Recordings of Lennox Berkeley's music
Alberto Mesirca: British Guitar Music
Format: CD & Digital downloadAlso works by Benjamin Britten, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, John Dowland, Robert Fripp and Graham Whettam.
- Quatre pièces
Performed by Alberto Mesirca (guitar)
British Song
Format: CDLabel: Heritage Records
Release date: June 2012
Catalogue no: HTGCD240
Available from: Regis Records, Tolpuddle, Dorset Tel: 01305 848983
Major contributions to voice and piano repertoire commissioned by the Dickinsons from Jonathan Harvey (Correspondances), Lennox Berkeley (Five Chinese Songs), Gordon Crosse (the New World) as well as Lutyens (Stevie Smith Songs) and Peter Dickinson (Surrealist Landscape and Extravaganzas) now reissued from LP and CD.
Also available by the Dickinsons is the Heritage CD231 'American song'. Unknown recordings from the widely acclaimed partnership transferred from LP for the first time with extra material. Three songs by Gershwin, first recordings of Cage (five songs 1938), carter (Three Poems of Robert Frost; voyage), Copland (Poet's Song; Night Thoughts for Piano) and Thomson (two by marianne moore; portrait of F.B). Nine songs from Copland's 'Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson'. Historic CD booklet with comments about this recording from the composers.
- Five Chinese Songs (op. 78)
Performed by Peter Dickinson (piano) & Meriel Dickinson (mezzo-soprano)
British Flute Concertos
Format: CD & Digital download- Concerto for Flute (op. 36)
- Flute Sonata (op. 93 part 2, by Francis Poulenc, orchestrated by LB)
Performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Emily Beynon (flute) & Bramwell Tovey (conductor)
More details of this album...
Julian Bream in Concerto
Format: CDLabel: Alto
Release date: February 2012
Catalogue no: ALC1174
Julian Bream does everything, it goes without saying emotional depth is in the second movement of the Arnold, the slow movement - a threnody for Django Reinhardt - most imaginative. This concerto was written for Julian Bream and he plays it magnificently, as do the Melos Ensemble. The recording is first-rate - clear but not at all clinical ... The Giuliani demonstrates Bream's technique and musicianship (Gramophone). Berkeley: Sonatina - an enjoyably amiable piece; Ravel: Pavane - very relaxed account; Roussel: Segovia - a characteristic touch of acerbity; the two sonatas of Cimarosa both very personable (Penguin Guide).
- Sonatina (op. 52 part 1)
Performed by Julian Bream (guitar)
Lennox Berkeley: Chamber Works for Wind, Strings and Piano
Format: CDRegis presents a brand new recording of the chamber works of Lennox Berkeley including two world premieres. Regis has had a long association with oboist Sarah Francis (there are six existing recordings in the catalogue) and is delighted to collaborate with her in this project. Sarah discovered the manuscripts for the new works in the Royal College of Music library and they are presented here with other works for similar forces. Extensive liner notes are provided by Berkeley’s biographer, Peter Dickinson. (Synopsis by Regis Records)
- String Trio (op. 19)
- Sonatina (op. 61)
- Oboe Quartet (op. 70)
- Suite
- Trio
Performed by the Tagore String Trio, Michael Dussek (piano), Sarah Francis (oboe) & Judith Fitton (flute)
British Recorder Music
Format: CDRoss Winters has been committed to the promotion of British recorder music ever since his first London performance at the age of ten. Five of the six works on this ground breaking CD have never been presented in this format before. Bush's 1975 Sonatina is a far more substantial work than its title suggests, and this world première recording will enable you to appreciate to the full its extraordinarily wide ranging expression. The second movement on the tenor recorder will repay several hearings.
Berkeley's Sonatina is now a well established classic of both recorder and flute repertoire. Its slow movement is exquisite and its finale always raises a smile. Establishing the recorder in its rightful position as a participant in modern chamber music alongside other established instruments was a major aim of this recording. The quartets by Berkeley and Cooke are fine examples of beautifully conceived chamber music. The Berkeley has been recorded using flute and piano but never before in its intended version with recorder and harpsichord which we present here. The slow movement of Cooke's quartet is serenely beautiful, and recorder players in particular will relate to the expressive range and vitality of his trio and variations and to the many virtuosic moments in all the pieces. (Synopsis by Meridian Records)
This recording is supported by a grant from the Lennox Berkeley Society.
- Sonatina (op. 13)
- Concertino (op. 49)
Performed by Ross Winters (recorder), Julian Jacobson (harpsichord), Yuka Matsumoto (violin) & Jessica Burroughs (cello)
English String Music
Format: CDLabel: IMP Carlton Classics
Release date: October 2011
Catalogue no: LC 8747
- Serenade (op. 12)
Performed by the English Sinfonia & John Farrer (conductor)
Down by the Salley Gardens
Format: CD & Digital downloadLabel: Harmonia Mundi
Release date: September 2011
Catalogue no: HMC902093
In addition to The Horseman, the first of Berkeley's Five Songs (Walter de la Mare), this programme offers a vivid and varied cross-section of English song, ranging from the Edwardian aesthetic of Quilter and early Vaughan Williams to the intensely expressive style of Howells and Finzi. The Purcell realisations by Britten and Tippett, meanwhile, are products of two great 20th-century composers engaging with their musical heritage. In all these different styles, Bejun Mehta shows the same verbal and vocal mastery that won such acclaim for his debut Handel recital on harmonica mundi. (Synopsis by harmonica mundi)
- Five Songs (op. 26, Walter de la Mare)
Performed by Julius Drake (piano) & Bejun Mehta (counter-tenor)
English Song
Format: CDPeter Pears’ voice was undoubtedly one of the finest and most distinctive of the twentieth century and here he collaborates with Julian Bream and Benjamin Britten in performances of English song. Repertoire includes works by Ford, Morley, Rosseter, Dowland, Pilkington, Campian, Bridge, Butterworth, Ireland, Moeran, Warlock, Holst, Berkeley, Oldham and Britten. (Synopsis by Heritage Records)
- How Love Came In
The Art of Julian Bream
Format: CDComposed in 1957, the Sonatina was dedicated to Julian Bream, who gave its first performance at Morley College, London, on March 9 1958. Bream’s 1960 recording has been re-issued by él Records in this collection. This first version on disc shows a strong sense of direction in each of the three movements and a feeling of overall unity. Bream’s playing has exemplary articulation, cantabile melodic line and rhythmic vitality, and the old recording still gives a sense of both sonority and clarity.
Christopher Daly
- Sonatina (op. 52 part 1)
Performed by Julian Bream (guitar)