Hurd / Singers / Backhouse - Michael Hurd: Choral Music, Vol 1 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Michael Hurd was born in Gloucester in 1928, the son of a self-employed cabinetmaker and upholsterer. National Service with the Intelligence Corps involved a posting to Vienna, where he developed a burgeoning passion for opera. He studied at Pembroke College, Oxford with Sir Thomas Armstrong and Dr. Bernard Rose and became President of the University Music Society. Hurd's love of literature and the human voice illuminated a natural talent for word-setting. Hence his catalogue is dominated by choral and vocal works, including operas, 'pop' cantatas, songs and anthems. He was especially noted for his many scores for children and amateurs, and his care to ensure that the material he wrote was within the reach of non-professional singers and accompanists accords with his conviction that composers should adopt a practical approach to their craft. This is volume two of Michael Hurd's choral music, and also includes his complete solo songs for voice and piano.

This album introduces both a new voice and a new choir to western audiences the Estonian Pärt Uusberg (b. 1986) is well known at home as a film actor as well as a composer; and in 2017 Collegium Musicale carried the coveted Silver Rose Bowl of the EBU competition 'Let the People Sing' home to Tallinn. Uusberg's works use many of the devices that have made recent Baltic choral music so popular in the wider world melodies that unfold calmly over long bass lines, sustained by suspensions and piqued by mild dissonance - reflecting an awareness of the immensity of nature in music that is both exquisitely beautiful and infinitely touching. Endrik Uksvarav graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater as a conductor in 2004. The Estonian chamber choir Collegium Musicale was founded by Endrik Uksvarav in October 2010, with a repertoire extending from Renaissance to contemporary music. A special place in that repertoire belongs to Estonian composers, among them Arvo Part, Erkki-Sven Tuur, Helena Tulve and Part Uusberg. The aim is to act as ambassadors for Estonian music at the same time as delivering an intense emotional experience.

Widely regarded as one of the foremost composers of the modern age, Brian Ferneyhough has won the 2007 Ernst von Siemens Prize for Music. This prestigious award is made to a composer, performer, or scholar who has made outstanding contributions to the world of music. In this choral material as with all of his music, Ferneyhough pushes back boundaries of style, compositional and performing techniques.