Grant Llewellyn

With his second concerto disc, Yevgeny Sudbin celebrates the close relationship between two great Russian composers: Sergei Rachmaninov and Nikolai Medtner. Medtner would encourage his more famous colleague during the latter’s bouts of self-doubt, while Rachmaninov early on recognized Medtner’s unique gifts, pronouncing him the ‘greatest composer of our time’. The most sincere testament to their friendship is embodied in these two concertos, which the composers dedicated to one another.

"Composer and teacher, Bernard Cavanna is a multi-faceted figure: self-taught, provocative, intuitive and original. Whether ironically auctioning off his own music at cut-rate prices in a market or displaying a pallid face at the rehearsal of one of his concertos, the artist always exposes himself to the camera with delicacy and a graceful sense of propriety."

Delphine de Blic

Composed between 1963 and 2005 these four works form a spectrum that demonstrates a tendency among composers of American concert music to draw from a wide range of musical streams – classical, popular, folk and jazz.

This colourful programme is performed by the North Carolina Symphony on their first BIS recording, conducted by Grant Llewellyn and with solo appearances by the celebrated jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis and his quartet.

Yehudi Wyner writes that “Jaffe's instrumental writing is brilliant and sonorous; the orchestrational textures are exquisite....My response to Jaffe's music exceeds admiration. I simply love it.”

A collection of works spanning twelve years of creative output from one of Wales's leading contemporary composers, John Metcalf, featuring the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Grant Llewelyn.Two instrumental orchestral pieces, Paradise Haunts & Three Mobiles, are accompanied by a beautiful collection of songs based on a series of texts from poets including William Wordsworth and Amy Lowell, based around the central theme - and emblem of Wales - the daffodil.

Following the success of the beautiful a cappella choral album Peace: A Choral Album for our Times (AV 0039), the Handel and Haydn Society offers a seasonal offering that once again fuses the familiar with new works which are destined to inspire the festive imagination. Sample Jennifer Higdon’s atmospheric O Magnum Mysterium with glasses and chimes, or Eric Whitacre’s harmonious Lux aurumque, alongside longtime favourites such as Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming and The Coventry Carol in a unique arrangement with hand bells. Another special feature is the world premiere recording of Tom Vignieri’s Hodie Christus natus est, commissioned for the Handel and Haydn Society. For the ensemble’s Welsh-born Music Director Grant Llewellyn this recording is a deeply personal project, recapturing the annual spirit of caroling, maintaining tradition whilst forging new frontiers.

Peace is a choral album for our times, a rich collection of popular a capella works such as Barber’s Agnus Dei, John Tavener’s Song for Athene and Elgar’s Lux Aeterna (Nimrod), alongside lesser-known compositions by Rachmaninov, Schoenberg and American composers Randall Thompson and Morten Lauridsen. Quite simply, Peace is over one hour of gorgeous and inspiring music.

Grant Llewellyn, conducting the chorus of the Boston, Massachusetts-based Handel and Haydn Society, appropriately describes the spirit of Peace:

“I arrived in Boston to take up my appointment with the Handel and Haydn Society on the evening of September 10, 2001. I awoke early the following morning to witness the horror taking place in the skies over America. Growing up in Wales, I was sandwiched between the English and, just across the water, the Irish between whom the “troubles” raged throughout my childhood, and still simmer. For years, we have borne witness to tragedies in the Middle East, the Balkans, Chechnya, the Koreas, Afghanistan, and many other lands. It would seem this species of ours is hell bent on conflict. What can we as mere musicians possibly do to alleviate this situation?

“We have tried to find here music that can convey a sense of calm and tranquillity that will compel the listener to slow down, even stop and reflect on life and its beauty for a moment. We have chosen music from many lands, religions and cultures that is solemn, sometimes profound and always uplifting. We hope that in this small way we are contributing to Peace on Earth.”