EMR CD045–46 | DETAILS
  EMR CD045–46
   
  RICHARD III
  Rupert Marshall-Luck (vn)
Em Marshall-Luck (rec.)
   
  EAN 5 060263 500452

A generous-minded leader; a superb military strategist; or an opportunistic villain: all these interpretations – and more – may be brought to bear on Richard III, one of the most controversial monarchs in British history. The English Music Festival recently commissioned four new works for solo violin from some of the UK’s foremost composers which use as their inspiration the life and historical perspectives of Richard III; and, following their highly successful World Première performances at the EMF’s 2015 Autumn Yorkshire Festival, EM Records is delighted to present these engaging and thought-provoking works on disc. The recording was made in the Church of St Mary and St Alkelda in Middleham – the church at which Richard III himself worshipped during his periods of residence at Middleham Castle.

TRACK LISTING AND AUDIO EXTRACTS
     

CD1

     
Paul Carr (b.1961)
SONATINA (World Première recording)
1. I. Dramatic  
2. II. Dance  
3. III. Eulogy  
4. IV. Vivacious  
       
Richard Pantcheff (b.1959)
KING RICHARD III: SUITE FOR SOLO VIOLIN, op.94
(World Première recording)
5. I. ‘Retrospective’ (reading)    
6. I. ‘Retrospective’  
7. II. ‘His mother’s salutation’ (reading)    
8. II. ‘His mother’s salutation’  
9. III. ‘His father’s dialogue’ (reading)    
10. III. ‘His father’s dialogue’  
11. IV. ‘The princes’ (reading)    
12. IV. ‘The princes’  
13. V. ‘The battle’ (reading)    
14. V. ‘The battle’  
15. VI. ‘His death’ (reading)    
16. VI. ‘His death’  
       
Francis Pott (b.1957)
‘TENEBRAE’ FOR SOLO VIOLIN
(World Première recording)
17. I. ‘Hiems acris’  
18. II. ‘Hubris’  
19. III. ‘Lachrimae’  
20. IV. ‘Nemesis’  
       
       

CD2

       
Paul Lewis (b.1943)
THRENODY FOR VIOLIN: ‘THE MOST FAMOUS PRINCE OF BLESSED MEMORY’
(World Première recording)
1. I. ‘Lament’  
2. II. ‘Richard the Soldier’  
3. III. ‘Richard the Husband’  
4. IV. ‘Richard the Father’  
5. V. ‘Richard the King’  
6. VI. ‘Richard the Devout’  
7. VII. ‘Richard Betrayed’  
8. VIII. ‘Epilogue’  
       
Lionel Sainsbury (b.1958)
9. ‘SOLILOQUY’, op.21  

 

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