Stainer-and-Bell

Edited by Warwick Edwards
15 pieces from the Walsingham Consort Book of 1588 and 19 pieces from Matthew Holmes's Consort Books, c.1575 represent music for mixed consort, a colourful and eclectic genre that played an important role in Elizabethan and Jacobean secular music-making. / Partitions classique / Ensemble et orchestre / Ensemble mixte / STAINER AND BELL

Even for Ralph Vaughan Williams the prospect of two world premieres within 24 hours must have been something of a rarity. Such was the case however on the first two days of June 1953 when his now classic arrangement of The Old Hundredth Psalm was sung at the Coronation of Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey being preceded the evening before by the premiere of 'Silence and Music' fourth of ten partsongs of A Garland for the Queen commissioned from leading British composers by the Arts Council of Great Britain to honour the new monarch.Long unavailable except as separate items from individual publishers this historic collectionis now reissued complete by Stainer & Bell in its original single-volume format allowing conductors and singers to choose from a rich collection of choral music with which to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and in 2013 the 60th anniversary of the Coronation itself.In addition to VW's contribution A Garland for the Queen includes important settings by Bax Berkeley Bliss Finzi Howells Ireland Rawsthorne Rubbra and Tippett. The collection moreover draws on the work of poets whose names likewise feature prominently in the annals of mid-century British literary talent: Clifford Bax Edmund Blunden Paul Dehn Christopher Fry Christopher Hassall James Kirkup Louis MacNeice Walter de la Mare Henry Reed and Ursula Wood.Intended as a counterpart to The Triumphs of Oriana of 1601 the celebrated madrigal volume published in praise of Elizabeth I by Thomas Morley A Garland for the Queen emulates its distinguished predecessor in its variety of moods and vocal combinations. There is material here to fit every aspect of celebration from the airy five-part ensemble of Bax's 'What is it like to be young and fair?' and the soprano solo with SATB of Rawsthorne's Canzonet to the lustrous contrasting of male and female timbres in Bliss's Aubade and the rapturous eight-part setting of

Score and PartsStandard: ElementaryChristine Brown is a highly respected teacher and composer for young people and in her Chandos Suite for violin cello and piano she marries her wealth of practical experience in coaching elementary players in the art of chamber music with her distinctively tuneful way of writing for the three instruments. A wistful Prelude precedes a mysterious scherzo of plucked and bowed whole-tone scales. A Serenade gives all the players a chance to shine in cantabile melody before the pulsating rhythms of the final Dance bring the suite to a brilliant conclusion. The Chandos Suite is a worthy addition to Stainer &Bell's collection of classic piano trios for young musicians including popular works by Frank Bridge Adam Carse Cornelius Gurlitt and Peter Martin.

SATB and organCaleb Simper (1857-1942) was for many years amongst the most performed of living composers by virtue of his anthems and services which were 'sung throughout the civilised world'. To complement his ever popular voluntaries for the church year (still available from Stainer & Bell) five of his anthems are here reissued in a new edition by Simper's biographer Christopher Turner. Material for the Advent Christmas Easter Whitsun and Harvest festivals dedications and general use is included. Easy and enjoyable to sing the music should win new admirers for the work of this eminent musical Victorian. The anthems included are: He shall reign forever; I will feed my flock; If we believe that Jesus died; O how amiable; The Lord is in his holy temple.

Angelus; Trio; Interlude and PaeanThe reissue of four pieces by Norman Cocker celebrated organist of Manchester Cathedral in the inter-war period further extends Stainer & Bell's library of English Cathedral music that also includes the complete solo works of Basil Harwood and pieces by Darke Hollins and Bairstow. Detailed registrations by Henry Ley himself a noted performer and Music Director of Eton College from 1926 to 1945 are of historical interest. Angelus Trio and Interlude offer episodes of quiet reflection. Paean breaks the mood with flowing euphonious counterpoint in ceremonial style.

Edited by John HarleyCONTENTSAire, T45C; An Aire, T451; An Ayre T452; Almand; The Bonny Gray Ey'd Morn, T363; Chacone, T420; Cibelle, T453; A New Cebell, T462; Come Sweet Lass, T336; A Farewell, T454; King James'sFarewell, T457; Gavott, T455; Hornpipe, T456; The Country Mans Jigg, T342; Mdm. Subligny's Jigg, T458; A March, T433; The Prince of Denmark's March, T435; Prince Eugene's March, T436; The Emperour of Germany's March, T431; TheDuke of Glocester's March, T430; The Kings March, T432; Minuet, T459; Minuett, T460; Round O Minuett, T 492; Round O Minuett, T464; Round O; Scotch Aire, T465; A New Scotch Tune, T463; The Serenade, T437; A Trip to Berry, T466;ATrip to Case-horten, T467; A Trumpet Minnuett, T439; Trumpet Tune, T438; Scotch Trumpet Tune, T434; Untitled, T408.5 / Clavecin / Stainer And Bell

The composer was drawn to the beautiful stillness and sadness of the poem by Christina Rossetti which transcends its rigid sonnet structure and allude via the epigraph to the mysterious Willow-Wood cycle by Christina's brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The music suggests a division of the poem into three stanzas alternating with tranquil interludes (using the opening melody) representing the 'willow-wood' of the title so that the listener is constantly reminded of the gentle surroundings. As the intensity of the text increases so does the astringency of dissonance in the verses reaching its apogee just before consonance breaks through at the crucial phrase 'onemoment joined'. The simplicity of the Vocal writing conveys the serenity of the setting while simultaneously suggesting the austere melancholy of the lovers. An Echo From Willow-Wood was the winner of the Stainer & Bell Award for Choral Composition 2015.

Compositeur : Storace StephenInstrumentation : Voix haute, ClavNo more his fears alarming ; How mistaken is the lover ; Be mine tender passion ; etc. Edition Michael Pilkington / Voix solo - piano / Stainer And Bell

Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. In his Prelude ? The Truth from Above, outstanding arranger and curator Paul Hindmarsh has distilled the essence of a timeless Christmas classic by Ralph Vaughan Williams into five minutes of ravishingly unforgettable music for brass band. The variants of the Herefordshire tune popular from the Fantasia on Christmas Carols and The Oxford Book of Carols are skilfully and stylishly woven together, from an evocative opening to an ecstatic, multi-layered coda. Unerringly true to the timeless spirit of the original, with the added beauty of the brass-band sound at its most sonorously grave and haunting, Prelude ? The Truth from Above may be performed separately, or as the first of two preludes, preceding Paul?s arrangement of Rhosymedre from the Three Preludes Founded on Welsh Hymn Tunes, also available from Stainer

17 songs with piano or guitar accompaniment. CONTENTSAll alone and all together (D - B); Bell of creation (A - C); Better take a book to bed (C - C)Bitter was the night (C - E flat); Down below (B flat - E flat); Feeling sad and lonely (C - B)Friday morning (C sharp - E); Good literature (B - B); I want to have a little bomb like you (C - C)Lord of the Dance (D - D); Middle-aged middle-class mediocre (G - C)Mixed up old man (D - D); My last cigarette (C - E); Never can tell (A - D); Present tense (B - B); The Rat race (B - B); Silver in the stubble (B - D)