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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Alec Roth - Songs in Time of Warwords by Vikram Seth after the Chinese poet Du Fu [712-770]
Mark Padmore (tenor), Philippe Honoré (violin), Alison Nicholls (harp) & Morgan Szymanski (guitar) Born in England, of German/Irish descent,Alec Roth has been Founder and Artistic Director of the Royal
Festival Hall Gamelan Programme; Music Director of the Baylis Programme, English National Opera; Composer
in Association, Opera North; and Lecturer in Music, University of Edinburgh. His collaborations with the Indian
writer Vikram Seth include the song cycles Romantic Residues (Bury St Edmunds Festival commission 2003) and
Earth and Sky for children's chorus, a BBC commission for the Proms 2000 season. Songs in Time of War is the
first in a series of four major works commissioned jointly by the Salisbury, Chelsea and Lichfield Festivals,
2006- 2009.
The two pieces for solo guitar are part of an ongoing series of works by Alec Roth dedicated to the Mexican
guitarist Morgan Szymanski: Canción de la Luna (Song of the Moon) was first performed at a Wigmore Hall
recital in 2005; its companion piece, Danza de la Luna was completed in 2006 and is heard for the first time on
this recording.
Chinese Gardens is a setting of poems, again by Vikram Seth, which were inspired by visits to four of the famous
Ming Dynasty gardens in the Chinese city of Suzhou. “These are attractive works, the Songs in Time of War probably striking deepest though in an utterly non-ponderous, unpretentious way. And the performances (by the "creator" artists) are excellent).” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008 | 
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| |  | Britten Abroad
Susan Gritton (soprano), Mark Padmore (tenor) & Iain Burnside (piano) Britten's settings of Italian, Russian, French and German, performed here by Susan Gritton, Mark Padmore and
Iain Burnside are certainly amongst the most distinctive and very finest examples of his art, each fashioned
specifically for a much-loved and favoured artist.
The Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo were completed in America in October 1940 and were the first songs
written specifically for Britten's life-long partner and principle interpreter, the tenor Peter Pears, to whom
they are dedicated and unquestionably addressed. Britten and Pears premiered the Michelangelo Sonnets at the
Wigmore Hall on 23 September 1942, the first of many memorable appearances they were to make in
London's premiere recital hall over the next three decades.
The Poet's Echo was written during a holiday that Britten and Pears spent in the Soviet Union with Galina
Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich in August 1965.The cycle is dedicated to 'Galya and Slava' and was
first performed by the dedicatees in the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, on 2 December 1965; they
gave the UK premiere on 2 July the following year, in London's Royal Festival Hall.
Um Mitternacht was written around 1960. It was first performed by the soprano Lucy Shelton and pianist Ian
Brown at the 1992 Aldeburgh Festival and only entered the repertory with the publication of The Red
Cockatoo & Other Songs by Faber Music in 1994. It is unique in that it's Britten's only setting of Goethe, an
anthology of whose verse he received around this time from his friend Prince Ludwig of Hesse and the Rhine,
the dedicatee of the final song-cycle on the present disc, the Sechs Hölderlin-Fragmente. Britten and Pears
recorded them for the BBC Third programme on 20 October 1958. “The tenor Padmore is easy over the horn-blown heights in Veggio co'bei. Gritton is more shrill and rather overdoes the Pushkin poems The Poet's Echo, although she shows agonised restraint in the paranoid last...Gritton all but steals the album with the haunting Il est Quelqu'un. Burnside gives witty impressions of a spinning wheel, insomniac's clock and Messiaen-like nightingale at the keys.” The Times, 24th May 2008 *** “With the ever-inventive Iain Burnside at the piano, revelling in Britten's keyboard felicities, the vocal honours are shared evenly by soprano and tenor. Mark Padmore is commanding in the Italianate, almost bel canto style of the Michelangelo sonnets, and Susan Gritton's rich-hued timbre and linguistic mastery reap rewards in the Russian and German cycles.” The Telegraph, 17th May 2008 “Tenor Mark Padmore takes the Michelangelo cycle by the throat, and wrings out of it a powerfully eloquent performance, and he's equally persuasive in the Hölderlin settings, while soprano Susan Gritton does not attempt the histrionics that Vishnevskaya brought to the Pushkin songs, but invests them instead with genuinely credible dramatic intensity. Iain Burnside is a model accompanist. An outstanding disc.” The Guardian, 30th May 2008 ***** “What an inspired idea not only to bring together Britten's mature foreign-language songs, but also to have the programme shared by two of Britain's keenest and brightest singers. …delight and spiritual depths go hand in hand.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 ***** “…how these two singers have grown, both in voice and artistry. Padmore has now quite a full-bodied ring to his voice at a forte (hear him in the strong affirmations of the last sonnet), and Gritton commands an aristocratic concentration of tone, unshakeably firm and precise in its placing. Iain Burnside more than copes with the formidable technical difficulties, and in many songs... we bless the imaginative touch.” Gramophone Magazine, 2008 Awards Issue | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Vaughan Williams - On Wenlock Edge
Mark Padmore (tenor) Schubert Ensemble On Wenlock Edge is a song cycle for tenor, piano and string quartet, published in 1909, setting six poems from
A.E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad. Although there have been a number of recordings of this song cycle recently,
this disc features the remarkable voice of Mark Padmore and uniquely adds the early Piano Quintet in C minor,
recently released for performance by the composer’s widow and published in 2002, and also the Romance and
Pastorale, two similarly early, brief lyric pieces for violin and piano published in 1923. The Quintet was written for
piano, violin, viola, cello and double-bass – as was Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet. It is a wonderful early work, full of
passion and melodic invention.
This recording marks the Schubert Ensemble’s debut on Chandos and also its 25th anniversary. The Ensemble has
always been at the forefront of British chamber music performance and is now firmly established as one of the
world’s leading exponents of music for piano and strings. “Fifty years after his death, Vaughan Williams is accorded the affectionate respect he deserves in this version of his poignant rural song cycle by one of our finest dramatic tenors, Mark Padmore. AE Housman's words have rarely rung so clearly above the haunting accompaniment of piano and quartet, notably in the central song 'Is my team still ploughing?'” The Observer, 4th May 2008 “It is hard not to see Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge as the first great English song cycle, especially when its heart and soul come to the fore in performances such as this one. AE Housman's combination of folk-like innocence and knowing irony is powerfully conveyed in the singing of Mark Padmore.” The Telegraph, 19th April 2008 “Padmore is something special in Wenlock, while the Quintet is striking. ” Gramophone Magazine, June 2008 “There's more to Padmore's performance: fine tone, a strong sense of pitch, crystal clear enunciation and a wonderful feeling for long lines.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 *****  BBC Music Magazine
Choral & Song Choice - May 2008 |
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| |  | listen: | | Chorus: "Awake The Harp, The Lyre Awake" |  | | E-Player | |
| Sung in English
Ruth Massey, Paul Harvey, Mark Padmore, Miah Persson, Neal Davies & Sandrine Piau Gabrieli Consort, Gabrieli Players & Chetham's Chamber Choir, Paul McCreesh “The sheer magnificence of the choruses that provide the oratorio's structural pillars has rarely been so effectively realised on disc. McCreesh also has an exceptional set of soloists. The results are exceptional; overtaking even John Eliot Gardiner's striking version on the same label.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 ***** “While yielding to none in joyous exhilaration, McCreesh gives full value to the mystery and awe of creation. Unlike most period practitioners, he often favours broad tempos, whether in a wonderfully creepy evocation of the primeval slime in "Chaos" or the most majestic of sunrises... If you want a Creation in English, this new version - sonically thrilling, marvellously sung and characterised - sweeps the field.” The Telegraph, March 2008 “In all the choruses McCreesh's pacing - eager but never hectic - and rhythmic energy are wonderfully inspiriting. He is acutely responsive, too, to the work's mystery and awe… The less consistently cast Rattle recording sometimes generates more fun. but for a Creation in English, this new version - exhilarating, poetic and marvellously sung - becomes the prime recommendation.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2008 BBC Music Magazine Disc of the month - May 2008 |
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Susan Gritton (soprano), Pamela Helen Stephen (mezzo-soprano), Mark Padmore (tenor), James Gilchrist (tenor) & Matthew Rose (bass) Collegium Musicum 90, Richard Hickox Schubert’s final mass and most ambitious setting was composed during the summer of 1828, only months
before his death. It was premiered posthumously, on October 4, 1829, under the direction of his brother,
Ferdinand. Much more than his previous efforts in the genre, it is a choral mass, relegating the vocal
soloists to three brief episodes to allow for large chorus passages, and provides an extremely active role
for the orchestra. Today, the Mass in E Flat is increasingly acknowledged as an individual masterpiece;
powerful and disquieting, more monumental than the fifth, but likewise seeking to reconcile liturgical
grandeur with Schubert’s own subjective romantic feeling, whilst still influenced by Haydn, Beethoven
and Bach. Its concern for splendour is most obvious in the huge set-piece fugues at the end of the Gloria
and Credo but all the time liturgical tradition is coloured by an individual and sometimes unsettling
chromaticism, possibly evoking the personal pain he was suffering, not only physically but also the
anguish of questioning his faith. The result is some of the most violent anguish encountered in a setting
of the text. The recording is dedicated to the memory of Francesca McManus, the manager of CM90 who sadly died
at the end of November. “Richard Hickox directs his crack period forces in a strong, sympathetic performance, glowingly recorded. Among rival conductors, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Elatus) uncovers more disquiet in, say, the Kyrie. But Hickox's pacing and shaping are always convincing, not least in the monumental - and potentially interminable - fugues of the Gloria and Credo. The chorus blaze with white-hot intensity in Schubert's many fff climaxes, while the soloists sing with tenderness and grace in the Benedictus and the ravishing "Et incarnatus est".” The Telegraph, 19th April 2008 “Few period bands have tackled this late, great work, and it comes up gleaming in the care of Collegium Musicum 90 under Richard Hickox's direction. Hickox's soloists are superb, too.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 **** “Turn to Hickox and you'll hear how this heavenly music should sound, with the three soloists (Mark Padmore, James Gilchrist - an ideally matched tenor pairing - and soprano Susan Gritton) singing with pure tone and wondering tenderness.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2008 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Britten & Dowland - Lute Songs
Mark Padmore (tenor), Elizabeth Kenny (lute) Mark Padmore is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest tenors working today, celebrated in the opera house, the concert hall and as a peerless recording artist. He is admired—among other things—for his ‘extraordinary diction and whispering chamber-like intimacy … [his] joy in conveying the emotional core of each situation’ (Gramophone) “Padmore provides context by singing Dowland's original song before Craig Ogden steals in, alert to the Nocturnal's every nuance, and with a palette of colours both caressing and disquieting. Completing the frame, 'Flow my Tears' is beautifully inflected, though finer still is 'In Darkness let me Dwell' where in the final bars Padmore's enrapt engagement seems to conjure up the very chill of death.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 **** “Mark Padmore again shows why he is one of today's finest tenors. The quicker songs, like "Away with these self-loving lads", gain in clarity from a semi-declamatory approach, while the slower are eerily viol-like.” Gramophone Magazine, Janurary 2008 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Dyson: Nebuchadnezzar
Mark Padmore (tenor) & Neal Davies (bass-baritone) BBC Symphony Chorus & BBC Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox Dyson took the text for Nebuchadnezzar from the Book of Daniel, incorporating the ‘Song of the Three Holy Children’ from the Apocrypha. Emulating Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Dyson set the story in four parts. In the first three the music tells the well-known biblical story of the Jews Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the burning fiery furnace, while the fourth is a more conventional hymn of praise, ‘All the works of the Lord, Bless Ye the Lord’ – the Benedicite. The tenor Mark Padmore sings the Herald, and Nebuchadnezzar is sung by the bass-baritone Neal Davies. “…Richard Hickox again reminds us of his unrivalled mastery in the British choral-orchestral repertoire, particularly here in terms of balance and pace. The two soloists, Mark Padmore as a herald and Neal Davis as Nebuchadnezzar, bring character to the performance, but it's the excellent BBC Symphony Chorus that drives the narrative with its incisive singing.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | The Christmas Story
Ruth Holton, Evelyn Tubb (sopranos), James Bowman, Jonathan Kenny (countertenors), John Mark Ainsley, Andrew King, Mark Padmore (tenors), Robert Evans, Michael George, Charles Pott (basses) The King's Consort, Robert King “Ravishing... the sheer beauty of the sound, immeasurably enhanced by a warm, sonorous recording, sweeps us into the narration of the familiar story” BBC Music Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | As Steals the MornHandel - Arias & scenes for tenor
Handel: | Enjoy the sweet Elysian grove (Alceste, Act IV) Where'er you walk (from Semele) Urne voi (Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, Part I) Forte e lieto (Tamerlano, Act I, 1) Oh per me lieto, avventuroso giorno! (Tamerlano, Act III, 10) Figlia mia (Samson, Act I) Tu, spietato ((Samson, Act I) Total eclipse (Samson) Did love constrain thee? (Samson, Act II, 2) Your charms to ruin led the way Let but that spirit …(Samson,Act III, 1) Then shall I make …; Thus when the sun from’s watry bed (Samson) Fatto inferno … Pastorello d'un povero armento Esther: Tune your harps to cheerful strains Heav'n smiles once more … (Jephtha, Act II, 2) His mighty arm (Jephtha, Act III, 1) Jephtha: Waft her, angels, through the skies As steals the morn (from L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato) |
Mark Padmore (tenor), Lucy Crowe (soprano), Robin Blaze (countertenor) & Katharina Spreckelsen (oboe obligato) The English Concert, Andrew Manze "This is one of the most alluring recitals of its kind that has come my way for a very long time" BBC Music Magazine, May 2007, *****/***** “Handel was one of the first Baroque composers to invest his talents in the tenor voice and here this unique English legacy is recalled. Through his shading, dynamic range and commitment to the text, Padmore seduces the listener.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Peter Mattei, Gilles Cachemaille, Carmela Remigio, Véronique Gens, Lisa Larsson, Mark Padmore, Till Fechner, Gudjon Oskarsson, Jory Vinikour (harpsichord) & Ophélie Gaillard (cello continuo) Solistes de l’Académie Européenne de Musique d’Aix-en-Provence & Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Harding | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Gramophone Awards 2008
Gramophone Magazine
BBC Music Magazine Awards 2008