Valerius Ensemble Between Sun & Snow

Wondrous Machine is the title of an air from Purcell's Odes for St. Cecilia's Day, a hymn of praise to the music of which Cecilia is considered the patron saint, and to the instruments from the flute to the organ, of which she is considered the inventor. Not as an inventor, but as an innovative rediscoverer and ambassador of an equally "wondrous" instrument, namely the historical harp and its "entourage", is Margret Koell. She programmatically places the title "Wondrous Machine" above a project that focuses on the tonal mutability of the triple harp. The programme focuses on George Frideric Handel: the Concerto Op. 7 No. 1 for harp, lute and orchestra is Koell's arrangement of the original concerto for organ and orchestra. The Concerto Op. 4 No. 6 is presented here for the first time in the extremely rarely heard version of 1736 for harp and lyrichord (viola organista) - the latter, a bowed keyboard instrument, is based on sketches by Leonardo da Vinci.

Conductor Paul Gameson directs Ex Corde Vocal Ensemble in this album of music by composer David Lancaster. These works draw upon the legacies of artists and craftsmen who lived and worked in England’s medieval York, leaving evidence of their beliefs, stories and ideas which have survived into the present, in carved stone and painted glass.

Robert Paterson’s The Four Seasons consists of four song cycles, with a total of twenty-one songs, for four different voice types: soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass-baritone. Each voice type represents a different season: Summer Songs (soprano), Autumn Songs (mezzo-soprano), Winter Songs (bass-baritone), and Spring Songs (tenor). The four critically-acclaimed singers on this album, soprano, Marnie Breckenridge, mezzo-soprano, Blythe Gaissert, tenor Alok Kumar, and bass-baritone David Neal have worked closely with Paterson, and gave the world premieres of these works with American Modern Ensemble, one of America’s most beloved new music ensembles.