Recordings of Lennox Berkeley's music
Britten the Performer: Complete Decca Recordings
Format: CDRelease date: September 2013
Catalogue no: 0289 478 5672 6
This 27-CD set brings together for the first time Britten's complete Decca recordings as pianist and conductor in which he performs music by other composers - an astonishing variety of music that ranges from large-scale choral works by Bach and Purcell to Schumann and Elgar, as well as orchestral works by Mozart, Haydn and Schubert. Solo vocal repertory is generously represented with important works by Schubert and Schumann and early twentieth-century English song. Chamber music features Britten the pianist in partnership with two of Brittens closest collaborators: Mstislav Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter.
During the research and preparation for this set a major discovery was made. The existence of a few unpublished Schubert songs was already known and a few works which had never appeared on CD already ensured their inclusion at the planning stage. However the discovery of an unpublished tape containing almost 50 minutes of Mozart (including Symphony No.40) with the London Symphony Orchestra recorded in Kingsway Hall in December 1963 was a genuine once in a lifetime discovery! (Synopsis by Amazon)
- How Love Came In
The Day Thou Gavest
Format: CDEvensong, a peaceful and reflective service built on the ancient monastic offices of Vespers and Compline, form the backbone of the work of many choral foundations, and is offered daily at Chichester Cathedral. This is a disc of the wonderful pieces of music performed regularly in the Chichester Cathedral.
- The Lord is My Shepherd (op. 91 part 1)
Performed by the Choir of Chichester Cathedral
Great Works for Flute and Orchestra
Format: CD & Digital downloadSharon Bezaly's latest disc includes two central works from the repertoire for flute and orchestra – the concertos by Carl Nielsen and Carl Reinecke – as well as less often heard gems, such as Cécile Chaminade's melodious Concertino and Charles T. Griffes’ Poem, with its distinctive harmonies and colourful writing. The programme also includes a true rarity in Tchaikovsky’s youthful Largo and Allegro for flute and strings, written while the composer was still a student at the St Petersburg Conservatory. Poulenc's Sonata is of course one of the most popular pieces in the flute repertoire of the 20th century, but it is here performed in an unusual version for flute and orchestra, orchestrated by Lennox Berkeley, a friend of Poulenc. Throughout this colourful and varied programme, Sharon Bezaly enjoys the sympathetic support of Neeme Järvi and the Residentie Orchestra who also join her in the spectacular encore, the Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s virtuosic arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Flight of the Bumblebee. (Edited synopsis by BIS Records)
- Flute Sonata (op. 93 part 2, by Francis Poulenc, orchestrated by LB)
Performed by the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Sharon Bezaly (flute) & Neeme Järvi (conductor)
Format: CDLennox & Michael Berkeley: Organ Works
Format: Digital download- Andantino (op. 21 part 2b, Arrangement of A Festival Anthem)
- Three Pieces (op. 72 part 1)
- Fantasia (op. 92)
- Impromptu
Performed by Tom Winpenny (organ)
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Entr'acte: Music for Flute & Guitar
Format: CD & Digital downloadLabel: Cambridge Recordings
Release date: April 2013
Catalogue no: CAMREC005
The combination of flute and guitar has been described as enchanting and beautiful and this is surely demonstrated by the works featured on this recording. The Ramirez guitar is stylistically acceptable as a continuo instrument in the early works by Blavet and Rameau but it is perhaps in the other compositions where the combination of the two instruments brings a different perspective on well-known pieces.
- Three Pieces for Flute and Guitar (Arrangement by Adam Pounds of 'Five Short Pieces for Piano')
- 1) Andante
- 2) Moderato
- 3) Allegro moderato
Performed by Adam Pounds (conductor) & Dinah Pounds (flute)
Listen to audio from Entr'acte: Music for Flute & Guitar...
English Recorder Works
Format: CD & Digital downloadAlso includes Malcolm Arnold: Sonatina op. 41, Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet & Solitaire; Gordon Jacob: Suite for Recorder and String Quartet; York Bowen: Sonata op. 121; Edmund Rubbra: Meditazioni sopra “Coeurs Désolés” op. 67.
- Sonatina (op. 13)
Performed by Jill Kemp (recorder) & Aleksander Szram (piano)
Lennox Berkeley Complete Music for Violin and Piano, and Solo Violin
Format: CD & Digital download- Sonata no. 2 (op. 1)
- Sonatina (op. 17)
- Introduction and Allegro (op. 24)
- Theme and Variations (op. 33 part 1)
- Elegy (op. 33 part 2a)
- Toccata (op. 33 part 3)
- Sonata no. 1
Performed by Arabella Teniswood-Harvey (piano) & Edwin Paling (violin)
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Christmas from Magdalen College Oxford
Format: CDThe Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford present a programme of carols, anthems and organ music for Christmas which will inspire and uplift in equal measure. The sounds of boys’ voices soar in the warm and resonant acoustics of the fifteenth-century college chapel, with wonderful soloists drawn from the choir in an atmospheric selection featuring some of the greatest Christmas music of past and present. (Synopsis: Gift of Music)
- Look up sweet babe (op. 43 part 2)
Performed by the Choir of Magdalen College Oxford
Shine and Shade
Format: CDRe-release of the 1999 Upbeat Classics disc of the same name. "An appealing disc full of vigorous character and ideas, not to say stunning virtuosity." - Classic FM Magazine (Recording of the Month, December 1999)
"Piers Adams demonstrates superbly just how varied composers' responses have been to the unusual combination and how often they have written beautiful movements that stand comparison with any modern wind and piano sonatas. Adams and Rhodes play with superb rapport and find all kinds of different expressive characters for the very different pieces. This CD is a delight." - Classic CD Magazine
- Sonatina (op. 13)
Performed by Piers Adams (recorder) & Julian Rhodes (piano)