Peter George

Barthold Heinrich Brockes’ text for the passion oratorio, later named after him, is among the best-known Passion librettos of the early 18th century. This version is the first recording on CD of the work based on the copy made by J S Bach himself. It is distinguished from the better-known version by a different text for the opening chorus.

"Reflecting on the past, living fully in the present while moving into a future not yet known-this has been my life's work. Time's Memory is an attempt to make the connections and share what I have learned so far." (George Tingley) George Peter Tingley is a composer, teacher, and pianist currently living in Point Richmond, California (in the San Francisco Bay Area). He is a highly active member of the Music Teacher's Association of California, participating in Marin County events and serving of the Board of Director's of the Alameda County Branch. He administrates the Composers Today of the Alameda County Branch, evaluates student compositions at the regional level and adjudicates the state contest. George received a BA in piano performance from California State University, Hayward, and completed both BM and MM degrees in Music Theory at the University of Southern California. During the 1970's he was a private composition student of the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

The first recordings of choral masterpieces by Britten, performed by the dedicatees and newly reissued in a unique compilation.

Written in the summer of 1749, Theodora was premiered in London at Covent Garden Theatre on 16 March 1750. This work, which Handel considered his finest oratorio, was a failure at first - Handel said bitterly that the hall was so empty that "there was room enough to dance there." Part of this failure could be explained by the earthquake that hit London in February of the same year and caused the upper classes to flee the city, but another possibility is that the subject matter of the oratorio - the rebellion of a woman against the power of the state - was a bit ahead of its time.

When Handel had a difficult time as opera manager, in the 1730s, he turned to oratorios, which required neither the expensive Italian soloists nor complicated sets. Saul, based on the First Book of Samuel, written in 1738, and first performed in 1739, was relatively popular, with Handel reviving it several times through 1754. With all of the dramatic features of Handel’s oratorios, this work, featuring a bass in the starring role, opens with a festive four-movement instrumental Symphony.

'L'Allegro il penseroso ed il moderato' brings together Sir David Willcocks, some fluent chamber players and the illustrious tenor Peter Pears - not the most orthodox of Handel interpreters in an era of so-called authentic performance, but here appropriately sonorous. The greater feast, however, is the 'Ode for St Cecelia', whose spiritual patronage of the sonic arts first really took off in the seventeenth century and has not looked back since. April Cantelo and Choir of King's College Cambridge offer an inspired and inspiring account of a rich, celebratory and gorgeously double-rhythmed delight.

A collection of works representative of a school of Flemish composers living in Madrid towards the end of the Renaissance and all employed by Philip II of Spain, who held composers from the Low Countries in particularly high regard. La Hèle’s Mass, here receiving its first complete recording, is a major discovery.