Signum
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When Sleep Comes
Evening Meditations For Voices & Saxophone
Christian Forshaw, Victoria Meteyard (soprano), Tenebrae, Nigel Short
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Dohnányi is a conductor whose interpretations bypass surface appeal and instead go straight to the music itself —
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Let The Bright Seraphim
Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano), Crispian Steele-Perkins (trumpet)
The Armonico Consort, Christopher Monks
The tone is immediately set by Crispian Steele-Perkins' trilling trumpet on
Bach's "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen", which also features quite thrilling
counterpoints between him and soprano... — -
The Sacconi Quartet, for whom the medium-length String was composed, play throughout with élan and what sounds like a complete understanding of the ebb and flow of each of these quite diverse... —
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The perfect Christmas disc for tiny humans. A narrator tells the story of the Nutcracker over Dariescu’s sensitive playing. A really thoughtful set of illustrated programme notes, too. —
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Shostakovich: Piano Concertos & Sonatas
Peter Donohoe (piano), Hugh Davies (trumpet)
Orchestra of the Swan, David Curtis
Donohoe delivers a highly charged and compelling account of the angry modernist First Sonata. But it’s the weighty and complex Second that emerges as the true masterpiece in a mesmerising performance... —
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Joby Talbot was in the band that provided music for that divine comedy Father Ted. After such beatification by association, the only way would seem to be down, yet he continued to produce works... —
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The Shepherd on the Rock
Chamber Works & Lieder
Julian Bliss (clarinet), Christopher Glynn (piano), Ailish Tynan (soprano)
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The three symphonies here definitely reveal a substantial concerto composer whose stylistic influences and allegiances – Sibelius, Malcolm Arnold and Walton come easily to mind – never prevent... —
