Various - Geysir - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Nordgren / Segerstam / Finnish Rso - Finnish Violin Concertos [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/25/1994

La Nuova Musica and it's artistic director David Bates present Henry Purcell's most widely admired work Dido and Aeneas. With Nathum Tate's libretto based on Virgil's Aeneid Book IV; Dido and Aeneas is a miniature opera; as well as the only all-sung opera Purcell ever composed. Constantly juxtaposing different moods; colours; orchestrations; this semi-opera enjoys the popularity for it's Inchtunefulness; evocative power; and [...] it's concisenessInch. The guiding star that David Bates wants to follow for this recording is making sure that Purcell's Italian; French; and English musical influences are all emphasized - by adding a typically Italian harp to the continuo or by doubling the strings just as in the French tradition. Dido and Aeneas includes one of the most touching operatic laments InchWhen I am laid in earthInch. A cast of first-class singers with strong musical personalities offer an eclectic interpretation together with a chorus that creates a visceral and intrinsically dramatic soundworld. Dido and Aeneas is David Bates and La Nuova Musica's fourth ; after the acclaimed Gluck Orfeo and Euridice (2019) and Handel's Unsung Heroes (2021); as well as Beauteous Softness (2023) where they joined forces with Tim Mead. Counter-tenor Tim Mead previously released Pentatone's Handel Messiah (2020) with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Star tenor Nicky Spence; Fleur Barron; Matthew Brook; Giulia Semenzato all make their Pentatone debut.

Following on from the successful of Passacaglia on a Theme of Benjamin Britten and Other Organ Works (PFCD174-5), organist Simon Passmore returns to the organ of St. Ann's Church, Manchester, for this second volume of organ music by British composer Richard Pantcheff. This new disc comprises works for organ solo, as well as works written for organ with other instruments Violin (Benedict Holland), and Flugelhorn (Neil Fulton). The programme contains highly melodic modal works, including the Sonata for Violin and Organ (Opus 74) and it's forerunner 'Agnus Dei' (Opus 41). The more contemporary Nocturnus I (Opus 90, No. 1) for Flugelhorn and Organ is complemented here by the solo organ work which completes the Nocturnus series of compositions, Nocturnus VI (Opus 90, No. 6). Both works were completed while the composer was living in South Africa. Lastly, the six Chorale Preludes (2021/No. 2) for solo organ are here recorded in full for the first time. Written during the depths of the pandemic, these sparse, elevated, works are like icons in music where time seems to stand still, and the listener is immersed in the intense spiritual dialogue presented in the music. Simon Passmore is originally from Hexham, Northumberland. He was a chorister at Hexham Abbey where he received piano lessons from the Directors of Music, John Green and Michael Haynes, and later with Newcastle University's Head of Keyboard, David Murray. He completed a BMus at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, studying with Murray McLachlan, and went on to take a Postgraduate Diploma in Repetiteur Studies, supported by a full scholarship. Simon was Director of Music at St Ann's Church between 2015-2022, and had previously been organ scholar there from 2011, studying with the late Ronald Frost. Simon currently lives in Altrincham and works full-time at Chetham's School of Music as a staff pian