NMC
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Deliberate and fresh exploration unique to this set of instruments is what this ensemble is all about – producing uncompromising and outstandingly mastered dynamics, slide control, multiphonics... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2024, Recording of the Month
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2025, Shortlisted - Premiere
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2025, Shortlisted - Newcomer
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Julian Anderson: Book of Hours
Lamberto Coccioli & Scott Wilson (electronics)
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Oliver Knussen, Martyn Brabbins & Sakari Oramo
The dazzling Book of Hours, composed for the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, is one of Anderson's greatest achievements so far, building from the simplest beginning - the first four notes... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 2007, Finalist - Contemporary
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2006, Editor's Choice
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This is, finally, the memorial that all of us who were admirers of Steve Martland’s music have been waiting for…Anyone interested in the variety of British music of the 20th century should explore... —
Awards:
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Sunday Times, 2015, Albums of the Year
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2015, Re-issue of the Month
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Tavener: Akhmatova Requiem
Phyllis Bryn-Julson (soprano) & John Shirley-Quirk (bass-baritone), Elise Ross (soprano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Nash Ensemble, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
this heartfelt setting of Anna Akhmatova's blistering condemnation of Stalinist atrocities still packs an enormous punch...The Requiem grips from the start...Phyllis Bryn-Julson is on strong... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2014, Re-issue of the Month
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Sam Hayden: Substratum
Ensemble Musikfabrik, Quatuor Diotima, The BBC Symphony Orchestra, Stefan Asbury, David Robertson
While Hayden’s aesthetic often generates highly animated, complex and concentrated structures, subdued moments also filter through in the string quartet, recalling earlier, more spectral-inspired... —
Awards:
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The Times Records of the Year, 2019
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Colin Matthews: Violin Concerto
RecommendedLeila Josefowicz (violin), Anssi Karttunen (cello)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Oliver Knussen, Riccardo Chailly, Rumon Gamba
[Leila Josefowicz has] unlocked a sensuous outpouring from Matthews, a concerto of lithe purpose and natural flow…the fearless Josefowicz brings her unique improvisatory energy, finding exuberant... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
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Ferneyhough: La Terre est un Homme
Olivia Robinson (soprano), Jennifer Adams-Barbaro (soprano) & Cherith Millburn-Fryer (alto)
ensemble recherche, BBC Symphony Orchestra, EXAUDI, Martyn Brabbins, James Weeks
In the latter pieces the BBC SO never shirk that lightness of touch which makes listening a pleasure, while Martyn Brabbins directs with calm authority and, above all, a belief in this music’s... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, March 2018
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Gramophone Magazine, May 2018, Editor's Choice
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The Times Records of the Year, 2018
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The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2018
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The NMC Songbook
RecommendedSopranos - Claire Booth, Ailish Tynan, Elizabeth Atherton
Mezzo-sopranos - Susan Bickley, Loré Lixenberg, Jean Rigby
Countertenors - James Bowman, Michael Chance, Andrew Watts
Tenors - Andrew Kennedy, Daniel Norman, Benjamin Hulett
Baritones - Stefan Loges, Roderick Williams,...
…anyone listening to these discs will find many things to savour… It is, inevitably an eclectic mix, but, as in any well-planned song recital, the progressions and juxtapositions are continually... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 20th April 2009
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Gramophone Awards, 2009, Winner - Contemporary
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Holloway, R: Concerto for Orchestra No. 2
RecommendedStefan Asbury (assistant conductor)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Oliver Knussen
A fascinating disc: the Concerto isn't quite like anything else I know, and in every aspect NMC have served it well. It deserves the widest possible hearing. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1994, Winner - Contemporary
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Anna Meredith: Triptotage Miniatures; Colin Matthews: Postludes; Alexander Goehr: After The Waking
Aurora Orchestra, Nicholas Daniel, Britten Sinfonia, Nash Ensemble, Martyn Brabbins
Meredith’s style doesn’t fit into a particular category…Aurora Orchestra expertly handles the cross-rhythms and changing time signatures…[Goehr’s] Schoenbergian melodic language is beautifully... —
Awards:
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The Times Records of the Year, 2020
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