SOMM Recordings is pleased to release their second recording with the Chamber Ensemble of London, a virtuoso group of hand-picked string players directed by violinist Peter Fisher, whom The Times counts amongst “a handful of the world’s finest musicians.” Following the ensemble’s 2022 SOMM release, Eclogue – British Chamber Music, which Gramophone praised for its “unfailingly sympathetic music-making throughout,” this new release is Quiet Summer Evening – British Light Classics, drawing on the rich tradition of light classical music.
The programme opens with Rhapsody for Clarinet & Strings by Geoffrey Bush. He was initially taught by John Ireland and, on his advice, studied composition and classics at Balliol College, Oxford emerging with degrees in both subjects in 1946.
Bush’s hauntingly beautiful rhapsody features the sought-after clarinettist Peter Cigleris, whose growing discography includes three previous releases with SOMM. He is also the soloist in 5 Pieces for Clarinet & String Orchestra by Clive Jenkins, CEOL’s associate composer. Jenkins was born in Plymouth, and he shows his roots in many of his compositions—including these pieces, each of which has a name connected with Plymouth.
Another work by Jenkins included here is Fantasy for Horn & Stringsfeaturing Alexei Watkins, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the Dennis Brain Prize. Watkins is also featured in Serenade for Horn & Strings by prize-winning conductor-composer Andy Meyers; as well as Lullaby, an expressive and programmatic piece by composer and BBC Radio 3 producer Luke Whitlock.
Bassoonist Sarah Watts is a multi-instrumentalist who has become well-known worldwide as a prolific composer of colourful and inspiring music. Here, she performs her composition Everywhere Is Somewhere Else. Additionally, she is the soloist for the contemplative Sunday Afternoon by notable arranger, conductor, and composer Nigel Brooks, excerpted from the broadcast series Stars on Sunday; and also A Little Waltz by the prolific mid-twentieth-century composer, arranger, and master orchestrator, Gordon Jacob.
