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.
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.
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.
Orchestra of the Swan conducted by David Curtis, with Heather Shipp, Mezzo Soprano.
SOMM continues its collaboration with Orchestra of the Swan under its charismatic conductor, David Curtis, with a live recording made during the orchestra’s first concert season as Resident Chamber Orchestra at Birmingham’s Town Hall, last year.
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).
Ian Venables has been described as one of the finest song composers of his generation. He has written over 50 works in this genre, which includes six major song-cycles and his reputation as an art-song composer of great depth and integrity is now firmly established.
SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce the release of Mirage, a recital of piano music by Stephen Dodgson performed by Osman Tack in his impressive label debut.
Featuring 24 first recordings, Mirage is the third volume in a series marking the 10th anniversary of Dodgson’s death in 2013, and celebrates a composer of “urbane and civilised” music, as Robert Matthew-Walker describes it in his informative booklet notes.
The recital spans seven decades from 1956’s Eight Fanciful Preludes – “a judiciously varied suite… bound by the directness of utterance that so distinguished Dodgson’s music” – to the Six Bagatelles composed between 1998 and 2005 when “his inspiration burned brightly in his eighties”.
Susan Gritton
James Gilchrist
Roderick Williams
This new release brings exciting news for all lovers of English Song. SOMM have recently recorded Hubert Parry’s Twelve Sets of English Lyrics in three volumes, complete for the first time. Volume I is now available and the other two will be released at six-monthly intervals.
This has been a close collaboration between SOMM and Andrew West partnering Susan Gritton, James Gilchrist and Roderick Williams, three charismatic singers at the top of their profession, all sharing the same fondness for the expressive lyricism and eloquence inherent in Parry’s songs. SOMM is grateful to Professor Jeremy Dibble whose dedicated research filled in the gaps and organised the English Lyrics into an impressive œuvre, ripe for recording.
With this important new release featuring four works for Piano & Orchestra, two of these premiere recordings, pianist Mark Bebbington and SOMM continue their intrepid exploration of British Piano Music written in the first half of the 20th century, this time with the wonderful City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the expert baton of Conductor Howard Williams.
Revivals of rare repertoire including Elgar’s The Fringes of the Fleet (first professional orchestral recording since 1917); John Ansell’s Plymouth Hoe and Windjammer overtures; Haydn Wood’s Manx Overture and Elizabeth of England