Andrew King

This disc contains works by Grainger in versions for large choral forces, performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under its new Chief Conductor, Sir Andrew Davis, and featuring the Sydney Chamber Choir and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus. The recording continues on from our nineteen-disc Grainger Edition box and brings our long-running Grainger survey to an end.

Hyperion’s previous recordings with Winchester Cathedral Choir are among the jewels in its choral collection. Now the label begins a new relationship with this ancient foundation and its latest director of music, Andrew Lumsden. Their new disc features a composer who was at the centre of the English twentieth-century choral tradition.

Guitarist, songwriter, and singer Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones began working professionally at age 16 with Freddie King's backing band, the Thunderbirds. He got his first guitar from his uncle, jazz musician Adolphus Sneed. Jones cites an eclectic array of influences: Freddie King, Cornell Dupree, and Larry Carlton. For many years, he's backed various Dallas-area vocalists on guitar, but in the mid-'90s, he came into his own as a vocalist with an album for JSP Records, I Need Time (1997), which showcases his crafty songwriting, great guitar playing, and powerful singing…

I believe that this was Andrew Lawrence-King's first recording (1986) – a sterling effort which is ample proof of why he went on to become a well-established figure in his field. He has appeared on numerous recordings, including many with Jordi Savall's Hesperian XX, and is currently the director of the Harp Consort. The program is both musically interesting and eminently listenable; and given Lawrence-King's credentials (he won an Organ Scholarship to Selwyn College, Cambridge and completed his studies at the London Early Music Centre), his understanding of the material is unquestionably comprehensive. His technical execution is equally impressive.

As England's greatest composer of the Baroque, Henry Purcell was dubbed the "Orpheus Britannicus" for his ability to combine pungent English counterpoint with expressive, flexible, and dramatic word settings. While he did write instrumental music, including the important viol fantasias, the vast majority of his output was in the vocal/choral realm. His only opera, Dido and Aeneas, divulged his sheer mastery in the handling of the work's vast expressive canvas, which included lively dance numbers, passionate arias and rollicking choruses. Purcell also wrote much incidental music for stage productions, including that for Dryden's King Arthur. His church music includes many anthems, devotional songs, and other sacred works, but few items for Anglican services.

This is an album of songs from Guernsey, an island off Cornwall but much closer to Normandy, and the music is as odd and captivating as the particular brand of French in which it is sung. The music, even to a not-particularly-sophisticated ear, seems a combination of Celtic twang and French charm, with unexpected springs of rhythm amidst melodies that are as graceful as swans.

Denkt man an die Musik des Barock, fallen einem als erstes Namen wie Monteverdi, Vivaldi und Bach ein. Eine Musik, pompös und lebenslustig. Schaut man hingegen auf die Englische Musik dieser Zeit, findet man einen sehr beschaulichen, fast miditativen Stiel vor. Dies verdichtet sich vor allem in der Harfenmusik am englischen Hof. Lawrence-King interpretiert diese Musik mit der nötigen Andacht und vergisst dabei weder die melancholischen Farben der keltischen Ursprünge, noch die Festliche Stimmung eines barocken Hofes.