James Web

Temptation, prohibition, good, evil… ‘how relevant are these in today's world?’ asks Benjamin Appl. With the complicity of pianist James Baillieu, we are taken on a musical arc from simple folk songs through to the great song composers such as Schubert, Schumann and Wolf, along the way visiting the French masters Debussy and Poulenc, exploring ‘new objectivity’ with Weill and Eisler and enjoying compositions by Casucci, Heggie and others. The metaphor of forbidden fruit gives Benjamin and James a wide range of possible interpretations. Whilst some of the song settings centre on sensuality, others focus on socially immoral topics such as incest or sensitive subjects such as abortion. The German baritone embodies each of these stories with a passion and dramatic sense that makes this album a kaleidoscopic and astonishing journey through time and space.

SOMM Recordings announces the third and final volume of the enthusiastically received One Hundred Years of British Song, with tenor James Gilchrist and pianist Nathan Williamson. Focusing on songs written since 1950, Volume 3 celebrates what Williamson’s booklet note describes as “astonishment at the depth of expressivity of the poetry and music”.

Already a presence to be reckoned with by his early 20s, James Ehnes has risen steadily to claim a place among the finest violinists of the day. Critics were impressed with both his immaculate technique and his musical integrity, each of an order rare enough in a musician of any age. Ehnes has continued to consolidate his strengths, bringing audiences a brand of music-making that transcends the present and draws upon the richest traditions of ages past.

James Galway is universally regarded as the supreme interpreter of the classical flute repertoire as well as a consummate entertainer whose appeal crosses all musical boundaries. Now for the first time ever, all of Sir James's recordings for RCA Red Seal are being issued together in a single box set.
With The Man with the Golden Flute performing the whole spectrum of classics from Baroque to modern, including virtually every important concerto and other solo music composed for his instrument, plus flute transcriptions from every corner of the repertoire and the globe the range and comprehensiveness of this set is staggering. Sir James s list of collaborators is a musical Who's Who in its own right: names like Martha Argerich, Cleo Laine, Andr Previn, Neville Marriner, Lorin Maazel and Michael Tilson Thomas as well as Galway s wife and fellow flautist Jeanne Galway, the Canadian Brass, Tokyo String Quartet and, needless to say, The Chieftains.