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NEW RELEASE MPR 107
PART SONGS by Sir ARTHUR SULLIVAN
‘The Long Day Closes’
Kantos Chamber Choir dir. Ellie Slorach
Kantos Chamber Choir are a young professional choir based in Manchester and are conducted by the highly talented young conductor Ellie Slorach. Most if not all singers are conservatoire trained which under Ellie’s sensitive direction results in beautiful renditions of these gorgeous songs, many of which are not well-known and which show Sullivan to be a master of this genre. From the thrilling opening ‘Joy to the Victors’ to the tearful closing number ‘The Long Day Closes’, this is a wonderful and musically varied programme and is available now from my CD Shop here in my website.
MPR 106 Robert Franz Osterwald Lieder
Unrecorded German Lieder by Robert Franz -
check out MPR’s CD Audio Samples Page!
Robert Franz (1815-1892) was an unjustly neglected German composer who specialised almost entirely in lieder and was highly thought of in his day, being admired by Liszt, Mendelssohn and Schumann. This is a collection and sequence of beautiful and very moving miniatures (nearly all previously unrecorded), with the songs shared between and superbly performed by soprano Harriet Burns and tenor William Searle - both hugely talented young soloists, with sensitive accompaniments from pianists Marc Verter and Sebastian Wybrew. The gorgeous recorded sound was engineered by Tony Faulkner and I was Producer and Editor. This is a double album containing all 51 songs set by Franz to poems by Wilhelm Osterwald (1820-1887), the project being originated by Germanist and singer Victoria Edge, who through her research has discovered that composer and poet were even closer than very close friends as can be seen in the texts. It's a delightful and very moving musical journey about unrequited love and will be available for general release in early November but will be available from this website from mid-October.
As well as containing two CDs, this set has a most informative 60 page booklet including excellent programme notes and detail about the lives of and the relationship between the composer and the poet by Victoria Edge, with a very enthusiastic introduction by none other than Graham Johnson OBE. Each relatively short song is a work of art and the 51 songs (plus Franz’s only tiny composition for solo piano) are equally divided into the four seasons, to help tell the story. Franz was certainly unparalleled as a miniaturist and this album is a must for lovers of early romantic music and of song.
In the Pipeline
Arnold Cooke complete music for Oboe - with Melinda Maxwell and the Pleyel Ensemble
Arnold Cooke chamber music for Clarinet and Flute
with Janet Hilton, Jonathan Rimmer and the Pleyel Ensemble
Music for Brass by Debussy and Scott Joplin - arranged by Eric Crees - with the Symphonic Brass of London
directed by Eric Crees
LATEST NEW CHAMBER MUSIC RELEASE NOW AVAILABLE
MPR105 ARNOLD COOKE PIANO TRIO, QUARTET AND QUINTET
with the PLEYEL ENSEMBLE
and in association with the Corps of Army Music
COWSO01 PALACE PREMIERES
(unrecorded British and Irish music for string orchestra plus a bonus item)
superbly performed by THE COUNTESS OF WESSEX’S STRING ORCHESTRA
including unrecorded music by
Curzon, Dunhill, EM Lee, Quilter, Walton O’Donnell, Rowley, Speer, Thiman plus some wonderful English light music and folk song arrangements
and seven bonus tracks of music by Giles Farnaby arr. Bantock
(the latter only recorded once)
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Welcome to the Website of the MPR recording label and of Mike Purton - Recording Producer & Editor,
Michael Purton works as a Recording Producer & Editor, in projects across the country and abroad. He is currently Recording Module Co-ordinator for the highly prestigious M Perf course at the RNCM.
Mike is available for recording projects, contact details below:
