DISC SUBSCRIPTIONS

Many of our exciting and groundbreaking discs could not be recorded if it were not for the generosity of subscribers. For a suggested minimum donation of £50, subscribers to a disc receive the following:

 

A mention as a named subscriber in the CD booklet
A pair of free tickets to the launch event, held at a major venue
A complimentary signed copy of the CD immediately upon its release

 

We are currently inviting subscriptions for three major recording projects. Please follow the link at the ends of the descriptions below to support any or all of them!

 

 

THE VISION OF DAME CHRISTIAN

The masque ‘The Vision of Dame Christian’ was composed in 1909 for the girls of St Paul’s Girls’ School (SPGS), of which the composer Gustav Holst was Director of Music; the words were written by the High Mistress at the time, Miss Gray. Dame Christian was the mother of John Colet, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral and founder of St Paul’s School. The masque tells of Dame Christian’s vision for the future of her son’s school and the subsequent founding of the Girls’ School. Holst referred to this masque as “the Masque of St Paul’s Girls’ School” and mentioned that "I value this very highly… it contains my best tune — a solemn march.”

 

The piece has never been recorded, and we consider that, given the inseparable links with SPGS, it should be recorded at the school and should feature the girls themselves. EM Records therefore proposes to make a recording of this work that fulfils these stipulations and with the current Director of Music of SPGS as the conductor. To maintain the very highest artistic standards, we will also be engaging the London Mozart Players. As well as ‘The Vision of Dame Christian’, the disc will include other works strongly associated with SPGS: ‘St Paul’s Suite’, ‘Brook Green Suite’, the ‘Gavotte’ (which Holst withdrew from the ‘Brook Green Suite’), ‘Seven Choruses from the Alcestis of Euripides’ and ‘The Playground Song’.

 

The costs of making such a recording, however, will be very high, given the engagement of the London Mozart Players, and in order for the production values to meet EM Records’s high standards. We anticipate costs of £18,000 and we urgently need help to enable us to meet these. We are therefore inviting individuals to subscribe to the disc, and we would be hugely grateful to anyone who can help us in this way.

 

 

LINKS WITH ST PAUL’S GIRLS’ SCHOOL

 

EM Records has strong links with SPGS. We have recorded much music composed by previous Directors of Music and by other composers also associated with the School (John Gardner, Gustav Holst, Herbert Howells, Norman O’Neill and Ralph Vaughan Williams); whilst previous Director of Music Hilary Davan Wetton has appeared on several EM Records discs as conductor. Furthermore, a number of our recordings have been made in the Great Hall at SPGS and feature Paulina Voices.

 

 

BENEFITS TO SUBSCRIBERS

 

EM Records would like to offer the following benefits to anyone who subscribes to this recording at the following levels:

 

A DONATION OF £250
   
Your name in the disc booklet
An invitation to the Champagne Reception launching the disc
A free copy of the disc

 

A DONATION OF £500
   
Your name in the disc booklet
An invitation to the Champagne Reception launching the disc
Two free copies of the disc
Free copies of EMR CD004 (Gustav Holst: ‘The Coming of Christ’); and of EMR CD009 (Christmas music by John Gardner), recorded at SPGS and featuring Paulina Voices

 

A DONATION OF £1,000
   
Your name in the disc booklet
An invitation to the Champagne Reception launching the disc
Three free copies of the disc
Free copies of EMR CD004 (Gustav Holst: ‘The Coming of Christ’); EMR CD009 (Christmas music by John Gardner), recorded at SPGS and featuring Paulina Voices; EMR CD012–13 (including piano music by Herbert Howells and Ralph Vaughan Williams); EMR CD019–20 (the complete music for violin and piano by Howells); EMR CD022 (including piano music by Holst and Vaughan Williams); EMR CD025 (including chamber music by Holst and Howells); EMR CD044 (including Howells’s ‘Requiem’ and choral works by Holst and Vaughan Williams); EMR CD049 (choral works by Holst and George Dyson); EMR CD057 (John Gardner’s ‘The Ballad of the White Horse’), EMR CD060 (songs by Holst and Joseph Holbrooke); and EMR CD062 (Christmas music by Holst)

 

A DONATION OF £2,500
   
Your name in the disc booklet
An invitation to the Champagne Reception launching the disc
Five free copies of the disc
Free copies of EMR CD005 (chamber works by Norman O’Neill); EMR CD006 (Ralph Vaughan Williams: Violin Sonata); EMR CD012–13 (including piano music by Herbert Howells and Ralph Vaughan Williams); EMR CD019–20 (the complete music for violin and piano by Howells); EMR CD022 (including piano music by Holst and Vaughan Williams); EMR CD025 (including chamber music by Holst and Howells); EMR CD044 (including Howells’s ‘Requiem’ and choral works by Holst and Vaughan Williams); EMR CD049 (choral works by Holst and George Dyson); EMR CD057 (John Gardner’s ‘The Ballad of the White Horse’), EMR CD060 (songs by Holst and Joseph Holbrooke); and EMR CD062 (Christmas music by Holst); EMR CD065 (including songs by Howells, sung by Roderick Williams); EMR CD067 (music for guitar duo, including Vaughan Williams’s ‘Fantasia on Greensleeves’)

 

A DONATION OF £5,000
   
Your name in the disc booklet
An invitation to the Champagne Reception launching the disc
10 free copies of the disc
The opportunity to attend the recording sessions
A free set of discs comprising EM Records’s entire catalogue to date

 

 

Please follow this link to subscribe to the disc.

REVIEWS
Beautifully shaped by Benjamin Frith... Beguiling sounds, graced by the tawny richness and unexaggerated line of Richard Jenkinson’s cello playing... The sense of purpose and sureness of line of Ian Venables’ music is pure oxygen.
EMR CD31 | BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Exquisitely rewarding... Ravishing accounts.
EMR CD029 | CHOIR AND ORGAN
This is music of great beauty and integrity and the performances fully do it justice. It would be criminal to let it pass you by.

EMR CD028 | INTERNATIONAL
RECORD REVIEW

The Bridge Quartet approach these pieces with a sympathetic and insightful warmth, and confirm their ambassadorial credentials for British chamber music. A lovely, radiant disc.
EMR CD025 | Gramophone
Duncan Honeybourne’s playing is astonishingly affectionate, yet never saccharine... Honeybourne plays with suave confidence.
EMR CD024 | INTERNATIONAL PIANO
Rupert Marshall-Luck is an ideal interpreter: generously but not effusively lyrical; agile and athletic... The warm, folk-song like slow movement is at times almost painfully beautiful, with a shimmering pastoral central section... Marshall-Luck is, again, indefatigable and keenly picks up on the work’s melancholic strain.  Finely recorded and with comprehensive booklet notes, this is a must for fans of 20th-century English repertoire.
EMR CD023 | THE STRAD