Edward Bernay

‘The burly Aussie tenor is now even more identified with this ill-fated protagonist than Peter Pears, the first Grimes. And everywhere Skelton has sung the part, whether at English National Opera, the Proms, the Edinburgh festival or now on this international tour of a concert staging mounted by the Bergen Philharmonic, the conductor has been Edward Gardner. Theirs is one of the great musical partnerships, and they continue to find compelling new depths in this tragic masterpiece.’ – Richard Morrison – The Times. This studio recording was made following the acclaimed production at Grieghallen, in Bergen, in 2019 (repeated in Oslo and London and reviewed above). Luxuriant playing from the Bergen Philharmonic and a stellar cast under the assured direction of Edward Gardner make this a recording to treasure.

The two features that make a good film soundtrack composer are a personal style and the flexibility to adapt. Therefore, it seems unfair to compare Edward Artemiev's score for the Hollywood-financed television production The Odyssey and his classic music for Andrei Tarkovsky's science-fiction films of the 1970s. All Artemiev did was adapt to the needs of the production, starting with the setting. The action of Andrei Konchalovski's film (following Homer's The Odyssey) takes place in Greece, so the composer borrowed bouzouki melodies and included a couple of Greek folk-style singing episodes. Each piece has been tailored to suit the action of a specific scene, including orchestral cues, percussive outbursts, and horn section buildups. The London Philarmonic Orchestra go through the motions and in the end one gets the impression that the music stands closer to that of John Williams than Artemiev's more personal works.

The two features that make a good film soundtrack composer are a personal style and the flexibility to adapt. Therefore, it seems unfair to compare Edward Artemiev's score for the Hollywood-financed television production The Odyssey and his classic music for Andrei Tarkovsky's science-fiction films of the 1970s. All Artemiev did was adapt to the needs of the production, starting with the setting. The action of Andrei Konchalovski's film (following Homer's The Odyssey) takes place in Greece, so the composer borrowed bouzouki melodies and included a couple of Greek folk-style singing episodes. Each piece has been tailored to suit the action of a specific scene, including orchestral cues, percussive outbursts, and horn section buildups. The London Philarmonic Orchestra go through the motions and in the end one gets the impression that the music stands closer to that of John Williams than Artemiev's more personal works.

Edward Ka-Spel is a singer, songwriter and musician. He is probably best known as the lead singer, songwriter and co-founder (with Phil “The Silverman” Knight) of the prolific underground band The Legendary Pink Dots.

Inspired by a UK bankcard ad and daring to encroach on the shadow of the Austin Powers franchise, this Bond film satire may well end up as The Spoof That Got Left in the Cold. But in perfect contrast to star Rowan Atkinson's broad physical humor, composer Edward Shearmur delivers a deliciously deadpan musical score that skewers the 007 canon from twangy-guitar main theme to romantic Euro interludes and action-packed chases. Anchored by Robbie Williams' suitably earnest mock Bond-song "A Man For All Seasons" and seasoned with evocative tracks of Moloko's electronica and the suitably named Bond's classics-meets-worldbeat sensibilities, Shearmur's score brings it all to a satisfying conclusion on "Agent No. 1," where the former Pink Floyd/Shakespeare's Sister sideman showcases his own considerable synth and keyboard skills.

Piggybacking on 1992’s Invisible Storm, ECM maverick Edward Vesala returned with his organic collective, Sound & Fury, as our guide for Nordic Gallery. Vesala draws a thinner circle around his ensemble this time around, weaving inside it a dreamcatcher for communal freedom, as exemplified in the 11-minute “Bird In The High Room,” a menagerie of cymbals, muted horns, drums, and birdsong. The latter signals a luxuriant indulgence in the Vesala soundscape as winds and wings fall in line like a panel out of Where the Wild Things Are. Even the electric guitar whistles in its sibilant cage, avian heart unfolded. Field recordings continue to leave breadcrumb trail of “Fulflandia” on its way toward “The Quay of Meditative Future.” Harpist Iro Haarla’s veiled and omnipresent insistence turns arrival into departure as the music’s long-shadowed caravan cuts a line in the sand.

This release from NOVUM is a CD of motets by François Couperin (1668-1733), the greatest figure in the French musical scene of the early 18th century. Everybody knows his fabulous harpsichord pieces, few his equally fabulous motets. Why? Many of them were effectively lost for over 200 years, and some have survived only in incomplete form. As a result, the motets are a sorely neglected part of his output. This New College release puts that right. Something like half the CD is of music never before recorded. The incomplete sources - violin parts lost soon after composition - have been reconstituted here by Edward Higginbottom, musicologist as well as Director of New College Choir.

For the third volume in their cycle of Schubert’s symphonies, Edward Gardner and the CBSO turn to the first and fourth symphonies. Composed in 1813, when Schubert was just sixteen, the First Symphony admirably demonstrates the young composer’s grasp of symphonic form and technique, and whilst the influences of Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven are clearly audible, the spirit of Schubert’s own distinctive voice is certainly in evidence.