A clean, uncluttered account featuring crystalline voices, good diction, safe tempos and well-defined phrasing...vocal ensembles are luminous and the instrumental playing is bright and streamlined. Best of all is Rachael Lloyd's dignified Dido, rich-voiced, poetic and flawlessly delivered - The Guardian
The Armonico Consort and its musical director, Christopher Monks, capture this abundance of inspiration in a performance full of life and variety...Rachael Lloyd's dignified Dido and Elin Manahan Thomas's bright Belinda are well contrasted - Financial Times
This small-scale version of Purcell's evergreen masterpiece has much to commend it - Early Music Today
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Purcell’s ever-green chamber opera Dido & Aeneas, its story drawn from Virgil’s epic, the Aeneid, is performed by the Armonico Consort with an astounding selection of soloists. Armonico Consort is one of the largest and most innovative organisations of its kind in the UK, existing to inspire audiences with its unique programmes. ★★★★ Lithe, colourful, tastefully phrased and dynamically astute playing...[the cast] sing compellingly and inhabit their roles with the same sensitivity that distinguishes the whole performance - The Daily Telegraph -
The great patriotic opera of the 17th century, recorded here in a lively new performing edition after two decades in the Gabrieli’s touring repertoire. Notoriously difficult to present on disc or in concert, this version presented by Gabrieli was created to allow an obvious musical narrative, despite Purcell’s music often being completely dislocated from much of the original theatre context. Gabrieli have been performing the music from King Arthur for nearly a quarter of a century, evolving their interpretation over time. With the score having to be pieced together using separate versions (due to Purcell’s originals being lost), and with Gabrieli’s evolved interpretation of the music, the end product of this recording is truly unique. Their next release on Signum will be with the semi-opera by Purcell, Fairy Queen, in April next year, which is an adaptation of A Midsummer Nights Dream. All downloads include booklets."The wondrous music-making repeats beguiling dividends from diligent application of research-informed practices and the expressive sagacity of the performers. A class of its own" -Top Choice: Purcell’s King Arthur, Gramophone
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Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a play not frequently performed in the late 17th century, nor very well regarded (“the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life” - Samuel Pepys’ diary, 1662). Despite this, the play would go on to work well within an opera, as the characters of Pyramus and Thisbe could conjure up singing and dancing accomplices. Purcell’s masterful composition, Gabrieli’s first-class performance, and McCreesh’s superb interpretation demonstrate why their recordings are seen as some of the best in classical music today. Gabrieli are world-renowned interpreters of great vocal and instrumental repertoire, from the Renaissance to the present day. Founded by Paul McCreesh in 1982, Gabrieli have both outgrown and remained true to their original identity: whilst the ensemble’s repertoire has expanded beyond any expectation, McCreesh’s ever-questioning spirit, expressive musicianship and a healthy degree of iconoclasm remain constant and are reflected in the ensemble’s dynamic performances. Gabrieli’s repertoire includes major works of the oratorio tradition, virtuosic a cappella programmes and mould-breaking reconstructions of music for historical events. Above all, Gabrieli aims to create thought-provoking performances which stand out from the crowd. All downloads include booklets. -
Gallicantus perform music surrounding the fascinating yet tragic story of Queen Mary Tudor’s ‘phantom pregnancy’. On 30th April 1555 the city of London celebrated the birth of a healthy male heir, but abruptly ceased the next day after the news was revealed to be nothing but rumour. There was to be no heir, with gossip and speculation surrounding the tale of Mary’s pregnancy from that day onwards.The music performed here resonates with the circumstances of the mid-1550s, including items composed outside of Mary’s reign; from the royal ceremonies in which Mary participated as queen, and music directly tied to the specific events of 1554-5. This includes a newly-reconstructed Litany which was performed during Mary’s assumed pregnancy. The viewpoint shifts from the streets of London and its suburbs, through the ceremonial grandeur of the royal palaces and their chapels, to the intimacy of the Privy Chamber itself. -
Jeremy Filsell is one of very few performers to have established a virtuoso concert career as both a Pianist and Organist on the international stage. This recital disc explores Filsell's lifelong love of Rachmaninov?s piano music, surveying selections from preludes and sonatas as well as two song transcriptions.Praise for Jeremy Filsell on Signum:
"Filsell, famously untroubled by technical demands, concentrates on wringing every last drop of sonority in deeply-felt, idiomatic performances" BBC Music Magazine
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Marking their latest collaboration with their conductor laureate Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Philharmonia return to disc with a stellar live-performance of Rachmaninov’s volcanic Symphony No.1 in D Minor. Composed when Rachmaninov was just 22, the work has a famously tumultuous performance history. The work’s premiere in 1897 – conducted by Glazunov – was a disaster, generating vitriolic abuse from critics and reviewers of the day. Rachmaninov destroyed the score and refused the works publication during his lifetime; it was not heard again until its reconstruction from solo parts by Soviet Musicologists for a concert in 1945. This is the first release in a new series of Rachmaninov’s symphonies, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy in live performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra. ★★★★ Ashkenazy knows how to shape detail and soar in the big melodic moments. The Philharmonia sound is muscular and alert, from the opening woodwind solos to the mighty, stirring symphonic tutti of the finale - The Guardian ★★★★★ Ashkenazy’s splendidly accomplished and consistently invigorating new version must rank very highly indeed - Classical Ear ★★★★ Signum’s recording engineers have achieved a near miracle in somehow creating a much warmer ambience to the sound than you would normally expect from this venue.. wonderfully rich string sonorities from the Philharmonia who play their hearts out - BBC Music Magazine It’s difficult to think of any active musician more completely at home in this repertoire - Gramophone The playing of the Philharmonia is elegant in the more relaxed moments... the latter part of the finale is suitably thrilling - The Yorkshire Post -
Marking their latest collaboration with their conductor laureate Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Philharmonia return to disc with a stellar live-performance of Rachmaninov’s ebullient Symphony No.2 in E Minor. This is the second release in a new series of Rachmaninov’s symphonies, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy in live performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra. The playing of the Philharmonia Orchestra, its assurance, unanimity and sheer beauty of sound, is outstanding - Music Web International From the first notes the music flows with intent and it is clear that we are in for a charged account of this fine work - iClassical -
Marking their latest collaboration with their conductor laureate Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Philharmonia return to disc with a stellar live-performance of two late works by Rachmaninov – the Symphonic Dances and Symphony No. 3 in A Minor. This release is third and final in a new series of Rachmaninov’s symphonic works, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy in live performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Performance ★★★★ Recording ★★★★★ - BBC Music Magazine A very fine issue indeed. It is something of a privilege to hear this great veteran still having so much to say about music so close to him - MusicWeb InternationalThe previous volumes of Symphony No. 1 (SIGCD484) and No. 2 (SIGCD530) were met with critical acclaim:
Perhaps the most satisfying of all [Ashkenazy’s recordings of the Symphony] - BBC Music Magazine
Ashkenazy knows how to shape detail and soar in the big melodic moments. The Philharmonia sound is muscular and alert, from the opening woodwind solos to the mighty, stirring symphonic tutti of the finale - The Observer
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Jeremy Filsell, a world-renowned authority and performer on both the organ and piano, taps into his lifelong love of the music of Rachmaninov to create this programme of new transcriptions and arrangements for the organ, centred on the Symphonic Dances Op. 45.Show-stopping stuff on occasion, and hi-fi buffs with big woofers will find much to enjoy with the volume turned up, but the real satisfaction is in Rachmaninov’s remarkable music, with all of its spectral darkness and surprising radiance - MusicWeb InternationalI am sure the composer would greet Filsell's Symphonic Dances with the same 'Hallelujah' he appended to the completed score - Choir and Organ
Jeremy Filsell is superb pianist and one of the greatest organists...the colours that he brings out are wonderful - BBC Radio 3 Record Review
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Rameau wrote two operas called Anacréon, both one-act actes-de-ballet but with completely different music and plots. The opera presented here is the first of the two, a setting of a libretto by Rameau's most frequent collaborator, Louis de Cahusac, Following its first performance at the beautiful chateau of Fontainebleau in 1754, Anacréon enjoyed some success in Paris after Rameau's death before becoming all but lost for over 200 years. From fragmented manuscripts scattered through Paris's libraries, Jonathan Williams reconstructed the work, had his edition published by Ba?renreiter, and now leads this world-premiere recording with a leading cast of soloists and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
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Contrasting pieces by two masters of orchestral composition, these live performances capture the energy and movement of three much-loved balletic works; Ravel's intricate vignettes of childrens' stories in Mother Goose and 'choreographic poem' La valse, and Stravinsky's epoch-defining Rite of Spring. One of the oldest professional orchestras in Russia, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra can trace its lineage back to 1882 and its formation by Tsar Alexander III. In a 25-year collaboration, Yuri Temirkanov has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 1988. -
Rebecca Clarke (1886–1979) wrote vocal chamber music over the whole of her career, from Wandrers Nachtlied, her first completed composition, in 1903, through her overhaul of Lethe, in the winter of 1976–77. Taken together, her songs and duets constitute one of the greatest and most distinctive contributions to the vocal repertoire of the twentieth century. Much of Clarke’s vocal music has been recorded, but the present album brings it all together under one roof, including a complete survey of the early songs (only Tears was previously recorded), and first recordings of Weep You No More, Sad Fountains, in its original solo version, and the epic Binnorie: A Ballad. It would take a sizable monograph even to begin to lay out the riches in these works, or to sketch their histories. Luckily, Clarke’s work speaks so powerfully for itself that only a few bits of background information may be necessary: “This beautifully recorded anthology is a must for any lover of English song” - Limelight Editors pick January 2026 "One of the year’s best, without a shadow of a doubt" - Gramophone ★★★★ - “The performers are persuasive, with Whately in particular on superb form, her voice laser-focused and glowing.” - The Guardian -
Peter Cigleris performs with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a programme of four ‘rediscovered’ clarinet concertante works of the first half of the 20th Century. Composed between 1930 and 1947, the works span a time of change in the musical landscape of Great Britain; Pre 1939/40 the two predominant styles within British music were those of Post-Romanticism and Nationalism, whereas Post 1945, with the influence of the BBC, Modernism became the dominant style. By chance it also happens that two prominent British clarinettists tie these four works together; Fredrick Thurston and Reginald Kell were both involved in performances of the works at various points during their careers. A renowned soloist and chamber musician, Peter Cigleris has performed with the CBSO, BBCCO, ENB, Philharmonic, Royal Ballet Sinfonia and Orchestra of the Swan, as well as for a time holding the principal seat with the Symphony Orchestra of India in performances under Charles Dutoit and Rafael Payare amongst others. He has worked with musicians such as Martin Cousins, John Lenehan, Mark Bebbington, Julian Lloyd Webber and the Tippett Quartet, performing for various music clubs and festivals around the UK including the Windsor and Wooburn Festival, English Music Festival, Carlisle International Music Festival, Groba Festival in Spain and the ICA ‘ClarinetFest’. "The performances by Cigleris are inspiring, the album is well produced and the works are engaging and enjoyable to listen to. Notes authored by Cigleris offer great historical insight… Special recognition should also go out to Ben Palmer and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales – taking on a project involving world-premiere recordings of unfamiliar clarinet concertos is no small undertaking! The album will surely serve as a wonderful reference for anyone wishing to explore these works" - The Clarinet -
Violin and piano duo Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins explore a violin and piano programme spanning four generations of musical imagination. Prokofiev’s F minor Sonata captivates with its dramatic intensity and baroque-inspired clarity. Stravinsky’s Duo Concertant enchants through five lyrical musical poems, blending wit, elegance, and classical poise. Knussen’s ‘Reflection’ written for Waley-Cohen and Watkins immerses listeners in a jewel-like world of colour and introspection, where every note is deliberately placed. Watkins’s Violin Sonata fuses modern lyricism with bursts of earthy vitality, creating a dialogue of subtle contrasts. ★★★★ - The Times "artfully constructed and sympathetically recorded" - The Strad -
On The Vasari Singers' debut disc with Signum Records we present a deeply intimate recording of personal and moving works by Herbert Howells and Frank Martin. In 1935 Herbert Howells’ son died at the age of nine. Howells sought release and consolation in his writing, and composed the a cappella six-movement Requiem as a private document to his son. Indeed, Howells considered his Requiem so personal an outpouring that he felt the need to withhold it from publication. It was not released until 1980, only three years before the composer ’s own death. The motet Take him, earth, for cherishing has the dedication "To the honoured memory of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, President of the United States of America", and was composed for the commemoration in Washington on 6th June 1964. Frank Martin was a deeply religious man. He composed the Mass for Double Choir, early in his career. The work embodies the profound nature of his beliefs, and was the only work that Martin wrote purely for liturgical purposes. Such was the intensely intimate nature of the work, that, like Howells, the composer withheld it, and kept the manuscript safely in a drawer for over forty years. As Martin himself wrote, "This was something between God and me, that concerned nobody else". Over the last two decades, The Vasari Singers has built up an enviable reputation for excellence, versatility and sensitivity in both live performances and recordings. They perform these pieces with passion and devotion, and capture the very private and deep-rooted feelings contained within each work. -
Orchestral Works by Guto Pryderi Puw Gweithiau Cerddorfaol gan Guto Pryderi Puw The first release from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s inaugral Composer in Residence, Guto Pryderi Puw. A dual-language release in both Welsh and English, this release features a range of orchestral works inspired by stories and landscapes of Wales. The playing of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the always enterprising Jac van Steen is everything that could be desired - MusicWeb International Running the gamut from dense harmonic clusters to folk tunes, the judicious placing of its events more than outweighs its overtly short-term evolution - all making for a bracing embodiment of its narrative and a vivid showpiece in its own right - Gramophone