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ROY HARRIS & JOHN ADAMS: Violin Concertos with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) / BBC Sym. Orch./Andrew Litton – Signum Classics

ROY HARRIS & JOHN ADAMS: Violin Concertos with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) / BBC Sym. Orch./Andrew Litton – Signum Classics

by | Dec 22, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

ROY HARRIS & JOHN ADAMS: Violin Concertos with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin) / BBC Sym. Orch./Andrew Litton – Signum Classics  SIGCD468, 62:22 (10/1/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Two lovely contemporary violin concertos. This is a highly desirable recording from Signum Classics. It offers two violin concertos by American composers Roy Harris and John Adams. The Adams is fairly well known but the Harris concerto is a real find. Both men grew up in rural circumstances, Harris being born in a log cabin in Oklahoma. His music always has an ‘American’ feel to it, sometimes sounding a bit ‘Copland-esque’, but Harris has a unique voice with rural roots, and splendid orchestration. The Harris Violin Concerto was written in 1949, but did not get a first performance until 1984. The BBC Symphony gives the piece an exuberant and dynamic reading. Ms. Cohen is a rising star among violinists, and one can find ample evidence of that in her performance here. ‘ The John Adams Violin Concerto was composed in 1993, and Adams described the work as having a ‘hypermelody’, in which the soloist plays longs phrases without stop for the duration of the 35 minute piece. It’s a taxing piece for both the […]

TAVENER: Missa Wellensis; The Lord’s Prayer; Love bade me welcome & others – Wells Cathedral Choir/ Matthew Owens – Signum Classics

TAVENER: Missa Wellensis; The Lord’s Prayer; Love bade me welcome & others – Wells Cathedral Choir/ Matthew Owens – Signum Classics

by | Oct 26, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

A must-have for Tavener fans. TAVENER: Missa Wellensis; The Lord’s Prayer; Love bade me welcome; Preces and Responses (Part One); I will lift up mine eyes (Psalm 121); Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis (Collegium Regale); Preces and Responses (Part Two); Song for Athene; Prayer for the healing of the sick; They are all gone into the world of light – Wells Cathedral Choir/ Matthew Owens – Signum Classics SIGCD442, 73:43 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: After John Tavener suffered a heart attack in 2007 that brought him near death; his next three years were a torturous trek of pain, depression, and loss of spiritual acumen. But in 2010, despite still being taunted by pain, he experienced a revitalization of sorts, producing over the next three years until his demise, works that were tauter, concentrated, and heavily invested in spiritual austerity. Conductor Matthew Owens suggested to the composer a Latin setting of the mass, and he obliged with great enthusiasm. This double-choir setting, in tribute to Tomas Luis de Victoria, is a staunch reaffirmation of Tavener’a basic religiosity, which had morphed into a confused universalism in his final years. It is a spectacular work of great propensity anchored in blocks of choral sound, […]