Warlock: Capriol Suite

With the sublime The Lark Ascending as its centrepiece, this collection illustrates the way that Vaughan Williams and his contemporaries expressed their national identity, drawing inspiration from folk song, landscape, poetry and the rich history of British music. With favourites by Elgar, Delius, Butterworth and Walton––including Elgar’s unforgettable Introduction and Allegro and Delius’s Summer Night on the River––the works gathered here are romantic, nostalgic and quintessentially British.

The new organ in Cranleigh School Chapel was built by Mander Organs in 2011, and was designed as a solo instrument suitable for the performance of organ music of all schools, as well as for teaching and accompaniment.

It is remarkably versatile with a vast array of colours and sonorities obtainable from a mere thirty-one stops.

Here Cranleigh School organist, and virtuoso recitalist, Philip Scriven, demonstrates the organ in a wide-ranging programme of music from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries.

In the third CD of Mardi Brass’ epic four-CD journey from the Renaissance to the present day (Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue), the group presents a cornucopia of exciting original compositions, and imaginative arrangements by members of the group, each of which is a premiere recording.

Covering a wide range of musical styles, the unifying feature is that the composers

have borrowed thematic material - and inspiration - from one source and reinterpreted it using their own unique voices. Transcending mere arrangement or pastiche, the composers demonstrate the art of musical disguise and metamorphosis, seamlessly moulding and fusing material from one genre to another.

Born in 1894, Peter Warlock was one of England’s great songwriters – described by Lennox Berkeley as one of the “most colourful talents in English 20th century music”. His output was prolific. In addition he was a distinguished editor and transcriber of a vast amount of early music as well as an author of several books and many articles, editor and music critic. He was very close to Delius – indeed was obsessed with Delius’s music and wrote a book about him, and also assisted Beecham in organising a Delius festival in 1929. He shared a cottage with fellow composer E. J. Moeran. He suffered bouts of depression and sadly he was found dead in his Chelsea flat in December 1930, of gas poisoning.

Gathered here are the original 78rpm recordings from the John Bishop Collection – divided into Orchestral and Chamber on CD1 and vocal items on CD2. John Bishop was one of the leading lights of the Peter Warlock Society, and all tracks have been remastered by Andrew Rose of Pristine Audio.

The booklet contains fascinating and informative notes, rare photographs and original 78rpm matrix numbers with recording dates.

Sir Edward Elgar once described the sensation of flying in an aeroplane to Frederick Delius: “There is a delightful feeling of elation in sailing through gold and silver clouds. It is, Delius, rather like your music – a little intangible sometimes, but always very beautiful.”