Ward 6

In Tsarist Russia, a doctor in a provincial hospital encounters a former student in the mental ward and he harbors a fascination with his rebellious patient. The doctor believes that he is intellectually superior to everyone except for this political prisoner. Listening to his patient, the doctor develops a new view of reality, much to the displeasure of his colleagues. Ward 6 is a metaphor on life under repressive governments, conformity versus individual expression.

Five inmates in a medical ward, with no memories of their past, try to figure out who they are and where they came from. When one of them, who they believed to be dead, returns looking healthier then ever, they realize they are merely puppets in a strange experiment. Their only hope, escape.

Ward One: Along the Way is the debut solo album from Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward. Originally released January 10, 1990, and features a wide array of guest musicians, including then-former Black Sabbath band member Ozzy Osbourne.

Tchaikovsky stayed in Aachen for six weeks in 1887, during which time he orchestrated his Mozartiana. He also left behind 16 bars of music from his diary, and the Aachener Walzer is André Parfenov’s completion of this otherwise unknown mini-waltz. Further works by Parfenov include a Violin Concerto on the subject of war, peace and human symbiosis, and a reflection on the life of a remarkable avant-garde painter in his Malevich Suite. Completing the framework for this recording is Tchaikovsky’s orchestral suite Mozartiana, which spotlights Mozart’s little-known smaller pieces to charming effect.

Featuring ambitious and accomplished music for voices and viols, ‘Ward: Fantasies & Verse Anthems’ offers a privileged glimpse of a special moment in English music history. The four-part viol fantasies complement Phantasm’s previous recording of Ward’s five- and six-part works and show an equally fluent and skilful style exemplifying Jacobean consort fantasy at its best. The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford join Phantasm to perform Ward’s verse anthems which contain an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of textures and generous word painting amidst a polyphonic swirl of viols.

John Ward - Upon a Bank with Roses: Consort Music
Classical, Renaissance | 1 CD | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 410 MB
Recorded: 7-10 Apr. 1998, Forde Abbey, Somerset, UK | TT: 71:38
Released: 2003 | Label: cpo 999 928 | RS
Rose Consort of Viols (John Bryan, Alison Crum, Sarah Groser,
Roy Marks, Susanna Pell, Peter Wendland)

The Rose Consort of Viols was created to play music like this, and the collective and individual virtuosity of the six performers on this disc are on full display throughout the generous (72-minute) program. Particularly satisfying are the selections with organ, whose unique colours add another, very sonorous dimension to the viols' already warm, ear-pleasing consonance. The sound, from the very complementary acoustics of Forde Abbey, is appropriately full-bodied yet intimate. (David Vernier, classicstoday.com)