Latest News: Classical, Signum (label)
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Recording of the Week,
Paul McCreesh conducts Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius 26th April 2024Using instruments from around the time of the work's premiere in 1900, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and Players offer an illuminating recording that not only provides great textual clarity but also shows off the fine details of Elgar's orchestration.
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Recording of the Week,
Orchestral Works by Dorothy Howell 8th March 2024Rebecca Miller conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in world premiere recordings of the Humoresque, The Rock, the Three Divertissements and Koong Shee plus a terrific account of Lamia - the Keats-inspired tone-poem which made the 21-year-old composer an overnight success after its Proms premiere in 1919.
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Interview,
Julie Cooper on Oculus 13th February 2024The composer talks about her second album of chamber music on Signum Records, inspired by ideas of colour through history and drawing on her extensive experience as a composer for film and television.
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Presto Music Classical Podcast,
Episode 44: Take me to your Lieder - Schubert in English with Roderick Williams, Rowan Pierce and Christopher Glynn 18th November 2023Baritone, soprano and pianist offer their perspectives on the latest instalment in Signum Classics's series, which features Jeremy Sams's translations of Schubert Lieder.
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Interview,
The King's Singers on Wonderland 16th November 2023Patrick Dunachie and Jonathan Howard talk about the King's Singers' new album - including an unexpected change of direction for Joe Hisaishi and some revealing observations about the group's members...!
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Interview,
Joseph Middleton on Mahler 7th August 2023The pianist discusses his mission to record all of Mahler's songs in the versions for voice and piano (which launched at the end of last month on Signum Classics) and recounts how 'there was never a grand plan for this to be my job'...
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Interview,
Cecilia McDowall on her Da Vinci Requiem and Seventy Degrees below Zero 24th May 2023The composer discusses two of her new large-scale choral works, her approaches to matching words to music, and her aims as a contemporary composer.
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Presto Music Classical Podcast,
Episode 35: Tom & Will (& Jimmy & Roddy) – Tudor Anniversaries with Fretwork and The King's Singers 2nd April 2023Patrick Dunachie of The King's Singers and Richard Boothby of Fretwork talk about the madrigals and instrumental music of two Tudor titans.
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Interview,
The Calidore String Quartet record late Beethoven 15th March 2023Violinist Ryan Meehan talks about the quartet's new album, which builds on their earlier more exploratory releases with an all-Beethoven programme.
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Interview,
Mary Bevan on Visions Illuminées 28th February 2023The British soprano discusses her new album with 12 Ensemble, the Ruisi Quartet and Joseph Middleton on Signum, featuring works by composers including Britten, Chausson, Holmès, and Ravel & Debussy (via Robin Holloway).
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Interview,
Amanda Lee Falkenberg and Nicole Stott on the Moons Symphony 31st October 2022The composer and astronaut talk about their collaboration on an inspiring new work depicting seven of the Solar System's moons, and about art's role in communicating the wonders of scientific discovery.
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Interview,
Joby Burgess on A Percussionist's Songbook 10th October 2022The percussionist talks about his new album of solo commissions from contemporary composers, and about his lifelong relationship with the marimba.
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Interview,
Andrew Nethsingha on The Psalms 19th September 2022The director of music at St John's College Cambridge talks about his new album of psalms, and looks ahead to his upcoming move to Westminster Abbey.
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Interview,
Randall Scotting on Senesino 31st August 2022The American countertenor discusses his new album The Crown, exploring the star castrato's legacy beyond the Handel roles for which he is best known today...
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Interview,
Anna Lapwood on Celestial Dawn 25th July 2022The organist and conductor discusses her new recording with The Pembroke College Girls’ Choir, featuring music by composers including Nadia & Lili Boulanger, Kristina Arakelyan, Wayne Marshall and John Dankworth.
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Recording of the Week,
Berg, Webern and Schoenberg from the Heath Quartet 15th July 2022The UK-based string quartet bring luminous clarity and beauty to three transitional works by the Second Viennese School, with soprano Carolyn Sampson joining them for Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 2.
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Recording of the Week,
Locke consort works from Fretwork 14th January 2022The acclaimed consort mark the 400th anniversary of Matthew Locke's birth with a selection of his consort works from the twilight of the English consort tradition.
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Recording of the Week,
Christmas Recordings from Fretwork and Christiane Karg 3rd December 2021The viol consort is joined by mezzo Helen Charlston for an Elizabethan Christmas, whilst Karg and her regular recital partner Gerold Huber offer a beautifully-plotted programme of Lieder and mélodies with a seasonal theme.
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Interview,
Ian Page on Arne's Artaxerxes 26th May 2021The British conductor talks to Katherine about his 2010 recording of Thomas Arne's English-language opera seria about forbidden love and political skulduggery in Ancient Persia, re-released earlier this month on Signum.
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Interview,
Peter Cigleris on British Clarinet Concertos 25th March 2021Clarinettist Peter Cigleris talks about his new album on Signum, which sees him revive not one but four forgotten clarinet concertos from early twentieth-century Britain.