Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 1
Richard Strauss Burleske for Piano And Orchestra
Ernest Von Dohnányi Variations on a Nursery Song
Valerie Tryon, Piano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Jac Van Steen, Conductor
This new release offers a unique combination of three of the most significant virtuoso works for solo piano and orchestra written during the 25 years 1889-1914 in thrilling performances by Valerie Tryon, who celebrates her 80th birthday this year.
SOMM Recordings launches a revealing three-volume survey of One Hundred Years of British Song with tenor James Gilchrist and pianist Nathan Williamson.
Compiled to reflect the rich variety of British song, Volume 1 throws a spotlight on composers who made a considerable contribution to the song repertoire but whose success in other genres often led to their songs being overlooked.
All four featured composers – Gustav Holst, Rebecca Clarke, Ivor Gurney and Frank Bridge – were born in the late 1800s and lived through the horrors of the First World War and the extraordinary social, cultural and political upheaval that followed.
SOMM Recordings announces Volume 2 of its revelatory survey of One Hundred Years of British Song with tenor James Gilchrist and pianist Nathan Williamson.
SOMM Recordings announces the third and final volume of the enthusiastically received One Hundred Years of British Song, with tenor James Gilchrist and pianist Nathan Williamson.
Focusing on songs written since 1950, Volume 3 celebrates what Williamson’s booklet note describes as “astonishment at the depth of expressivity of the poetry and music”.
SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce a musical journey around the four nations of the United Kingdom with Folk Songs of the British Isles.
Celebrating the “living, breathing heritage of British and Irish folksong down the ages”, the 27-track recital features soprano Janis Kelly, mezzos Yvonne Howard and Maria Jagusz, tenors Nicky Spence and Wynne Evans, baritone Mark Llewelyn Evans, jazz doyenne Elaine Delmar and actor- singer Kevin Whately.
Fiona Kelly (flute), Jean Kelly (harp) and pianists Michael Pollock and John Wilson provide instrumental contributions with singer Caroline McCausland accompanying herself on guitar.
Emma Curtis, Contralto
Brennen Guillory, Tenor
David Stout, Baritone
Orchestra of the Swan conducted by Kenneth Woods
Following its release of the Erwin Stein chamber version of Mahler’s 4th Symphony, (SOMMCD 245/Orchestra of the Swan, David Curtis) SOMM has come up trumps again in this important Mahler Anniversary year, with yet one more new CD release of chamber versions recorded recently with Contralto Emma Curtis, Tenor Brennen Guillory and Baritone David Stout with the excellent Orchestra of the Swan in live recordings conducted by Kenneth Woods. These are Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen *(Arr. Schoenberg) and Das Lied von der Erde (arr. Schoenberg/Riehn).
SOMM RECORDINGS’ acclaimed series of re-mastered recitals by the much loved, fondly remembered contralto Kathleen Ferrier continues with Kathleen Ferrier: 20th Century British Treasures.
Featuring recordings made for Decca and the BBC between 1946 and 1953, it includes a previously unpublished recording of Ferrier’s passionate performance of Lennox Berkeley’s Four Poems of St Teresa of Ávila.
SOMM Recordings announces an important new recording of two classic English song cycles by Sir Arthur Somervell – Maud and A Shropshire Lad – from the acclaimed partnership of baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan.
Hailed as “the English Schumann” for his mastery of song setting, song cycles in particular, Somervell’s music is marked by a distinctive blend of lyricism and harmony that makes itself indelibly felt in these two seminal works of the English song repertoire.
Mark Bebbington, piano
Another ‘first’ on SOMM and a very special one at that, is the recording of piano music by the neglected lyricist and ‘king’ of light music, Reginald King. This will be the first commercial recording of these works.
Reginald King‘s name first came onto Mark Bebbington’s horizons in August 2011 when he was visiting Siva Oke from SOMM recordings to discuss a whole range of possible future repertoire ideas and session dates. Siva Oke, Director of SOMM, had been in conversation with King’s publisher at Bardic Edition who had expressed enthusiasm for SOMM to record some of the piano miniatures by Reginald King.
Mark Bebbington was instantly won over by the easy-going charm, beautiful craftsmanship and melodic freshness of these ‘light’ piano pieces. Not for a moment did he feel that tackling this repertoire would he be at odds with the grittier world of other areas of British music he had championed on SOMM.
SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce the first commercial release of Composers at the Savile Club, pianist Alexander Karpeyev’s vivid and varied recital celebrating the 150th anniversary of the venerable London club.
Devised by Karpeyev and Jeremy Barlow (who will celebrate his 60th year as a Savile member in 2020 and also provides informative booklet notes) the recital includes music for solo piano by 11 leading Savile members to chart the development of British music from late romanticism to modernism – and back again.