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“In a word I feel myself the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair over this ever makes things worse and worse instead of better ...but I have tried my hand at several instrumental things ... in fact, I intend to pave the way towards a grand symphony in this manner.” These extracts from a letter of 1824 epitomise to me the paradox of Schubert, the manic-depressive composer. On the one hand his music has that world-weary element of profound grief – ‘the most wretched creature in the world’ – and on the other a life-affirming exuberance bordering on the manic that characterises the Wanderer-Fantasie and parts of the D major sonata D.850. Here, Llyr Williams plays a collection of Schubert solo piano works across a series of releases, once again showing why he is one of the most diverse and extraordinary pianists performing today. All downloads include booklets. -
“In a word I feel myself the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair over this ever makes things worse and worse instead of better …but I have tried my hand at several instrumental things … in fact, I intend to pave the way towards a grand symphony in this manner.” These extracts from a letter of 1824 epitomise to me the paradox of Schubert, the manic depressive composer. On the one hand his music has that world-weary element of profound grief – ‘the most wretched creature in the world’ – and on the other a life-affirming exuberance bordering on the manic that characterises the Wanderer-Fantasie and parts of the D major sonata D.850. While Schubert’s later piano music has a range of emotions that rivals Beethoven’s last sonatas, in the beginning of his career he perhaps lacked the assurance of the older composer, and he was less fastidious about destroying sketches and fragments. As a result there are a large number of unfinished works and, therefore, the pianist has to make a decision about where to start the Schubert odyssey. Schubert himself made no effort to try and publish any of his sonatas before the great A minor D.845 of 1825. I decided to start slightly earlier with the B major of 1817 where one senses an assurance and boldness of tonal experiment not found before in his piano music. In this series, Llŷr Williams explores Schubert’s solo piano repertoire in exquisite detail, producing some truly unique performances of some of the most romantic music ever composed. All downloads include booklets. -
“In a word I feel myself the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair over this ever makes things worse and worse instead of better ...but I have tried my hand at several instrumental things ... in fact, I intend to pave the way towards a grand symphony in this manner.” These extracts from a letter of 1824 epitomise to me the paradox of Schubert, the manic-depressive composer. On the one hand his music has that world-weary element of profound grief – ‘the most wretched creature in the world’ – and on the other a life-affirming exuberance bordering on the manic that characterises the Wanderer-Fantasie and parts of the D major sonata D.850. Here, Llyr Williams plays a collection of Schubert solo piano works across a series of releases, once again showing why he is one of the most diverse and extraordinary pianists performing today. All downloads include booklets. -
“In a word I feel myself the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair over this ever makes things worse and worse instead of better ...but I have tried my hand at several instrumental things ... in fact, I intend to pave the way towards a grand symphony in this manner.” These extracts from a letter of 1824 epitomise to me the paradox of Schubert, the manic-depressive composer. On the one hand his music has that world-weary element of profound grief – ‘the most wretched creature in the world’ – and on the other a life-affirming exuberance bordering on the manic that characterises the Wanderer-Fantasie and parts of the D major sonata D.850. Here, Llyr Williams plays a collection of Schubert solo piano works across a series of releases, once again showing why he is one of the most diverse and extraordinary pianists performing today. All downloads include booklets. -
The Sonata for organ by Peter Tranchell, a former Precentor of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, was written in 1958 for Peter le Huray, a fellow lecturer in the Music Faculty of Cambridge University, and Director of Music at St Catharine’s College. The music is closely based on the dedicatee’s name, and the third movement makes extensive use of the plainchant Antiphon Tu es Petrus. The title page quotes the Antiphon melody together with the Acrostic—an arrangement of the letters of the name Peter Geoffrey le Huray:EEGEFFEEHA PTRORYLURY
The first movement, Preludio – Allegro molto, is a toccata, with perpetuum mobile semiquavers in the right hand and mildly dissonant left hand chords in short crotchet and semiquaver phrases, suggesting the rhythms of Morse Code. These are, of course, the non-pitch letters of the name Peter Geoffrey le Huray: PTRORYLURY. The top notes of the chords and the angular pedal theme which follows are derived from the pitch letters EEGEFFEEHA (H = B natural). The left hand then introduces a two-part version of the EEGEFFEEHA theme, continuing on to a new melody, based on the LH chords of the opening in arpeggiated form, together with more dissonant harmonies. This section forms the central part of an arch-structure, and the movement closes with a short coda, finishing on a highly-spiced E major chord. Throughout this movement the harmonic idiom is highly chromatic and often dissonant, though there is always an underlying sense of tonality. The rhythm of the name Peter le Huray is frequently projected. Andante ostinato is imbued with feelings of longing, with two major climaxes, ecstatic or anguished, perhaps both. The opening three-part counterpoint makes extensive ostinato use of the retrograde version of the theme (AHEEFFEGEE), and this is in evidence for most of the movement. The predominantly dissonant idiom finally gives way to more romantic harmonies, ambiguously suggesting fulfilment or resignation, surmounted by the AHEEFFEGEE melody. Tu es Petrus in fuga starts with a grand, richly harmonised statement of the Tu es Petrus melody (Tempo comodo ma non lento), before embarking upon a fugue (Allegretto con moto), based on EEGEFFEEHA as the main subject, and of extreme complexity, both contrapuntal and rhythmic. The time signature is 4/4 , but as often as not the effect is 3 + 3 + 2/8 , and the periodic appearances of the plainchant melody in this rhythm, over a somewhat irreverent oom-cha-cha accompaniment, recall Tranchell’s compositions for the theatre. The fugue ends with two further expansive harmonisations of Tu es Petrus, linked by a characteristically pianistic flourish. There are hardly any indications of registration or dynamics, apart from a few crescendi and suggestions of balance, such as 'en dehors' and 'equal manuals'. The title page includes the instruction: Each movement may be played separately either loud or soft. The present edition, the first of Peter Tranchell’s Sonata for organ to be published, has been type-set from the composer’s manuscript by John Gwinnell and published by The Peter Tranchell Foundation. The Sonata for organ is recorded with permission from the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. "The perfectly in tune Compton proves itself the perfect vehicle for this richly varied repertoire, especially when as well recorded as it has been here by the Signum team…[Harper's] assured technique nakes light of some of the challenges that clearly exist, unerringly finding the heart and soul of every work in the programme…You won't be disappointed" - Organists' Review -
'Electric' contains many of the best works for cello and electronics written in the last 40 years. A delicious sonic feast that showcases the treasure of Barley's 18th century cello and the electronic wizardry and imagination of some of the most talented composers working today like Anna Meredith, Joby Talbot, Michael Gordon and John Metcalfe. From the machine-like rhythms of Motion Detector to the tenderness of Constant Filter that is a wide choice of style and mood. "Fiercely committed, immaculately delivered disc. There's plenty here to captivate…Barley is bright and energetic amid the frenetic electronic activity…It makes for an eclectic collection of pieces, but what brings them together is Barley's rich, supple playing, which he varies dramatically in tone and style as he allies himself with each composer's music across the disc's carefully considered emotional journey. Recorded sound is so rich and detailed that its something of a sonic marvel in itself" - The Strad "'Electric' is a timely album…it's the longer works that draw the best from Barley's warm tone and sensitive playing…moonmoons brilliantly blends legato Lydian-key phrasing and electronic accompaniment, the cello's expressive voice surrounded by halo of pitch-shifted pizzicato. [Honeyed Words] a simple, playful work, and has a winning charm" - Gramophone ★★★★ "As a collected work, Electric is haunting and otherworldly...beautifully raw…With electronic technology that is constantly in development, it’s important to see these works set down with strong recordings that reflect the landscape for and possibilities of contemporary performers and technology. Electric offers us just that." - BBC Music Magazine "Warm tone and sensitive playing" - Songlines -
The original plan was to collaborate with gospel choir Soul Sanctuary on a Polish Christmas lullaby-style carol arrangement but when I came across this gorgeous Ukrainian lullaby-style carol ‘Sleep, Jesus, Sleep’ (Spy, Isuse, Spy) it instantly became clear that we needed to turn the project into a fundraising one. I was delighted when Ukrainian soprano Inna Husieva agreed to take part in the recording also but it has been troubling me enormously that since Putin announced his ’Special Operation’ in the Ukraine, the many thousands of Afghans we/UK airlifted out of Kabul in August ’21 have been forgotten and are still struggling to find their feet/life/accommodation in the UK, some still living whole families to one room. So I invited Afghan tabla player Sulaiman Haqpana to play on the track as well. - Roxanna Panufnik -
“It’s been a while since my last album and I have chosen to record a few of the pieces that have had the most impact on me and given me the most comfort. God knows we all need a shot of something right now, and these pieces combine to form a monster dose of Vitamin C for the soul. Listening to Pogorelich playing Chopin’s 3rd scherzo at the Chopin competition, Gould keeping me company in the middle of the night with the B flat minor prelude and fugue or Sokolov performing the rarely played impromptu in London have been defining moments in my life,in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Every piece on this album has a similar story of inspiration and hope for me. Choosing the photo of mini me for the cover is my, perhaps slightly melodramatic, way of recognising that without this music, these musicians, the miracle of the 88 keys of a piano and a recording studio, my life would have been a pale imitation of the miracle that it has turned out to be.” - James Rhodes -
“The album started life as a collection of piano improvisations saved as voice- notes on my phone. Expanding the ideas during a series of slow evenings after work, I discovered there were some pieces I would always come back to and play again and again. Each voice note had been recorded at random times, some months apart, others years apart, and it began to sound like a musical diary of my private thoughts and feelings from over the years. When I came to record the pieces I invited some friends to play Cello and Recorder, as I decided I’d had enough of playing piano by myself.” - Ben Pearson -
Release date: 05/12/2023 -
Their fifth release on Signum Classics, the “engaging” (New Yorker) men’s vocal ensemble Cantus present a collection of songs cycles by contemporary and living composers, exploring different kinds of journeys through song. “These contrasting song cycles share an embrace of change, growth, acceptance and renewal, and through the collective experience of their journeys – great and small, painful and magical – we gain a clearer picture of life and of ourselves” - Cantus "Celebrating their 30th anniversary, Cantus’s lineup may have evolved, but their exquisite vocal cohesion and interpretative clarity remain constant. Fields of Wonder is a bold, intelligent release that confirms Cantus as one of today’s most vital vocal ensembles" - Textura "I was mesmerized by Fields of Wonder" - Cultural Attache “The Cras and Bonds recordings are important items indeed — lovely, little-known music and a major discovery in the field of African American song.” - Allmusic -
Malcolm Martineau follows up his acclaimed complete song collections of Duparc, Poulenc and Faure with a double album celebrating the complete songs of Maurice Ravel, performed by a bumper roster of singers: Lorna Anderson, Julie Boulianne, John Chest, Sarah Dufresne Dafydd Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Paula Murrihy, Nicky Spence and William Thomas. French composer Maurice Ravel known for his musical craftsmanship and clear style drew on elements of baroque, neoclassicism, modernism and later on, jazz in his compositions. His vocal works span 4 decades, from 1893 to 1933. Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau is recognised at the highest international level as one of the UK’s leading accompanists, performing worldwide alongside the world’s greatest singers and with a discography of over 100 albums, including a number of award-winning recordings. ★★★★★ - "The homogeneity of the result is striking" - Spanish Classical Music Magazine ★★★★★ - "Martineau's pellucid pianism holds the project gloriously together" - BBC Music Magazine§ ★★★★ - "For many, it will be the one-off songs, those not part of a cycle, that are the big discoveries. But among the better-known numbers there are some fine performances" - The Guardian ★★★★ - "Beautifull recorded, with voices and piano well balanced" - Limelight -
The second in their award winning series, the Calidore Quartet return with a three disc album of the Middle Quartets. Their Beethoven performances have been described as ‘shockingly deep’ by LA Times. The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024. Their interpretation is informed by their diverse set of mentors which include Alban Berg, Emerson, Guarneri and yet still uniquely representing the sentiments, aesthetics and research of their generation. Their interpretations of Beethoven are already critically acclaimed with performances at the Lincoln Centre planned as part of their residency. All Music Classical Highlights October 2024 Recording of the Month (October) "What cannot be denied is the sophistication and sheer polish - in tuning, rhythm and ensemble - of the Calidore's Beethoven...A performance of such fearless attack and rhythmic precision...[Coda] a miniature tour de force that sets the seal on Beethoven-playing of rare vividness and technical aplomb" - Gramophone “The works played here reflect the intense experimentalism of Beethoven’s middle years – the leading Viennese critic of the day declared the ‘Razumovskys’ ‘not generally comprehensible’ – and the Calidore Quartet are well up to all the challenges…this album set is highly collectible.” - BBC Music Magazine "The group's sense of ensemble is excellent, and overall, the intensity of the Calidore Quartet's playing is notable and commendable...the sound is both clear and idiomatic...this is a recording that demands attention" - AllMusic -
“Words and music rarely come together so perfectly as in this song. John Fletchers’s text is made all the more poignant given the composer, Ivor Gurney’s own struggles with mental health" - Grace Davidson -
“This traditional Japanese song is about a young child watching a red dragonfly sitting on their older sister’s shoulder at sunset. This beautiful new arrangement by Bob Chilcott was written especially for tenor Julian Gregory and myself” - Grace Davidson
