Suss - Suss - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Smethergell's Charming Overtures Vol. 1 - of the composers of the British kingdom who can be described as contemporaries of Joseph Haydn, almost all are largely forgotten today. Yet even before Haydn's arrival in 1790, not only was the study of his music flourishing, but above all, concerts of orchestral music had long been established in a variety of venues. For a long time almost nothing was known about William Smethergell. Baptized in London on January 6, 1751 in the church of St. Peter le Poer, he came from a family that was anything but wealthy, as Douglas Bostock suspects, originally of Danish origin. Smethergell spent much of his musical career as an organist, from 1770 at All Hallows Church in Barking-by-the-Tower, and from 1775 at St. Mary-at-Hill not half a mile away. When he applied for membership of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain in 1779, he disclosed that he derived his annual income of about £200 from his two organist positions as well as his activities as a viola player in the Vauxhall Orchestra and from teaching. His Six Overtures in eight parts Op. V offer a thoroughly remarkable number of idiosyncrasies, though the first Overture in particular seems like a prototype of the genre in it's clear three-movement form - with splendid opening movement, lively Siciliano with the dynamic indication sempre p, and a contrasting Rondo. Early on, Smethergell not only treats the winds to a colorful function, but also allows them to stand out as soloists. Enjoy also the other overtures with much charm and subliminal wit.

While their first two albums Ghost Box and High Line, explored panoramas that evoked the American West as well as the cosmic beyond, Promise, the third and latest album by Suss on Northern Spy Records, takes a more personal journey that maps out the rocky terrain of the American dream. Writing, recording and mixing during the pandemic quarantine, the members of Suss used their music to come to grips with concepts such as promise and hope and what they could still mean in this day and age. Drawing on influences from their younger years, Suss has created music that evokes early psychedelic Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk and the seminal soundtrack work of John Barry. The results, which they call Inchpastoral psychedelicism,Inch is a music that is beautiful, haunting and challenging.01 Midnight02 Drift03 Home04 No Man's Land05 Mission06 Echo Lake07 Winter Light08 Nightlight

Joseph Haas wrote a relatively large number of works for women's choirs, showing his preference for women's voices. This gives a cross-section of the work in this field. It ranges from folk song cycles to InchhymnsInch to cheerfulness to cantatas in praise of music and nature. The Munich women's choir under the direction of Katrin Wende-Ehmer together with the pianist Susanne Jutz-Miltschitzky interprets these works with the appropriate diversity of expression. The works for women's choir by Joseph Haas range from the oratorio InchDas Lebensbuch GottesInch op. 87 to the folk song arrangements of the Liederreigen op. 89 and include 10 works with opus numbers. This is relatively large and shows the composer's interest in the female voices. He didn't just think of secular women's choirs, but also of singing in nunneries with their school facilities. Singing in a choir became more and more important to him as his life progressed. The meaning of the words and their expression in the music was the goal of his composition. The works included on this album as world premiere recordings are either arrangements of folk songs or melodic in folk song style, as is typical of Joseph Haas