Signoretti - Missa Loquebantur - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Violist Nic Pendlebury presents a unique album of music transcribed for electric viola. Many of the transcriptions were made by Nic Pendlebury himself, and the album title Multiple reflects his choice of works with many different parts, articulated here in entirely fresh ways by using loops and multitracking to create layers of sound. As a founder member of the Smith Quartet, Nic Pendlebury has been at the forefront of contemporary music for over 30 years, commissioning works and collaborating with many of the world's most celebrated composers. This love of new and recent music is reflected on this album, which features arrangements of Steve Reich's mesmerising Electric Counterpoint and Terry Riley's hypnotic Dorian Reeds, as well as Variations on the Fourth Tune by the versatile John Ashton Thomas and Bloom by emerging composer Elliott Kendall. The album's tour de force dates from a much earlier epoch Thomas Tallis's 40-part choral work Spem in Alium is transformed into 40 electric viola lines, revealing fascinating details of this musical masterpiece.

Trio Haydn's originality is particularly evident in such pieces as these trios, conceived primarily for musical friends to play together. The sheer distinctiveness and the accomplishment of his writing is readily and inescapably apparent in this music. The outstanding Grieg Trio reflect every nuance in their spirited performances. The works here recorded show Haydn's increasing attention to the form at the time of his two historic London visits and afterwards. These visits were crucial not only in widening the composer's reputation but also in alerting him to the respect and renown his comprehensive mastery could win him in the wider musical world. Grieg Trio was founded in 1987 by Vebjørn Anvik (piano), Sølve Sigerland (violin) and Ellen Margrete Flesjø (cello). They have been engaged by Wigmore Hall and Berlin Konzerthaus for their series InchBeethovenInch, consisting of Beethoven's Piano Trios combined with new commissions from contemporary composers. Grieg Trio has recorded works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak, Smetana, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Martin and Bloch for Simax Classics, EMI and Virgin to great critical acclaim.

Steingruber / Schurhoff / Majkut - Missa Solemnis [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/01/2006