Delphian
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Full and imaginative use is made of the Kelvingrove organ’s colourful registers, and the opulent magnificence of this instrument is well captured by Delphian’s recording —
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This is the understated Oxford-based composer Judith Ward’s welldeserved moment in the spotlight: she features on more than half the tracks in this recording, including her ‘Mass for St Mark,’... —
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Kerensa Briggs Requiem
Anita Montserrat, Richard Gowers, The Choir of Kings College London, Joseph Fort, Lily Robson, Mitchell Farquharson
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Mozart: Violin Sonatas: Sonatas K 304, K378 & K 454
transcribed for oboe
Olivier Stankiewicz (oboe), Jonathan Ware (piano)
It makes sense: the two instruments share the ability to scintillate in notey virtuoso writing as well as to spin a rapt singing line in lyric music. —
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Our Indifferent Century: Britten | Finzi | Marsey | Ward
Francesca Chiejina (soprano), Fleur Barron (mezzo-soprano), Natalie Burch (piano)
We begin with Britten’s On this Island. Chiejina’s and Burch’s compelling performance is richly mature and painstakingly coloured. Despite occasional vocal vulnerability, Chiejina’s luxuriant... —
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Whether scintillating in the fearsome Three Movements from Petrushka, nonchalant in the mis-steps of the Tango or coolly detached in the chorale from Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Shevchenko’s... —
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Baker brings out each work’s sweet melancholy with expressive phrasing. Through his lightly handled bowing, the opening phrases of the Copland Sonata morph effortlessly into a dance rhythm...Even... —
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It is a very winning combination: the (very short) spoken interludes, sound-effects of waking and sleep-talking, jump-cutting from item to item (In Your Dreams very much should be listened to... —
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Allegri: Motets, Miserere, Missa In lectulo meo & Missa Christus resurgens
Choir of Kings College London, David Trendell
The Choir of King's College London deliver performances that are secure and confident for the most part, though in the slower sections of the Masses in particular...pitch and tone quality tend... —
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Precious Things: Choral Music by Bernard Hughes
The Epiphoni Consort, Becky Ryland-Jones, Milly Pelmore, Jess Haig, Greg Windle, Christopher Pelmore, Amatey Doku, Abaigh Wheatley, Tim Reader
This selection is brimful with a wide variety of mood and texture, and technical challenges aplenty for the 27 members of the London-based Epiphoni Consort and its founder-director, Tim Reader. —
