Roderick Williams - Songs - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

British mezzo-soprano Diana Moore has established herself as a firm favorite with audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, acclaimed for her unique voice which 'combines the range of a mezzo with the tone quality of a contralto' (Gramophone) - has led to repeat engagements with many of the world's leading music ensembles, and frequent collaborations with eminent conductors. Roderick Williams is one of the most sought after baritones of his generation with a wide repertoire spanning baroque to contemporary which he performs in opera, concert and recital. He enjoys relationships with all the major UK opera houses. He performs regularly with leading conductors and orchestras throughout the UK, Europe, North America and Australia, and his many festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh and Melbourne. Acclaimed for his Inchradiantly lyricalInch voice, Irish tenor Robin Tritschler has garnered praise from critics and audiences for his performances. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and was a BBC New Generation Artist. Robin has appeared with many leading orchestras, and in recital with leading accompanists. He has performed in multiple roles for the Welsh National Opera, and made his debut with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden in Wozzeck, and with Garsington Opera as Ferrando. John Reid's career to date has shown him to be a pianist of notable versatility and range, with wide experience as an outstanding chamber musician, song accompanist, soloist and exponent of new music. Increasingly in demand as a teacher, he is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Much in demand as a guest pianist with a number of other leading ensembles. Album Tracks 1. As I Lay in the Early Sun 2. Sweet Suffolk Owl 3. Only the Wanderer 4. Slumber Song 5. Harvest Moon 6. Sweet Content 7. Why Have You Stolen My Delight? 8. O

The words, with the exception of the Canticle of The Creatures, are settings of almost unknown poems by St Francis of Assisi. They cover a wide expressive and emotional range from hope to despair, longing to acceptance, love to bitterness, delight in Creation to an impassioned plea for peace amongst mankind. The cantata is no pious word-setting of an ancient saint - rather it is a passionate and vibrant evocation of a man who remains a symbol of hope for millions of all faiths and none. Vison of a Garden - In 2020 I spent nearly five months in hospital with Covid-19, and was in an intensive care unit for more than half that time. In October, when I went back to the hospital for a check-up, I was given two booklets called 'ICU Diaries' which contained messages of support written by the nurses who looked after me in intensive care. I find it astonishing that these people whom I never knew could write such warm and personal messages. The text that the choir sings in 'Vision of a Garden' is taken from their words. I have plentiful memories from my time in intensive care, but they are almost all false ones things which my mind invented to keep itself occupied while my body was otherwise engaged in fighting the virus... In the center of the Addenbrooke's Hospital complex in Cambridge there is a little garden, which is a lovely oasis of peace amid the hospital bustle. As I now know, I was taken to this garden from the ICU a couple of times in May, to get the benefit of the fresh air and sunshine. I wasn't consciously aware of this, but my subconscious transplanted the garden to Cape Town and incorporated it into my 'South African dream'... (Peter Johnstone) 20.99 0.00 8 IN STOCK //mediacdn.aent-m/prod-img/500/03/4080103-2827302.jpg //mediacdn.aent-m/prod-img/500/03/4080103-2827302.jpg //aentmedia.blob.core.windows.net/prod-img/1500/03/4080103-2827302.jpg

These works by Robert Saxton were written between 2013 and 2019 and represent his continuing journey of exploration in modal and harmonic structures; complex in structure but creating no jarring modernist difficulty for the listener. A mix of orchestral, chamber and vocal works, it features top performers including world-renowned baritone Roderick Williams and equally famous (and now film star) Clare Hammond. Robert Saxton received early guidance from Benjamin Britten and studied with Elisabeth Lutyens, Robin Holloway and Luciano Berio among others. He has received commissions from the BBC (TV, radio and Proms) and many prominent ensembles. Until retiring in 2021 Robert was Professor of Composition at Oxford University and is a Research Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. Time and the Seasons, for baritone and piano, commissioned by the Oxford Lieder Festival for Roderick Williams and Andrew West, is a song cycle to Saxton's own texts and is both cyclic and progressive. Suite for violin and piano, first performed at the 2019 Three Choirs Festival by Madeleine Mitchell and Clare Hammond, the performers here, charts a voyage across it's five movements leading to a tentatively positive conclusion. Fantasy Pieces, commissioned by the Fidelio Trio, is inspired by Schumann's Op. 88 as character pieces, regarding both genre and variety of manner. A Hymn to the Thames for solo oboe and chamber orchestra was commissioned by James Turnbull, the St Paul's Sinfonia and it's Music Director Andrew Morley and, during the course of it's four linked movements, sets the soloist as both wanderer and river spirit in conjunction with the 'river' of the orchestra from source to sea. Album Tracks 1. A Hymn to the Thames (2020) 2. Fantasy Pieces (2020) 3. Time and the Seasons (2013) 4. Suite (2019)