The UA Blog - Press Centre

NIMBUS RELEASES DISCOVER JEAN FRANÇAIX: THE BEST OF MARTIN JONES, ON 2 MAY 2025

10/2/2025

Nimbus Records releases Discover Jean Françaix: The Best of Martin Jones, on 2 May 2025 (NI.7732). The album is a compilation of Martin Jones's acclaimed three-volume set of Jean Françaix's complete piano music.

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

Jean René Désiré Françaix was born in Le Mans on 23 May 1912 into a musical family – his father was a composer and pianist, his mother a singing teacher.

Françaix was a prolific composer, whose output amounts to over 200 works in a wide range of genres. His œuvre includes symphonies and cantatas, but he was most prolific in writing for the forces of soloist and orchestra. He first made his name in 1932, with a performance of his Eight Bagatelles for piano and string quartet at the International Society for Contemporary Music Festival in Vienna. His language is resolutely tonal, with a generally restricted but effective harmonic vocabulary… Charm wit and elegance, often with a sense of wry detachment, inform his scores, which are distinguished by their precision and clarity. Though an archetypally French composer, he exhibited a cheerful eclecticism, ranging over the Western musical tradition in all its diversity, which chimes with the ‘magpie’ instincts of his compatriots Poulenc and Ibert, for example.

The piano occupies a prime position in Françaix’s output, whether as a concertante instrument or in the more intimate forms of chamber music and instrumental pieces for solo piano and duets. He used it principally as a vehicle for exhibiting his virtuosity, yet his piano scores contain several examples of introspection and nostalgic reflection.
© Paul Conway

Celebrated British pianist Martin Jones recorded the complete piano music of Jean Françaix (1912-1997) in 2012 on 3 CDs. This is a compilation of his best music, in which wit, sophistication and extreme virtuosity combine in one of the twentieth century’s instantly recognisable voices.

Martin Jones has been one of Britain’s most highly regarded solo pianists since first coming to international attention in 1968 when he received the Dame Myra Hess Award. The same year he made his London debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and his New York debut at Carnegie Hall, and ever since has been in demand for recitals and concerto performances on both sides of the Atlantic.

He is a prolific recording artist and his many major projects include the complete solo piano works of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy, Grainger, Stravinsky, Korngold, Szymanowski, Granados, Guastavino, Mompou, Ernesto Halffter, Joaquin Nin, Has Gál, Jean Françaix, Jean Roger-Ducasse, and Alan Richardson.

Electronic press kit & listening links available for reviewers and radio producers from Ulysses Arts.

LYRITA RELEASES BRITISH PIANO CONCERTOS: MUSIC BY JOHN ADDISON, PHILIP CANNON AND FRANCIS CHAGRIN, ON 2 MAY 2025

10/2/2025

Lyrita Recorded Edition releases British Piano Concertos on 2 May 2025, with music by John Addison, Philip Cannon and Francis Chagrin, performed by soloist Simon Callaghan with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by William Boughton (SRCD.444)

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

Philip Cannon’s Concertino for piano and strings (1951) dates from his formative years. It was written for the Petersfield Festival, where it was premiered on 27 January 1951 by soloist Joseph Cooper, with the Petersfield Orchestra conducted by Kathleen Merritt. This lively, neo-classical piece has achieved over a thousand performances internationally.

Though John Addison’s Concertino for piano and orchestra is, for the most part, couched in a light-hearted language, it is the product of a serious, and unfailingly inventive, approach to keyboard and orchestral writing. Speaking of the work to Lesie Ayre of the London Evening News, the composer remarked that, ‘it is a real concerto in the full sense of the word...I would not be ashamed to show the work to any first-class pianist’.

Francis Chagrin maintained an intensely practical and unpretentious attitude towards his own craft, observing that, ‘My music is not for first performances– it is just to be played’. His Piano Concerto was first performed by soloist Franz Osborn, with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer, at an SPNM Experimental Rehearsal held at the Royal College of Music on 4 February 1944.

Conversation Piece by John Addison was written in 1958 to a commission from the BBC Concert Orchestra for that year’s British Light Music Festival. John Addison felt that, by the late-1950s, too great a divide had opened up between serious and light music: ‘Concert goers think contemporary music is so alarmingly serious that when confronted with a mildly witty turn of phrase, they assume something has gone wrong. I remember the astonished sigh of relief when, in the course of introducing one of my chamber works, I told the audience I would not mind if they smiled’. In Conversation Piece, Addison exploits to the full his talent to amuse and divert.

Simon Callaghan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, in parallel with a highly successful career as a recording artist. A favourite performer at the internationally-renowned Husum Festival of Piano Rarities in Germany, Callaghan’s recent sell-out concert was praised by VAN Magazine as a “cleverly curated recital full of discoveries” and by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “technically brilliant”.

Callaghan has developed a wide following and appears on a regular basis in the UK’s major concert halls, and on tours to Asia, North America and Europe. Recital partners have included Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Nicholas Daniel, Adrian Brendel, Feng Ning, Samuel West, Prunella Scales and Timothy West. BBC Young Musician of the Year Finalist Coco Tomita and Callaghan have a successful duo partnership which saw their first record released in 2022 on Orchid Classics. He is also a founding member of the London Piano Quartet, joining colleagues from the renowned Piatti Quartet to showcase the repertoire for piano quartet with a particular focus on revivifying works that have fallen into obscurity.

Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio presenters available from Ulysses Arts.

NIMBUS RECORDS RELEASES JULIUS RÖNTGEN PIANO MUSIC 6 WITH MARK ANDERSON ON 4 APRIL 2025

18/1/2025

Click above to pre-order on iTunes

Nimbus Records releases Julius Röntgen Piano Music Volume 6, performed by Mark Anderson, on 4 April 2025 (NI 8117).

'I must confess that I’ve been following this series since it began and I’ve been very impressed with all of the discs so far.' Jonathan Welsh, MusicWeb International

This recording provides the listener with a chronological overview of Julius Röntgen’s creative output, from his earliest published composition, written in 1864—when he was just nine years old—to pieces written as a mature composer five decades later. The latter reveals a composer of outstanding skill, diverse influences, and a master of musical forms and compositional techniques. It has been said that “One would look in vain for anything truly original or shocking in Röntgen’s output....”. However, there are works included on this recording that dispel that assumption. This pianist would argue that three works stand out, which are truly unique and powerfully original. The first is a short Toccata, which is something of a mystery work having never been published and lacking a date of composition. The others are the Sonata in C Minor from 1877 and the Passacaglia and Fugue of 1911. It is the latter that most decidedly distinguishes Röntgen as having a truly original voice. Julius Röntgen composed over 600 works and is especially known for his concertos, symphonies and chamber music. His piano music has remained unjustifiably neglected since he died in 1932. © Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson

Pianist Mark Anderson’s recordings and performances have met with widespread critical acclaim. Since his successes at the 1993 Leeds (U.K.) and 1994 William Kapell (U.S.) International Piano Competitions, Mark Anderson has appeared frequently as recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. He has performed in Japan, throughout much of Europe and Great Britain, Ireland and North America. Mark Anderson has collaborated with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Nicholas McCegan, William Boughton, George Cleve, and Adam Fischer. Mark given recitals at New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Weill Hall, the Kennedy Centre and the Phillips Gallery in Washington D.C., London's Wigmore Hall and Zurich's Tonhalle and elsewhere throughout Europe and North America. His solo and concerto performances are complimented by chamber music work, most recently with the newly formed Röntgen Piano Trio.

NIMBUS MUSIC PUBLISHING

Alongside this album, Nimbus Music Publishing is publishing sheet music for Julius Röntgen's Passacaglia und Fuge (NMP 1292), Piano Sonata in C minor (NMP 1293), and Toccata (NMP 1294).

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

Electronic press kit for reviewiers and radio producers: contact Ulysses Arts.

ULYSSES ARTS RELEASES SOUND MEDITATION: PIANO DUOS BY DEBUSSY, RAVEL AND ČIURLIONIS, ON 18 APRIL 2025

20/9/2024

Ulysses Arts releases Piano Phase Project's album Sound Meditation, with works for piano duo by Debussy, Ravel and Čiurlionis, performed by Monika Lozinskienė and Anna Szałucka, on 18 April 2025 (UA250010).

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

Monika Lozinskienė and Anna Szałucka

Anna Szałucka's and Monika Lozinskienė's first creative music installations, Summertime and Piano Phase, were showcased in Lithuania at Vilnius's MO Museum in 2021 and 2022. Monika's and Anna's varied individual experiences contribute to the Duo's projects, providing a dynamic energy and interpretational uniqueness. Monika is a co-founder of the international piano festival Kaunas Piano Fest, a producer of the openARTed podcast, and the curator of the online international platform PianoBuffs. Anna, in addition to creating electronic music, is a chamber music lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music and has released solo and chamber music albums with labels such as October House Records, Naxos, and LINN.

In 2022, the Duo became artists of London's City Music Foundation, performing in venues such as St. Martin in the Fields, Wiltshire Music Centre, Sienko Gallery, and at the Bloomsbury Festival. They have also performed at the CLASSICAL:NEXT conference in Hanover and during Kaunas 2022 European Capital of Culture. In 2024, they toured Scotland as laureates of the Tunnel Trust Award.

Piano Phase Project creates original piano arrangements, composes new music, and collaborates with filmmakers, visual artists, jazz musicians, and electronic music producers. Among their notable projects are Sound Meditation, an artistic movie filmed in the forests of Western Canada, which fuses classical and electronic music with visual arts, and also their new arrangement of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring for piano four-hands, percussion and dance.

This album is financed partly by the Vilnius Municipality Culture Fund, Lithuanian Council for Culture and The City Music Foundation.

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Pre-release singles

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NIMBUS ALLIANCE RELEASES ROBERT BLOCKER COMTEMPORARY CHARACTER PIECES FOR PIANO ON 1 NOVEMBER 2024

4/9/2024

Nimbus Alliance releases Robert Blocker: Contemporary Character Pieces for PIano, with works by eight composers, on 1 November 2024 (NI 6453).

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“The romantic character pieces of Schumann and Brahms have been my musical companions since childhood. In earlier years, I was immersed in their emotional content. The craft, especially the economy of scale and refinement of compositional technique, captured my attention as a college student…Throughout my career, I have championed new music created by fellow students and colleagues. Shortly after assuming the deanship of the Yale School of Music, it occurred to me that the expansive piano repertoire could be enriched further by contemporary character pieces. These would be in the tradition of the romantic era, each one being three to five minutes in length with an inherent emotional impulse...When asked to compose a contemporary character piece that I would perform and record, my faculty colleagues and friends were most gracious and responded affirmatively…My gratitude and admiration foreach of them is boundless not only for their personal encouragement but also for this significant contribution to the piano repertoire and our musical life.” © Robert Blocker

This release includes compositions from Ezra Laderman (Decade), David Lang (Winter Piano), Joseph Schwantner (Palindrome’s Dance), Warren Lee (Three Novelettes), Martin Bresnick (Extrana Devocion), Paul Reale (The Pooka’s Revenge), Aaron Jay Kernis (Toward The Setting Sun) and Christopher Theofanidis (Wake Up, Calleth The Voice).

“Robert Blocker began his study of the instrument at age five, presenting his first public recital two years later. Following baccalaureate studies at Furman University, Blocker earned master’s and doctoral degrees in piano performance at the University of North Texas under the tutelage of the eminent American pianist Richard Cass.”

Electronic press kit and pre-release listening link available for reviewers and radio producers from Ulysses Arts Ltd.

LYRITA RELEASES GRAHAM HAIR PIANO MUSIC ALBUM ON 1 NOVEMBER 2024, PERFORMED BY MARTIN JONES

4/9/2024

Lyrita Records releases its Graham Hair Piano Music album on 1 November 2024, performed by Martin Jones (SRCD 436).

Graham Hair

Composer Graham Hair writes: “I met pianist Martin Jones as a consequence of writing the Concert Study Wild Cherries and Honeycomb as a test-piece for the Scottish International Piano Competition, in 1998. Martin heard about this piece from the chairman of the competition jury, Bryce Morrison, and this eventually led to my writing more Concert Studies over the next fifteen years, as well as the other works on this album.

Twelve Transcendental Concert Studies on Themes from the Australian Poets, refers specifically to the post-Lisztian Tradition of virtuoso pianism (including such figures as Australian pianist Percy Grainger), which has always seemed to me a corecomponent of Martin Jones’s pianism. The titles are all drawn either from specific poems or from specific passages within those poems.

Two other commissions are also represented: Dances and Devilment and Sunlit Airs, commissioned by the Australian pianist Michael Harvey in 2000, and Under Aldebaran, commissioned much earlier, by the Sydney International Piano Competition, during the mid-1980s. All of the other works were written between 2008 to 2024.

Étude-variations: Under Aldebaran is also a Concert Study, based on the poem by Australian poet James McAuley, but is very different from the collection of the ‘Transcendental’ 12. It’s the only atonal piece in this album, and by far the most complicated in its detail, and was written many years earlier.

Rococo Fantasies is a set of 11 bagatelles. Each moves from one tone-centre to another: often via ‘chromatic mediant’ harmony (a major or minor third above or below the tone-centre). Book One contains 6 of them. They endeavour to create a variety of idiosyncratic rhetorical characters by swerving between multiple metrical, thematic and textural ideas rapidly in the course of a few measures in some of the pieces, but beavering away at just one or two (over rapidly modulating harmonic changes) in others.

Passacaglia on the chorale ‘Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist’ by J.S. Bach is based on a chorale melody derived from the famous plainsong hymn Veni Creator Spiritus. This is the ‘ground bass’ on which this Passacaglia is built. However, like many Passacaglias in the Canonic Repertoire, the theme often strays into the upper voices of the texture, and because of the relative length of the theme, it has something of the sense of a set of variations as much as of a Passacaglia.

…During recent times (2008-2024), I have completed more compositions than in all the previous periods put together, though in some cases that has meant completing projects started earlier: in a time characterised by the decay, and in many cases the collapse, of the institutions which have dominated political, social, economic and cultural life and practice during the three post-war generations (1950-2024). The subtitle of my forthcoming book, The Scottish Voices Reader, puts it thus: Cultivating the Classical Traditions in the Age of the War on Everything.” © Graham Hair

'A revelation of 21st-century pianism, both in Hair’s writing and in Jones’ playing.'
Maureen Buja, Interlude, 23 December 2024

Martin Jones has been one of Britain’s most highly regarded solo pianists since first coming to international attention in 1968 when he received the Dame Myra Hess Award. The same year he made his London debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and his New York debut at Carnegie Hall, and ever since has been in demand for recitals and concerto performances in Europe, Russia, Australia, Canada, North & South America. He has made over 90 recordings with Nimbus Records exploring music that is not often played including the complete works of 18 composers.

'Martin Jones is a skilled and sensitive artist with an imaginative response that is faultless.' Gramophone

Electronic press kit and listening link available from Ulysses Arts Ltd.

VLADIMIR FELTSMAN A TRIBUTE TO MOZART ALBUM RELEASED BY NIMBUS ON 6 SEPTEMBER 2024

24/6/2024

Vladimir Feltsman's A Tribute to Mozart piano album (NI.6448) is released by Nimbus Alliance on 6 September 2024.

In addition to sonatas, variations, and concertos for piano and orchestra, Mozart wrote numerous works for solo piano: fantasias, rondos, adagios, and other assorted pieces of short and moderate length. We don’t know exactly why these works were written, but we know that Mozart had to come up with new material for his many public and private appearances as a composer and performer.

In Mozart's time, composers inveriably were also performers. Any composition was also a potential source of income from publication and from patrons and friends to whom the works were dedicated. No matter why these marvellous works were written, we are lucky to have them.

'Fantasy in C minor K. 475 - Both C minor and E-flat major have three flats, and for Mozart these keys represent the Masonic values of “Strength, Beauty, and Wisdom,” and carry certain extra-musical and mystical implications… The beginning is dark and ominous… We are gently brought into a second episode in D major with a simple tune, gallant in style and execution. Out of nowhere there is an intrusion, a call of fate that breaks the peaceful atmosphere of the previous episode… This Fantasy ends with an ecstatic upsurge of energy in C minor scales, from low C in the bass to high C on top. Two and a half centuries later, we are still left wondering what just happened.

Fantasy in D minor K. 397… It is another unfinished work; the manuscripts lost. The last ten bars were supplied by the composer A.E. Müller, an admirer of Mozart, and this became the standard version as published by Hertel. This Fantasy is a short work, complex and intriguing.

Nine Variations on a Minuet by Duport K. 573 - Towards the end of the 18th century, variations and easy dances for keyboard were in great demand. Countless sets of variations of varying quality by diverse composers were published and sold to the public. Naturally, Mozart did not pass up this opportunity to make money and he wrote fifteen sets of variations for piano, mostly on borrowed themes. K. 573 is one such set. Mozart plays around with his material from the very beginning; the rhythmic formula of the main theme is altered right away in the fifth bar. Different pianistic textures are used in each of the nine variations, the first mimicking piano exercises and the others utilizing arpeggios, repeated notes, broken octaves, scales, double notes and what not. The obligatory slow variation “Adagio” is a parody, a spoof of Italian operatic tradition, with a Diva showing off her amazing vocal ability to an adoring public. In the last variation the time changes briskly from 3 to 2.' © Vladimir Feltsman

Gary Lemco, Audiophile Audition, 15 September 2024

VLADIMIR FELTSMAN Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and constantly interesting musicians of our time. His vast repertoire encompasses music from the Baroque to 20th-century composers. A regular guest soloist with leading symphony orchestras in the United States and abroad, he appears in prestigious concert series and music festivals all over the world.

Born in Moscow in 1952, Mr Feltsman made his debut with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra aged 11. In 1969, he entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory of Music to study piano under the guidance of Professor Jacob Flier. His debut at Carnegie Hall established him as a major pianist on the American and international scene.

Electronic press kit for reviewers and radio presenters available from Ulysses Arts Ltd.

TAMAYO IKEDA LE NOCTURNE ALBUM OF SOLO PIANO MUSIC BY FAURÉ AND CHOPIN RELEASING ON 11 OCTOBER 2024 BY ULYSSES ARTS

5/6/2024

Tamayo Ikeda, originally from Japan and resident in Paris, releases her latest solo piano album, Le Nocturne, on Friday 11 October 2024, with music by Chopin and Fauré. This is her second release with Ulysses Arts, following her Schubert album of 2022.

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

Electronic press kit for reviewers available from Ulysses Arts.

Tamayo Ikeda writes:

'The recording is a game of mirrors between the night of Gabriel Fauré and that of Frédéric Chopin. After reading the novel titled The Nocturne by French philosopher Vladimir Jankelevitch, I was profoundly amazed. His book inspired me to associate these two composers. Written clandestinely during the dark period of World War II, this book has the rare ability to express precisely what I feel, but in words.

Jankelevitch compares Chopin’s Nocturnes which accompany us through the deep pain experienced in the solitude of the night to those of Fauré, which evoke dark nights but with the promise of a "golden sun". They offer hope, transforming those same nights into a promise of light.'

'Ce disque est une traversée, un jeu de miroirs entre la nuit de Gabriel Fauré et celle de Frédéric Chopin. C’est une nuit claire que nous propose Tamayo Ikeda, toute bruissante des sons de la nature, bienveillante et apaisée jusque dans ses ombres, une nuit vivante, frémissante de poésie, avec des élans qui tendent vers le jour nouveau.

Tamayo Ikeda sait exactement où elle veut aller et nous y emmène, avec générosité et une douce autorité. Chaque pièce est abordée avec une vision d’ensemble qui se déploie sans faiblir jusqu’à la note finale. Tamayo Ikeda joue comme elle parle, éloquente et inspirée, puisant sa liberté dans une maîtrise impeccable du clavier qui autorise toutes les prises de risque. Venu du fond de l’âme, son rubato est la vie même. Sa science du son lui offre une palette infinie qui éclaire et révèle ce qu’on croyait connaître par coeur. Fauré, en particulier, y retrouve des couleurs oubliées, une jeunesse et une fougue qui n’ont plus rien à envier à celles de Chopin.

Les deux compositeurs finissent d’ailleurs par parler ici la même langue, sans rien perdre de leur caractère propre.

Parvenue au sommet de sa maturité, Tamayo Ikeda ose ce voyage au bout de la beauté qui s’achève sur une berceuse, retour au paradis perdu, et retrouvé, le temps d’une interprétation à couper le souffle.' Arièle Butaux

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Electronic press kit available for reviewers and radio programmers from Ulysses Arts

LYRITA RELEASES GEORGE LLOYD PIANO WORKS ALBUM ON 2 AUGUST 2024

21/5/2024

Lyrita Recorded Edition releases its George Lloyd Piano Works double album on 2 August 2024, performed by duo Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow and as soloists, Kathryn Stott and Martin Roscoe (SRCD 2423).

‘I just write what I have to write’. The artistic credo of George Lloyd conveys the directness and emotional honesty of his music. He wrote in a traditional idiom enriched by a close study of selected models, Verdi and Berlioz chief among them. His music is distinctive and written with integrity. There is a remarkable consistency to his output, most of which was created spontaneously and without the incentive of a commission. He was fortunate enough to discover his individual and versatile musical voice at an early age. The deceptively artless quality of his scores stems from a thorough grounding in composition techniques.

As a violinist, Lloyd was drawn to stringed instruments rather than the keyboard. His wife, Nancy had a very different attitude to the piano, however. Having been brought up listening to records of Alfred Cortot, among other great pianists, she had developed a genuine passion for the instrument. She was always urging her husband to write a piano concerto, but it was not until the early 1960s that those years of persuasion paid off and Lloyd wrote Scapegoat, the first of his series of four piano concertos. Now the composer had overcome his previous aversion to the keyboard, as he put it, ‘Suddenly, everything I thought of, I thought in terms of the piano’. From this dramatic change of heart emerged several works for solo piano. © Paul Conway

Electronic press kit and listening links available for reviewers from Ulysses Arts.

Lyrita releases George Lloyd Piano Concertos album on 7 June 2024, conducted by the composer

10/4/2024

Lyrita Records continues its 2024 George Lloyd Signature Edition releases with the complete Piano Concertos, on Friday 7 June, with soloists Martin Roscoe and Kathryn Stott, and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer (SRCD 2421).

George Lloyd’s four piano concertos come from his time as a smallholder at Ryewater in Dorset during the 1960s and 70s. 'Lloyd was already thinking of writing a piano concerto when he heard the playing of John Ogdon, at that time one of Britain’s most promising and interesting younger pianists. Lloyd kept Ogdon’s playing in mind as he wrote his single movement Piano Concerto No.1 ‘Scapegoat’ in 1962/63… it has an improvisatory feel and…jazz variations…There are so many colours and shadings in the orchestral part that make it as important as the piano part. Lloyd intended to write a three-movement work, but the initial material worked itself into a single movement concerto. This remarkable work was first performed in October 1964 by John Ogdon with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Groves. This led to a friendship with Ogdon, with Lloyd helping the pianist with the orchestration of some of his own compositions.” © Bruce Reader, The Music of George Lloyd

The effort of writing his Seventh Symphony, with its predominantly tragic tone, at the end of the 1950s had taken a heavy toll on the composer’s mental health and by the start of the following decade he was in a very negative frame of mind. Not for the first time in his life, the act of composing provided the key to alleviating the situation, as he explained: ‘... around the very early sixties, a few darker thoughts – tragic thoughts – began haunting me. With them musical ideas began to formulate, and I began to wonder if this might be the time for that piano concerto’.

If the first three piano concertos have the heft and communicative power of Lloyd’s larger middle-period symphonies, the Fourth has a close affinity to the Ninth Symphony, which was completed the previous year. Both pieces exhibit an impish sense of fun, tempered by profound feelings of yearning and regret. George Lloyd approached the piano concerto form with imagination and individuality. His idiomatic solo writing avoids shallow virtuosity and empty rhetoric and there are no mighty tussles between piano and orchestral forces encountered in archetypal large-scale concertante scores. Instead, the composer offers a series of deeply personal attempts to reconcile time-honoured elements of display with symphonic preoccupations of long-range tonality, rhythmic energy and melodic growth. In sum, Lloyd’s four piano concertos constitute a compelling and distinctive branch of his creative legacy. © Paul Conway

'The interpretations are thoroughly committed. Martin Roscoe and Kathryn Scott prove to be wonderful storytellers at the piano, repeatedly creating great moods and revealing a wide repertoire of stylistic expression – from romantic virtuosity and impressionistic intimacy to exuberant jazz elements. The orchestras are also highly committed, shining with delicate string sounds, solemn tutti and dynamic rhythms.'
Remy Franck, Pizzicato, 13 June 2024

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LYRITA RELEASES CYRIL SCOTT, PIANO SONATA NO. 1, PERFORMED BY SIMON CALLAGHAN, ON 5 APRIL 2024 (SRCD.437)

9/2/2024

Lyrita Records releases Cyril Scott, Piano Sonata No. 1, performed by Simon Callaghan, on 5 April 2024.

Sonata for Piano Op. 66: composed 1908; revised edition from 1930s

'Cyril Meir Scott (1879-1970) is one of a group of British composers to have benefitted from three cultural features of recent decades: increased curiosity from performers and listeners; a more inclusive outlook from musicologists and critics; and the music industry spotting a gap and a demand. A much more colourful picture of British music in the first half of the twentieth century has resulted.

Scott was a prolific writer of fiction and nonfiction as well as a composer of several hundred pieces. His writings and music are deeply invested in mysticism and the occult. This element in Scott’s work, as Sarah Collins has noted, helps us to see beyond received notions of Scott as either a trivial exoticist or an unjustly-neglected pioneer, and to appreciate his music on its own terms.' ©Brian A. Ingis

'Strongly recommended'.
Kevin Mandry, British Music Society, 14 March 2024

'Back into the light'
Maureen Buja,Interlude, 8 April 2024

Simon Callaghan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, in parallel with a successful recording career. Simon Callaghan’s distinguished and eclectic discography includes recordings for Hyperion, Nimbus and Lyrita, among others. He is heard regularly on BBC Radio 3 and on multiple streaming platforms: his most recent single on Apple Music with Coco Tomita
surpassing one million streams in its first month of release.

He is a strong social media enthusiast, using it to promotion for classical music in general and seeing it as a particular tool in his advocacy of the rare and unexplored. He is Director of Music at London’s celebrated Conway Hall, only the sixth incumbent since the Series's foundation in 1887. He was elected a Steinway Artist in 2012.

Eletronic press kit for press reviewiers available from Ulysses Arts.

LYRITA RELEASES CHRISTOPHER BROWN 24 PRELUDES AND FUGUES, WITH PIANIST NATHAN WILLIAMSON ON 2 FEBRUARY 2024

2/2/2024

Lyrita Records releases Christopher Brown, 24 Preludes and Fugues (SRCD.2431), with pianist Nathan Williamson, on 2 February 2024.

Christopher Brown writes: 'I set myself the challenge of writing a book of 24 Peludes and Fugues in all the major and minor keys and I approached family, friends, and several institutions I had been associated with, to commission a prelude and fugue each, with many of the resultant commissioners asking for references to pieces of music that had a special meaning for them, a request that I tried to follow through wherever possible.

The project took me eight years to complete, and it was not until 2019 that I finally put the finishing touches to the concluding B minor Fugue. The score was published on my birthday in June 2020 and I received an unexpected email from Nathan Williamson, saying that he would love to learn the music, and, because of the restrictions imposed by Covid lockdowns, it might be a good time to see if a complete recording might be contemplated. To our delight, Lyrita Recorded Edition agreed to take on the project, leading to the release of the present boxed set.'

'Very early in the planning process I had decided that the set would be divided into four books, each made up of six Preludes and Fugues, based around one of the notes of the name BACH (B flat, A, C and B natural in German notation), and starting and ending in the major or the minor tonality of the four keys. In addition I wanted to reference the cryptogram of Dmitri Shostakovich (DSCH – D, E flat, C and B), whose own masterly set of 24 Preludes and Fugues also casts its influence across my set.'

Nathan Williamson

Available from all major retailers and digital platforms
https://lnk.fuga.com/nathanwilliamson...
https://www.wyastone.co.uk/new_releases

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LYRITA RELEASES DANZA GAYA: MUSIC FOR TWO PIANOS BY MADELEINE DRING, DOROTHY HOWELL AND PAMELA HARRISON, WITH SIMON CALLAGHAN AND HIROAKI TAKENOUCHI, ON 1 MARCH 2024 (SRCD.433)

2/1/2024

Click cover to download on iTunes or stream on Apple Music

Lyrita Records's album, releasing on 1 March 2024, gives long-deserved attention to three prolific but neglected British composers: Dorothy Howell (1898-1982), Pamela Harrison (1915-90) and Madeleine Dring (1923-77). Working in the same country at the same time, these composers had much in common. All studied at London's Royal Academy or Royal College of Music, and had dual careers as composer-performers. They wrote tonal music in a style that would fall out of fashion in the later twentieth century: this contributed to their disappearance from concert halls. And above all, they composed with a great sense of humour. The music on this disc sparkles with wit and energy.

In the mid-twentieth century the two piano combination was popular in the concert hall and for light entertainment. It proved a perfect medium for composers seeking to bring lightness of touch to their work, allowing them to write pieces that were fun to play and to watch.

'Callaghan and Takenouchi play with wonderful elan and relish, clearing enjoying the sound-worlds and having a great deal of fun. And they must be thanked for digging up these treasures.'
Planet Hugill, 6 March 2024

Ron Schepper, Textura, 1 March 2024

'This recording of three women composers’ music for two pianos is inspirational in its effect.'
Maureen Buja, Interlude, 25 March 2024

'Trust me: you NEED this album.'
Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, 27 April 2024

Hiroaki Takenouchi & Simon Callaghan

Simon Callaghan

'A musician of curiosity and discernment, Callaghan’s robust piano-playing is also thoughtful, subtle and refined.' (Gramophone) Steinway Artist Simon Callaghan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, in parallel with his career as a recording artist. Callaghan’s repertoire includes over fifty concertos including standard solo and chamber works of the 19th and 20th centuries, and much that is rare and unexplored.

Hiroaki Takenouchi

Heralded by The Times as 'just the sort of champion the newest of new music needs', and praised as 'impeccable in his pianism and unfailing in his idiomatic grasp' by Gramophone, Takenouchi’s curiosity and a natural penchant for integrity makes his playing and his vast repertoire unique. His love for the classical masters – particularly Haydn, Beethoven and Chopin – is equalled by his passion for the music of Medtner, lesser-known British composers and contemporary music.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ON ITUNES OR STREAM ON APPLE MUSIC

Electronic press kit available from Ulysses Arts.

George Lloyd Signature Series: Lyrita Nimbus Arts releases the complete recordings and published works of George Lloyd from March 2024 to early 2025

10/11/2023

George Lloyd

George Lloyd Archive of Scores and Recordings moves to Lyrita Nimbus Arts

The Trustees of Lyrita Nimbus Arts (LNA) reached an exclusive agreement in 2023 with The George Lloyd Society (GLS) to take over sale and hire of all George Lloyd’s scores held by the Society, as well as the commercial exploitation of the recordings made by the Society in the 1990s, conducted by the composer.

Read George Lloyd: Myths and Misconceptions by Peter Davison, published in Corymbus

George Lloyd (1913-98) is remembered mostly for his twelve symphonies; his compositions also include operas, choral works, concertos, piano and chamber music. LNA approached GLS with a proposal that involves the complete digitisation of George Lloyd's scores and his entire record archive represented in new compilations. Going beyond preservation, LNA's Trustees believe Lloyd’s music is ripe for rediscovery by concert managers and music lovers. His music, particularly the operas, won great praise and popularity before World War Two. When broadcasting and concert life changed direction in the 1960s, his style - dramatic, large-scale, richly orchestrated, unafraid of a big tune - fell out of favour. We believe that George Lloyd’s time has come again and will use the combined resources of the Lyrita Nimbus Arts charity and Lyrita label, together with the manufacturing, printing, publishing and distribution arms of Nimbus Records, to support this venture.

William Lloyd was the composer’s business manager and executive producer; he has administered his record company and musical estate for the last twenty-five years. He writes: 'Our agreement with Lyrita Nimbus Arts is another milestone in the extraordinary story of George Lloyd and his music. The Lyrita label was responsible for issuing the first three commercial recordings of Lloyd’s symphonies over 40 years ago, and it is entirely fitting that Lyrita Nimbus will now take the complete catalogue of scores and recordings into the future. Lloyd was fiercely independent, and with the invaluable assistance of Albany Records USA, together with some of the best engineers and recording producers in the business and his loyal audience, he was able to maintain that independence from mainstream publishers and record companies. This allowed him to record over 20 albums under his own baton, and to publish his extensive catalogue under the imprint of the George Lloyd Music Library, but it came at a price. His commercial success was remarkable and was sufficient to finance all the recording and printing, but until now we have not had the international marketing reach, the in-house manufacturing and printing, and the digital distribution platforms which are required by the new global markets. This is a perfect match for us, and it is a great vindication of Lloyd’s faith in the enduring quality of his work that Lyrita have recognised its value and committed significant resources to bringing his music to a new audience.'

Because George Lloyd’s personal attention is a dominating influence on the scores and recordings – which mostly he conducted himself – we have decided to headline this representation the ‘Signature Edition’. Scores will be cleaned, new orchestral parts created and recordings reorganised into affordable sets with new notes commissioned from Paul Conway. All digital platforms will have access to a unified and comprehensive offering from a single source.

'Hugely impressive, splendidly designed musical architecture.'
Stuart Millson, Quarterly Review, 29 February 2024

'It is an extraordinary journey to hear the whole of George Lloyd’s symphonies over a single period of time, a psychodrama if ever there was one.' Geoffrey Atkinson, British Music Society Journal
26 February 2024 (Symphones 1-6) and 22 March 2024 (Symphonies 7-12)

'An absolute must-have for anyone deeply invested in powerful and polished 20th century symphonic writing.'
Jean-Yves Dupperon, Classical Music Sentinel, March 2024

'Those of us who have admired Lloyd’s music for many years will welcome the consolidation of his legacy in this way and will hope it stimulates more performances and perpetuates his name even more.'
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International, 13 March 2024

'Lloyd’s music is direct even when elusive, commanding even when equivocal, and is strongly lyrical – some of his lyricism is simply unforgettable. It is also richly, ripely and colourfully orchestrated.'
Symphonies No.7-12: Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International, 9 April 2024

'Rejoice! A glorious symphonic cycle by a British composer has been issued as a set for the first time.'
Damian Thompson, The Spectator, 13 April 2024

'Both sets of symphonies are valuable and incredibly well priced ... they should top the wishlist of any lover of orchestral music.' F.A.R., American Record Guide, 2024

'Richard Whitehouse applauds Lyrita’s advocacy on behalf of George Lloyd.'
Richard Whitehouse, Gramophone, 23 May 2024

All scores now available from Lyrita.
The recordings are being released by Lyrita between March 2024 and early 2025, with accompanying sheet music published by Lyrita Nimbus Arts:
www.lnarts.org www.lyrita.co.uk www.georgelloyd.com
Electronic press kits and pre-release listening links for reviewers are available from Ulysses Arts.

GEORGE LLOYD SIGNATURE EDITION AUDIO RELEASES

1 MARCH 2024

SRCD2417: Symphonies Volume 1
No. 1-6; Charade ‘Scenes from the ‘60s'
Overture John Socman

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Albany Symphony Orchestra
George Lloyd, conductor

5 APRIL 2024

SRCD 2418: Symphonies Volume 2
No. 7 - 12 (quadruple album)

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
Albany Symphony Orchestra
George Lloyd, conductor

3 MAY 2024

SRCD 420: Requiem and Psalm 130

The Exon Singers
Stephen Wallace, countertenor
Jeffrey Makinson, organ
Matthew Owens, conductor

SRCD 2419: A Litany and A Symphony Mass

Janice Watson, soprano
Jeremy White, bass-baritone
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Brighton Festival Chorus
Philharmonia Orchestra and Guildford Choral Society
George Lloyd, conductor

7 JUNE 2024

SRCD 2421: The Piano Concertos
No. 1 ‘Scapegoat’, 2, 3 and 4 (double album)

Martin Roscoe, piano
Kathryn Stott, piano
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
George Lloyd, conductor

5 JULY 2024

SRCD2422: The Violin and 'Cello Concertos
(double album)
Violin Concerto No. 1 and No. 2
'Cello Concerto

Cristina Anghelescu, violin
Anthony Ross, 'cello
Philharmonia and Albany Symphony Orchestras
David Parry and David Alan Miller, conductors

2 AUGUST 2024

SRCD 2423: The Piano Works: Solo and Duo: double album
The Lilly Leaf and The Grasshopper, The Transformation of that Naked Ape, An African Shrine, The Road through Samarkand, St. Antony and the Beggar, Intercom Baby. For two Pianos - Aubade, Eventide, The Road Through Samarkand.

Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow, piano duo
Kathryn Stott; Martin Roscoe

SRCD 0425: The Works for Brass
Royal Parks, Diversions on a Bass Theme, Evening Song, H.M.S. Trinidad March, English Heritage, A Miniature Tryptic

John Foster
Black Dyke Mills Band, conducted by David King
Equale Brass Quintet

5 SEPTEMBER 2024: Score Publications

SRMP 0105-0114:
Aubade | Eventide

Road Through Samarkand for Two Piano (and version for solo piano)

Lullaby | St. Anthony & the Beggar | The Agressive Fishes

The Lily-leaf the Grasshopper | The Transformation of that Naked Ape
An African Shrine

1 NOVEMBER 2024

SRCD0424: The Works for Violin & Piano
Lament for Violin & Piano, Air and Dance
Sonata for Violin & Piano
Seven extracts from The Serf

Tasmin Little, violin and Martin Roscoe, piano
Ruth Rogers, violin and Simon Callaghan, piano

6 MARCH 2025
Nimbus Lyrita Arts publishes four orchestral scores and parts by George Lloyd

SRMP 0031 – The Dying Tree (1992), for large orchestra, 10 minutes
A single movement orchestral sketch, first performed at London's Barbican Centre in 1994 by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with the composer conducting. The Dying Tree is one of Loyd's few works not yet been recorded.

SRMP 0033 – Floating Cloud (1993), for large orchestra, 16 minutes
A single movement orchestral sketch. First performed in 1993 by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra with the composer conducting. Floating Cloud is one of the few works that has not yet been recorded.

SRMP 0035 – In Memoriam (1984), for large orchestra, 6 minutes
In Memoriam pays heartfelt tribute to seven young bandsmen murdered by IRA terrorists on 20 July 1982 as they played in their band in Regent’s Park.

SRMP 0037 – Le Pont du Gard, for large orchestra, 10 minutes
A single movement orchestral sketch, inspired by the ancient Roman aqueduct that crosses the Gardon River in Vers-Pont du Gard near Remoulins in Southern France, were Lloyd spent a summer holiday.

DATE TBC

SRCD2426: John Socman (1951) - the complete opera (double album)
Using the composer’s suggestions, we presents the complete opera by combining the composer's studio recording of excerpts with a BBC broadcast recorded 'off-air' by Lyrita's founder Richard Itter.

4 APRIL 2025, TBC

SRCD2427: Iernin (1934) - the complete opera (triple album), recorded in 1985, conducted by the composer with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Marilyn Hill-Smith in the title role (triple album)

'George Lloyd showed that rarest of all qualities in a British composer, an almost unerring perception of what the stage requires. An extraordinary achievement.' The Times

'One of the most successful operas written by a British composer'. The Musical Times

George Lloyd was born in St Ives, Cornwall, on 28 June 1913. He started to learn the violin at the age of five and was a pupil of the violinist Albert Sammons for six years. He began composing when he was ten. A rigorous musical training ensued, including lessons in counterpoint from C. H. Kitson and composition studies with Harry Farjeon.

National prominence came with George Lloyd’s first opera, Iernin (1933-34), featuring a libretto by his father, William Lloyd. Based on a Cornish legend, the opera was premiered at The Pavilion, Penzance in November 1934, conducted by the composer. An endorsement by Frank Howes, music critic of The Times, led to Iernin being performed by the New English Opera Company at London’s Lyceum Theatre in June 1935. It was a sell- out for three weeks. The following year, whilst holidaying in Switzerland, George met Nancy Juvet. They married in January 1937. Nancy’s love and support throughout six decades of marriage was to prove pivotal to her husband’s continued creativity and indeed to his very survival.

Lloyd’s second opera, The Serf, was premiered by the English Opera Company at Covent Garden in London in 1938. William Lloyd supplied the libretto, setting the story in Yorkshire at the time of King Stephen. A review in The Stage newspaper described the opera as ‘full of promise for the future’. This prospect of even greater musical attainment was about to be shattered. When war broke out in September 1939, Lloyd joined the Royal Marines as a bandsman. In 1942 he served as a radio signaller on Arctic convoys to Murmansk on the cruiser HMS Trinidad. During one of these convoys the ship was struck by torpedoes, an oil tank ruptured and the transmitting station which Lloyd was helping to operate filled with oil. There were heavy casualties and he was almost drowned. He was mentally and physically traumatised to the extent that his doctors believed he would never recover. Nancy Lloyd refused to accept this verdict and slowly nursed her husband back to health.

Convalescing at Nancy’s lakeside home at Neuchatel, Switzerland, Lloyd began to write music again. The resulting Fourth and Fifth Symphonies (1946, 1948), among his finest works, were not performed at the time. After returning to England, he won an Arts Council commission to compose an opera for the Carl Rosa Company to tour around the country during the Festival of Britain in 1951. The ensuing stage work, John Socman, featured another libretto by his father, which told the story of a Wiltshire solider returning from Agincourt. The production, which premiered in Bristol in May 1951, was ruined by artistic differences between conductor and director. Shortly after this debacle Lloyd’s father died and George’s health collapsed again. George and Nancy Lloyd bought a small cottage at Folke in Dorset and began earning a living as market gardeners. After growing and selling carnations, they started mushroom farming. During these years of self- imposed exile, George composed for three hours before the working day. Consequently, when the Lloyds sold their smallholding in 1973 and returned to London, they brought with them a portfolio containing 20 years’ worth of scores.

A friendship with John Ogdon had far-reaching consequences. Lloyd assisted with the orchestration of the pianist-composer’s Piano Concerto and Ogdon recorded for EMI Lloyd’s piano piece African Shrine, shortly after premiering it in 1969. In the same year Ogdon took the score of Lloyd’s Eighth Symphony to the BBC and had it accepted. Eight years elapsed before it was broadcast. In the meantime, another of Lloyd’s champions, conductor Edward Downes, premièred the Eighth Symphony with the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, broadcast on Radio 3 in July 1977. In the succeeding five years, Downes tirelessly promoted and disseminated Lloyd’s music, including a performance with the BBC Philharmonic of the Sixth Symphony at the Proms in July 1981, the first appearance of the composer’s music at the celebrated summer music festival.

Inspired by his new-found popularity, Lloyd took up the baton himself. In 1986 he conducted the premiere of his Eleventh Symphony with the Albany Symphony Orchestra in New York. He also wrote his Twelfth Symphony for the orchestra. Other notable products of his glorious Indian summer of creativity include brass band piece Royal Parks, A Symphonic Mass and the 'Cello Concerto.

Having suffered heart problems for a year, George Lloyd died at University College Hospital, Marylebone, London, on 3 July 1998. A service was held a week later at Golders Green crematorium. His last work, the Requiem, written in memory of Diana, the Princess of Wales, was completed shortly before his death and premiered at the 2000 Oxford Contemporary Music Festival. Paul Conway, 2023

Lyrita Nimbus Arts Registered Charity No. 1203867
Trustees: Dr Richard Blackford, Adrian Farmer, Lynda Farmer, Charlotte de Rothschild, Antony Smith

Martin Jones completes his survey of Brazilian pianists with Oscar Fernandez, released by Nimbus Records on 5 January 2024

10/11/2023

Martin Jones completes his survey of Brazilian pianists with an album of music by Oscar Fernândez, releasing on 5 January 2024 on Nimbus Records (NI.8115).

Oscar Lorenzo Fernândez’ (b.1897 - d.1948) work can be divided into three periods, the first (1918-22) is influenced by French Impressionism, the second (1923-38) is marked by the systematic use of folklore, particularly amerindian rhythms and harmonies, rather than ‘popular’ urban melodies. Finally (1939-48) was a period of increasing introspection and the development of a more universally recognised language. ©Adrian Farmer

Aged 18, Fernandez composed his first opera Rainha Moura, based on a popular Spanish novel of the 19th century. Initially his parents didn’t support his inclination towards music, but after an unexpected nervous collapse where he spent his recovery at home playing piano, he gained their approval in 1917 and he enrolled at the National Institute of Music.
In 1920 he gave his first concert where he performed Arabesca and Miragem and in 1922 Arabesca and Nocturnal were awarded prizes at the International Competition of the Society of Musical Culture in Rio de Janeiro (ICSM).

In the early 1930s the President of Brazil asked Luciano Gallet and Mário de Andrade to formulate a program to reform the official teaching of music. They were asked to ‘rescue’ Brazilian culture. Fernandez helped do this and it can be seen within his opera Malazarte which premiered in 1941. Fernandez wrote of the influences of national folklore and modernist language in his opera “I’ve done something very different from what has been done so far here. A Brazilian thing, very Brazilian. But of a well-understood Brazilianness, of course. For me, Brazilianism is the intimate meaning that every work of ours must have, this quality of being born from our land.” (Lorenzo Fernandez. In: Aquarone, Francisco. History of Brazilian music. Rio de Janeiro: Francisco Alves, 1944).

Electronic press kit available from Ulysses Arts.

Digital links will be published here.

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