Sea Eagle (works for horn)

The quality of the works on offer here should make this release appeal well beyond the ranks of new music aficionados; and the near-flawless performances provide their own recommendation...[Watkins's]... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2015, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 16th Mar 2015
Catalogue No: NMCD203
Label: NMC
Length: 75 minutes

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Davies, Peter Maxwell: Sea Eagle for solo horn, Op. 103

Work length9:17

$3.00

$3.60

$5.25

Richard Watkins (horn)
Recorded: 24 January 2014
Recording Venue: Menuhin Hall, Yehudi Menuhin School, Cobham, Surrey

I. Adagio

Track length4:05

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

II. Lento

Track length3:33

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

III. Presto molto

Track length1:39

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Barry, G: Jabberwocky

Work length5:52

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Mark Padmore (tenor), Richard Watkins (horn), Huw Watkins (piano)
Recorded: 17 June 2014
Recording Venue: All Saints Church, East Finchley, London

Matthews, C: Three of a Kind

Work length9:41

$3.00

$3.60

$5.25

Richard Watkins (horn), Paul Watkins (cello), Huw Watkins (piano)
Recorded: 13-14 September 2014
Recording Venue: Menuhin Hall

I. Vivo

Track length1:47

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

II. Largamente

Track length1:13

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$1.75

III. Calmo

Track length6:41

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Watkins, H: Horn Trio

Work length12:56

$3.00

$3.60

$5.25

Richard Watkins (horn), Laura Samuel (violin), Huw Watkins (piano)
Recorded: 24 January 2011
Recording Venue: Menuhin Hall, Yehudi Menuhin School, Cobham, Surrey

Matthews, D: Quintet for Horn & Strings, Op. 115

Work length13:20

$3.00

$3.60

$5.25

Richard Watkins (horn)
The Nash Ensemble
Recorded: 18 October 2014
Recording Venue: BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall, London

I. Andante

Track length7:57

$2.00

$2.40

$3.50

II. Molto vivace

Track length5:23

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Turnage: Cello Concerto

Work length4:06

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Richard Watkins (horn), Paul Watkins (cello)
Recorded: 13-14 September 2014
Recording Venue: Menuhin Hall

Cello Concerto: IV. Prayer for a great man

Track length4:06

$1.00

$1.20

$1.75

Holloway, R: Trio for Horn, Cello & Piano, Op. 113

Work length20:08

$5.00

$6.00

$8.75

Richard Watkins (horn), Paul Watkins (cello), Huw Watkins (piano)
Recorded: 13-14 September 2014
Recording Venue: Menuhin Hall

I. Liberamente

Track length11:33

$3.00

$3.60

$5.25

II. Poco allegro

Track length8:35

$2.00

$2.40

$3.50

About
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About

All of the works on this release have been premiered by Richard Watkins, with both Colin Matthews' Three of a Kind and Robin Holloway's Trio receiving their first performance on this album.

Richard Watkins holds the Dennis Brain Chair of Horn Playing at the Royal Academy of Music, where he is also a Fellow. Forthcoming concerts featuring Richard Watkins include: Mozart Horn Concerto Project for BBC on Isle of Skye with BBC SSO. (Filming educational project & performance 9-14 February); Strauss Horn Concerto No 2 with Szczecin Philharmonic (4-7 March); James Horner Concerto for 4 Horns/LPO at Royal Festival Hall (world premiere, 27 March) There are three 'Watkinses' on this album but just two of them are related. Cellist Paul and pianist/composer Huw are brothers.

Richard Watkins is one of the most sought-after horn players of his generation. He was Principal Horn of the Philharmonia Orchestra for twelve years, and is currently a member of the Nash Ensemble and a founder member of London Winds. Closely associated with promoting contemporary music for the horn, Richard Watkins has given premieres of concertos by Maxwell-Davies, Osborne, Lindberg, Muldowney, Lefanu, and Colin and David Matthews.

The title work on this album is Peter Maxwell Davies' solo horn piece Sea Eagle (1982). It was initially considered by many to be impossible to play but is now regarded as an essential part of the horn repetoire and is even a set-piece for the prestigious Munich Horn Competition.

Richard is joined on this recording by a stellar line-up of chamber musicians, including Paul Watkins and Huw Watkins for an unusual combination of horn, cello and piano (C Matthews & Holloway), and tenor Mark Padmore to present the unmistakable soundworld of Gerald Barry. His setting of Lewis Carroll’s famous poem Jabberwocky – which is first sung in French, with expressive legato phrases, and then repeated more forcefully in German – features some delightfully unconventional horn writing.

Reviews

June 2015

The quality of the works on offer here should make this release appeal well beyond the ranks of new music aficionados; and the near-flawless performances provide their own recommendation...[Watkins's] sound is firm and sonorous, with no trace of that exasperating fizziness of tone you sometimes hear elsewhere.

May 2015

NMC's enterprising and thoroughly absorbing sequence shows [Richard Watkins] to be an imperious exponent of his craft and a wonderfully instinctive musician to boot…Huw Watkins's shrewdly paced and keenly proportioned 2009 Trio for horn, violin and piano strikes me as a real find.

15th March 2015

The horn in this interesting British Isles sequence combines with other instruments and a voice, like an atom claimed by different molecules.

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