NMC, the label that has done more than most to nurture new music in the UK, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a plethora of new releases and projects.
Building upon the success of their 20×12 programme that ran alongside the Olympic Games, the New Music Biennial Project in collaboration with PRS is an international celebration of new music as part of Glasgow 2014, the cultural programme of the XX Commonwealth Games. The twenty commissioned composers will have their works played in various parts of the UK during the course of 2014.
The Higher Education Programme run by Sound and Music features 12 young composers currently studying in UK universities and conservatoires. Those selected are working with the London Sinfonietta, Sound Intermedia and leading soloists to develop 10-minute pieces that will be performed at a showcase as part of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2014.
NMC will release recordings from both of these projects during 2014.
The label also plans to support emerging composers through five more releases in their Debut Discs series, those selected being Larry Goves, Ben Foskett, Helen Grime, Charlotte Bray and Richard Causton. More established figures, too, will be represented with major releases of operas by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Gerald Barry and Judith Weir.
NMC have a page dedicated to their birthday celebration where more announcements will be made in coming weeks. This is a good time to reflect upon the vital work that this label does for composers in the UK. Why not visit the page and leave them a birthday message?
CD Releases
New Music Collections is a new mid-price series on NMC that explores its back catalogue of piano, electronic, orchestral and choral music. There are a wide range of composers represented, both well-known and less-so, so this would be a good starting point for anyone interested in a particular genre to discover new works. Also soon to be released is a disc featuring Mark Anthony Turnage’s UNDANCE, Crying Out Loud and No Let Up.Extracts are available to dip into now, with the music scheduled for release on 31st March.
New on Naxos, Bright Sheng’s The Song and Dance of Tears combines Chinese and Western sonorities in an evocation of the impressions made on him by the music of that region. Also on the disc, Colors of Crimson expands the timbre of the solo marimba through a spectrum of orchestral effects, whilst the The Blazing Mirage was inspired by the artistic treasures of the Dunhuang Caves. Works are performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic, conducted by the composer.
From nearby Japan, meanwhile, Toshio Hosakawa, like many of his countrymen before him, takes the connection between man and nature as his theme in an album that features his Horn Concerto Moment of Blossoming and Piano Concerto Lotus Under the Moonlight. His Chant, on the other hand, is inspired by the ceremonial music of Japanese Buddism. Works are performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Jun Märkl.
Naxos have also added a new album to their collection of music by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: The Boyfriend, based on a 1954 musical by Sandy Wilson, introduces a large dance band and period motifs, while dramatic extremes depicting the film’s themes of corruption, exorcism and execution within a medieval religious setting are explored in The Devils Suite. Seven in Nomine evokes Maxwell Davies’ interest in medieval plainsong. The composer himself plays two of his most popular piano pieces, Yesnaby Ground and Farewell to Stromness,with their evocations of Orkney landmarks.
There are two new CD collections to consider. Taverner’s untimely death is marked with a 5-CD box set that includes his The Protecting Veil, In Alium, Ex Maria Virgine, Lament for Jerusalem and a number of shorter works, including, of course, The Lamb and Song for Athene. Meanwhile there is a 3-CD set of music by Henryk Górecki that headlines with his Symphony No. 3 Sorrowful Songs, Symphony No.2 and Concerto-Cantata, conducted by Antoni Wit.
Malcolm Williamson, an Australian who relocated to the UK, was a composer whose prominence was marked in 1975 with the award of Master of the Queen’s Music. Sadly, however, his music is now largely forgotten. Hyperion have just released a double-disc set of his four Piano Concertos and Sinfonia Concertante in an attempt to reanimate interest in him. Piers Lane plays the piano accompanied by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Howard Shelly.
Keyboard music of a difference sort, Divine Art Records has released Litany, a collection of organ music by Carson Cooman, one of America’s most prolific and feted composers. The album presents a programme of recent works of a lyrical, Romantic and pastoral nature. Erik Simmons performs on the Marcussen organ of Laurenskerk, Rotterdam.
DG, finally, have released a recording of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary. A Passion Oratorio that roughly parallels those of Bach, the work is widely regarded as a masterpiece. The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Master Chorale are conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.