EMR CD017 | DETAILS
  EMR CD017
   
  OVER HILL, OVER DALE
  Peter Fisher (vn) | Maya Iwabuchi (vn) | Peter Adams (vc)
Chamber Ensemble of London | Peter Fisher (dir.)
   
  Released 25 May 2013 | EAN 5 060263 500155
EMR CD017 (‘Over Hill, Over Dale’) features English music for string orchestra played by the Chamber Ensemble of London directed by Peter Fisher. The focal point of the disc is Malcolm Arnold’s Concerto for Two Violins, which is placed alongside the World Première recordings of ‘Seven Pieces for String Orchestra’ by Giles Farnaby in an arrangement by Sir Granville Bantock, Harold Darke’s Fantasy in E major, the Sinfonietta for Strings by Clive Jenkins, and a witty pastiche by Peter Fisher, ‘Variations on “Widecombe Fair” in the style of Paganini’. These are complemented by Purcell’s Overture and Rondeau from ‘Abdelazer’, Elgar’s ‘Elegy’ for Strings and the solo cello version of Ireland’s ‘The Holy Boy’. The disc is dedicated to Frances Andrade, a member of the CEOL, and whose tragic death deeply affected the Ensemble.
TRACK LISTING AND AUDIO EXTRACTS
     
Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
OVERTURE AND RONDEAU FROM ‘ABDELAZER’
  
1. Overture  
2. Rondeau  
     
Harold Darke (1888–1976)
3. FANTASY FOR STRING IN E MAJOR, op.39 (1930) (orch. Clive Jenkins)
(World Première recording)		  
     
John Ireland (1879–1962)
4. ‘THE HOLY BOY’
(Arrangement for cello and strings by Christopher Palmer)		  
       
Giles Farnaby (c.1563–1640)
SEVEN PIECES FOR STRING ORCHESTRA (arr. Sir Granville Bantock)
(World Première recording)		  
5. I. A Toye  
6. II. Giles Farnaby’s Dreame  
7. III. Giles Farnaby’s Conceit  
8. IV. His Rest  
9. V. His Humour  
10. VI. A Maske  
11. VII. Tower Hill  
       

Clive Jenkins (b.1938)
SINFONIETTA FOR STRINGS (2007)

(World Première recording)

  
12. I. Allegro non troppo  
13. II. Moderato  
14. III. Alla rustica  
15. IV. Allegro  
       
Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
  
16. ‘ELEGY’ FOR STRINGS, op.58 (1909)  
       
Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921–2006)
CONCERTO FOR TWO VIOLINS AND STRING ORCHESTRA, op.77 (1962)		  
17. I. Allegro risoluto  
18. II. Andantino  
19. III. Vivace – Presto  
       
Peter Fisher (b.1962)
  
20. ‘VARIATIONS ON “WIDECOMBE FAIR” IN THE STYLE OF PAGANINI’
(2000) (World Première recording)		  
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