EMR CD032–33 | DETAILS
  EMR CD032–33
   
  SET IN SILVER
  Chamber Ensemble of London | Peter Fisher (dir.)
   
  Release date: 25 May 2015 | EAN 5 060263 500292

‘Set in Silver’ provides a fine introduction to the glories of English string music, both well-loved and less-known.  The Chamber Ensemble of London, directed by Peter Fisher (violin), perform the ‘Chacony in G minor’ by Henry Purcell, Concertos by Charles Avison and Richard Mudge and an Overture by Handel’s colleague John Christopher Smith, alongside works for string ensemble by Elgar, Delius, Frank Bridge, John Ireland and William Walton and the original version for strings of the ‘Meditation on Brother James’s Air’ by Harold Darke, much-loved as an organ piece. The recording includes evidence of the talent of the late John Dankworth as a composer: ‘Mariposas’ was written specially for Peter Fisher’s Wigmore Hall début in 1996 and was later orchestrated for the Chamber Ensemble of London.  Other works on the discs have been written especially for the Ensemble by Clive Jenkins, and other contemporary composers represented include Paul Lewis and Nigel Brooks.

TRACK LISTING AND AUDIO EXTRACTS
     

CD1
     
Charles Avison (1709–1770)
CONCERTO IN A, op.9 no.11
1. I. Largo  
2. II. Allegro  
3. III. Adagio    
4. IV. Aria (vivace)  
       
Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
5. CHACONY IN G MINOR  
       
Clive Jenkins (b.1938)
PASTORALE AND ALLEGRO
6. ‘Pastorale’  
7. ‘Allegro’  
       
William Walton (1902–1983)
TWO PIECES FOR STRINGS FROM ‘HENRY V’
8. Passacaglia: ‘Death of Falstaff’  
9. ‘Touch her soft lips and part’  
       
Paul Lewis (b.1943)
10. ‘ROSA MUNDI’  
       
John Dankworth (1927–2010)
11. ‘MARIPOSAS’  
       
Harold Darke (1888–1976)
12. ‘MEDITATION ON BROTHER JAMES’S AIR’  
       
Nigel Brooks (b.1936)
13. ‘TO MY LOVE’ (ADAGIO FOR STRINGS)  
       
Edward Elgar (1857–1934) (arr. Bill Thorpe)
14. ‘SALUT D’AMOUR’  
       
Frank Bridge (1879–1941)
15. ‘A CHRISTMAS DANCE’  
       
       

CD2
       
John Christopher Smith (1712–1795)
OVERTURE TO ‘THE FAIRIES’		  
1. I. Largo  
2. II. Allegro  
3. III. Menuet andantino  
4. IV. March  
       
Marsha de Thornley Head (b.1945)
5. ‘ARIA’ (World Première recording)  
       
Richard Mudge (1718–1763)
CONCERTO NO.5 IN B-FLAT MAJOR		  
6. I. Largo  
7. II. Tempo giusto  
8. III. A la sarabande  
9. IV. Allegro  
       
John Ireland (1879–1962) (arr. Graham Parlett)  
10. ‘CAVATINA’  
11. ‘BAGATELLE’ (World Première recording)  
       
Frederick Delius (1862–1934) (arr. Clive Jenkins)
12. ‘LÉGENDE’ (World Première recording)  
       
Andrew M. Wilson (b.1960)
13. ‘TROS AN TREYS’ (World Première recording)  
       
Clive Jenkins
14. ‘THAMES REFLECTIONS’ (World Première recording)  
15. ‘TARTE AU CITRON’ (World Première recording)  

 

REVIEWS
Beautifully shaped by Benjamin Frith... Beguiling sounds, graced by the tawny richness and unexaggerated line of Richard Jenkinson’s cello playing... The sense of purpose and sureness of line of Ian Venables’ music is pure oxygen.
EMR CD31 | BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Exquisitely rewarding... Ravishing accounts.
EMR CD029 | CHOIR AND ORGAN
This is music of great beauty and integrity and the performances fully do it justice. It would be criminal to let it pass you by.

EMR CD028 | INTERNATIONAL
RECORD REVIEW

The Bridge Quartet approach these pieces with a sympathetic and insightful warmth, and confirm their ambassadorial credentials for British chamber music. A lovely, radiant disc.
EMR CD025 | Gramophone
Duncan Honeybourne’s playing is astonishingly affectionate, yet never saccharine... Honeybourne plays with suave confidence.
EMR CD024 | INTERNATIONAL PIANO
Rupert Marshall-Luck is an ideal interpreter: generously but not effusively lyrical; agile and athletic... The warm, folk-song like slow movement is at times almost painfully beautiful, with a shimmering pastoral central section... Marshall-Luck is, again, indefatigable and keenly picks up on the work’s melancholic strain.  Finely recorded and with comprehensive booklet notes, this is a must for fans of 20th-century English repertoire.
EMR CD023 | THE STRAD