Various Artists - The Lilting Banshee - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Berkeley's first opera, Nelson, was put on at Sadler's Wells in 1954. The others were performed by the English Opera Group which had been founded by the young Benjamin Britten, Joan Cross, Eric Crozier and Peter Pears in 1946. In the same year as the Nelson premiere Berkeley's first one-acter, A Dinner Engagement, featured at Aldeburgh. Aldeburgh was also the scene of Ruth in 1956 and Castaway in 1967. Each work inhabits it's own world, and each finds Berkeley's musical imagination delivering new sounds to match the drama.

Various Artists - Music / Various [COMPACT DISCS] date 04/23/2002

Seventy years of Italian repertoire (1888-1958) for violin and organ are summarized in this which lines up a rather singular, but extremely interesting, series of composers of various geographic and stylistic origins who were active between the end of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. Roberto Noferini on violin and Andrea Toschi on organ and harmonium offering to us pages by fifteen Italian authors from various geographic origins (from Milan to Reggio Calabria) and culture. The suggestive titles refer to recognizable images and situations ranging from Christmas, to the liturgy, to the work, to pure forms. The use of historical instruments for the accompaniment of the violin gives the correct aesthetic rendering to these very rare and interesting works.