New Releases

A lyrical collection of chamber works for tenor and guitar, 'Sometime I Sing' unites Gramophone award-winning tenor Mark Padmore with Mexican guitarist, Morgan Szymanski, in settings of texts by Thomas Wyatt, Vikram Seth, John Donne and Edward Thomas by the composer Alec Roth.

Roth is a UK-based composer who works across a wide range of musical genres, including stage works, vocal, choral, orchestral, instrumental, and Javanese gamelan. His former posts include Founder/Director of the Royal Festival Hall Gamelan Programme and Southbank Gamelan Players, Music Director of the Baylis Programme, English National Opera and Associate Composer, Opera North. This is his third disc with Signum, following a choral album with Ex Cathedra (SIGCD270) and a chamber music disc 'Songs in Time of War' (SIGCD124) also with Mark Padmore and Morgan Szymanski.

Contrasting pieces by two masters of orchestral composition, these live performances, from 2009, capture the energy and movement of three much-loved balletic works; Ravel's intricate vignettes of childrens' stories in 'Mother Goose' and symphonic poem 'La valse', and Stravinsky's epoch-defining 'Rite of Spring'.

One of the oldest professional orchestras in Russia, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra can trace its lineage back to 1882 and its formation by Tsar Alexander III. In a 25-year collaboration, Yuri Temirkanov has been the orchestra's principal conductor since 1988.

The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom: Introduction and Great Litany, First Antiphon, Second Antiphon, Hymn to the Lord, The Third Antiphon: Beatitudes, Entrance Hymn, Trisagion Hymn, Litany of Fervent Supplication, Litany for the Catechumens, Cherubic Hymn, That We May Receive the King of All, Litany of Fervent Supplication, The Creed, Anaphora, We Hymn Thee, Hymn to the Virgin, Litany Before the Lord’s Prayer, The Lord’s Prayer and Elevation, The Communion, The Hymn of Praise, Thanksgiving and Dismissal, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord Tenebrae's latest disc on Signum sees their return to the repertoire of Russian composer Alexander Levine. 'The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom' is Levine’s most significant large-scale religious work to date. Inspired by the humility and humanity of the murdered Russian priest (and friend of Levine) Fr. Alexander Man and composed over a three-month period of spiritual immersion, research and contemplation (similar to that described by his great forebears Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov), the work traces a continuous spiritual growth towards the central point of the Liturgy – the Holy Communion.

Praise for Tenebrae's previous disc with Alexander Levine – Prayers for Mankind (SIGCD212): "This is a notable new choral work and it’s impossible to imagine that it could have been served better than by Tenebrae.

Both this composition and the performance it receives are significant achievements." Musicweb-International

One of the most versatile musicians of his generation, Richard Rodney Bennett was at the forefront of British musical life for nearly half a century. This new recording from the National Youth Choir of Scotland's National Girls Choir compiles a programme of Bennett's choral works from across his compositional life, as well as a collection of charming folk-tunes and nursery rhymes for piano duet (Over the Hills and Far Away).

This is Signum's second release with NYCoS, who in 2011 became the first youth arts organisation to receive a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. It follows their 2010 debut release of Benjamin Britten's 'A Ceremony of Carols' and Elizabeth Poston's 'An English Day-Book' (SIGCD228).

“This debut recording by Christopher Bell's NYCoS National Girls Choir could so easily have been just another recording of Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, but for two things: the wholesome confidence of the choir itself … and the successful partnering of Britten's masterpiece with Elizabeth Poston's edgy and colourful An English Day-Book.” The Scotsman

Few composers of any age have enjoyed the widespread admiration and unanimous praise of successive generations as Josquin Desprez. He is considered the greatest creator and innovator of musical composition during the Renaissance, and for some half a millennium his music has stood the test of time. He is remembered as much for his own works as for his lasting influence on those of his contemporaries and students, demonstrated in many of the compositions in tribute of 'the Master' featured in this programme. The programme's centrepiece is Jean Richafort's Requiem Mass, Missa pro defunctis, a tribute that employs several of Josquin's compositional devices.

The King's Singers once again demonstrate their versatility and trademark precision in this new programme devised by leading early-music scholar and conductor David Skinner.

Choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, The Royal Ballet's 2011 production of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was their first full-scale commission in 20 years and was instantly acclaimed as a classic. Joby Talbot's score to the production, performed on this new recording by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, captures perfectly the madcap-yet-enchanting mood of the production – described by the New York Times as "the trump card for 'Alice'".

Also included on this disc is an earlier work for dance by Talbot created in collaboration with Christopher Wheeldon, 'Fools Paradise'.

"It's official: the Royal Ballet has a perennial hit on its hands… What truly sets it all spinning is the shimmering, urgent and mischievous music of the composer Joby Talbot." The Times

As part of the celebration Britten's Centenary in 2013, this new recording presents Britten's five Canticles, performed by tenor Ben Johnson with James Baillieu accompanying.

Johnson describes his attraction to these works in his self-penned notes for the disc: "Each is deep with meaning or subversion, a trademark of Britten’s music to a modern audience. They are song, opera, cantata and chamber music, and so they correspond with the most delicate of intimacy and to the most effective of grand gesture … In his biography of Britten, Humphrey Carpenter points out the close links between the Canticles and Britten’s operas. This answers in part their difference from the ‘usual’ song repertoire: their religious flavour (a stronger taste in some than others) mixed with the circumstances of their composition make for a unique strand in Britten’s output."

Ben Johnson has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting tenors of his generation. Winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Awards in 2008, he was also a prizewinner at the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Gerald Moore Awards (singer’s prize). Currently studying with Jeffrey Talbot, he is a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist 2010-2012. Ben Johnson is currently an ENO Harewood Artist and a Wigmore Hall Emerging Talent. His recent opera engagements include Nemorino, 'The Elixir of Love', for English National Opera, Don Ottavio, 'Don Giovanni' for Opéra National de Bordeaux, Novice in Michael Grandage’s new production of 'Billy Budd' at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and productions for Scottish Opera and the Classical Opera Company. In recital he works regularly with Graham Johnson. They have recorded songs by Poulenc for Hyperion records and Britten Songs for Onyx [Onyx4071]. He also works with Roger Vignoles, Malcolm Martineau and James Baillieu.

Highlights in 2012/13 season include Don Ottavio and Alfredo, 'La Traviata' at the English National Opera; he will also return to Glyndebourne Festival Opera in future seasons.

Although he was counted amongst Mily Balakirev's 'Mighty Handful' (which dedicated itself to pursuing a more purely Russian art music, as opposed to the Austro-German musical dominance of the era), both works on this recording show how Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was able to draw influences from beyond Russia into his own unique compositional approach: the scenes from his opera 'The Invisible City of Kitezh' take on a dramatic, Wagnerian influence, whilst 'Sheherazade' is suffused with orientalism as it conjures images from the Thousand and One Nights.

Jamie Walton is joined by the Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of their conductor laureate Vladimir Ashkenazy for this new concerto recording of concertos and orchestral works by Dvorák and Schumann.

Jamie Walton has proved himself as a leading light in UK's musical life; as a performer in his widely praised concerto and sonata recordings, and as a festival director in his work as founder of the North York Moors Festival, which was shortlisted for an RPS Award in 2011.