Skaerved Chadwick Kreutzer Quartet - Chamber & Instrumental Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Edward Cowie is one of the most individual and notable voices in contemporary music - which he sees as both conscious and unconscious sensitivity to sound. Highly inspired by Nature and our world, he works with sound, color, order and disorder, shape, pattern and form which he sees a part of a grand unification of sensual input. As an acclaimed and successful visual artist, he creates drawings to visualize his subject matter before composing. His music is not however 'filmic' or directly impressionistic but draws from the essence of nature, wildlife and the seasons to create his unique soundworld. The Kreutzer Quartet is one of the most accomplished and creative ensembles in the UK and is acclaimed for it's adventurous programming of both the music of our time and the great quartet heritage of the past. It has been the recipient of works from many of today's pre-eminent composers, and has performed around Europe as well as at it's 'home base' of Wilton's Music Hall in London. The quartet has recorded a substantial number of albums for Metier as well as Chandos, Naxos, NMC, Toccata and several other labels.

The composing career of Simon Bainbridge (born in London in 1952) is spanned by the four chamber works in this album, all of them cast as single narrative spans. The First String Quartet, written when it's composer was not yet twenty, blends lyricism and pointillism, rather as if it were recasting abstract poetry in sound; and the recent Second offers a kaleidoscopic tableau of color and nervous energy inspired by visual art. In his Cheltenham Fragments, as the title suggests, Bainbridge uses mosaic technique to build up textures and thematic outlines. And the long lines of the virtuosic Clarinet Quintet generate fleetfooted whirlwinds as they unfold. Linda Merrick and the Kreutzer Quartet worked closely with the composer on the preparation of these recordings.

Award-winning artist Ronnie Booth filmed this collection of songs that have inspired him personally and professionally. Known as the lead singer for 30 years of the Booth Brothers, Ronnie showcases his unmistakable, tender voice as he reimagines InchMoon River,Inch InchBeulah Land,Inch InchBlue Eyes Cryin' in the RainInch and other classics.