Robert Matthew

SOMM RECORDINGS announces the first volume of Prokofiev Milestones, featuring three characterful sonatas and a sparkling arrangement of music from Romeo and Juliet performed by violinist Lana Trotovšek and flutist Boris Bizjak , accompanied by Maria Canyigueral on piano.

SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce the release of Natural Connection, a captivatingly lyrical new recording by pianist Leon McCawley featuring music for solo piano inspired by the natural world.

SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce a musical journey around the four nations of the United Kingdom with Folk Songs of the British Isles.

SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce a musical journey around the four nations of the United Kingdom with Folk Songs of the British Isles. Celebrating the "living, breathing heritage of British and Irish folksong down the ages", the 27-track recital features soprano Janis Kelly, mezzos Yvonne Howard and Maria Jagusz, tenors Nicky Spence and Wynne Evans, baritone Mark Llewelyn Evans, jazz doyenne Elaine Delmar and actor- singer Kevin Whately. Fiona Kelly (flute), Jean Kelly (harp) and pianists Michael Pollock and John Wilson provide instrumental contributions with singer Caroline McCausland accompanying herself on guitar. Much-loved songs include She Moved Through the Fair, The Last Rose of Summer, The Foggy, Foggy Dew and Down by the Salley Gardens. Local colour is provided by songs such as Blaydon Races, Skye Boat Song, Sosban Fach and The Oak and the Ash while the entirely new Song for Gwyn (words by Christopher Morley, music by John Wilson) tributes Gwyn Williams, former Principal Viola with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which he joined in 1965 and where he played for conductors Hugo Rignold, Louis Frémaux and Sir Simon Rattle.

The 21st Century Symphony Project (21CSP) is an English Symphony Orchestra initiative conceived by conductor Kenneth Woods. The initial goal was to commission, premiere and record nine new symphonies by nine different composers. The 21CSP has been called 'one of the most important musical initiatives of modern times' by Robert Matthew-Walker, Editor of Musical Opinion, and 'the most important series of commissions and recordings of our times' by musicologist and cultural commentator Peter Davison, former Artistic Consultant at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.

From Robert Matthew Walker’s notes for this debut disc of Nikolay Medvedev: Interviewed by Musical America in 1921, Rachmaninoff was asked: 'would you agree that the heart should be the composer’s guide through the labyrinths of accepted forms?' 'Yes', he replied, 'the heart above all.