Released on 28 May, this delightful Resonus Classics CD of world premiere recordings was made in August 2020 by the Presteigne Festival Orchestra under artistic director, George Vass. Each of the works included appears on record for the first time, all of them being Presteigne Festival commissions.
The generous disc, with over 80 minutes of music, also features four superb soloists who have appeared at the Festival several times; fabulous Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson, richly-voiced Welsh mezzo Rebecca Afonwy-Jones and the brilliant flute and harp duo of Katherine Baker and Suzy Willison-Kawalec.
The recording is available both as a physical CD and for digital download from the usual retailers or directly from Resonus Classics via this link
The full contents of the disc is as follows:
Variations on 'Lovely Joan' (2017)
THOMAS HYDE, DAVID MATTHEWS, ADRIAN WILLIAMS, MICHAEL BERKELEY, CHRISTOPHER GUNNING, HUW WATKINS, SALLY BEAMISH and MATTHEW TAYLOR
Concerto for soprano saxophone and string orchestra (2009)
MARTIN BUTLER
Amy Dickson saxophone
Beginnings: Three Early Songs, for mezzo and string orchestra, Op 54 (2010)
HUGH WOOD
Rebecca Afonwy-Jones mezzo-soprano
Mnemonic, for flute, harp and string orchestra (2004)
JOE DUDDELL
Katherine Baker flute | Suzy Willison-Kawalec harp
Divertimento, Op 51 (2007)
HUGH WOOD
Presteigne Festival Orchestra
George Vass conductor