Sylvia Scarlett (1935) George Cukor

Continuing their Magnificat series, and the last album of Andrew Nethsingha’s tenure as director, The Choir of St John’s College Cambridge present Magnificat 4 with works from composers including Judith Weir, Jonathan Dove, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange and Charles Villiers Stanford. The album features two items commissioned specially for St John’s by Judith Weir alongside the world premiere of a new piece by Jonathan Dove.

The symphonic output of George Antheil, the selfproclaimed ‘bad boy of music’, is further investigated by the BBC Philharmonic and its Chief Guest Conductor, John Storgårds, in the second album of the series. Following his early experimentations with modernist ideas as an enfant terrible in 1920s Paris, the stylistic trajectory of his symphonies over the next decades mirrors his self-confessed desire to learn more orthodox compositional techniques. This album explores two more of his symphonies: Symphony No. 3 (compl. 1946), only one movement of which was performed during Antheil’s lifetime, and Symphony No. 6 (compl. 1950), in which the influences of Shostakovich and Ives make themselves heard.

This is a quite exceptional record and contains some of the best singing I have heard in years. The matching trills between Sylvia McNair and the orchestra towards the end of the Alleluia from Handel’s Silete venti have to be heard to be believed. As usual, Gardiner conducts the music with stylistic authority, vigour and finesse. It is an excellent combination. The recording was made in All Hallows, Gospel Oak, in London and is in an acoustically broad space, but has all the details of choir and soloist in place.

Scarlett and Black were a pop duo from the UK, whose birth names were Robin Hild and Sue West. Robin Hild was previously the keyboard player for "Big Supreme"; Sue West was a former backing vocalist for Doctor and the Medics. They released a self-titled album on Virgin Records in 1987, which proved to be a minor success in the U.S., peaking at No. 107 on the Billboard Top 200 in 1988. The single "You Don't Know" was a hit record that same year, peaking at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and appearing on the Adult Contemporary (No. 13) and Dance (No. 32 Hot Dance/Club Play, No. 41 Hot Dance Singles) charts. Scarlett & Black remain dubbed as one-hit wonders.

The pianist George Vatchnadze was born in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi but now lives and works in Chicago as Professor of Piano at DePaul University School of Music, having studied with several renowned artists from his homeland such as Alexander Toradze. As winner of prestigious competitions including the Gina Bachauer Competition in 1994, he has given concerts across Europe and the US with the likes of Valery Gergiev and Gianandrea Noseda. For this album he has gathered together 33 short pieces drawn from the huge oeuvre of film music composed by the greatest Georgian composer of our time, Giya Kancheli.