TERPSICHORE AND OTHER WORKS Jonathan Little
Kyrie, Sacred Prelude, Fanfare, Terpsichore, Duo Sonata, That Time of Year
Tallis Chamber Choir / Philip Simms
String soloists of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Vocal soloists of the Sofia National Opera
Cardiff Percussion Duo and featuring the
Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra (and principal soloists)
Directed by Robert Ian Winstin
(Release date: 8th October, 2007)
Dilute Recordings Cat. No. DIL 07-002
Recording supported by the Kenneth Leighton Trust (UK),
Foundation for New Music (USA) and ASCAPlus Programme (USA)
“Forceful, elegant and dramatic. Full of touches of wry wit … [an] orchestral tour-de-force.”
- Maestro Robert Ian Winstin, Executive Director of the Foundation for New Music (USA), on Terpsichore
With this important new release, Dilute Recordings presents to the wider public – for the first time – the music of British-Australian composer, Jonathan Little (b.1965).
This disc features many of the composer’s most striking early works, across a whole variety of genres: choral, vocal, string, brass, percussion and orchestral. Here is contemporary concert music as it should be: full of real intensity, profound integrity and stately beauty – and accessible to listeners of all ages and all backgrounds.
Jonathan Little has been described in interview with the American conductor, Robert Ian Winstin, as genuinely a “unique voice” in concert music today. From the stark but “touching” music of the vocal quintet, “That Time of Year”, to the constrained passion of the Sacred Prelude for strings (“a work of beauty and sincerity”), Maestro Winstin has done a great deal to champion Little’s works – ever since the conductor’s initial recording session in 2004.
The disc as a whole reveals a composer with the capacity to handle diverse forces, and to write in styles ranging from the neo-Gothic choral purity of the Kyrie, to the luxuriant, highly-jewelled instrumental feast that is Terpsichore. We are also reminded that there are echoes of several grand traditions here. Kyrie, for instance, has its ancestry in the great choral works of the English church; while Terpsichore, by contrast, evokes the famously sensual and provocative orchestral dances constructed by various well-known composers around siren-like figures such as Salome and Delilah.
The support of the Foundation for New Music (USA), and the Kenneth Leighton Trust (UK), is gratefully acknowledged towards the making of these recordings.
The proceeds of a 2006-2007 ASCAPlus Award for Concert Music (USA) also helped bring this project to fruition.
ALL MUSIC PUBLISHED and AVAILABLE AT: www.australiancomposers.com.au
COMPOSER BIOGRAPHY: www.britishacademy.com |
