Britten Sinfonia / Thomas Adès BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos. 4 - 6 BARRY The Conquest of Ireland - Viola Concerto

BEETHOVEN - BARRY

 

Mark Padmore / Nicholas Daniel / Britten Sinfonia RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - JONATHAN DOVE - PETER WARLOCK

Tenor Mark Padmore is joined by members of Britten Sinfonia in 3 quintessential British song-cycles: Ralph Vaughan Williams' "On Wenlock Edge" (with pianist Huw Watkins), "Ten Blake Songs" (with oboist Nicholas Daniel) and Peter Warlock's best-known work, "The Curlew". "The End" by Jonathan Dove (a co-commission by Britten Sinfonia and Wigmore Hall with support from the Tenner-for-a-Tenor campaign) receives its world première recording here

A double-disc set of orchestral, choral and organ music by one of the most distinguished English composers of the 20th century. Herbert Howells’ An English Mass is presented by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge with the Britten Sinfonia, recorded in the sublime acoustic of King’s College Chapel. Alongside the work is the magnificent orchestrated Te Deum from the Collegium Regale service, and a premiere recording of the Magnificat from the same service, orchestrated by John Rutter. For both these recordings, the Choir and orchestra are joined additionally by the King’s College mixed voice choir, King’s Voices.

Howells’ completed Cello Concerto is performed by former King’s chorister Guy Johnston, one of the UK’s best solo cellists, with the Britten Sinfonia directed by Christopher Seaman. Also recorded in King’s College Chapel, the surround-sound recording presents this glorious, but lesser-known work in a way never before heard, but in an environment perfectly suited to Howells’ music. Stephen Cleobury rounds off the second part of the album with three of Howells’ best-known organ works, performed on the recently-restored Harrison & Harrison organ, also presented here in surround-sound.

Accompanying the album are specially-written essays by two of the foremost experts on the composer. Paul Spicer explores how the thrilling Te Deum came about as the result of a bet between Howells and the Dean of King’s, and the subsequent canticle settings for cathedrals and foundations across the land for which Howells became so well-known. An English Mass, in contrast, is one of Howells’ darkest religious works, with an agonising and troubled presentation of much of the Mass, and Spicer’s essay considers Howells’ state of mind and some of the possible reasons for this. Jonathan Clinch’s essay describes the fascinating journey of completing Howells’ Cello Concerto, giving a remarkable insight into the mind of the composer and the history of the work itself.

Mark Padmore / Britten Sinfonia / Jacqueline Shave BENJAMIN BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings - Nocturne GERALD FINZI Dies Natalis

Tenor Mark Padmore has an ideal voice for these two Britten song cycles written for Peter Pears. He has the kind of musical sensitivity and attentiveness to textual subtleties that characterized Pears' singing. His voice is essentially light in the way that Pears' was, but his is infinitely more attractive. Its tone is clear and pure, with none of Pears' nasal quality, and can be sweet without sounding precious. Padmore's technique seems absolutely secure and while his instrument is not large, he can produce an impressive range of dynamics. He and horn player Stephen Bell deliver a terrific performance of the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings, and Jacqueline Shave's leadership of the Britten Sinfonietta is energetic and nuanced. Padmore's phrasing is shapely and expressive and he can spin out the seamless legato most of these songs require. In "Hymn," he and Bell sing and play with nimble fleetness that seems thrillingly close to the edge of spinning out of control but that ultimately lands safely. The performance of "Dirge" is charged with darker-than-usual sinister energy; the running string figures that follow the canon seem here more like a demonic dance than a dirge, to wonderful, scary effect. There is no lack of topnotch recordings of the Serenade, but this is a version that anyone who loves the piece will want to hear. In Nocturne, Padmore again excels in bringing intelligent and sensitive, sometimes soaring musicality to the songs. Finzi's cycle Dies Natalis is something of a novelty, but it fits well with the Britten. His harmonic language is eloquently post-Romantic, solidly in the English pastoral tradition, and his text setting relatively conventional, but the cycle is a lovely, lyrical, entirely successful exemplar of that tradition. Serenade, written about five years after Dies Natalis, demonstrates by contrast the daring individuality of Britten's handling of texts and the rich originality of his melodic gift. The sound of Harmonia Mundi's SACD is immaculate and detailed, with a gripping sense of presence. (Stephen Eddins)

Carolyn Sampson / Britten Sinfonia / Stephen Layton EŠENVALDS Passion and Resurrection

Australian concert-goers have sampled the mesmerising choral sound of the Baltic as championed by Stephen Layton in 2010. Now Layton and his British group Polyphony introduce the young Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds, whose a cappella and accompanied choral works are accessible for their heartfelt expressions of suffering and joy.

The Latvian struggle for independence from the Soviet Union has been dubbed the “Singing Revolution”, in which freedom fighters raised their voices in a chorus of forbidden songs.

His Passion draws on sacred texts in English and Latin, and the impossibly pure Polyphony tone wrings devastating emotional impact from every syllable. The warm plainchant opening is gradually submerged in glassy string dissonance from the Britten Sinfonia. Extreme changes of mood and atmosphere fade seamlessly into one another so that the climax’s stormy repetitions of “crucify!” lull themselves into the gentlest of prayers.

Carolyn Sampson’s haunting, at times visceral soprano solos place Passion and Resurrection alongside other contemporary classics like Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. The works on the album pay tribute to womankind, from soaring soprano lines to texts by American women poets and Mother Teresa, as well as depictions of Mary Magdalene and the stabat mater.

The Sara Teasdale setting Evening describes a “chorus of shimmering sound”, a phrase that equally applies to the disc as a whole. Two decades have passed since Latvia achieved independence but we are still hearing a “singing revolution”, with Esenvalds leading the charge. (Copyright © Limelight Magazine).