The UA Blog - Press Centre

ULYSSES ARTS RELEASES FIVE NEW ALBUMS IN AUTUMN 2023, ALL INCLUDING WORLD PREMIÈRE RECORDINGS

11/8/2023

British label Ulysses Arts is releasing five new albums in autumn 2023, all including world première recordings. Founded as a digital consultancy for classical music in 2008, Ulysses Arts has developed into an innovative record label presenting albums dedicated to original programming and new works.

Ulysses Arts' director, James Ross, comments: 'This is the most ambitious series or releases in our history. We are proud to be presenting this outstanding range of new music, great performers and ensembles, including musicians from the UK, USA, Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Hungary. Collectively, these five albums include the work of nineteen living composers, showing classical music today as a thriving, evolving art form, full of energy and imagination.'

Click above covers and titles below for full details:

22 September: Paul Henley Piano Works
Duncan Honeybourne, piano

Piano Sonatas No. 1, 2 and 3; Five Epigrams; Suite; Adagietto

UA230060

29 September: Todd Mason Violin Concerto & Chamber Suite

Tosca Opdam, violin; Budapest Scoring Orchestra; Péter Illényi, conductor

UA230080

6 October: All Shall be Amen

Caritas Chamber Choir, directed by Benedict Preece

New choral music by Gabriel Jackson, Cecilia McDowall, Phillip Cooke, Sarah Cattley, Eric Choate, Benedict Preece, Neil Wright, Andrew Smith and David Conte.

UA230120

3 November: Neoteric Ensemble Volume 1
Toby Street, James Fountain, Sarah Field, Rob Buckland, Richard Watkin, Adrian Miotti

New music for brass and saxophone sextet by Rob Buckland, Misha Mullov-Abado, Andy Panayi, Charlotte Harding, Toby Street, Dan Jenkins and Mark Nightingale.

UA220001

10 November: Soliloquies

Songs by Messiaen, Chausson, Frank Bridge, Hanns Eisler and Paul Willot-Förster

Maria Hegele, mezzo-soprano and Anna Szałucka, with Connie Pharoah, viola and Emily Turkanik, violin.

UA230090

Eletronic press kits, listening links and CDs for all albums are available for reviewers from Ulysses Arts.

CARITAS CHAMBER CHOIR ALBUM 'ALL SHALL BE AMEN' RELEASED BY ULYSSES ARTS ON 6 OCTOBER 2023

22/7/2023

Click above to download on iTunes with digital booklet or stream on Apple Music

Caritas Chamber Choir, directed by Benedict Preece, releases its next album, All Shall be Amen, on 6 October 2023, in partnership with Platoon.

All Shall be Amen is Caritas' sixth album: it presents music by composers Cecilia McDowall, Eric Choate, Benedict Preece, Gabriel Jackson, Sarah Cattley, Phillip Cooke and Neil Wright, that Caritas has regularly performed and recorded, alongside new exciting collaborations with David Conte and Andrew Smith. The album’s sacred theme is broad, demonstrating an omnium-gatherum of new works, and contemporaneously, championing many fantastic living composers. The majority of its works are world première recordings.

Caritas is a British chamber choir, passionate about raising money for charities through singing, and performing to the highest level both in the UK and throughout Europe. The choir, founded by Benedict Preece, performs music from all periods in around twenty concerts per year around the UK and in France, as well as services in Canterbury Cathedral.

'Caritas Chamber Choir excels, always offering a beautiful choral sound with a wide dynamic palette, and with scrupulous attention to phrasing and articulation. ... This album is a triumph.' Jerónimo Marín, Ritmo, October 2023, p. 64

'Incandescent luminosity of the British chamber choir's singing and the stirring impact of its renditions. ... Throughout the release, Preece's masterful shaping of the choir's sound is well-evidenced by the delicate interweaving of voices and the fluidity with which changes in vocal dynamics are effected. Given the evidence at hand, contemporary choral composition and singing would seem to be thriving, given the high calibre of the writing and performances featured on the release.'
Ron Schepper, Textura, November 2023

All Shall be Amen: Track List

1. A Prayer of St Bernard of Clairvaux: Gabriel Jackson ........................... 2:29
2. O vos omnes: Neil Wright ........................................................................ 3:17
3. Ubi Caritas: Phillip Cooke ........................................................................ 4:42
4. Vinea mea electa: Andrew Smith ........................................................... 4:22
5. Prayer of Richard Rolle :Sarah Cattley .................................................. 3:21
6. My Eyes for Beauty pine: Sarah Cattley ................................................. 2:41
7. O Lord, support us: Sarah Cattley ......................................................... 3:23
8. Keep watch, dear Lord: Eric Choate ...................................................... 3:34
9. Adoro te devote: Gabriel Jackson .......................................................... 3:31
10. Crux fidelis: Neil Wright ......................................................................... 4:52
11. Nunc dimittis: Phillip Cooke .................................................................. 4:19
12. Rise heart; thy Lord is risen: Cecilia McDowall ................................... 4:09
13. Ave Maria: Neil Wright ............................................................................ 4:21
14. Pange lingua: Benedict Preece .............................................................. 4:24
15. O salutaris hostia; Gabriel Jackson ........................................................ 3:18
16. O sacrum convivium: Benedict Preece ................................................. 3:58
17. Locus iste: Phillip Cooke ......................................................................... 4:31
18. By Night while others soundly slept: David Conte .............................. 3:07
19. Night Prayer: David Conte ...................................................................... 4:36
20. All shall be Amen: Gabriel Jackson ........................................................ 6:02

Total time: 1:18:58

Pre-Released Singles

Benedict Preece, Pange lingua, 11 August 2023
Phillip Cooke, Ubi Caritas: 25 August 2023
Sarah Cattley, O Lord, Support Us: 8 September 2023
Cecilia McDowall, Rise Heart, thy Lord is Risen: 22 September 2023

Released on 11 August 2023

Benedict Preece

Benedict Preece sets the classic liturgical text Pange lingua 'accessibly and sympathetically, so many church choirs could sing my music. Pange lingua is a partner for my setting of Tantum Ergo, for performance during communion or Holy Week, or in concerts. All voice parts have lyrical lines, whether or not they are singing the melody. The final “Amen” quotes my Tantum Ergo, to connect both works.'

SOLILOQUIES - SONGS BY MESSIAEN, CHAUSSON, EISLER AND PAUL WILLOT-FÖRSTER WITH MARIA HEGELE AND ANNA SZAŁUCKA RELEASED ON 10 NOVEMBER 2023

13/7/2023

Click above to download from iTunes with digital booklet or stream on Apple Music

Ulysses Arts releases a new album of songs by Messiaen, Frank Bridge, Chausson, Eisler and new works by Paul Willot-Förster on Friday 10 November 2023, performed by mezzo-soprano Maria Hagele and pianist Anna Szałucka with Connie Pharoah, viola, and Emily Turkanik, violin.

SOLILOQUIES ALBUM DETAILS

OLIVIER MESSIAEN, Harawi - Chant d'amour et de mort
1: I. La ville qui dormait, toi 02:31
2: II. Bonjour toi, colombe verte 03:27
3: III. Montagnes 02:58

FRANK BRIDGE, Three Songs for Voice, Viola and Piano, H. 76
with Connie Pharoah, viola
4. I. Far, far from each other 03:33
5. II. Where is it that our soul doth go 03:08
6. III. Music when soft voices die 02:01

'CLEMENS CZERNIK'
with Emily Turkanik, violin
7. Graciella 02:02

PAUL WILLOT-FÖRSTER
with Emily Turkanik, violin
8. Selbstgespräche: I. Vorwort/Entschuldigung 01:48
9. Selbstgespräche: II. Schlaflied 03:05
10. Selbstgespräche: III. Vokalise 03:22
11. Selbstgespräche: IV. Weltende 01:45

ERNEST CHAUSSON, Serres chaudes, Op. 24
12. I. Serre chaude 03:03
13. II. Serre d'ennui 02:30
14. III. Lassitude 02:22
15. IV. Fauves las 01:51
16. V. Oraison 02:16

HANNS EISLER
17. Fünf Elegien No. 4: Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt 01:28
18. Der Pflaumenbaum 01:41
19. Faustus‘ Verzweiflung 00:50
20. Fünf Elegien, No. 1: Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen 00:53
21. Goethe-Fragment 01:45
22. Was ich dort gelebt 00:57

OLIVIER MESSIAEN, Harawi - Chant d'amour et de mort
23. X. Amour, oiseau d‘étoile 04:47
24. XI. Katchikatchi les étoiles 02:01
25. XII. Dans le noir 05:42

Click here for texts and translations

Maria Hegele

Anna Szałucka

Connie Pharoah

Emily Turkanik

Chausson, Lassitude, on Apple Music's New in Classical playlist

NEOTERIC ENSEMBLE DEBUT ALBUM RELEASED BY ULYSSES ARTS ON 3 NOVEMBER 2023

18/12/2022

Neoteric Ensemble - a sextet of leading London brass and saxophone players, releases its debut album, Neoteric Volume 1, on 3 November 2023, with music by Rob Buckland, Toby Street, Misha Mullov-Abado, Charlotte Harding, Andy Panayi, Dan Jenkins and Mark Nightingale. Neoteric will be performing live in London at their album launch concert at The Pheasantry, King's Road, Chelsea, on Wednesday 8 November, 8pm.

Click above to download with digital booklet on iTunes or stream on Apple Music

Neoteric Ensemble is a dynamic, expressive group of the UK’s leading brass and saxophone players founded by Toby Street and Adrian Miotti, also including James Fountain, principal trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra, Rob Buckland (saxophone), Sarah Field (saxophone and trumpet) and Richard Watkin (trombone).

Neoteric offers a contemporary fusion of classical and jazz influences through its distinct line-up of brass and saxophones, performing entirely new commissioned pieces. Our rules are simple: we seek out and perform the most contemporary compositions that inspire both us and our audiences. This is Neoteric's debut album, which has featured already on Scala Radio, Jazz FMN, BBC Radio 3's Record Review, Breakfast and live on InTune.

1-3. Soundscapes ROB BUCKLAND
1. i. Mojito
2. ii. Fjord
3. iii. Bosh

4. The Effra Parade MISHA MULLOV-ABBADO

5-8. Pandemic Suite ANDY PANAYI
5. i. Huanan Market
6. ii. The Traveller is Named
7. iii. The Traveller Goes Forth
8. iv. Lockdown Release

9. Neo CHARLOTTE HARDING

10. Karatina Market TOBY STREET

13. Bach in Barbados DAN JENKINS

12. Arriba MARK NIGHTINGALE

Martin Chiltern, London Jazz News, 16 October 2023

Video of the Day, JazzWise, 23 October 2023

'Neoteric Ensemble’s fusion of jazz and classical music definitely works and the standard of both the writing and the playing is exceptional throughout. ... This is one of the most successful and convincing projects of its kind.'
Ian Mann, The Jazzman, 3 November 2023

'The album offers modern compositions and first class playing in a highly distinctive soundscape. The brass and woodwind combinations are always innovative and they neatly fuse the contemporary classical with African and Latin jazz elements.'
Neil Duggan, All About Jazz, 12 November 2023

'A feast for the ears. Astonishing accuracy is interspersed with tight timing, crystal-clear playing and virtuosity.'
Mattie Poels, MusicFrames, 23 November 2023

'An important piece of modern music-making, Neoteric Ensemble Volume 1 is seriously enjoyable and capable of being enjoyed by the serious. It also sounds like they loved making it. In common with the best projects in contemporary culture, it speaks to the personal, artistic and wider societal benefits of curiosity, open-mindedness and engagement.'
David Shiers, London Jazz News, 25 November 2023

LISTEN TO NEOTERIC ENSEMBLE, VOLUME 1 ON SPOTIFY, APPLE MUSIC, AMAZON MUSIC, DEEZER, QOBUZ OR YOUTUBE

Electronic press kit available for review use: contact Ulysses Arts.

For UK press and invitations to Neoteric's album launch concert at The Pheasantry, King's Road, London SW3 on Wednesday 8 November, contact Emma Perry at ECN Music.

Listen to Neoteric Ensemble Volume 1 on BBC Radio 3 Record Review (starting at 57')

Neoteric Ensemble on Apple Music

Follow Neoteric Ensemble on Spotify

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

24/8/2022

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

Download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music: 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 International Ccompetition, 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.

'While there are countless recordings of Schubert's piano music available, a more perfect realization would be hard to imagine than Tamayo Ikeda's. On this stellar presentation of 4 Impromptus, op. 90 (D. 899) and Lieder transcriptions by Franz Liszt, the pianist, born in Japan in 1971, demonstrates a deep grasp of the composer's material. Every piece is executed with the utmost attention to tempo, pacing, and dynamics, and her treatments are distinguished throughout by nuance, tenderness, and delicacy of touch. His is a language with which she is clearly fluent.'

Textura, January 2023

'This beautiful recording by Tamayo Ikeda.'

Maureen Buja
Interlude (Hong Kong), 21 October 2023

The Record Geijutsu, February 2023

CD on sale via Ongaku No Tomo, Japan or King International

Electronic press kit available for reviewers from Ulysses Arts.

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.

NIMBUS RELEASES MAX KOWALSKI ENGLISH AND GERMAN SONG ALBUM - 5 MAY 2023

31/5/2022

Nimbus Records releases 'Max Kowalski: A Song Recital in German and English', on 5 May 2023, with baritone Simon Wallfisch, soprano Camille Butcher and Edward Rushton, piano (NI.8112).

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, 7 JULY 2023 (NI.6435)

31/5/2022

Vladimir Feltsman

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 former 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 Soviet Union, Europe and Japan.

In 1979, out of growing discontent with the Soviet Union's oppressive dictatorship and rigid governmental control of the arts, Feltsman applied for an exit visa. 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. In 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 remains a master of reinventing himself.

'Feltsman’s playing is frequently magisterial, with refulgent tone and a superbly assured way of layering the textures so that perspective is cast onto the music’s workings, which shine out loud and clear. ' Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine, 11 July 2023

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

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

EPK available from Ulysses Arts.

VLADIMIR FELTSMAN ON APPLE MUSIC

FOLLOW VLADIMIR FELTSMAN ON SPOTIFY

Lyrita releases first recordings of Rebecca Clarke's and William Busch's Complete Piano Music - 7 October 2022

20/5/2022

Lyrita releases first recordings of the complete piano music of Rebecca Clarke and William Busch in autumn 2022, performed by Simon Callaghan , on 7 October 2022.

Rebecca Clarke
Theme and Variations for Piano
'He Hath Filled the Hungry'
Cortège (for William Busch)

William Busch
Allegretto quasi Pastorale
Gigue
Theme, Variations and Fugue
Intermezzo
'Nicholas' Variations

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) and William Busch (1901-1945) were unlikely friends with Busch often visiting Clarke’s house. Busch first mentions Rebecca Clarke in his diaries on 26 October 1927: “Went to a Gordon Byron concert – Brosa, Rebecca Clarke and John Slater, violin, viola and flute respectively – and heard new and old works – nothing particular. Then to CMC at the Court House. The Brosa Quartet played the String Quartets by Bax, Honegger and Hindemith.” There are 22 more references to Clarke until 1937. Busch performed Clarke’s music in August 1932, when he wrote “Broadcast from London Regional – I read Rebecca Clarke’s piece from the Manuscript.” They certainly talked a lot about music, and Busch played through her piano pieces as she composed them. On 30 August 1932 – William gave the first performance of Clarke’s Cortege, then his own ‘Gigue’.

Alongside the album, Nimbus Music Publishing is releasing print editions of all three Rebecca Clarke piano works, and her Rhapsody for 'Cello and Piano (NMP1079), described by John York as 'possibly the greatest work for cello written in the 20th century'.

Rebecca Franks, BBC Music Magazine

Rebecca Clarke

William Busch

Pre-order and streaming links will be posted here. EPK and Soundcloud links available for press use.

Simon Callaghan (c. Kaupo Kikkas)

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.

Click image to enlarge

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.

Stuart Millson, 'Overlooked Orpheans', The Brazen Head, 23 Dec 2022

Martin Jones

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

Click below to download

iTUNES

QOBUZ

LYRITA RELEASES ALVARS, DUSSEK AND BOCHSA FOUR-HAND PIANO ALBUM WITH SIMON CALLAGHAN AND CLÍODNA SHANAHAN - 3 JUNE 2022

25/4/2022

On 3 June 2022 Lyrita Records will release a new album of four-hand piano music of Elias Parish Alvars (1808-49), hailed by Berlioz as 'the Liszt of the Harp', alongside works by Jan Dussek and Nicholas-Charles Bochsa. Alvars made his reputation as a harpist, but he was also a virtuoso pianist - the legacy celebrated in this recording by Simon Callaghan and Clíodna Shanahan (SRCD.411).

Click above to download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music

Simon Callaghan

Clíodna Shanahan

Click to set custom HTML

Accompanying the album, Nimbus Publishing is issuing Elias Parish Alvars Overture to the Opera The Legend of Teignmouth, Op. 47 For Piano Duet (NMP1142) and Grand Duo Concertante, Op.65 on motifs from Donizetti’s ‘Linda di Chamounix’ for Two Pianos or Piano & Harp (NMP1143).

THOMAS DE HARTMANN NEW ALBUM FROM NIMBUS RECORDS ON 3 JUNE 2022 - LVIV NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, ELAN SICROFF AND TIAN HUI NG

18/4/2022

On 3 June 2022, Nimbus Records releases a new album of Thomas de Hartmann's orchestral music: Symphonie-Poème No. 3, Piano Concerto and Scherzo fantastique, performed by the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine and pianist Elan Sicroff, conducted by Tian Hui Ng (NI.6429).

Elan Sicroff has been the world's leading performer-advocate of Hartmann's music for almost fourty years. A pupil of Hartmann's widow, Olga, in the late 1970s, Sicroff has recorded many of his works, including the seven-volume Thomas de Hartmann Project, which he initiated in 2006. This now includes a large amout of Hartmann's orchestral, chamber and piano works, and songs.

Click above to download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music

The Thomas de Hartmann project - Nimbus Records and Elan Sicroff
Gramophone Magazine, April 2021

Remy Franck, Pizzicato Magazine, 31 May 2022 Maureen Buja, Interlude HK, 26 June 2022

'An album recorded by inspired musicians for enthusiastic and adventurous listeners who are looking for depth in music... Beautifully performed, you really have a jewel of a CD in your hands.' Mattie Poels, Music Frames

Phillip Scott, Limelight: 25 August 2022

Stuart Millson, The Quarterly Review, August 2022

Download now:
iTunes
Qobuz
Amazon Music

NIMBUS RECORDS AND ULYSSES ARTS ANNOUCE PRESS AND COMMUNICATIONS PARTNERSHIP FROM MARCH 2022

4/3/2022

The Nimbus Records Group and Ulysses Arts are pleased to announce a press and publicity partnership, starting in March 2022. James Ross, Ulysses Arts' director, comments:

'I have been listening to recordings made by Nimbus, Lyrita and Prima Voce for many years with pleasure and admiration. It is a pleasure for Ulysses Arts to be working alongside Nimbus and its partner labels to maximise the visibility and appreciation of the imaginative recordings and meticulous work presented in its albums.'

Ulysses Arts will provide electronic press kits for Nimbus and Lyrita recordings, alongside press releases on our website.

ABLAZE RECORDS RELEASES ORCHESTRAL MASTERS VOL. 8 AND TREMOR, WITH ROBERT NAIRN, IN MARCH 2022

24/2/2022

US-based contemporary classical label Ablaze Records releases Orchestral Masters Vol. 8 on 11 March 2022 with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robert Kružík, and Tremor, featuring double bass soloist Robert Nairn, on 18 March 2022, in partnership with Ulysses Arts.

Apple Music and iTunes: click above

Apple Music and iTunes: click above.

QOBUZ

ORCHESTRAL MASTERS VOL. 8

TREMOR

Ulysses Arts lauches Ich spiele noch by Johannes Schlecht on 4 March 2022

16/2/2022

Ulysses Arts releases German composerJohannes Schlecht's album Ich spiele noch on Friday 4 March 2022, with Landeskapelle Eisenach (now Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach) conducted by Wolfgang Wappler and Tetsuro Ban , soprano Susann Möbius-Huss and 'cellist Grita Bühler.

Click above to download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music

Johannes Schlecht comments:

'At some point, many years ago, I had my first contact with poet Rose Ausländer during a night drive. On the radio. I heard her talk about herself andher exciting, fulfilling life, I heard her read from her poems. Her voice sounded cheerful and lovable, friendly and comforting, modest and humble, amazed and hopeful, curious and lively. This voice came from a woman who had been bed-ridden for years, sick, in a Jewish old people’s home in Düsseldorf. I was impressed and touched by the clarity and simplicity of her language and above all, the brevity in which she said the important, essential and necessary. For a long time I had the idea of composing poems by Rose Ausländer, of tracking down the melody of her language and poetry.

For me that means composing by listening to the melody of the language and bringing it to life musically. In this sense, as a composer, I see myself as a creator and mediator. I put my personal, subjective view of poetry up for discussion: I try to provide a comment that brings the word, at best read or spoken, sung to another level of experience and feeling. Understanding the word, initially an ostensibly intellectual means of communication, becomes unimportant. It took me years to tackle Rose Ausländer’s poems. In between, to name just two important works, were the composition of ten songs based on poems by Paul Celan. For this cycle I received the last Hanns-Eisler Composition Prize from GDR Radio in 1989. Paul Celan, just like Rose Ausländer, comes from that melting-pot and centre of Eastern Jewish intellectual life - Cernowitz. I have developed a great affinity for this way of thinking and feeling. And in between there was also the composition of the small volume “DIR”, which was composed and drawn by Heinrich Vogeler, fourteen very soft, tender, sad-melancholy love poems for voice, cello and viola.'

Album Details

Ich spiele noch: Sieben Stücke für Singstimme, Flüte, Oboe, Fagott, Violoncello und Streichorchester nach Texten von Rose Ausländer
Susann Möbius–Huss – Sopran; Landeskapelle Eisenach, Leitung: Wolfgang Wappler

Streichquartett Nr. 1
i. nicht zu schnell
ii. sehr langsam
iii. unglücklicher Walzer mit glücklichem Ausgang
iv. schnell, ausgelassen

Divertimento Streichquartett der Landeskapelle Eisenach:
Simona Balan, Violine; Silvia Peter, Violine; Gheorghe Balan, Viola; Roxana Mereutza, Violoncello

Kommen und Gehen – Orchestermusik für Sophia
i. Sehr ruhig
ii. Ruhige Viertel
iii. Sehr ruhig

Landeskapelle Eisenach, Leitung: Tetsuro Ban

Kommentare zu einem Thema von Max Reger – für Violoncello allein
i. sehr frei, so langsam wie m glich
ii. gehend
iii. sehr ruhig, sempre col legno schnell, hüpfend
iv. sehr langsam
v. gehend
vi. Thema, Largo

Grita Bühler, Violoncello

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