NMC
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Jonathan Harvey - Timepieces
RecommendedAnu Komsi (soprano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov & Stefan Solyom
There is so much to praise about the works on this CD that it's hard to know where to begin.
Jonathan Harvey's music juxtaposes moments of disarming simplicity, of naivety almost, with others... —Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 27th October 2008
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Gramophone Awards, 2008, Winner - Contemporary
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Special offer. Birtwistle: Angel Fighter
Andrew Watts (Angel) & Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts (Jacob)
BBC Singers & London Sinfonietta, David Atherton
Birtwistle unleashes all his powers as a stage composer onto Stephen Plaice's text, using the whole building to create a thrilling dramatisation of the Bible story…pungent pizzicato rhythms,... —
Awards:
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Sunday Times, 2015, Albums of the Year
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2015, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Finalist - Contemporary
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Waley-Cohen: Spell Book
Manchester Collective, Heloise Werner (soprano), Katie Bray (mezzo-soprano), Fleur Barron (mezzo-soprano), Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin), Anne Beilby (viola), Nathaniel Boyd (cello)
The reckless verve of ‘spell for joy’ comes in total contrast with the elemental starkness of ‘spell for change’ – which, in its turn, could hardly be more removed from the incremental patterns... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, October 2024
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2024, Editor's Choice
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Imogen Holst: String Chamber Music
Simon Hewitt Jones, David Worswick, Tom Hankey, Oliver Coates, Thomas Hewitt Jones, Daniel Swain
It defies belief that until this recording led by violinist and cellist Simon and Thomas Hewitt Jones appeared much of this fine music, combining haunting Englishness with a distinctly French... —
Awards:
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The Times Records of the Year, 2017
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Richard Causton: La Terra Impareggiabile
Marcus Farnsworth (baritone), Huw Watkins (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra,
Baritone Marcus Farnsworth and pianist Huw Watkins are compelling advocates [in La terra impareggiabile]...Interactions of past and present are integral to the orchestral Ik zeg: NU (I Say:... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 2023 Finalists, Finalist - Contemporary
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Special offer. Barry, G: The Importance of Being Earnest
Barbara Hannigan (Cecily), Peter Tantsits (Jack Worthing), Joshua Bloom (Algernon), Katalin Károlyi (Gwendoline), Hilary Summers (Miss Prism), Alan Ewing (Lady Bracknell), Benjamin Bevan (Lane/Merriman), Joshua Hart (Dr Chasuble)
BCMG, Thomas Adès
Surely this is not only the best operatic treatment of Oscar Wilde since Salome, but also one of the few absolutely essential operas of the last 20 years...This performances features at least... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2015, Opera Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2016, Opera Finalist
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2014, Editor's Choice
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In these chamber works from the 1980s and early 2000s her thoughts rarely arrive vertically; almost everything is horizontal, rolling inexorably towards some unknown goal, sometimes violently,... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, June 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Contemporary Music
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The Times Records of the Year, 2019
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Hannah Kendall: shouting forever into the receiver
Hannah Kendall, Ensemble Modern, Wavefield Ensemble
Hallé Orchestra, Jonathan Bloxham
Tackling social themes and reckoning with history is part of what Hannah Kendall does so well, and this collection may be her finest showcase yet. While the themes interconnect, there's no consistent... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2025, Instrumental Choice
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Special offer. Birtwistle: Punch and Judy
RecommendedStephen Roberts, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Jan DeGaetani, Philip Langridge, David Wilson- Johnson & John Tomlinson
London Sinfonietta, David Atherton
It's almost 40 years since the 1968 premiere of Punch and Judy, celebrated in legend as a rude gesture in the face of Aldeburgh primness, and with hindsight as one of the finest achievements... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1980, Winner - Contemporary
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Unknown Britten
RecommendedSandrine Piau (soprano), Rolf Hind (piano), Michael Thompson, Richard Watkins, Peter Francomb & Chris Griffiths (horns), Michael Collins (clarinet)
Northern Sinfonia, Thomas Zehetmair
Britten completed but didn't orchestrate the songs - 'Phrase', 'Aube' and 'À une raison'; Matthews matches them finely to the style of Illuminations. While the cycle is often associated with... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 28th September 2009
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2009, Disc of the Month
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