In the Theatre of Air: Music by Weir, Musgrave, Rodgers, Tann, Bowler & Beach

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Georgia Rogers’s York Minster uses pitches derived from the building’s acoustic fingerprint; if that sounds dry and scientific, the result is a haunting processional, giving a sense of the vast... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas Issue 2018, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 19th Oct 2018
Catalogue No: NMCD248
Label: NMC
Length: 60 minutes

Presto Editor's Choice

October 2018

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Musgrave: Canta, Canta (arr. H. Vidovich for flute, cello and piano)

Work length3:44

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Marsyas Trio

Weir: Several Concertos

Work length14:51

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Marsyas Trio
Recorded: 13-15 April 2018
Recording Venue: Boilerhouse, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

I. Concerto for Violoncello

Track length5:36

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Concerto for Pianoforte

Track length5:56

$1.00

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$1.75

III. Concerto for Piccolo

Track length3:19

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Rodgers, G: York Minster

Work length5:25

$1.00

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$1.75

Marsyas Trio

Tann: In the Theatre of Air

Work length15:51

$7.00

$9.10

$12.25

Marsyas Trio
Recorded: 13-15 April 2018
Recording Venue: Boilerhouse, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

I. Herons

Track length1:29

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Goldfinches

Track length1:41

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Thrushes

Track length1:41

$1.00

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IV. Wild Geese

Track length2:14

$1.00

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$1.75

V. Hawk

Track length2:25

$1.00

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$1.75

VI. White Owl

Track length1:31

$1.00

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$1.75

VII. Starlings

Track length4:50

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Bowler: Salutem

Work length16:35

$5.00

$6.50

$8.75

Marsyas Trio
Recorded: 13-15 April 2018
Recording Venue: Boilerhouse, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

I. Stone Age

Track length3:23

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$1.75

II. Bronze Age

Track length3:06

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III. The Middle Ages

Track length2:56

$1.00

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$1.75

IV. Industrial Revolution

Track length3:07

$1.00

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$1.75

V. Modern Age

Track length4:03

$1.00

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$1.75

Beach, A: Pastorale, Op. 90

Work length3:31

$1.00

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$1.75

Marsyas Trio

Beach, A: Caprice - The Water Sprites

Work length0:58

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Marsyas Trio

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About

This album presents trio works by women composers of multiple generations; five of them living British composers, and one notable American. Programmed by the Marsyas Trio, the release marks the 100th anniversary of (some) women getting the vote in the UK, and celebrates the diversity of compositional style, the wealth of talent, and accomplishments of living British women composers today. Heather Roche writes: “It is extraordinary to compare the life of Amy Beach, the earliest composer to be featured on this release, and presented on this album as an American ‘bonus track’ accompanying the otherwise British lineup, with her modern-day equivalents. She was, early in life, recognized as one of the finest pianists in the United States, and performed as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at a time when she could neither vote, nor attend Harvard. However, following her marriage in 1885 she was restricted to two performances a year, an order she obeyed until the death of her husband in 1910, when she resumed touring. As women composers and performers in the West, we no longer have to fight to be able to do the things we want to do in the ways that Beach did. But we still fight for those things to be recognized on equal terms: we want to be paid equally, we want to be able to choose to have families without sacrificing our creativity and careers, and we want to see the work of women appear on every concert programme. Women composers are still underrepresented, largely ignored by orchestral programmers, often discouraged from engaging with technology and regularly reminded that their ambition is seen as ugly and ‘unfeminine’.”

Reviews

Christmas Issue 2018

Georgia Rogers’s York Minster uses pitches derived from the building’s acoustic fingerprint; if that sounds dry and scientific, the result is a haunting processional, giving a sense of the vast space of the building.

December 2018

Tann’s 2017 titular suite…is an object lesson in musical depiction…Also welcome is Judith weir’s early, thorny little masterpiece Several Concertos…The performances throughout are excellent and involving, NMC’s recording is a little close but naturally clear.

October 2018

The range of sonorities which the six women composers here evoke from the comparatively limited resources of flute, cello and piano is quite remarkable: I love the nippy, North-Eastern chill of Georgia Rodgers’s York Minster, and the exoticism of Hilary Tann’s own ‘Catalogue des Oiseaux’, from which the album takes its name. With its avant-garde vocalisations and percussive effects, Laura Bowler’s Salutem (a sort of ‘five ages of man’) is perhaps the toughest listen, but for me also the most rewarding.

28th October 2018

The opener, Musgrave’s Canta, Canta!, beguiles with its hint of Beethoven’s Für Elise; Judith Weir’s Several Concertos are witty condensations; and Hilary Tann’s title piece deftly evokes not birdsong but bird movement

In the Theatre of Air

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