The Asc

"Runswick: The Eternal Song" includes Daryl Runswick's Variations for String Orchestra (1980), Concerto for Piano and Nine Instruments (2017) and a piano work, Gentle Do Not Care to Know… (1998) featuring Aleksander Szram, i Solisti di Londra, and a string orchestra including members of the Gabrieli and Delmé String Quartets.

Duncan Honeybourne performs the complete piano music of John Joubert, the eminent composer who sadly passed away in January 2019. Joubert had written to the pianist Duncan Honeybourne to congratulate him on this new, comprehensive recording only days before his passing. The album therefore serves as a fitting tribute to his musical life.

Following the successful release last year of The Fall of Gondolin, the closing segment of the series of 'epic scenes' drawn from J R R Tolkien's posthumous writings for The Silmarillion, Prima Facie Records in collaboration with Volante Opera Productions now presents a recording on 2 CDs of Beren and Lúthien, Part Two of Paul Corfield Godfrey's cycle written during the period 1982-97 and employing a large variety of posthumously published texts by the author with the permission of the Tolkien Estate.

Prima facie are pleased to release a new collection of works by contemporary composers for recorder and strings. Performed by John Turner (recorder) and The Manchester Sinfonia, this collection of works includes the title work “Balmoral Suite” by Robin Stevens plus works by Peter Hope, John Golland, Anthony Hedges, Nicholas Marshall, Colin Hand, David Beck, Elis Pekhonen and Wilfred Heaton.

Gordon Crosse is a composer of long-standing repute. Over the course of his career he has been commissioned to write works by festivals and orchestras including: BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Cheltenham Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms.

The main work on this reissue of the original Campion Cameo release is the eponymous Hat Box (Alan Bullard), a celebration of the town of Stockport, home to recorder virtuoso John Turner, to whom (with guitarist Neil Smith) this piece is dedicated. Stockport was formerly the centre of the hat:manufacturing industry and gave it's name to the hymn:tune Stockport, written by 18th century Stockport organist John Wainwright for the carol Christians awake, salute the happy morn. The eight hats depicted in this suite refer to phrases from Wainwright's famous tune. The rest of this delightful collection for recorder and guitar features works by composers with North:West connections, such as David Ellis and John Golland, and other friends of John's who enjoy writing for the recorder maestro. Added to this re:release is one new recording, a new composition for solo recorder by Scottish composer John Purser. This is a beautiful, evocative, and haunting work entitled Skye Blue, a musical depiction of the Isle of Skye, where the composer currently resides

Prima Facie is pleased to announce the release of Musica Sancta as part of a new series, Reticere, which aims to promote unsung heroes of music, both composers and performers. This new album from the chamber choir Kantos and their director Elspeth Slorach focusses on music for the Christmas period by composer David W. Jepson.

The performances never duck any of the considerable technical challenges that the piano writing regularly presents, but never seem to regard them as an end in themselves…there’s directness, clarity and an absolute lack of unnecessary point-making in everything Hamilton does.