Elysian Feilds

‘Beauty for Ashes’ is a unique collection of unrecorded music from some of the UK’s foremost choral composers. Whilst the programme includes well-established names from classical music such as Bob Chilcott and Judith Weir, it also includes newer voices such as Alison Willis, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Judith Bingham, Sarah Macdonald and Roxanna Panufnik. Six of the contemporary composers featured on the recording are women, and their work exemplifies the enormous contribution female composers are making to the English choral tradition, in a genre where they have been historically under-represented and under-recorded. The principal aim of the recording is to enable these compositions to find new audiences and to promote the creation of new choral works. At a time when the sacred choral tradition is under severe threat from budget cuts, Beauty for Ashes reveals the vibrancy and variety of contemporary composition.

"This album is a composite of many different influences. From Yes to ELP and Bach, I went wherever my mind felt like going. The songs Revelation and Rocket Fuel first appeared on our 2005 album, Homage. For 2020, I've seriously improved both tracks. Check 'em out!"

A semi-progressive British power-trio, Baker Gurvitz Army produced a trio of noteworthy LP's during the mid-seventies, with this 1975 release the highly-recommended pick-of-the- bunch…

The Elysian Singers of London celebrate the enormous and varied contribution of Sir James MacMillan (b. 1959) to the choral repertoire over the last 20 years. Beginning with MacMillan’s blazing 2016 ‘choral fanfare’ Blow the trumpet in the new moon, the programme explores the spiritual and secular texts that have influenced MacMillan, also including his monumental setting of Psalm 51 Miserere.

Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow are the writers who make up the critically-acclaimed band that formed in New York in 1995 and went on to develop a cult following of faithful fans around the world. They started on a major label but would soon be working outside of the mainstream, early on recording with Steve Albini and then going on to produce themselves for a number of independent labels over the years, including Jet Set, PIAS, and Naive — most recently recording for Vicious Circle and Microcultures in France and Ojet/Diluvian in the US.