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A Most Marvellous Party
Noel Coward

Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton

A Most Marvellous Party

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212073728
Catnr: SIGCD 737
Release date: 08 December 2023
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212073728
Catalogue number
SIGCD 737
Release date
08 December 2023
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Noel Coward, celebrated musicians and regular Signum artists Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence and Joseph Middleton join forces for this al- bum of works by Noel Coward and his contemporaries. Featuring songs such as Paris- ian Pierrot and The Man I Love, the album comprises of a collection of solos, duets and instrumental songs by composers such as Ned Rorem, Liza Lehmann, William Walton and Benjamin Britten.

Artist(s)

Mary Bevan

Mary Bevan appears with leading opera houses, orchestras and ensembles worldwide. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she sang Morgana in a new Richard Jones Alcina, Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, performed the title roles of Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and of Turnage Coraline at the Barbican, and made her main stage debut as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. For English National Opera, roles include Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Eurydice in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld and Zerlina Don Giovanni. She made her debut with Opera di Roma as Cleopatra Giulio Cesare, returning as Morgana, also debuting for the Zurich Opera House (La Folie Platée) and Bayerische Staatsoper (title role La Calisto). Opera highlights elsewhere have...
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Mary Bevan appears with leading opera houses, orchestras and ensembles worldwide. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she sang Morgana in a new Richard Jones Alcina, Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, performed the title roles of Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and of Turnage Coraline at the Barbican, and made her main stage debut as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. For English National Opera, roles include Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Eurydice in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld and Zerlina Don Giovanni. She made her debut with Opera di Roma as Cleopatra Giulio Cesare, returning as Morgana, also debuting for the Zurich Opera House (La Folie Platée) and Bayerische Staatsoper (title role La Calisto). Opera highlights elsewhere have included appearances with Opera de Monte Carlo, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro La Fenice, Royal Danish Opera, and the Bolshoi Theatre.

Bevan’s concert performances include her Carnegie Hall debut as Dalinda Ariodante with the English Concert (Harry Bicket), Creation at the Barbican with the Academy of Ancient Music, Sally Beamish The Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, orchestrated Schubert songs with the CBSO (Edward Gardner) and appearances with the Handel and Haydn Society Boston, Philharmonia Baroque, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Barokksolistine, LPO and at the BBC Proms. She has toured extensively across Europe, Australia, Asia and the US with the Kammerorchester Basel, Australian Chamber Orchestra and English Concert, and she appears regularly in recital at Wigmore Hall.

Bevan’s wide-ranging discography includes numerous releases on Signum Records: a recording of orchestral French song entitled Visions Illuminées, art song albums Voyages and Divine Muse with pianist Joseph Middleton, and Handel’s Queens. Other albums include Handel's The Triumph of Time and Truth and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, Vaughan Williams Symphony No.3 and Schubert Rosamunde with the BBC Philharmonic, Arthur Sullivan songs (Chandos), Vaughan Williams folk songs (Albion), Brahms Liebesliederwaltzer (Resonus), and more.

Bevan is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2019 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2025.


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Joseph Middleton

Joseph Middleton is widely regarded as one of the most exceptional and creative pianists of his generation, specialising in song accompaniment and chamber music at the highest international level. Hailed by Gramophone as 'the absolute king of programming', and by the New York Times as “the perfect accompanist”, he collaborates with many of the world's foremost singers, performing at venues and festivals across Europe, North America, and Asia.  A passionate advocate for the power of song, Joseph is the Artistic Director of Leeds Song, praised by The Guardian for its 'world-class' programming and by The Times as a 'Northern powerhouse of song”. He also curates series for BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall, and the University of Cambridge, where he founded and...
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Joseph Middleton is widely regarded as one of the most exceptional and creative pianists of his generation, specialising in song accompaniment and chamber music at the highest international level. Hailed by Gramophone as "the absolute king of programming", and by the New York Times as “the perfect accompanist”, he collaborates with many of the world's foremost singers, performing at venues and festivals across Europe, North America, and Asia. A passionate advocate for the power of song, Joseph is the Artistic Director of Leeds Song, praised by The Guardian for its "world-class" programming and by The Times as a "Northern powerhouse of song”. He also curates series for BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall, and the University of Cambridge, where he founded and directs their Lieder Scheme. Joseph is Musician in Residence at Pembroke College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Professor of Ensemble Piano, and was made a Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge by Lord Chris Smith. Joseph is the first —and to date, only—accompanist to receive the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award, the UK's most prestigious recognition for a classical musician. He has enjoyed fruitful partnerships alongside Sir Thomas Allen, Louise Alder, Mary Bevan, Ian Bostridge, Allan Clayton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Marianne Crebassa, Veronique Gens, Iestyn Davies, Fatma Said, Huw Montague Rendall, Christiane Karg, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Elsa Dreisig, Angelika Kirchschlager, Katharina Konradi, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, John Mark Ainsley, Ann Murray DBE, James Newby, Mark Padmore, Konstantin Krimmel, Mauro Peter, Miah Persson, Sophie Rennert, Dorothea Röschmann, Carolyn Sampson, Nicky Spence and Roderick Williams. His award-winning discography on Warner, Harmonia Mundi, BIS, Chandos and Signum, amongst others, includes multiple honours: the Diapason d’Or, Edison Award, and Prix Caecilia, alongside nominations for Gramophone, Opus Klassik, BBC Music Magazine, and International Classical Music Awards. Committed to expanding the song repertoire, he has commissioned and premiered works by composers including Thomas Adès, Helen Grime, Mark - Anthony Turnage, Hannah Kendall, Errollyn Wallen, Mark Simpson and Nico Muhly.


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Nicky Spence

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...
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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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Composer(s)

Press

Play album Play album
01.
I’ll See You Again/Dance Little Lady/Poor Little Rich Girl/A Room With A View/Someday I’ll Find You/I’ll Follow My Secret Heart/If Love Were All/Play
05:25
(Noël Coward) Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
02.
Mad about the boy
05:19
(Noël Coward) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
03.
Early in the Morning
01:58
(Ned Rorem) Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
04.
For Poulenc
03:00
(Ned Rorem) Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
05.
Pastorale Calme et Mystérieux
02:51
(Francis Poulenc) Joseph Middleton
06.
Banalités: FP 107: 2. Hôtel
01:49
(Francis Poulenc) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
07.
Parisian Pierrot
02:17
(Noël Coward) Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
08.
Complainte de la Seine
04:13
(Kurt Weill) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
09.
De-ci, de là
02:15
(André Messager ) Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
10.
Gnossienne No. 1
02:59
(Eric Satie ) Joseph Middleton
11.
Any Little Fish
02:50
(Noël Coward) Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
12.
Valse pour les enfants
00:44
(Igor Stravinsky) Joseph Middleton
13.
Something to do with Spring
02:36
(Noël Coward) Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
14.
Love Calls through the Summer Night
04:52
(Roger Quilter) Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
15.
Now sleeps the crimson petal
02:13
(Roger Quilter) Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
16.
Now sleeps the crimson petal
03:44
(Ned Rorem) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
17.
World Weary / Twentieth Century Blues
04:25
(Noël Coward) Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
18.
The Man I Love
02:24
(George Gershwin) Joseph Middleton
19.
If love were all
04:00
(Noël Coward) Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
20.
By Strauss
03:34
(George Gershwin) Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
21.
Don't put your daughter on the stage, Mrs Worthington
02:48
(Noël Coward) Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
22.
When you're feeling like expressing your affection
00:38
(Benjamin Britten) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
23.
Popular Song
02:02
(William Walton) Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
24.
As it is, plenty
01:34
(Benjamin Britten) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
25.
Love, if you knew the light
01:27
(Liza Lehmann) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
26.
The party's over now
02:53
(Noël Coward) Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
27.
I went to a marvellous party
02:30
(Noël Coward) Nicky Spence, Joseph Middleton
show all tracks

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