Ruders - Viola Concerto & Handel Variations - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. Primavera, Op.55 2. Gioco, Op.155 3. Sonata Per Flauto Solo, Op.71 4. Ballata, Op.159 5. Quartetto, Op.90

This is the third volume in the EP series 'The Library' - a series that explores both the history, and the new horizons, of The King's Singers close-harmony repertoire. Close-harmony is the part of their work for which they are best known, and their library of thousands of arrangements is one they're determined to explore, maintain and develop. The track-listing is designed to celebrate some old favorites from the library alongside brand new arrangements and adaptations, created especially for these recordings, which may perhaps become 'old favorites' of the future. The King's Singers were founded on 1 May 1968 by six choral scholars who had recently graduated from King's College Cambridge. Their vocal line-up was (by chance) two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones and a bass, and the group has never wavered from this formation since. Album Tracks 1. Honey Pie (Arr. P. Hart for Vocal Ensemble) 2. Songbird (Arr. N. Ashby for Vocal Ensemble) 3. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover (Arr. A.P. Jackman for Vocal Ensemble) 4. In the Real Early Morning (Arr. P. Dunachie for Vocal Ensemble) 5. Mo LI Hua (Jasmine Flower) (Arr. P. Lawson for Vocal Ensemble) 6. Tale of Tsar Saltan, Op. 57 Flight of the Bumblebee (Arr. D. Runswick for Vocal Ensemble)

Claude Baker is a much-honored composer whose music is alive with connections and inter-related ideas. The Glass Bead Game feasts on dreamlike associations and, through deliberately invoking other composers' music, thrilling collage. Awaking the Winds is, by contrast, 'absolute' music, and in a resonant single-movement structure. The haiku is explored in Shadows in which parallels between written texts and music are accomplished with great refinement and poignancy. Inspired by Walt Whitman's poetry, the Mystic Trumpeter offers a commentary that includes musical quotation and deft tone-painting. Album Tracks 1. The Glass Bead Game 2. Awaking the Winds 3. Shadows - Four Dirge-Nocturnes 4. The Mystic Trumpeter