Prima Facie Records

Orbits and Tangents (PFCD004) £12.50

A celebration for Sir John Manduell

Three Kipling Songs, for soprano, recorder, oboe, violin and cello - Gordon Crosse
Rhyming with Everything, trio for oboe, violin and cello - Gordon Crosse
Remember, for soprano, recorder, oboe, violin and cello - Edward Gregson
Time Softly Treads, for soprano, recorder, oboe, violin and cello - Philip Grange
En Bateau, d'apres Watteau (2007) for soprano, recorder, oboe, violin and cello - Anthony Gilbert
Ondine, song cycle for soprano, recorder, cello and harpsichord - Anthony Gilbert
Nightingale, for soprano, recorder, oboe, violin, cello and harpsichord - Sally Beamish
The Inward Eye, for soprano, recorder, oboe, violin, gamba and harpsichord - Elis Pehkonen
Vocalise No 2, for soprano, recorder, oboe, violin and cello - David Beck

About this disc

This recording is a companion disc to “The Rose Tree” - music composed in memory of Basil Deane, with which it shares instrumentation and performers, and it arose out of a concert at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester in September 2007, for which various composers wrote works to texts by W.B. Yeats, using various combinations of soprano, recorder, oboe, violin and cello. One of the works then performed was John Manduell's setting of Verses from Calvary, and it seemed appropriate, when Manduell celebrated his eightieth birthday the following year, to include that song with other music for the same ensemble, and these works were performed during 2008 in celebratory concerts in Windermere, Manchester and London. Thus although no works by Manduell appear on this disc (Verses from Calvary is on the companion disc) all the music here was inspired by a man whose influence on music and music-making in the later twentieth century has been immense.

Credits

Performed by Lesley-Jane Rogers soprano | John Turner recorder | Richard Simpson oboe | Richard Howarth violin
Richard Tunnicliffe viola da gamba | Jonathan Price cello | Ian Thompson harpsichord

Composer and administrator Sir John Manduell (1928-2017) worked for the BBC from 1956-1968, when he became programme director of the Cheltenham Festival, a post he was to hold for twenty-five years. He was Director of Music at Lancaster University and Principal at the Royal Northern College of Music. As a composer he is highly regarded for his chamber and orchestral works.