English Choral Music - A Garland for the Queen (1953)

For the second time in recent weeks I have been a little disappointed when a CD arrived on my doorstep. I had glanced at the title of this present offering and was delighted to see that a new recording of A Garland for the Queen was on offer. However, it is in fact a re-issue of an old Gamut CD from the early nineteen-nineties. There is nothing wrong with programme, the performance or the sound quality, however it may catch a few people out. The...

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The Golden Age of Light Music: Confetti on Guild

The liner-notes give a very good description of what this CD is all about: it is worth quoting: ‘The word ‘confetti’ describes small pieces of paper, of various shapes and colours, often thrown by guests at weddings. In musical terms it can equally apply to an assortment of pieces in different styles, conveying a variety of moods and emotions. In other words, almost a haphazard collection of tunes with no particular theme, except perhaps that they...

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Trevor Duncan: Wine Festival

Everyone loves a glass of wine (or two) wherever it is drunk. However there are certain romantic locations which add to the drinking experience. For example drinking Lacryma Christi in Shepherds’ Bush is good: in a little bar in Sorrento overlooking the Bay of Naples is much better! I love the South of France – especially Cannes and Monte Carlo. There is nothing nicer than sipping a glass of the local vino whilst watching the world go by. And I guess...

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Brian Easdale: Film Music on Chandos

Brian EASDALE (1909-1995) The Red Shoes - Ballet (1948) Kew Gardens - Suite for Chamber Orchestra (1936) Black Narcissus - Suite for Chorus and Orchestra (1947) The Battle of the River Plate - Prelude and March for Orchestra (1956) Adventure On! - Suite for Orchestra - A musical progress for Sir John Barbirolli and the Hallé Orchestra (1957) Gone to Earth - Suite for Chorus and Orchestra (1950) BBC National Chorus of Wales/Adrian Partington BBC National...

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Signature: Women in Music -Spring/Summer 2011

The new issue of Signature: Women in Music has just hit the streets: well, at least the World Wide Web. This e-journal is surely one of the finest musicological magazines in the entire field of the subject. And that is not just because I have an article about the 'forgotten' composer Bluebell Klean in these pages! I have been allowed by the Journal's editor, Pamela Blevins to quote from the editorial to give a feel to the contents of this 'bumper'...

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New Edition of Manchester Sounds

Manchester Sounds. The Journal of the Manchester Musical Heritage Trust. Edited by David Fallows and David Ellis. Vol. 8 (2009-10). 272pVolume 8 (2009-210) has just hit the streets. This fine journal published by the Manchester Musical Heritage Trust is an exceedingly worthy production from a city that is renowned for its musical achievement –both past and present. In fact, it must be one of the best musical journals currently available. It balances musical history and musicology but never descends into a ‘faux’ intellectualism or specious analysis...

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The Nationals 2010 Highlights from the Brass Band Championships of Great Britain

Martin ELLERBY (b.1957) Terra Australis (2005) Brighouse and Rastrick Band QUEEN arr. Peter MEECHAN (b.1980) Innuendo (2008) Foden's Band George LLOYD (1913-1998) Diversions on a Bass Theme (1986) Friary Guildford Band Philip WILBY (b.1949) Psalms and Alleluias (2008) Tylorstown Band Katarina STENSTRÖM arr. Jacob Vilhelm LARSEN (b.1976) 'Eyes of a Child' Helen Williams (flügel horn) with Foden's Band Ennio MORRICONE (b.1928), arr. Robin DEWHURST...

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Ian Venables: Three Pieces for violin & piano.

It would be both easy and lazy to describe Ian Venables Three Pieces for violin, Op.11 as an example of regurgitated ‘English Pastoral’. The composer himself has admitted the influence of ‘landscape’ on this piece. However, this work is not a parody of earlier composers from the so-called ‘cow-pat’ school of writing. It is certainly not an exercise in ‘bucolic nostalgia’ for a rural scene that has largely disappeared. There are no suggestions of...

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Resurrection: Music by Adam Pounds, Finzi, Howells and Berkeley

One of the great treasures on this CD is Herbert Howells’ setting of the Sussex Mummers Carol ‘O Mortal Man.’ This song was first collected by Lucy Broadwood in 1908. The liner notes suggest that Howells realisation of this only surfaced in the last few years so has not come under close critical gaze. A realisation of this work was prepared by Christopher Palmer; however the present recording is a new edition prepared by Sam Hayes. He has made a number of revisions to Palmer’s score, including reworking the ending and proposing a text for one of...

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Charles Villiers Stanford: An Appreciation by George Dyson

At the time of Stanford’s death in 1924 a number of his friends and pupils set down their thoughts in Music & Letters. In fact George Dyson became director of the RCM in 1938: he was the first director to have studied there. His appreciation of Stanford is very honest: he presents a picture that includes the less appealing side of the great man.I was a pupil of Stanford for four years. I have more to thank him for than I can attempt to catalogue. But of his particular approach to the art of teaching, the subject with which I am here to deal,...

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