CDLX 7190

CDLX 7191

CDLX 7192

CDLX 7193

"The performances are enthusiastic and the music itself is first-rate. Highly recommended."
Barry Brenesal, Fanfare, May/June 2007

CDLX 7194

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, under the inspired conductorship of Martin Yates, make their fourth appearance on the Dutton Epoch label. The first work they perform on this release is Thomas Dunhill’s Symphony in A Minor, started in 1914 and completed in 1916. Dunhill’s music tended to be focused on the lighter orchestral repertoire and was widely played in the 1930s, and in their day his light operas were popular. His Symphony in A minor is his most substantial non-operatic work. The Yates/RSNO partnership do full justice to a magnificent work described in 1935 by composer Roger Quilter as being “so finely made & conceived & so sincere, also so cleanly scored; and without padding; a fine achievement.” Dutton Epoch’s commitment to the music of Richard Arnell continues with the RSNO’s exquisite interpretation of his 1952 composition Lord Byron: a symphonic portrait, Op.67. The poet Byron (George Gordon, sixth Baron Byron) died in 1824 at the early age of 35. Arnell’s tribute to the poet was commissioned by Beecham for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and was described by the composer as “an attempt to create, in music, the illusion of a real character…a portrait of the poet himself.” Indeed, the RSNO under Martin Yates bring this enthralling musical portrait vividly to life.

"Regular readers will doubtless be aware of previous Dutton releases of music of Richard Arnell, which I have had the pleasure of welcoming to the catalogue ... principally those of his orchestral music, which have been well performed by the Royal Scottish National under Martin Yates."
"Now comes the latest issue of work ... in terms of performance and recording it is up to those earlier CDs."
Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review, January 2008

CDLX 7195

This CD features three different works by three very different 20th century British composers, while two orchestras who have established strong links to the Dutton Epoch label – the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra – are on hand to interpret the scores with all their customary panache and virtuosity. The Scottish composer Erik Chisholm was one of those who, because he went to live abroad at a crucial phase in his career, have tended to be forgotten in the country of their birth. His Second Symphony (subtitled Ossian) dates from 1939 but was never performed as such. Instead it was quarried by the composer for his wartime ballet ‘The Earth-Shapers’ (‘a symphonic ballet in a prologue and one act’). It would be easy to relate this music to the times in which it was composed, as a metaphor for the struggle with Nazism. But Chisholm has left us no such allusion. In contrast, Trevor Hold’s song cycle, The Unreturning Spring, though written between 1961 and 1963 very much reflects issues of the war in setting the airman James Farrar’s poems. Eric Fogg, the son of the organist to the Hallé Orchestra, was a child prodigy composer whose youthful output was considerable. Known for his work as an accompanist for the BBC in Manchester during the ’20s/’30s and later as BBC Empire Director of Music in London, much of Fogg’s orchestral output is now lost. His evocative musical picture of the sea at dusk, Sea-Sheen, was published when Fogg was only seventeen. Eric Fogg’s orchestral evocation Merok is dated June 1929, and was published in 1934. Merok is a tiny village in Norway, situated at the head of the Geiranger Fjord, and Fogg’s musical picture takes the form of variations on a Norwegian folk song.

CDLX 7196

Cecilia McDowall is widely acknowledged as one of Britain’s most popular and successful composers. Her breadth of experience in performing, teaching and composing has helped to develop an original and distinctive style that speaks directly to both listeners and performers with a life-affirming, restorative strength. This is her third release on the Dutton Epoch label, and comprises beautiful original compositions that set various texts. Indeed, McDowall’s skill in word setting has made her one of the finest composers of her generation of vocal and choral music. The Stabat Mater takes as its inspiration twelve of the fourteen verses of the Stabat Mater dolorosa from the Liber Usualis, while On Angel’s Wing is a setting of John Clare’s poem Love lies beyond the tomb, interspersed with plainchant taken from the Vatican Prefaces. This exquisite and exotic work audaciously juxtaposes sensitive lyricism in its solo writing with choral passages of great passion and joy. Each of the chosen texts for Three Latin Motets, for unaccompanied SSATB choir, is addressed to the Virgin Mary. Annunciation is a spaciously expressive carol for Advent for unaccompanied SSATB choir, and Deus, qui claro lumine is a setting of the Vesper hymn. The disc ends with the enchanting Lonely Hearts. Delicately scored for SSAA chorus, flute, clarinet, harp, violin, viola and cello, it sets three poems by the novelist Christie Dickason, each offering a different perspective on the theme of being alone.

CDLX 7197

In his unmissable Eric Coates programme, with the BBC Concert Orchestra on top form, conductor John Wilson demonstrates his special empathy with and long-study of the music of this quintessential British composer, with celebrated baritone Sir Thomas Allen and tenor Richard Edgar-Wilson in Coates’s once widely popular orchestral songs. They are coupled with less familiar orchestral music including three catchy marches – Sound and Vision, Holborn and The Eighth Army, the Four Ways Suite, the dance interlude Moresque and the Valse from The Three Bears. All are crowned by the first complete recording of the From the Countryside suite, dating from 1915 and already showing Coates’s distinctive style in the lilt of its melodies, easy-going charm and rhythmic zest. For Coates lovers this is a collection to refresh and complement your collection; for newcomers it makes the perfect introduction to this tuneful and toe-tapping repertoire.

CDLX 7198

"Doing Coates proud again."
"Coates writes beautifully for the voice, and this collection makes valuable progress towards that imagined Coates complete edition."
Andrew Lamb, Gramophone, July 2008

This survey of music for baritone and orchestra includes songs written between 1903 and 1935, and includes a duet – featuring soprano Ailish Tynan – from Parry’s opera Guenever, which dates from 1886. Works by composers such as Bax, Boughton and Bainton are heard and, in Boughton’s case, we are treated to three songs from his early Kipling settings ‘Songs of the English’. These and many other delights are on offer, and the combined forces of Roderick Williams and the BBC Concert Orchestra under Martin Yates give impassioned performances of these glorious works.

"Roderick Williams ... is here on peak form: wonderfully clear diction, steady, even tone throughout his range, an exceptional alertness to mood and nuance. His voice has become a real pleasure to hear, the top especially thrilling, Add to that a willingness to explore esoteric repertoire such as this, and we are greatly privileged."
"... a labour of love duly rewarded in performance."
Piers Burton-Page, International Record Review, January 2008

Following the success of Dutton Epoch’s series of Cyril Scott piano music CDs featuring Canadian pianist Leslie De’Ath, we now venture into the composer’s works for violin and piano. In a programme of Scott’s typically elegant, thoughtful music, violinist Clare Howick and pianist Sophie Rahman guide the listener beautifully through some of Scott’s finest scores for this particular instrumental pairing. The present disc explores the two sides of his violin-piano output: on the one hand ‘popular’ miniatures, either written by Scott himself for violin and piano or arranged by other hands from his piano originals; and on the other a major, mature work for the same combination, the Sonata Lirica of 1937. Other works on this release include Scott’s Andante Languido from Three Little Waltzes for piano (arranged for violin by Richard Lange), which appeared in 1906 but is believed to be among his earliest works, and Lotus Land, perhaps the most famous of all Scott’s works. Arranged by no less a virtuoso than Fritz Kreisler, the piece becomes less of a dreamy reverie and more of a passionate utterance. By the time we arrive at the mystically ecstatic coda Kreisler has convinced one that this is the medium for which this music was always destined.

"Sonata Lirica is a major find. In this likely world premiere performance, the composer is honoured by playing of some distinction: Clare Howick's consistency of tone and highly musical phrasing, admirably partnered by Sophia Rahman, make the best possible case for this work. There are otherostensibly lighter works here, all similarly well played ..."
"Let us hope it [Scott's music] takes its rightful place in programmes, in which case this excellent disc will have played a valuable part in such restitution."
Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review, January 2008

“Violinist Clare Howick and pianist Sophie Rahman explore the work of the groundbreaking British composer Cyril Scott, resulting in a sublime album of intensity and imagination that can only add to the duo’s growing reputation… Splendid throughout.”
Musician Magazine, April 2008

CDLX 7200

Armstrong Gibbs was once a favourite composer of local choral societies, but his masterpiece, the choral symphony Odysseus, has seldom been heard because it immediately preceded the Second World War and afterwards never really established itself. Yet it is a cherishable score, and if you like Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony you will love this tuneful and evocative work. Here Susan Gritton and Mark Stone revel in their roles as soprano and baritone soloists respectively. Telling the familiar story of Odysseus’s legendary wanderings around the eastern Mediterranean after the fall of Troy , and his return to Ithaca , Odysseus – which in fact is Gibbs’s second symphony – has long been requested by enthusiasts. It is vividly realised by the London Oriana Choir and the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by David Drummond. The choir also make Four Songs for Sailors, Dyson’s tuneful songs for chorus, strings, brass and timpani, sound effortless, and with the work’s theme of ships and sailors is the perfect complement to Armstrong Gibbs’s epic vision.

Dutton Epoch’s series of Edward German Symphonies is now completed by this disc, which features The ‘ Norwich ’ Symphony coupled with the quasi-symphonic ‘ Leeds ’ Suite and the ebullient March Rhapsody. Only one movement of the ‘ Leeds ’ Suite has previously been recorded; here Dutton Epoch is delighted to present all four movements including the Elgarian ‘Elegy’ featuring a solo saxophone. This is tuneful music of some stature, and the BBC Concert Orchestra and their conductor John Wilson make a terrific case for scores that were once popular favourites. The first volume of Dutton Epoch’s Edward German series featured the First Symphony, and here in the later Second Symphony, Edward German has grown in stature. In this definitive score, which dates from 1893, we find one of the most engaging British symphonies before Elgar.

CDLX 7202

David Lloyd-Jones and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra are completely at home in Rawsthorne’s repertoire, and in Practical Cats renowned English actor Simon Callow brings a wonderful life and character to T.S. Eliot’s familiar words set against Rawsthorne’s ever-inventive music. In contrast baritone Jeremy Huw Williams presents the world premiere recording of the darkly brooding setting of medieval words, Medieval Diptych, hauntingly atmospheric and dramatic by turns. This nicely balanced programme, recorded in the sympathetic acoustic of the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool , also features the ebulliently witty overture Street Corner, the exotic suite from the ballet Madame Chrysanthème, and two further world premiere recordings – the Theme, Variations and Finale and the atmospheric Coronation Overture.

Benjamin Dale’s Viola Music is a remarkable body of work, largely written just before the First World War, and the music’s romantic grandeur is beautifully caught by Roger Chase’s honey-toned viola. For total authenticity in music written for the great viola player Lionel Tertis, Chase plays on Tertis’s beloved Montagnana viola, a large instrument with a gorgeous tone. A wonderfully rewarding programme is crowned by the world premiere recording of Dale’s Introduction & Andante for Six Violas, whose dry title belies a sumptuously romantic outpouring, six violas creating the textures of a string orchestra. A hauntingly enjoyable discovery; and remember, you heard it first on Dutton Epoch.

CDLX 7204

The London Bridge Ensemble’s delightfully varied Frank Bridge programme presents – between the frames of the two early chamber music masterpieces the Phantasie Piano Quartet (1910) and the Phantasie Piano Trio (1907) – two groups of songs and the mellifluous Three Songs with Viola, all sung by baritone Ivan Ludlow. Also included are two less often heard instrumental solos: the early Scherzo for cello & piano and the Souvenir for violin & piano (1904). This enchanting, lyrical repertoire is the epitome of that still romantic music making which composers from the Royal College of Music produced under the influence of W.W. Cobbett, that master of chamber music. Bridge’s music is beautifully projected by the Ensemble, and is rewarding both individually and as a programme.

CDLX 7205

"There’s plenty to enjoy in this attractive survey of early Frank Bridge, which is bookended by mightily impressive accounts of two of the three fastidiously integrated works that the composer entered for WW Cobbett’s prestigious annual chamber music competition. In truth, I can’t immediately recall a more persuasive realisation of the lovely 1907 Phantasie Trio – brain and heart are fully engaged. What’s more, in the glorious Phantasie Quartet of 1910 these stylish newcomers deserve a place at the top table."
"In sum, a most recommendable mid-price package."
Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone, August 2008

The first two volumes of Montague Phillips’s tuneful orchestral music were warmly received when issued by Dutton Epoch. Now here is the third volume, presenting both Piano Concertos. In the 1960s the second of these was often heard on the BBC, but the first has not been heard for more than ninety years, the music found after a search of the family attic. Both are brilliantly played by pianist David Owen Norris, and will delight all those who have revelled in Dutton Epoch’s recordings of York Bowen’s piano concertos (available on CDLX 7169 & CDLX 7187). This is tuneful and enjoyable music, exquisitely scored and taking us back to the Edwardian world from which Montague Phillips - the pinnacle of light music composers - came. These are substantial concertos, and it is hard to explain why such charming music is not in the regular repertoire. To complete the disc, Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s short jazz concerto, The Young Idea, whirls us back to Billy Mayerl and the ballroom of the Savoy Hotel in the late 1920s.

CDLX 7206

"Two great finds get full-blooded performances: note to Prom organisers."
"Purely for sound quality, this third disc in Dutton’s welcome exploration of Montague Phillips’s music must qualify as an award-winner. It is a sumptuous, full-blooded recording with a richly resonant bass (Michael Ponder and Dexter Newman in the Town Hall, Watford) matched by the soloist’s powerful Fazioli.
Both concertos are real finds. I can only repeat my oft-expressed mystification why such works have been left to gather dust."
Jeremy Nicolas, Gramophone, August 2008

This tribute to Sir John Manduell, on his eightieth birthday, has a much wider appeal than to just those who have been associated with him in his many roles. For twenty-five years he was programme director of the Cheltenham Festival, and while at Lancaster University , the Royal Northern College of Music and the BBC he became known as an educator, administrator and composer. The works presented on this disc are all associated with Manduell, crowned by his own Rondo for Nine. Substantial scores by Mátyás Seiber, Lennox Berkeley, Peter Crossley-Holland and Gordon Crosse fill gaps in those composers’ recorded output, and give the programme a special interest. The title of the disc is taken from Lennox Berkeley’s eloquent and atmospheric Antiphon, on its own account sufficient enough reason to cherish this milestone collection.

CDLX 7207

CDLX 7208

In summer mood, Dutton Epoch’s July 2008 releases concentrate on the delightful rather than the epic, and are headed by Richard Arnell’s ballets The Great Detective and The Angels. Unheard complete since the 1950s, this music is a tuneful must for the many collectors who have enjoyed the Dutton Epoch Arnell Symphonies series. In fact, at the beginning of the score of The Angels Arnell has written: ‘The Angels is an abstract, symphonically structured work. The form is intricate and is as carefully considered as if the work had been designed for the concert hall. It is, in fact, a symphony.’ Squarely in the idiom of Symphonies No.4 and No.5, it is a powerful score, the Roundelay middle movement one of Arnell’s great slow movements. The Sherlock Holmes-inspired ballet The Great Detective is uproarious and supremely melodic, and another glorious work unearthed and resurrected by Dutton Epoch. Both The Great Detective and The Angels are presented here for the first time on CD.

The fifth instalment in Dutton Epoch’s ongoing series focusing on British light music features sumptuous works by Paul Carr and conductor Gavin Sutherland, along with the suite from Richard Addinsell’s incidental music for Jean Anouilh’s play Ring Round the Moon and orchestral delights by film music legend Roy Budd (Tricolour Overture) and Francis Chagrin (Aquarelles). The concertos by Gavin Sutherland (for clarinet) and Paul Carr (for oboe) are both real finds. Sutherland writes essentially in a lighter vein, taking a melodic route through a variety of idioms including the ballad style of the exquisite second movement Song without Words. Carr’s Oboe Concerto, played by its dedicatee Nicholas Daniel, highlights the increasing reputation of this composer; here the sorrowing threnody encapsulated in the stillness of the second movement’s evocation of snow is particularly striking, while Carr’s Air for Strings is uniquely compelling, an orchestral love song that bids fair to supplant Barber’s celebrated Adagio for Strings.

CDLX 7209