Deborah York - Per Il Santissimo Natale - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Conductor Shea Lolin and composer/producer Christopher Hussey have returned to Prague to record with the Czech Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, carefully curating an album of premiere recordings spotlighting the woodwind orchestra, capturing it's kaleidoscopic colours and symphonic potential in order to deepen and broaden appreciation of the medium's power. A large chamber ensemble of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and saxophones in various sizes, the woodwind orchestra has a highly adaptable and magical tonal palette-it can be, in turn, boldly vibrant and delicately beautiful, thrillingly powerful and hauntingly tender, earnestly solemn and joyously comical. The recorded repertoire reflects a spectrum of musical styles that exist in 21st-century concert music, ranging from the familiar and instantly singable to the more avant-garde, but always possessing an accessible and inviting musical narrative. Chromosphere is a landmark album, comprising exciting new and re-imagined pieces by leading composers in the genre and demonstrating the unique soundworld of the woodwind orchestra. Shea Lolin is a dynamic and versatile freelance musician living in London. His principal studies were in clarinet performance, composition and conducting at the Colchester Institute, and he has since developed an inimitable portfolio career as a conductor, performer and teacher.

Christmas celebrations are thought to go all the way back to the formidable feasting of the Vikings at midwinter, when in true Nordic fashion yuletide was 'toasted in'. The celebration of the birth in Bethlehem is more subdued and spiritual, but it is of a far more recent date. We do not know if the Vikings celebrated yuletide with music, but music at Christmas has been a popular tradition since the Middle Ages. Today, practically all peoples around the world celebrate midwinter with special religious and cultural rituals; the precise times vary, but gifts, decorations, festivities, candles, bells and special Christmas music are apparently always part of this. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Christmas was the busiest time of the year for church composers. The congregation expected to hear new Christmas music in church which often involved instruments, choirs and soloists. Here you'll hear the Concerto Grosso - starting with A. Corellis version becoming template for the composers G. Torelli, A. Vivaldi, F. Manfredini and P. Locatelli following the trend of music concertos for Christmas Celebrations.

Deborah Henriksson - Simple Gifts [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/23/2007