Current Releases

On this page you will find all the British Music Society's recent recordings released on the Naxos label. Click on the CD covers for full information and to purchase.

The BMS recording of Fricker’s Serenade No. 5, Opus 81 (8.571381) is now available as a digital release. This was recorded in 2015 by the Villiers Quartet with James Dickenson (violin) and Nicholas Stringfellow (cello).

Geoffrey BUSH (1920–1998) and

Joseph HOROVITZ (b. 1926) - Songs

Susanna Fairbairn, Soprano

Matthew Schellhorn, Piano

Naxos/BMS: 8.571378

https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.571378

BMS/Naxos DISC OF THE MONTH for July 2017 featured soprano Susanna Fairbairn and pianist Matthew Schellhorn in a delightful recital disc of songs by Geoffrey Bush and Joseph Horovitz. Bush made a significant contribution to English song, while Joseph Horovitz’s modest but equally varied contribution includes Lady Macbeth, a powerful, harmonically astringent scena, as well as witty cabaret items. Bush’s Cuisine Provençale has elements of an operatic drama, while the cycle Yesterday enshrines ballad simplicity and deft wordpainting.

Geoffrey Bush made a significant contribution to English song, while Joseph Horovitz’s modest but equally varied contribution includes Lady Macbeth, a powerful, harmonically astringent scena, as well as witty cabaret items and one song which, in its late-Romantic nostalgia, reveals his Viennese roots. Bush’s Cuisine Provençale has elements of an operatic drama, while the cycle Yesterday enshrines ballad simplicity and deft word-painting. Mirabile Misterium sets medieval texts which explore various types of ecstasy, and archy at the zoo demonstrates Bush’s zest and wit.

Born in Vienna, Joseph Horovitz moved to England in 1938. He is a prolific composer in many genres, from ballets and operas to concertos; and from musical scores for television plays to films including Tarzan’s Three Challenges (1963). His interest in writing for the clarinet grew out of his friendship with Gervase de Peyer, whom he met when they were students at the Royal College of Music in London in 1948, and they later went on to study in Paris together.

Key Features: This is a British Music Society (BMS) recording and so will be especially targeted at those who love song music by these two near-contemporaries – Joseph Horovitz is still alive aged 90.

Soprano Susanna Fairbairn was a 2013 Park Lane Young Artist, and winner of the Selma D and Leon Fishbach Memorial Prize at the 2014 London Handel Singing Competition.

Pianist Matthew Schellhorn has given performances in major venues throughout the UK, including Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room, and has performed live numerous times on BBC Radio 3. He has also been featured on Classic FM.

Well-known soprano Susan Graham recorded Horovitz’s Lady Macbeth on Onyx but there are no other recordings available of the other Horovitz songs.

There are no competing versions of any of the Geoffrey Bush songs though there is at least one all-Bush song disc around, on Lyrita, released in 2014.

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Malcolm Williamson

Organ Music

Many of these recordings are the first on CD and there are detailed booklet notes by Tom Winpenny and full organ specification.

Australian Malcolm Williamson settled in Britain and rose to the position of Master of the Queen’s Music in 1975. A skilled keyboard player and a Catholic convert, he wrote for the organ throughout his life and these works reveal his deep immersion in religious music, initially inspired by Messiaen. Tom Winpenny's earlier release of Williamson's organ music was greeted enthusiastically.

The Sunday Times "...this disc, impressively realised by Winpenny, presents six pieces culminating in the grand Symphony for Organ... "
Bruce Reader in The Classical Reviewer: "... Tom Winpenny gives us some terrific performances..."
John France provides a comprehensive review in an article on MusicWeb International

Naxos 8.571375-76

W H Squire

Miniatures for Cello and Piano

This release was featured on Classic FM, and entered the Classical Charts soon afterwards.

William Henry Squire was Britain’s leading cellist from the late 1890s to the late 1920s and a prolific artist in the early recording era. He composed a series of exquisite miniatures for the instrument, the finest of which are collected here for the first time. Five of the twenty have never before been recorded. Cellist Oliver Gledhill has researched Squire's performance style extensively, and brings this knowledge to bear on his interpretations.

Naxos 8.571373

John Ireland

Music for String Orchestra

This release has been welcomed by the reviewers, and indeed featured in the Classical Charts for four weeks running.

Here are some mentions from recent articles:

Bob McQuiston in Classical Lost and Found: "... spirited, immaculately played performances."
David Mellor in the Daily Mail: "The passionate Cello Sonata, ...transcribed for cello and strings by Matthew Forbes, is brilliantly dispatched by cellist Raphael Wallfisch."
Bruce Reader in The Classical Reviewer: "... ...some really beautiful English string gems, exquisitely played by all concerned."
Andrew Achenbach in The Gramophone: "That tireless champion of British music Raphael Wallfisch plays with full-throated eloquence..."

Naxos 8.571372

Francis Chagrin

Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2

The BBC Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins has certainly done justice to these neglected works, recorded here for the first time.

Reviewers have welcomed this recording with acclaim:

Rob Barnett on musicweb-international: "... just what the adventurous Naxos and the admirable BMS should be doing."
Andrew Clements in The Guardian: "... the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s fiercely engaged performances under Martyn Brabbins..."
Andrew Achenbach in The Gramophone: "... this bold issue is definitely worth seeking out."

Naxos 8.8571371

John McCabe

Piano Music

Variations
Aubade
Gaudí
Five Bagatelles
Mosaic
Haydn Variations

John McCabe plays his own compositions on this Naxos release.

Described as "explosively powerful" in this August review in The Guardian.

Naxos: 8.571367

John Joubert

The Instant Moment (1)

Temps Perdu (2)

Sinfonietta (3)

Henry Herford, Baritone (1)
Christopher Hirons and Pierre Joubert, Solo Violins (2)
Paul Arden-Taylor and Anna Evans, Oboes (3)
Keith Rubach and Christine Predota, Bassoons (3)
Stephen Roberts and James Buck, French Horns (3)
English String Orchestra
William Boughton

Naxos: 8.571368

THE MALCOLM SMITH MEMORIAL ALBUM

Piano Music - HOLLOWAY, R. / HOWARD, L. / MATTHEW-WALKER, R. / SEARLE, H. (Malcolm Smith Memorial Album) (Lill, L. Howard, Bebbington, Jacobson)

This unique recording owes its existence to Malcolm Smith (1932–2011), who was a leading and popular figure in London’s musical life. He was a stalwart of numerous organisations and festivals, a friend of the greatest composers and a tireless advocate of British music. A vice president of the British Music Society, Smith bequeathed a sum of money to facilitate this recording, which includes Robin Holloway’s six-handed Grand Heroical March, Leslie Howard’s Sullivan-inspired Ruddigore Fantasy, and Humphrey Searle’s Sonata, described by The Times in 1951 as ‘suffused with darkling, elegiac poetry and commanding thought’.

Holloway, Robin

1. Grand Heroical March 00:05:20

Howard, Leslie

2. Ruddigore, Op. 40 00:11:11

Matthew-Walker, Robert

3. Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 34, "Fantasy Sonata: Hamlet" 00:16:43

Handel, George Frideric, Howard, Leslie, arranger(s)

4. L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, HWV 55: Come, but Keep Thy Wonted State 00:03:57

Searle, Humphrey

5. Piano Sonata, Op. 21 00:18:08

Total Playing Time: 00:55:19 Naxos: 8571354

Robert Still

String Quartets Nos. 1-4 (Villiers Quartet)

Robert Still’s four string quartets vividly encapsulate his compositional career. The first two, of which No. 1 was first performed in 1948, display an early inclination towards folk-song and pre-classical models, while Nos. 3 and 4, written during the 1960s “without key”, reflect his later change towards a continental European-influenced method of composition that can be summed up by the abandonment of writing in a tonal style. These world première recordings owe a considerable debt to the editorial expertise of James Dickenson, leader of the Villiers Quartet, who prepared the performance material from the original scores.

Total Playing Time: 01:16:24 Naxos: 8571353

Arnold Cooke

Three String Sonatas

Susanne Stanzeleit, Violin

Morgan Goff, Viola

Raphael Wallfisch, Cello

Raphael Terroni, Piano

Naxos 8571362

York Bowen

String Quartets 2 and 3

Phantasy-Quintet

Archaeus Quartet

Timothy Lines, Bass Clarinet

Naxos 8571366

Maurice Jacobson

Chamber Music and Songs

Julian Jacobson, piano
Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano

Raphael Wallfisch, cello

Mariko Brown, piano

This is a release of a BMS recording on the Naxos label. Click on the CD for detaILS.

Naxos: 8571351

British Music for Cello and Piano:
Wordsworth, Holbrooke, Busch

Raphael Wallfisch cello
Raphael Terroni piano

This is a re-release of a BMS recording on the Naxos label. Click on the CD cover for further details.

Naxos: 8571352

Patric Standford:
First Symphony (The Seasons)
Cello Concerto
Prelude to a Fantasy (The Naiades)
Raphael Wallfisch cello
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by
David Lloyd-Jones

Naxos 8571356

Joubert Choral Music

The Louis Halsey Singers

BMS102CDH £7.50

Click on the picture to get full information and place an order

Patrick Piggott: Piano Music

Malcolm Binns piano
BMS430CD £9.00

Click on the picture to get full information and place an order

John McCabe: Piano Music

John McCabe piano
BMS424CD - £9

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Winner of the Gramophone Critics' Choice Award in 1999, and described as “an exceptionally fine issue... that not only serves as a superb tribute to McCabe the composer, but also his prowess as a pianist and interpreter.”

Frank Bridge and
Cyril Scott:
Piano Quintets

Raphael Terroni, piano
Bingham String Quartet

BMS442CD

English Music for Clarinet and Piano:
Arnold Bax, Roger Fiske, Iain Hamilton,

Hugh Wood and Richard Rodney Bennett

Nicholas Cox clarinet
Ian Buckle piano
BMS440CD £9

Kenneth Leighton:
Complete Chamber Works for Cello

Raphael Wallfisch cello
Raphael Terroni piano
BMS439CD £9

E.J. Moeran:
Complete Solo Folksong Arrangements

Adrian Thompson tenor
Marcus Farnsworth baritone
John Talbot piano
Members of the Weybridge Male Voice Choir
(Conductor Christine Best)
BMS438CD £9

Alun Hoddinott: Landscapes - Song Cycles and Folksongs

Claire Booth soprano
Nicky Spence tenor
Jeremy Huw Williams baritone
Andrew Matthews-Owen and Michael Pollock piano
BMS437CD £9

An English Recital

John McCabe piano
BMS103CDH £7.50

Songs of Rutland Boughton

Louise Mott, mezzo-soprano
Alexander Taylor, piano
BMS431CD £9

English Piano Sonatas

BMS434-5CD

Malcolm Binns, piano

Arnold Bax - Piano Sonata No 1 in F sharp minor - Piano Sonata No 2 in G - Piano Sonata No 3 in G minor - Piano Sonata No 4 in G

John Ireland - Piano Sonata
Frank Bridge - Piano Sonata

Brian Blyth Daubney: October Roses

Anna Dennis soprano
William Berger baritone
John Talbot piano
BMS433CD £9

Sorabji: Legendary Works for Piano

Michael Habermann piano
BMS427-29CD £18
3 CDs

Twentieth Century Piano Concertos: Bliss, Stravinsky, Shostakovich

Noel Mewton-Wood piano
BMS101CDH £7.50

English Recorder Music: The Dolmetsch Legacy

Ross Winters, recorder
Andrew Ball, piano
BMS425CD £9

English Cello Sonatas: Foulds, Walker, Bowen

Jo Cole, cello
John Talbot, piano
BMS423CD £9
2 CDs for the price of one

Sixty Glorious Years

The Midlands Chorale, Robert Williams conductor & Ian Wass organ
John Talbot piano, Katy Morell soprano, Phillida Bannister contralto
Campbell Russell tenor, Fiona Murphy cello, Wilfred Goddard clarinet
BMS422CD £9