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, supporters 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 |
Details of each disc for which we are currently inviting subscriptions are given below, along with a description of how to subscribe.
Celebrated baritone Roderick Williams joins the Bridge Quartet and pianist Michael Dussek – familiar to followers of the label from their previous discs of chamber music by Norman O’Neill, Sir Hubert Parry, Ivor Gurney and Peter Warlock among many other composers – in this new recording, which features the World Première recordings of important and evocative works by Ivor Gurney. Central to this disc is the 1920 song-cycle ‘A Western Playland’, which sets eight poems by Housman in a nostalgic narrative – a tapestry of powerfully cohesive musical threads. The work was subject to extensive revision before its publication in 1926 and is here presented here in the comprehensive 2013 edition by the noted Gurney scholar Philip Lancaster.
As a companion to this elegiac work, the Bridge Quartet present the World Première recording of the String Quartet in D minor, composed in 1925. Gurney wrote no fewer than 15 string quartets during the period of his creative maturity, but many of these are missing and are presumed to have been destroyed. Miraculously, however, the 1925 quartet survived in a set of parts transcribed from Gurney’s score by his friend and champion Marion Scott. The extensive four-movement work is joyfully filled with folk-music idioms and brims with Gurney’s youthful memories of his Gloucestershire upbringing. Gloucester Cathedral is also a powerful presence, with ecstatic bell peals and melodic lines redolent of choral melismata informing the outer movements, while the Scherzo is characterised by playfully oscillating rhythmic patterns that also recall campanology. Only the rapt and intimately prayerful Adagio stands as an ode to a world that Gurney knew he would never again inhabit.
Songs for baritone and piano, masterfully presented by Roderick Williams and Michael Dussek, complete a disc full of powerful emotion, lyrical intensity, and searing beauty. By bringing previously lost manuscripts to life, this recording brings to the music-loving public the vibrant voice of a British composer and poet who created inspirational art in circumstances of extreme diversity.
To subscribe to this new release, please visit our ONLINE SHOP and enter the amount you would like to donate. You will then be able to review your donation before proceeding to the payment stage.
EMR CD028 | INTERNATIONAL
RECORD REVIEW