Errollyn Wallen CBE is a Belize-born British composer. She studied composition at the universities of London and Cambridge. She founded her own Ensemble X, and its motto ’We don’t break down barriers in music… we don’t see any’ reflects her genuine, free-spirited approach and eclectic musicianship. She has been commissioned by outstanding music institutions from the BBC to the Royal Opera House and performed her songs internationally.
Album of the week: All things are quite silent, by The Choir of Pembroke College & Anna Lapwood
Happy listening!
About the album:
This album is the first commercial release for these choirs and Anna Lapwood as a conductor. It is a recording of some of the Choirs’ favourite music. Some of the composers are @lauramvula, Imogen Holst, Eleanor Daley, Amy Beach & Anna Lapwood.
Once you stop to consider Tania León's dizzying multi- ethnic background, it’s easy to understand why she dislikes the American penchant for neat, simple categorizations. Born in Havana in 1943, she is of mixed French, Spanish, Chinese, African, and Cuban heritage. “My ancestors came from different parts of the world; they came from different cultures,” she says. “I take pride in the heritage each of them passed on to me, and I represent all of them within myself. I prefer to be an inclusive human being.”
This album explores the question of how we can find communion in isolation. The recording was created and recorded in quarantine via a cross-border collaboration between over thirty musicians on three continents, performing original works by Prestini and Herrera alongside classic songs from the Mexican and Jazz songbook.
This album is a celebration of, and an elegy for, the natural world, performed by English vocal ensemble Gallicantus led by Gabriel Crouch with the libretto by Nathaniel Bellows.
Butterflying, by Elena Kats-Chernin and Tamara Cislowska
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About the album:
Butterflying is the first major survey of the piano music of Elena Kats-Chernin. Ever since her childhood in Uzbekistan, the piano has been - in her own words - Kats-Chernin's 'best friend'. Butterflying presents the full range of Kats-Chernin's extraordinary compositional palette Many of the pieces are performed solo by Tamara-Anna Cislowska. Others are presented in versions for piano four hands, with Elena joining Tamara-Anna to resume their long-standing friendship and collaboration.
The Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño was one of the most virtuosic artists of her age. A child prodigy, she won the admiration of Gottschalk and Anton Rubinstein, and gave sold-out concerts throughout America, Europe and Australasia. This selection of piano compositions, the earliest of which was written at the age of nine, reveals exacting technical demands allied to an impressively expressive arsenal, exemplified by the Rêverie-Impromptu and the little-known Caprice-Études. Elements of bel canto infuse Plaintes au bord d’une tombe whilst Mendelssohnian warmth can be savoured in the Elégie.
Alexandra Oehler, based in Leipzig, is a prizewinner of several piano competitions, including the Franz Liszt Competition Weimar. Concert tours have taken her to North America, Mexico, Chile, The Philippines, and South Africa. She has performed at prestigious festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, MDR-Musiksommer, Heidelberger Frühling, Mendelssohn Festival Leipzig, Budapest Spring Festival, Music Festival Tropea and the Cervo Music Festival in Liguria.
