London Mozart Players

For An Unknown Soldier

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212045220
Catnr: SIGCD 452
Release date: 02 December 2016
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212045220
Catalogue number
SIGCD 452
Release date
02 December 2016
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

For An Unknown Soldier is a cantata of remembrance to mark the centenary of the First World War. Commissioned by the London Mozart Players, Jonathan Dove’s poignant work combines the words of war poets such as Wilfred Owen, William Noel Hodgson & Isaac Rosenberg with choral performances from tenor Nicky Spence, the Oxford Bach Choir and Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir.

It is paired with the ensemble’s performance of Dove’s An Airmail Letter from Mozart, directed from the piano by Melvyn Tan.

De eerste opname van For An Unknown Soldier
For An Unknown Soldier is een cantate voor de honderdste herdenking van de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Dit aangrijpende werk van Jonathan Dove, gecomponeerd in opdracht van de London Mozart Players, combineert de woorden van oorlogsdichters als Wilfred Owen, William Noel Hodgson en Isaac Rosenberg met kooruitvoeringen van tenor Nicky Spence, het Oxford Bach Choir en het Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir. De cantate vertelt het verhaal van één man, een onbekende soldaat, en zijn reis door de oorlog, van het enthousiasme aan het begin tot aan het ontdekken van de realiteit van de oorlog.

De cantate wordt gekoppeld aan een uitvoering van Dove's An Airmail Letter from Mozart, geleid vanaf de piano door Melvyn Tan. Dove over zijn inspiratie voor het werk: “Als Mozart vandaag zou leven, zou hij kunnen genieten van de snelheid van reizen, en de toegankelijkheid van afgelegen plaatsen. Maar hoe snel en ver hij ook zou reizen, hij zou waarschijnlijk nog steeds aan [zijn echtgenote] Constanze denken, en aan haar schrijven. (…) Hij zou een thema en variaties kunnen noteren als een muzikale brief. Een of twee variaties zouden iets van de toonval van plaatsen die hij bezocht kunnen vatten, anderen zouden gedachten over Constanze zijn, intiem, teder en speels.”

Artist(s)

London Mozart Players

Founded in 1949 by Harry Blech to delight audiences with the works of Mozart and Haydn, the London Mozart Players is the UK’s longest established chamber orchestra. Known for its unmistakable British roots, the orchestra has developed an outstanding reputation for adventurous, ambitious programming from Baroque through to genre-crossing contemporary music. LMP has enjoyed a long history of association with many of the world’s finest artists including Sir James Galway, Dame Felicity Lott, Jane Glover, Howard Shelley, Nicola Benedetti, John Suchet and Simon Callow. The orchestra enjoys an international reputation, touring extensively throughout Europe and the Far East. The London Mozart Players regularly performs on London’s premier concert platforms, including the Royal Festival Hall, St John’s Smith Square and Cadogan Hall...
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Founded in 1949 by Harry Blech to delight audiences with the works of Mozart and Haydn, the London Mozart Players is the UK’s longest established chamber orchestra. Known for its unmistakable British roots, the orchestra has developed an outstanding reputation for adventurous, ambitious programming from Baroque through to genre-crossing contemporary music. LMP has enjoyed a long history of association with many of the world’s finest artists including Sir James Galway, Dame Felicity Lott, Jane Glover, Howard Shelley, Nicola Benedetti, John Suchet and Simon Callow. The orchestra enjoys an international reputation, touring extensively throughout Europe and the Far East.
The London Mozart Players regularly performs on London’s premier concert platforms, including the Royal Festival Hall, St John’s Smith Square and Cadogan Hall as well as cathedrals and other concert venues across the UK. LMP is the resident orchestra at Croydon’s Fairfield Hall and will celebrate this venue’s reopening after refurbishment in 2019 with a gala concert which will also mark the orchestra’s 70th birthday. The orchestra’s anniversary year will see a wide range of concerts in the capital’s top concert venues including performances at Kings Place, Conway Hall and a return to Southbank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. As one of the original pioneers of orchestral outreach work, LMP has enjoyed a host of relationships with schools and music hubs across the UK (and also in Dubai and Hong Kong), working with many teachers and heads of music to inspire the next generation of musicians and music lovers. As well as working with schools, LMP continues its 70-year tradition of promoting young up-and-coming musicians. Nicola Benedetti, Jacqueline du Pré and Jan Pascal Tortelier are just three of many young musical virtuosi championed early in their careers by the orchestra.
The LMP enjoys a special relationship with its audience. The orchestra always tries to break down the ‘fourth’ wall between musicians and audience, and this is achieved in part as the orchestra is self-directed. Many concerts, such as its acclaimed ‘Piano Explored’ series, involves a ‘deconstruction’ of the works on the programme, allowing greater understanding and engagement with the music and with the musicians themselves.

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Nicholas Cleobury (conductor)

Nicky Spence (tenor)

Nicky Spence is one of Scotland’s proudest sons and his unique skills as a singing actor and the rare honesty of his musicianship have earned him a place at the top of the classical music profession. Nicky won a record contract with Decca records while still studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and then took a place as an inaugural Harewood Artist at the ENO. Nicky has recorded prolifically and won both the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award and Gramophone's Solo Vocal Award for his recording of Janáček's 'The Diary of One Who Disappeared' with Julius Drake. Other solo recordings include recital discs with Malcolm Martineau for Chandos and Resonus, and Strauss lieder with Roger Vignoles for Hyperion and...
more
Nicky Spence is one of Scotland’s proudest sons and his unique skills as a singing actor and the rare honesty of his musicianship have earned him a place at the top of the classical music profession. Nicky won a record contract with Decca records while still studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and then took a place as an inaugural Harewood Artist at the ENO. Nicky has recorded prolifically and won both the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award and Gramophone's Solo Vocal Award for his recording of Janáček's 'The Diary of One Who Disappeared' with Julius Drake. Other solo recordings include recital discs with Malcolm Martineau for Chandos and Resonus, and Strauss lieder with Roger Vignoles for Hyperion and his discography ranges from Handel and Mozart to Wagner, Brahms, Britten, Dove and Turnage. He has sung operatic roles at London’s Royal Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Staatsoper, Opera national de Paris, Madrid's Teatro Real, La Monnaie and the Glyndebourne Festival.
Nicky Spence's unique skills as a singing actor and the rare honesty of his musicianship have earned him a place at the top of the classical music profession. Nicky won a record contract with Decca records while still studying at the GSMD and then took a place as an inaugural Harewood Artist at the ENO. He has recorded prolifically and won both the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award and Gramophone's Solo Vocal Award for his recording of Janáček's 'The Diary of One Who Disappeared' with Julius Drake. Other solo recordings include recital discs with Malcolm Martineau for Chandos and Resonus, and Strauss lieder with Roger Vignoles for Hyperion and his discography ranges from Handel and Mozart to Wagner, Brahms, Britten, Dove and Turnage. He has sung operatic roles at London’s Royal Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Staatsoper, Opera national de Paris, Madrid's Teatro Real, La Monnaie and the Glyndebourne Festival.

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Melvyn Tan (piano)

Composer(s)

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