Given the relative lack of exposure that the music of South African contemporary composers receive, a new release from Prima Facie http://ascrecords.com/primafacie entitled From My Beloved Country featuring pianist, Renée Reznek www.reneereznek.com, is especially welcome. PFCD055 Renée Reznek was born in South Africa and studied with Adolf Hallis, a pupil of Tobias Mattay. She later studied with Lamar Crowson, graduating with distinction from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Music degree. She subsequently received a scholarship to study with Gyorgy Sandor at the U ..read more

Between 1922 and 1936 William Alwyn (1905-1985) www.williamalwyn.co.ukwrote thirteen string quartets of which he was never truly satisfied and which he withdrew. In his Essay in Autobiography, Winged Chariot Alwyn wrote ‘…compositions were pouring from my fertile pen, too fertile as I was to realise later; no less than 14 String Quartets (there was an un-numbered earlier quartet), a Violin Concerto and a gigantic setting for soloists, double choir, organ and orchestra…’ It was not until his String Quartet in D minor of 1953 that he felt he had ‘fully indulged (his) love of melodic subtlety an ..read more

The Flemish composer, Giaches de Wert (c. 1535-1596) is believed to have been born in Antwerp. He was sent to Italy at a young age where he became a chorister at the house of Maria di Cardona, Marchese della Padulla. He later became a member of the choir formed by Alfonso Gonzaga at Novellara but soon made connections with the nearby ducal courts of Mantua where he eventually became maestro di cappella at the ducal chapel of S. Barbara, Mantua. Stile Antico www.stileantico.co.uk have gathered together a collection of Sacred Motets by Giaches de Wert for a new release from Harmonia Mundi www ..read more

A new release from Metier www.divine-art.co.uk/DAhome.htm brings chamber and vocal works by David Lumsdaine www.davidlumsdaine.org.uk  and Nicola LeFanu www.nicolalefanu.com all performed by members of the chamber ensemble, Gemini www.divineartrecords.com/AS/gemini.htm  directed by Ian Mitchell with soprano Sarah Leonard http://sarahleonard.meand pianist Aleksander Szram www.aleksanderszram.com msv 28565 David Lumsdaine (b. 1931) was born in Australia and studied at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music before moving to England. In London he studied composition ..read more

Pierre de Manchicourt (c.1510-1564) is not a name that is likely to be familiar to those outside of early music circles. A new release that is likely to change this comes from MSR Classics www.msrcd.com featuring the Choir of St. Luke in the Fields, New York City www.stlukeinthefields.org/music-arts/choirsdirected by David Shuler www.linkedin.com/in/david-shuler-0514445 MS 1632 Manchicourt was a distinctive Franco-Flemish composer born in Béthune, then in the French speaking part of Flanders, now northern France. After serving as a choirboy at Arras Cathedral he went on to become ch ..read more

A new release from Melodiya http://melody.su features the distinguished pianist, Irina Chukovskaya http://irinachukovskaya.comin works by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). MEL CD 10 02455 Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan into a family of musicians, Irina Chukovskaya began her studies at the age of six with the legendary piano teacher, Tamara Popovich in Central Music School at Tashkent Conservatory. She went on to study at the Central Music School in Moscow, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and at Rutgers University, USA. Chukovskaya went on to become a prize winner at the Internat ..read more

Naxos www.naxos.com have done much for the music of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016) www.maxopus.com/index.aspx , not only through their reissue of recordings from the Collins Classics catalogue but with their commissioning of the ten Naxos Quartets premiered and recorded by the Maggini Quartet. A new release from Naxos continues this work with premiere recordings of chamber works mainly from the composer’s later years, Sonata for Violin Alone, Dances from The Two Fiddlers, Sonata for Violin and Pianoand Piano Trio: A Voyage to Fair Isle. 8.573599 Sonata for Violin Alone (2013 ..read more

Composer, conductor and pianist, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and studied at Harvard and the Curtis Institute before going on to become a protégé of the conductor Sergei Koussevitzky (1874-1951). He came to prominence in 1944 after stepping up to conduct when Bruno Walter (1876-1962) fell ill, going on to become Musial Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958. As a composer he wrote for Broadway including the musicals Candide and West Side Story. His classical works included an opera, orchestral and choral works and chamber and instrumental music. Ma ..read more

Nimbus www.wyastone.co.uk/all-labels/nimbus/nimbus-alliance.html have just released a recording by violist, Herbert Kefer with Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg www.symphonieorchester-vorarlberg.atconducted by Martin Kerschbaum www.martinkerschbaum.com of works for viola and orchestra that span the 18th to 21st centuries by Telemann, Weber, Andreas Baksa and Bruch. NI 5961 Herbert Kefer (b. 1960) www.artis-quartett.at/d/herbert.htmlwas born in Eisenerz, Austria and received his first musical education on the violin. He went on to study with Prof.Karl Frischenschlager in Leoben and w ..read more

The Welsh composer, (1912-1993)was born in Pembroke to a father, Jenkyn Jones, who was a composer and a mother who was a singer. Against this background the young Jones developed quickly, writing several piano sonatas by the age of nine.   Whilst attending Bishop Gore School in Swansea he established a close friendship with the poet Dylan Thomas. He went on to study English literature at Swansea University, leaving in 1935 to study music at the Royal Academy of Music in London where his teachers included Sir Henry Wood and Harry Farjeon. It was his winning the Mendelssohn Scholarship tha ..read more