Lyrita
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Lennox Berkeley: Nelson - Opera in three acts
Elizabeth Bainbridge (mezzo-soprano), Eiddwen Harrhy (soprano), Brian Rayner Cook (baritone), Philip O'Reilly, David Johnston (tenor), Roger Heath, Mary Thomas (mezzo-soprano), Margaret Kingsley (mezzo-soprano), Richard Angas (bass), Eric Shilling (baritone), Richard Jackson (baritone), Francis Egerton...
Berkeley doesn’t altogether escape [Britten's] musical influence, but there’s an inherent flow to the drama...David Johnston leads a strong British cast, and inhabits the title role with confidence,... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, October 2021, Historical Choice
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Special offer. Holst: The Perfect Fool
Richard Golding, Pamela Bowden, Margaret Neville, John Mitchinson, David Read, BBC Northern Singers, BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, Charles Groves
Very much a radio adaptation, this 1967 BBC broadcast includes a personable narrator explaining the stage action. Allowing for this and the mono sound, this is a highly engaging production with... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, March 2022, Historical Choice
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Elizabeth Maconchy: Selected works
Manoug Parikian (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley, Barry Wordsworth
These works all testify to the strength of Elizabeth Maconchy's imagination...Handley directs superb, committed performances, vividly recorded, and Barry Wordsworth is equally impressive in... —
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The discovery for me was William Hurlstone’s very strong Sonata of 1899, with its most original slow movement lament, slightly let down by the weak melody of the finale. He was admired by Parry... —
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Richard Blackford: Mirror of Perfection; Vision of A Garden
Roderick Williams (baritone), Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Stephen Gadd, Ikon, Britten Sinfonia, Bach Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, David Hill
Blackford’s 1996 Mirror of Perfection is a big-boned and breathtaking opener, while the more recent Vision of a Garden – based on Peter Johnstone’s ‘ICU Diaries’ written while in hospital with... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2022, Editor's Choice
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British Symphonies
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite, Vernon Handley, Adrian Boult, Myer Fredman, Norman Del Mar, John Pritchard, Lennox Berkeley, William Alwyn, Josef Krips
this is a very significant release which really deserves to be snapped up by everyone, not least those who still cling to the discredited belief that when it comes to composing symphonies, Britain... —
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Gordon Jacob's First Symphony (1929) employs sizeable forces (including triple woodwind and two harps) and has five movements: two feisty and purposeful Allegros frame the whole edifice, while... —
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Frank Bridge's exploratory late chamber works can sound reticent, elusive in performance. Not here: fire, drama and intense fantasy abound, but there's no lack of refined control or shaping... —
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Boult conducts ...
Herbert Downes (viola), Desmond Bradley & Gillian Eastwood (violins), Albert Cayzer (viola) & Norman Jones (cello)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
…sympathetic accounts… Butterworth's Two English Idylls, The Banks of Freen Willow and the sublime Shropshire Lad rhapsody. Tension levels rise markedly for exceptionally insightful readings... —
