solo arragements by Franz Liszt, alongside Schubert's Impromptus D. 899, on 14 October 2022.

Pre-order on iTunes: click above

Album Details

1. Ständchen, S. 560/7: Schwanengesang No. 4
2. Der Lindenbaum, S. 561/7: Winterreise No. 5
3. Wasserflut, S. 561/6: Winterreise No. 6
4. Wohin? Müllerlieder von Franz Schubert, S.565/5: Die schöne Müllerin, No. 2
5. Die Müller und der Bach, Müllerlieder von Franz Schubert, S.565/2: Die schöne Müllerin, No. 19
6. Ave Maria: 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, No. 12, S. 558/12

7. Impromptu No. 1, Op. 90 in C Minor, D. 899: Allegro molto moderato
8. Impromptu No. 2 Op. 90 in E-flat Major, D. 899: Allegro
9. Impromptu No. 3 Op. 90 in G-flat Major, D. 899: Andante
10. Impromptu No. 4 Op. 90 in A-flat Major, D. 899: Allegretto

11. Auf dem Wasser zu Singen: 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 558/2
12. Der Erlkönig: 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 558/4
13. Meeres Stille: 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert, S. 558/5
14. Die Forelle: 6 Melodien von Franz Schubert, S. 563/6

All tracks arranged for solo piano by Franz Liszt except Nos. 7-10.

Tamayo Ikeda was born in Japan in 1971, and began playing piano aged three. She joined the Toho Gakuen institute 1986 and to completed her studies in France at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris, where she studied with Jacques Rouvier and chamber music with Régis Pasquier. She was awarded two first prizes before joining the class of Pascal Devoyon.

Tamayo Ikeda is the beneficiary of a grant from the APEF and the Société Générale Bank, and has received valuable advice from leading artists such as Dimitri Bashkirov, Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Léon Fleisher and Maria Joao Pirès. She won Second Prize and the special Claude Debussy Award at the Yvonne Lefébure International competition (no first prize awarded), a special prize at the Porto InternationalCcompetition, and both First Prize and Casadesus Prize at the Francis Poulenc International Competition.

Tamayo Ikeda has appeared at major European festivals, in South Africa, Russia, Indonesia, at New York's Carnegie Hall, and has performed on numerous television and radio programmes. Her discography includes works by Poulenc and Fauré (Arcobaleno), an album of Stockhausen Sonatas with clarinettist Jean-Philippe Vivier (Solstice), a previous Schubert album (Warner-Lontano) and, with violinist Gêrard Poulet, works by Stravinsky and Prokofiev.

Pre-Release Singles: Schubert, Der Erlkönig, arranged by Franz Liszt

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD
ON QOBUZ

Schubert, Impromptu No. 2, Op. 90

More details, digital pre-order and streaming links will be published here.

CARITAS CHAMBER CHOIR AND BENEDICT PREECE - THE ASH GROVE - RELEASING ON 26 AUGUST 2022, CHOATE, BELOVED LET US LOVE, 16 SEPTEMBER AND CARLSSON, UBI CARITAS, 14 OCTOBER

28/7/2022

The Caritas Chamber Choir and Benedict Preece's recording of traditional Welsh song The Ash Grove releases on all major digital service providers on 26 August 2022, followed by Eric Choate, Beloved, Let us Love, on 16 September, and Mikael Carlsson, Ubi Caritas, on 14 October. These singles are a prelude to Caritas' first Christmas album, to be released in early December 2022.

Click above to download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music

Click above to dowload on iTunes or stream on Apple Music.

Releasing on 7 October 2022. Click above to pre-order on iTunes.

The Ash Grove on Apple Music's Classical New Releases playlist

CRD RELEASES TELEMANN AND MOZART CANONS, WITH MAYA MAGUB, ON 7 OCTOBER 2022

21/7/2022

CRD Records releases violinist Maya Magub's album Canons on 7 October 2022. The album comprises Telemann's Six Canonic Sonatas and Mozart's Canons and Puzzle Canons. Maya is joined on the album by violinists Ben Jacobson, Marianne Thorsen and Jonathan Morton, with Jonathan Moerschel, viola and Richard Harwood, 'cello (CRD 3542).

Pre-order Canons on iTunes: click above

Electronic press kit available for reviewers.
More pre-order, download and streaming links will be published here.

Maya Magub writes about Canons:

'The Covid-19 pandemic impacted the arts in many diverse ways, not all detrimental. History has always seen the arts flourish in times of hardship, and this was no different, spawning some incredible innovations out of necessity. Soon after news of the virus’ spread came to light, the movie studios here in Los Angeles found a solution to the restraints of lockdowns and social distancing by helping players like me to set up temporary home studios. Miraculously, we were able to record full movie scores remotely, and I found myself learning basic engineering skills. Many late nights wrestling with unfamiliar technology were soon rewarded by the opportunity to listen back immediately to my – and only my – playing; an amazing journey of self-discovery as a player.

With this new skill-set that had become part of everyday life for many musicians, I was excited to realise that it was possible to play ‘together’ with other musicians, despite not sharing a physical space, by recording separately.

It suddenly occurred to me that the perfect fit for this ‘remote chamber music’ was the musical canon. As people all over the world were struggling, and failing, to play together in real time over the Internet, they found themselves plagued by echoes and delays. What could be more perfect than a musical form that itself seems to have evolved out of a long echo?! The musical canon needs an even greater time separation between identical lines, demanding that one voice must literally lead, and the next react to what has already been played. I realised that canons could be a great way to collaborate. And if I was not in the same room as another player, why not collaborate across continents as well as across my own city? This was an opportunity to play with some of my favourite players in the world!

In our new age of Zoom, this process became more like sending a ‘musical letter’ by mail, each of us recording as a leader and then waiting to follow and be inspired by another player in the next canon. The project evolved into a truly creative collaboration, with emails and internet calls across time zones about musical ideas as well as the technical process of recording. I remember discussing tempo preferences from my car, and emails about “alternating trills” at a particular cadence point... I even received a photo of a moose slipping on an icy road in Norway on the wintery day that Marianne returned her microphones to the hire company! Our patience for the much slower pace of recording was rewarded by the delight of ‘opening’ a new performance from another musician, and the luxury of time to fully absorb it and respond.

With the constraints of recording in separate spaces and very different acoustics came the opportunity to position microphones very closely. Without using too much of each performer’s live acoustic and through close microphone positioning, we were able to capture a very ‘real’ and immediate sound which communicates vividly and could later be put into the same virtual acoustic or musical ‘space’. And with that came extra silver linings: such as the ability to virtually ‘walk off stage’ (through fading out and speaker panning) during the unending ‘puzzle’ canons!

The final bonus was being able to mix in Dolby Atmos/Spatial Audio. We were suddenly able to make a huge feature out of our necessity to record separately, and it brought the project together in a remarkable way. With different voices seeming to appear from many different directions, there was now a whole extra dimension to the project that we had not envisioned at the start, and one that makes so much sense of the music; it’s hard to imagine a more fitting marriage of musical form and technical innovation. It was the most extraordinary and delightful experience to listen to Neil Stemp’s spatial mix for the first time and to be able to untangle each individual line so beautifully within the broader, more vertical structure. We had a lot of fun experimenting with virtual positioning of the many different voices in the multi-part canons and seeing how this affected the listener’s perception of the music.'

Maya Magub, violin

Pre-Release Singles

29 July: Telemann, Sonata No. 3 in D Major, TWV 40:120: I. Spirituoso

12 August: Telemann, Sonata No. 6 in A Minor, TWV 40:123: II. Soave
26 August: Mozart, O du eselhafter Martin (Jakob), K.560b
(arr. for violins by Maya Magub)
9 Sept: Mozart, Lacrimoso son'io, K.555
(arr. for violins by Maya Magub)
23 Sept: Mozart, Four Puzzle Canons, K.89:
Thebana bella cantus (arr. for strings by Maya Magub)

ULYSSES ARTS RELEASES SPINA AND BENIGNETTI PIANO DUO ALBUM: SCHUBERT FANTASIA, VARIATIONS AND TROUT QUINTET: 30 SEPTEMBER 2022

21/7/2022

Released on 30 September. Click above to pre-order on iTunes or stream on Apple Music.

Ulysses Arts releases a new album of piano duet music by Schubert, played by the Spina - Benignetti Duo - Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti - on 30 September 2022 (UA220030). The album includes The Trout Quintet in Hugo Ulrich's version, Fantasia in F Minor, D.940, and Eight Variations in A-flat, D.813. The Fantasia is pre-released as an EP on 26 August 2022.

Laureates of numerous international music competition, the Duo performs regularly throughout worldwide. Highlights include recitals for live shows ‘Génération Jeunes Interprètes’ and ‘Génération France Musique - le Live’ at the Auditorium of the Maison de la Radio in Paris, broadcasts for France Musique national radio, recitals for the ‘Jeunes Talents’ concert series in Paris and at the Osaka Izumi Hall in Japan, a South African tour including the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival, and their Mexico debut at the CENART Blas Galindo Auditorium in Mexico City and at Teatro de la Ciudad in Celaya. Their last tour in South Africa saw them playing to full venues in Johannesburg, Grahamstown, Hermanus, Potchefstroom, Pretoria, and several other cities. To quote the Potchefstroom Herald, 'their two pianos recital will be long-remembered'.

In 2019, Eleonora and Michele performed in Australia, with recitals in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Bateman’s Bay. In New Zealand, they performed at the Turner Center Kerikeri, Globe Theater Palmerston North, Wanganui Royal Opera House, and in Wellington, in China at the Guangzhou Opera House, Tianjin Grand Theatre, Shandong Grand Theatre, Nankai University, La Plantation Beijing, and Dalian Grand Theatere.

Eleonora and Michele are both professors at the Cité de la Musique et de la Danse in Soissons, France. The are regular invitees to give masterclasses in Italy, China, at the Colombes Summer International Academy in Paris, at the Summer Music Academy of Flaine (France), at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music in Melbourne and at Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

The Spina - Benignetti Piano Duo are Official Yamaha Artists and have been sponsored by them since 2017.

Fantasia in F minor on Spotify's
Classical New Releases playlist.

NIMBUS RELEASES RACHMANINOFF SYMPHONY NO. 2 FOR TWO PIANOS WITH SIMON CALLAGHAN AND HIROAKI TAKENOUCHI ON 4 NOVEMBER 2022

8/7/2022

4 November 2022
NI8110                      Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2 Op. 27 for Two Pianos
                                    Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi, pianos

'There is a tradition of composers arranging their own music for two pianos (Rachmaninoff did a lot), however he seems not to have arranged this particular Symphony Op.27 for two pianos! As it’s such great music, we decided to do it ourselves.' Hiro Takenouchi and Simon Callaghan

Nimbus Publishing

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 Op. 27 for Two Pianos 2 x Scores
                             Third Movement from Symphony No. 2 Op. 27 for Two Pianos 2 x Scores

Read Robert Hugill's review of Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi's live performance of Rachmaninov Symphony No .2 at St John's Smith Square, London

Click here to pre-order Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 for Two Pianos from iTunes

More pre-order, download and streaming links will be posted here.

NIMBUS RELEASES ADRIAN WILLIAMS SYMPHONY NO. 1 AND PORTRAITS OF NED KELLY CHAMBER CONCERTO WITH THE ENGLISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONDUCTED BY KENNETH WOODS ON 7 OCTOBER 2022

8/7/2022

Release Date 7 October 2022
NI6432
Adrian Williams, Symphony No. 1
Chamber Concerto: Portraits of Ned Kelly

English Symphony Orchestra; Kenneth Woods, conductor

Symphony No. 1 - The first movement is perhaps the most straightforward, being basically founded on two themes, the first of which appears on violins and violas at the outset and which is used whole or in part throughout the entire symphony. It appears triumphant near the very end of the finale together with that movement’s own unique themes. The shorter scherzo is fairly rumbustious and virtuosic, harmonically dominated by major 2nds and 3rds and combinations of these. At about this time I saw the harrowing images of the wild fires in Australia, so much tragic loss of life, loss of habitat, the koalas rescued, many of which were so badly burned they were unable to survive. These images so affected me that the emotional impact found its way into the third (slow) movement, which I see as an extended lament or memorial. I felt the impulse to include two long, still sections featuring basses; the deathly, lifelessness of the forests after the fires. The Finale needed an injection of energy from its opening bars. I knew I wanted the movement to reach towards a tumultuous conclusion and this would be a slow process of development from a wistful solo violin theme, the forward energy being held back for some 6 minutes, thereafter inching its way to a point of no return. Adrian Williams, composer

Portraits of Ned Kelly Chamber Concerto - This remarkable work grew from Adrian Williams’ friendship with, Sidney Nolan, the great Australian painter. They were neighbours in the Welsh Borders region for most of the last forty years. Williams was given the invitation to use the piano at Nolan’s house, The Rodd, now the home of the Sidney Nolan Trust.

The Chamber Concerto is a musical response to Nolan’s most famous series of paintings, which depict scenes from the wild life of Australian bush-ranger, Ned Kelly, an outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer who rampaged across Australia in the years prior to his arrest and execution in 1880. While the work is not strictly programmatic, the musical action does correspond in large part with the story of Kelly’s adventures, including his early criminal endeavours, his fierce encounters with the police, his capture, trial and execution. Kelly was the only member of his gang to survive their final encounter with law enforcement due to his use of a homemade set of body armour, which Nolan depicts to great effect in his images of Kelly. Williams’ music almost always has a virtuosic edge to it, but the demands placed on the musicians in this work are truly extraordinary, yet it is incredibly rewarding to play. In this sense, Williams’ designation of the work as a concerto is both telling and apt is it demands that everyone in the ensemble contributes their utmost in rhythmic precision, agility, accuracy in extremes of register and lyrical storytelling. A useful comparison might be made with Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel. Williams’ work is darker, stranger and funnier than Strauss’s with a pronounced surreal quality, but like its predecessor, it also becomes deeply poignant in its final pages. Kenneth Woods, conductor

Streaming and download links will be posted here.

Sidney Nolan, The Ned Kelly Collection

BBC Culture: Sidney Nolan and the Story of Australian Art

Sidney Nolan Trust

Adrian Williams (c. Dominic Horne)

Kenneth Woods (c. Benjamin Ealovega)

English Symphony Orchestra (c. Evan Dawson)

Sidney Nolan, The Burning Tree (c. The Estate of Sidney Nolan)

NIMBUS ALLIANCE RELEASES EMMA JOHNSON SONGS OF CELEBRATION - 2 SEPTEMBER 2022

8/7/2022

Download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music: click above

Releasing on 2 September 2022
Emma Johnson, Songs of Celebration
Nimbus Alliance NI6431

Emma Johnson, clarinet, John Lenehan, piano
Gloucester Cathedral Choir, directed by Adrian Partington

The Pied Piper, by Jonathan Dove, for Narrator, Clarinet, Recorders, Children’s Voices and Piano:

'There are many theories about the meaning of this story: it might relate to the plague, to a natural
disaster, emigration, or a dancing mania. The piper might be a shaman, a recruiting agent, or Death. Robert Browning’s popular 1842 poem tells the mediaeval tale in lively rhyme and in 2009, Emma Johnson approached me with an enticing idea: she would become the Pied Piper, using her clarinet as the pipe, could I set Browning’s poem to music? I suggested that it could be even more exciting if she were to narrate the poem herself if I could write gaps into the clarinet part, allowing her just enough time to speak.' Jonathan Dove

'In recent times girls have been invited to sing in church and cathedral choirs. It was with this in mind that I considered writing a Christmas song for clarinet and higher voices setting one of my favourite medieval poems: the 15th century I Sing of a Maiden that is Makeless. The poem tells of the miracle of the divine birth and always brings to mind music I heard once in a Coptic Christian church in Cairo. I have retained their original Middle Eastern flavour, giving us a glimpse of how the earliest church music might have sounded. Towards the end of the song, clarinet and voices climb higher and higher to express the poet’s joy at the birth of Christ. I became so fascinated with composing for clarinet and upper voices that I found myself writing three more songs, all celebrating the Christmas story, grouped under the title, Songs of Celebration.

It was very gratifying to see the children in Gloucester cathedral choir singing with gusto, relishing its beat boxing and glissandi which felt at once incongruously modern and yet perfectly apposite in the cathedral surroundings. Carol of the Bells takes nuggets of the famous Ukrainian Carol by Mykola Leontovich and transforms them into a peal of bells ringing. It demands virtuoso singing from the choir and I am in awe at the panache with which these young singers perform it. Coventry Carol is from the mystery play traditionally performed in Coventry, England, in the 16th century (author unknown). Herod has ordered the slaughter of all male children under the age of two years old and the carol is a lullaby sung by their mothers. This has to be the most disturbing story in the Bible. In my setting the clarinet part is intended to evoke Rachel weeping for her children "and refusing to be comforted because they are no more".

Silent Night regularly tops charts of best loved carols and was written in 1818 by the Austrian musician Franz Xaver Gruber with lyrics by Joseph Mohr. To create an atmosphere of calm, I invited the children to sing the carol softly, like a lullaby, accompanied by rocking, running notes from the clarinet which could represent a cradle swinging to and fro. Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring from 1723 completes this album’s celebration of the Christmas story. The English translation is by Robert Bridges but the German lyrics, Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Jesus remains my joy) perhaps give more of the sense of sheer happiness in his faith expressed by Bach in this chorale, with its continuous bouncing triplets lapping around a noble theme.' Emma Johnson

Electronic press kit available for review use.

Pre-release single from The Pied Piper:

Emma Johnson (© Frances Marshall)

Gloucester Cathedral Choir

John Lenehan (© Robert Piwko)

Jonathan Dove (© Marshall Light Studio)

Pied Piper Recorders

ALEX HEFFES FACE TO FACE ALBUM RE-MIXED WITH NEW CONTENT, RELEASED ON 7 OCTOBER 2022

8/7/2022

Alex Heffes re-releases his album Face to Face (PLAT14823) on 7 October 2022, re-mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos, and with new material, including for the first time on many digital sites: click here to discover more.

Click above to pre-order Face to Face on iTunes

Alex Heffes

Released on 5 August 2022

Released on 26 August

Released on 16 September

Face To Face is an album by Alex Heffes featuring collaborations with Matthew Barley, Tunde Jegede, Kawesa, Yasmin Levy, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Regina Spektor. Each track was improvised from scratch on the day of recording and features Alex on keyboards with one guest. Sessions were recorded in a series of spectacular locations including the giant ‘Turbine Hall’ of the Tate Gallery in London at night time (Matthew Barley), an empty glass roofed warehouse in the Bronx (Regina Spektor), Abbey Road’s legendary Studio 2 (Tunde Jegede) and on a hilltop overlooking Uganda’s capital city Kampala (Kawesa).

Alex comments: 'For years people asked me many variations of one particular question: “Where does your inspiration as a composer come from?” This inspired me to make a record - one that was entirely improvised - nothing prepared in advance. I chose six inspiring collaborators to record in six inspiring locations. My task: to commit to whatever happened in that space on that day, and make a piece of music. Face To Face is my answer to this question."

Why now? The 2022 mix celebrates ten years since the original release. The album has been fully re-mixed and mastered in stereo and Dolby Atmos to immerse the listener even more vividly into the atmosphere of the original sessions. The bonus track ‘Helios Rising’ has been newly included on the 2022 mix from the Abbey Road / Tunde Jegede sessions.

Face To Face was recorded and mixed by Grammy winning engineer and producer Peter Henderson and was captured on photo and film by photographer Rama Knight.

Alex Heffes on Apple Music Classical playlists

New in Classical

Minimalism

Classical Edge

Face to Face is distributed by Platoon.

More streaming links for the album and for pre-release singles will be posted here.

CRD RELEASES SOLO ORGAN ALBUM 'IN LONDON TOWN' WITH BENJAMIN SHEEN - 2 SEPTEMBER 2022

16/6/2022

Click above to download from iTunes or stream on Apple Music

CRD Records releases Benjamin Sheen's solo organ album In London Town: British Music from The Dobson Organ of St Thomas' Church Fifth Avenue , on 2 September 2022, including works by Elgar, Walton, Ireland, Whitlock, Judith Bingham and Andrew Carter (CRD3541).

In advance of the album launch, three singles will be released, starting with Elgar's Imperial March, arranged by George Martin, on 1 July 2022, and Carter's Lacrimae, in memory of John Scott, on 12 August.

ALBUM DETAILS

Walton, March for ‘A History of the English-Speaking Peoples’ (arr. Tom Winpenny)
Ireland, A Downland Suite: II. Elegy. Lento espressivo (arr. Alec Rowley)
Elgar, Cockaigne Overture, Op. 40 ‘In London Town’ (arr. Graham Sheen): first recording
Judith Bingham, St. Bride assisted by Angels
Percy Whitlock, Fantasie Choral No. 1 in D-flat major
Simon Preston, Alleluyas
Tallis, Hymn: Veni Redemptor Gentium
Howells, Six Pieces for Organ: III. Master Tallis’ Testament
Percy Whitlock, Organ Sonata in C Minor: Scherzetto
Andrew Carter, Lacrimae (written in memory of John Scott, 2015): first recording
Elgar, Imperial March, Op. 32 (arr. George Martin)

Benjamin Sheen

Benjamin Sheen, Sub-Organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and Organ Tutor at Oxford University ,has established himself as a leading concert and liturgical organists on both sides of the Atlantic.

Described as a “brilliant organist” by The New York Times, he is the 2013 winner of the Pierre S. du Pont First Prize in the inaugural Longwood Gardens Organ Competition, and that same year received Second Prize and the Jon Laukvik prize at the St. Albans International Organ Competition. He holds degrees from Oxford and New York's Juilliard School, is a prizewinning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and the 2011 recipient of the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal.

As a concert organist, Benjamin Sheen has performed throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Singapore, and South Africa. In 2019, he made his concerto debut with the Auckland Philharmonia
Orchestra alongside solo recitals in Christchurch and Wellington as well as throughout Australia. He has performed with notable orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia in the UK, and made guest appearances playing and directing with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York City. He has made several appearances on BBC radio and television and New York’s classical radio station WQXR in a complete performance of J.S. Bach’s Clavier-Übung III.

He has been a featured artist as both a conductor and organist in numerous conferences, including the 2015 Association of Anglican Musicians Conference and the 2018 American Guild of Organists Convention in Kansas City. Before returning home to Oxford, he spent eight years at the famed Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue in New York City as Associate Organist and was an integral part of the overall design and completion of the new Dobson organ. Following the untimely death of John Scott in 2015, he served as Acting Director of Music for the year. In January 2020, he returned to Britain to take up the position of Sub-Organist at his alma mater, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, where he combines a busy schedule of teaching and performing. He has appeared on several recordings from Saint Thomas Church under the direction of both John Scott and Jeremy Filsell, and has recently completed an album of Christmas music with the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. This album marks his debut solo album, featuring music from Great Britain.

In North America, Benjamin Sheen is represented exclusively by Philip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC.

NIMBUS RELEASES MAX KOWALSKI ENGLISH AND GERMAN SONG ALBUM - 2023

31/5/2022

Nimbus Records releases 'Max Kowalski: A Song Recital in German and English', in 2023 (date t.b.c), with baritone Simon Wallfisch, soprano Camille Butcher and Edward Rushton, piano

Max Kowalski (1882-1956) was a German composer, singer- and copyright lawyer - resident in the United Kingdom from 1939. He is the composer of the 'other' setting of Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire, written in 1912-13, alongside Arnold Schoenberg's more famous version from the same time. Kowalski became a prolific composer of Lieder of diverse influences, including from Japanese, Chinese, Danish, Arabic and French literature in addition to German.

Kowalski's music was published and performed widely in Germany until 1934 when, in common with other Jewish musicians, anti-Semitic Nazi-era laws destroyed his artistic life. Performances of Kowalski's work were then possible only in the private gatherings of the Jewish Kulturbund, in whose Frankfürt concerts he participated. In 1938, he was imprisoned in Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Released in 1939, and following the suicide of his wife, Anna, who had been imprisoned three times, he managed to emigrate with his daughter to London before World War Two began. In London, he first worked as a piano tuner and synagogal cantor, then established himself as a singing teacher. He continued to compose, but until now, none of his later songs in English have been published.

Full album details, download and streaming details will be published here.

EPK and pre-release listening links are available for press use.

NIMBUS RELEASES BRAHMS PIANO VARIATIONS DOUBLE ALBUM BY VLADIMIR FELTSMAN - 2023

31/5/2022

Vladimir Feltsman, born in 1952, is a Russian-American pianist of Lithuanian Jewish descent, noted for his devotion to the music of J.S. Bach. His father, composer Oscar Feltsman, was known in the Soviet Union for popular songs and musical comedies. Feltsman first performed with the Moscow Philharmonic aged eleven and studied at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky and the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Conservatories. In 1971, he won the Grand Prix at the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition in Paris, followed by tours in the former Soviet Union, Europe and Japan.

In 1979, out of growing discontent with Soviet dictatorship and rigid governmental control of the arts, Feltsman applied for an exit visa from the USSR. He was banned from performing in public immediately. It was only after eight years of struggle and artistic exile that he was granted permission to leave. Arriving in the United States in August 1987, Feltsman was greeted warmly at the White House: one month later, he performed his first concert in North America for President Ronald Reagan. On 11 November 1987, Feltsman's Carnegie Hall début established him as a major pianist in America. During his early years in the West, he was promoted as a Russian Romantic firebrand, yet his début recital consisted of works by Schubert, Schumann and Messiaen. By the mid-1990s, he devoted himself to Bach, offering expressively shaped and thoughtfully ornamented performances on modern piano. Then he returned to the standard repertory, including Haydn, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, in the big-toned, blockbuster-style that many had anticipated when he first arrived in the USA. He is a master of reinventing himself.

'Quite simply an amazing pianist!' The New York Times

'One of the supreme Bach keyboard exponents of our time!' Chicago Tribune

More recording details, download and streaming links will be posted here prior to release.
EPK and private pre-release listening links will be available for press use.

VLADIMIR FELTSMAN ON APPLE MUSIC

FOLLOW VLADIMIR FELTSMAN ON SPOTIFY

Lyrita releases The Songs of William Busch - Roderick Williams, Diana Moore, Robin Tritschler, John Reid - 5 August 2022

20/5/2022

William Busch

On 5 August 2022 Lyrita releases The Songs of William Busch, featuring Roderick Williams, baritone, Diana Moore, mezzo-soprano, Robin Tritschler, tenor, and John Reid, piano. The album comprises previously unperformed and unrecorded songs by British composer William Busch, alongside works by Gerald Finzi, Elizabeth Poston and Michael Head.

Lyrita's recording is a tribute from daughter to father, made possible through painstaking research and reconstruction by Julia Busch and Diana Moore. Busch, born in 1901, studied music in London, Berlin and the United States. His composition teachers included John Ireland and Bernard van Dieren. His pacifism during World War II resulted in decreased reception for his works. William died tragically on 30th January 1945 in Woolacombe, North Devon, England while he walked back across the headland from Ilfracombe Hospital after visiting his newly born daughter, Julia.

EPK and Soundcloud playlist available for press use.

'Small Wonder: The Songs of William Busch'
Maureen Buja, INTERLUDE, Hong Kong

'The gentle but distinctive voice of composer William Busch comes over strongly in this lovely recital. ... The performances are uniformly excellent.' (Robert Hugill)
Planet Hugill, 24 August 2022

Lyrita releases Daniel Jones Rediscovered Piano Works album on 1 July 2022

20/5/2022

Throughout his life, Welsh composer Daniel Jones (1912-93) claimed never to have written any solo piano music. Following extensive research at the National Archive, pianist Martin Jones and Nimbus / Lyrita's Music Director Adrian Farmer discovered hundreds of piano compositions spanning Daniel Jones’ entire life.

During the Second World War, Daniel Jones served as a captain in the Intelligence Corps (1940–46): his linguistic skills were required at Bletchley Park as a cryptographer and a decoder of Russian, Romanian and Japanese texts. After the War, Jones won increasing recognition as an innovative composer and enjoyed long friendships with artists including Vernon Watkins, Ceri Richards, Grace Williams and most closely, his lifelong school-friend Dylan Thomas. As well as composing song-settings for Thomas's Under Milk Wood and dedicating his Fourth Symphony to Thomas's memory in 1954, Jones edited collections of Thomas's poetry and prose, and in 1977 published the memoir, My Friend Dylan Thomas. Between 1945 and 1985 he composed his cycle of twelve symphonies, each centred on a different semi-tone of the chromatic scale.

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The four-album SRCD.2396 is accompanied by SRCD.410, a one-album compilation available as a mid-price CD, which introduces the scale and breadth this previously unknown music.

Alongside the album release, Nimbus Music Publishing is issuing three Piano Music of Daniel Jones volumes, all from signed, previously unpublished manuscripts.

Martin Jones

Electronic press kit and private Soundcloud listening link avaialble for press use.

Click below to download

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MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES 1, SET 7, RELEASES ON 6 MAY 2022

26/4/2022

Saydisc releases its seventh and final series of Matchbox Bluesmaster recordings on 6 May 2022 as a six-album set (MSESET7). The Matchbox Bluemaster series of Country Blues and Ragtime Blues Guitar albums comes from Saydisc''s archive of recordings, many available only on '78s until now.

Alongside the six-album set MSESET7 is a half-hour Blues Nuggets sample complication (MSES707).

Set 7 differs from Nos. 1-6 because it features Paul Oliver’s selection of sacred and secular tracks to illustrate his book Songsters and Saints - a ground-breaking book at the time. Paul’s wonderfully illuminating notes accompany all six albums.

The Set’s first two albums feature renowned guitarist and singer,Lonnie Johnson and the wild hokum music of The Famous Hokum Boys (Big Bill Broonzy, Georgia Tom and Frank Brasswell). The Songsters and Saints volumes 1 and 2 make up the final four albums in the Set under the headings:

Songsters: Dances and Travelling Shows, Comment, Parodies & Ballad Heroes

Saints: Baptist and Sanctified Preachers, Gospel Soloists and Evangelists,

Songsters: Medicine Show Songsters, Songsters East And West

Saints: The Straining Preachers, Saints of Church and Street

These final albums contain wonderful, iconic and memorable tracks which bring the original Bluesmaster series of 42 albums on seven sets to a rewarding and amazing climax.

These early Blues recordings on what was termed ‘race’ records by the white-owned record companies were intended for an exclusively black audience. These same companies issued ‘hillbilly’ music for the white audience. The importance of these early Blues and Gospel recordings cannot be underestimated: they form the backbone of rock ‘n’ roll, R & B, Motown and other popular forms.

Now for the first time on CD and digital sites, here is the opportunity for collectors new and old to acquire this ground-breaking series at an affordable price.

'A perfect conclusion to the series and offers the listener a variety of songs and spoken word that they will thoroughly enjoy. I highly recommend this and the entire series.'
Steve Jones, Bluesblast Magazine

'A strong overview of pre-blues black music.' LA Jazz Scene

London Jazz News

Blues in Britain - Set 7 review

Gilbert Guyonnet, ABS Magazine #78

'A rare insight into the world of black musicians of the day… an absolute goldmine of early blues. An absolute must… the blues here is timeless.' Blues In Britain

'This collection is a look as far back into blues history as blues history goes, it’s some of the very earliest recordings ever made… Wonderful blues'. Blues Matters

Saydisc's Matchbox Bluesmaster series is distributed by Nimbus Records.