Recordings of Lennox Berkeley's music
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Ruth
Format: Digital downloadLabel: MPLive
Release date: November 2010
Catalogue no: LM 7418
Available from: Classical Shop
Only one recording of Lennox Berkeley's gentle, pastoral one-act opera has been previously released, indicating a neglect of appreciation for its understated but deeply felt dramatic core and long lyrical lines that this release may hopefully address and correct.
That modern recording was made in the studio; here is a record of a full and lively production, and indeed the very first, marshalled with calm authority in the pit by Charles (later Sir Charles) Mackerras, whose death robbed the world of music of a true man for all seasons. Some of his many enthusiasms may be appreciated here; for English music; for new music; for opera; for working with the best singers of the day and at the same time nurturing young voices.
This performance as broadcast is introduced and linked with narrative interludes by Lord Harewood KBE, who did so much to foster the performance and wider appreciation of opera in the decades after the Second World War. (Synopsis by MPLive)
- Ruth (op. 50)
Performed by the English Opera Group Orchestra & Charles Mackerras (conductor)
Hail, Gladdening Light
Format: CDLabel: York Ambisonic
Release date: November 2010
Catalogue no: YORK 212
- The Lord is My Shepherd (op. 91 part 1)
Performed by the Choir of St. Giles Cathedral & Michael Harris (conductor)
Songs of Yesterday
Format: CDOn 'Songs of Yesterday', Dan Laurin opens up an unfamiliar chapter in the history of recorder music: between 1939 and 1989 Carl Dolmetsch, the great pioneer in modern recorder playing, gave almost annual recitals at Wigmore Hall in London, for which he often commissioned works with piano or harpsichord accompaniment. This is described in the informative liner notes by Andrew Mayes, who has also published a book on the subject. In his own introduction to the disc, Laurin remarks upon 'Dolmetsch's ability to inspire composers to search for a contemporary idiom adequate for the instrument, resulting in an unparalleled number of top-quality works which unfortunately have been largely forgotten.' Among these, written by composers such as Edmund Rubbra and Lennox Berkeley, Laurin and his partner Anna Paradiso have selected seven pieces which, to quote Laurin once more, give his instrument a rare opportunity to 'sing like a French impressionist (Ravel, Debussy!) or a Russian modernist (Prokofiev!) - all of whom can be heard through the filter of this English, post-First World War melancholy longing.' (Synopsis by Bis Records)
- Sonatina (op. 13)
Performed by Anna Paradiso (piano) & Dan Laurin (recorder)
English Choral Music
Format: CDCambridge University Chamber Choir performs three twentieth-century English song cycles for mixed choir, including the rarely-recorded A Garland for the Queen. A Garland was composed to commemorate the Queen’s coronation in 1953 by a selection of the finest English composers including Finzi, Bliss, Bax, Tippett, Vaughan Williams, Howells and Ireland. The two works by Benjamin Britten, AMDG and Sacred and Profane, are virtuoso show pieces for mixed choir. (Synopsis by Heritage Records)
- Spring At This Hour (op. 37 part 2)
Performed by the Cambridge University Chamber Choir
Katherine Bryan - Liebermann Flute Concerto and works by Hüe, Poulenc & Nielsen
Format: CD & Digital downloadYoung flautist Katherine Bryan is rapidly confirming her place as one of Britain's bright musical stars of the future. For her recital debut the in-demand concerto soloist performs a selection of 20th century concertos, including the Poulenc Flute Sonata orchestrated by Lennox Berkeley, and the rarely recorded Liebermann Concerto for Flute and Orchestra. (Linn Records)
- Flute Sonata (op. 93 part 2, by Francis Poulenc, orchestrated by LB)
Performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Katherine Bryan (flute) & Paul Daniel (conductor)