Recordings of Lennox Berkeley's music
A British Promenade
Format: CD & Digital download- Nocturne (op. 67 part 2)
- Five Herrick Poems (op. 89)
Performed by Michael Bennett (tenor) & Sandrine Chatron (harp)
¡Viva Segovia!
Format: CD- Quatre pièces
Performed by Roberto Moronn Perez (guitar)
More details of this album...
Twentieth Century Music for Violin & Piano
Format: CD & Digital downloadThis issue presents a programme of British works for violin and piano from the first half of the twentieth century. Premieres include Thomas Pitfield's Sonata No. 1 and smaller scale works by C.W. Orr, Cyril Scott, and Percy M. Young. Doreen Carwithen's Sonata is the programme's centrepiece, and works by John Ireland, Lennox Berkeley, Frederick Delius complete the disc.
- Elegy (op. 33 part 2b, Arrangement)
Performed by Fenella Humphrey (violin) & Nathan Williamson (piano)
A Voice from Heaven
Format: CD & Digital downloadLabel: Vivat
Release date: October 2016
Catalogue no: VIVAT113
Available from: Presto Classical
A beautifully themed collection of fourteen of the finest unaccompanied British choral masterpieces of the last 125 years performed by award-winning Choir of The King's Consort.
The fascinating mix of familiar and unfamiliar includes five 'paired' settings: William Harris's classic 1959 'Bring us, O Lord God' partnered by James MacMillan’s 2010 setting of the same words; Herbert Howells' devastatingly poignant 'Take him, earth, for cherishing' (in memory of the slain President Kennedy) juxtaposed with John Tavener’s 2008 response to the same text; 'Justorum animae' ('The souls of the righteous') in versions by Lennox Berkeley, Charles Villiers Stanford and Herbert Murrill; heartfelt settings of 'Drop, drop, slow tears' by Kenneth Leighton and Thomas Hewitt Jones; and Stanford’s beautifully crafted 'I heard a voice from Heaven' coupled with Herbert Howell's exquisite, mystical setting of the same words.
The collection is completed with three impressive single works: Parry’s valedictory 'Lord, let me know mine end', William Harris’s masterwork 'Faire is the Heaven', and a stunningly powerful recording of John Tavener's 'Song for Athene', which sprang to global fame when performed at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Recorded in the well-nigh perfect acoustic of St Jude’s Church, London, by the award-winning production team of David Hinitt and Adrian Peacock.
Extensive presentation includes 64 page booklet with authoritative liner note in three languages by conductor Robert King, together with full sung texts and session photographs.
- Justorum animae (op. 60 part 2)
Performed by the Choir of the King's Consort & Robert King (conductor)
British Symphonies
Format: CD“It is impossible to overstate the debt we owe to the late Richard Itter and his Lyrita record label for promoting and, in many cases, reviving British music. This four-disc set is devoted to British symphonies mostly written in the first half of the 20th century, nearly all of which have been totally ignored both by the major record labels and concert promoters both at home and abroad… With concise yet thoroughly researched and informative booklet notes by Paul Conway, this is a very significant release which really deserves to be snapped up by everyone, not least those who still cling to the discredited belief that when it comes to composing symphonies, Britain has always been in the second division.” Marc Rochester, musicweb-international.com
- Symphony no. 3 (op. 74)
Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra & Lennox Berkeley (conductor)
British Now!
Format: CDThe program on this remarkable record includes the 'Simple Symphony' Op.4 by Britten (1913-1976) in four movements, which owes its title to the fact that the composer used themes composed between nine and twelve. 'Antiphon' for Orchestra Op.85 by Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989) is in two movements. 'In Nomine (after Purcell)' by Gavin Bryars (1943-) precedes the concluding work 'When Ingrid met Capa' by Michael Nyman (1944-), recounting the meeting of the actress Ingrid Bergman and photographer Robert Capa. (Synopsis by Jean-Jacques Millo)
- Antiphon (op. 85)
Performed by the Dogma Chamber Orchestra & Mikhail Gurewitsch (conductor)
Berkeley: Stabat Mater, Batter My Heart, Magnificat
Format: CDLabel: Lyrita
Release date: August 2016
Catalogue no: REAM1129
Available from: MusicWeb International
- Stabat Mater (op. 28)
- Batter My Heart, Three Person'd God (op. 60 part 1)
- Magnificat (op. 71)
More details of this album...
Stabat Mater: Sacred Choral Music by Lennox & Michael Berkeley
Format: CDLabel: Delphian Records
Release date: July 2016
Catalogue no: DCD34180
Available from: Presto Classical
Lennox Berkeley’s Stabat Mater derives from one of the most fertile and inspired periods of his compositional life. A masterpiece, and until now the last of his major works to go unrecorded, it was written for a concert tour by his close friend Benjamin Britten’s English Opera Group; hence the unusual but effective scoring for six solo voices and twelve instrumentalists. Delphian artists The Marian Consort - with five acclaimed discs of early music to their credit - now show their versatility in a cappella and accompanied music by both Lennox and his son Michael Berkeley. They are partnered in the larger works by the Berkeley Ensemble, whose performances are enriched by their intimate knowledge of these composers’ music. The same can be said of conductor David Wordsworth, who has known and worked with both composers, and who here realises a long-cherished ambition to direct this important addition to the catalogue. (Synopsis by Delphian/Presto Classical)
- Stabat Mater (op. 28)
- Mass for Five Voices (op. 64)
- Judica me (op. 96 part 1)
Performed by the Marian Consort, Berkeley Ensemble & David Wordsworth (conductor)
Klebe Violin Sonata Op. 14; Berkeley Violin Sonatina Op. 17
Format: Digital downloadRelease date: July 2016
Catalogue no: SWR10357
Available from: Presto Classical
- Sonatina (op. 17)
Performed by Jenny Abel (violin) & Maria Bergmann (piano)
Edmund Rubbra: The Complete Chamber Music & Songs with Harp
Format: CDThis album comprises the complete chamber music & songs with harp by Edmund Rubbra, plus two other works for solo harp, Berkeley's Nocturne of 1967 and Howells' Prelude No 1 of 1951. The harpist is Danielle Perrett who recalls that the Berkeley piece was written for the brilliant teenage harpist Hannah Francis, and notes that it is a delightful work not often performed,'which is a pity, as it is fully characteristic of the composer'. The Executive Producer of this new disc was Adrian Yardley (a son of Rubbra, and a member of the Berkeley Society), who writes about the Catholic links between Rubbra and Berkeley in the 2016 Berkeley Society Journal. (Synopsis by Tony Scotland)
- Nocturne (op. 67 part 2)
Performed by Danielle Perrett (harp)