Balmoral Suite (Portraits Of The Royal Family)

John Turner, Manchester Sinfonia & David Routledge

Regular: £10.99

Sale
Regular: £10.99

Sold Out

Unit Price: per

Cat No: PFCD101

Release Date: 15 March 2019

Label: Prima Facie

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 0712396065586

Genres: Classical Contemporary Classical

Description

Prima facie are pleased to release a new collection of works by contemporary composers for recorder and strings. Performed by John Tuner (recorder) and The Manchester Sinfonia, this collection of works includes the title work "Balmoral Suite" by Robin Stevens plus works by Peter Hope, John Golland, Anthony Hedges, Nicholas Marshall, Colin Hand, David Beck, Elis Pekhonen and Wilfred Heaton.
"I wrote this suite in 2017, as an affectionate tribute to a well-known family who habitually spend their summer holidays in the eponymous Scottish Highland abode. The work is a pastiche of Scottish folk music, with the occasional Modernist twist thrown in, to keep both listeners and players on their toes. Of the five movements, the first, Overture - The Family Gathers (descant, then sopranino) begins with a certain regal poise, after which ensues a medley of tunes expressing the wide range of ages and personalities brought together, and the movement ends with everyone joining in an energetic jig. Grandpa Hankers for the Past (descant), in recognition of the somewhat conservative taste of perhaps the most musical family member, is written in a mannered, rococo style, with a straightforward ABACA structure, giving the recorder plenty of scope for ornamentation in the reprises of the opening section. A Graceful Beauty (treble), in simple ternary form, is lyrical throughout, with considerable interplay between the recorder and the upper strings. Enter Great-Grandpa (treble) gently acknowledges the growing frailty of the family's oldest member, depicting a difficult walking gait and a degree of understandable irascibility in the sections of dissonant harmony, especially where the strings play on the bridge. Finally, Rough and Tumble in the Nursery (sopranino) brings the younger family members to the fore in a high-spirited romp." Robin Stevens
John Turner is one of the leading recorder players of today. Born in Stockport, he was Senior Scholar in Law at Fitzwilliam College Cambridge before pursuing a legal career, acting for many distinguished musicians and musical organisations (including the Halle Orchestra, the Royal Northern College of Music and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain), alongside his many musical activities. These included numerous appearances and recordings with David Munrow's Early Music Consort of London, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the English Baroque Soloists. He now devotes his time to playing, writing, reviewing, publishing, composing and generally energising. He has played as recorder soloist with the Halle Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manchester Camerata, the English Baroque Soloists, the English Chamber Orchestra, and many other leading orchestras and ensembles. Concertos and works with orchestra have been written for him by Gordon Crosse, Anthony Gilbert, Peter Hope, Kenneth Leighton, Elis Pehkonen, Alan Bullard, John Casken, and many other distinguished composers.
Tracklisting