5060192780314 Press

NEW RELEASE INFORMATION
BRITTEN: CANTICLES & THE HEART OF THE MATTER
DANIEL NORMAN, TENOR
CHRISTOPHER GOULD, PIANO
BENJAMIN MACLEAN, TREBLE
WILLIAM TOWERS, COUNTER-TENOR
RODERICK WILLIAMS, BARITONE
HARRIET WALTER, SPEAKER
RICHARD WATKINS, HORN
HUGH WEBB, HARP
CD RELEASE DATE: 2 September 2013
th
To commemorate the 100 anniversary of the composer’s birth, Stone Records is delighted to
announce the release of this new recording of Benjamin Britten’s Canticles.
This collaboration with the world-famous Oxford Lieder Festival is a unique release. It is the only
live recording of the Canticles, recorded in the beautiful acoustics of the Holywell Music Room
earlier this year. It also features the extended version of Canticle III, The heart of the matter, and
the role of Isaac in Canticle II, is taken by a boy treble, adding a wonderful poignancy to the
performance.
Tenor Daniel Norman and pianist Christopher Gould have already been widely acclaimed for their
performances of Britten, and they are joined by three other wonderful singers: Westminster
Abbey head chorister Benjamin Maclean, counter-tenor William Towers and baritone Roderick
Williams, himself a renowned interpreter of English song. The musical ensemble is completed by
Richard Watkins and Hugh Webb, who have performed this repertoire many times to great
success, and actress Dame Harriet Walter reads the poems in The heart of the matter. Paul
Kildea, author of Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century provides the excellent notes
for the booklet, which also includes the full texts.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
“His clear, precisely focused tenor can soften, even sweeten. He is sensitive to musical and
verbal implications, both bold and delicate in narrative, enters in the fun of a song and is good at
his Scots.”
(for Norman & Gould’s recording of “Who are these children?”)
Gramophone
CONTINUES OVERLEAF
MEDIA CONTACT: Mark Stone at Stone Records Ltd
Tel: 07595 534350 Email: [email protected]
NEW RELEASE INFORMATION
BIOGRAPHY
Daniel Norman is one of the UK’s leading tenors, particularly renowned for his interpretations of
twentieth-century repertoire. He studied at New College, Oxford and the Royal Academy of
Music, and has performed at some of the world’s most important opera houses, including Covent
Garden, ENO, Glyndebourne, Opera North in the UK and abroad for the Bayerisches Staatsoper,
the Paris Bastille, and the Marinsky in St Petersburg. He is in constant demand as a concert
singer and has sung at many of Europe’s greatest halls with such conductors as Sir Simon Rattle,
Daniel Harding and Edward Gardner.
Christopher Gould read music at Clare College, Cambridge before taking up a scholarship to
the Royal Academy of Music to study accompaniment with John Streets, Malcolm Martineau
and Gareth Hancock, supported by The Countess of Munster Musical Trust. On graduating he
was awarded the Her Royal Princess Alice’s Prize for outstanding contribution to the Royal
Academy of Music and in 2001 he was made an Associate. He was the first young pianist to
receive an award from The Geoffrey Parsons Trust in 1996; this was followed by the Gerald
Moore Award (1998) and the first prize for accompaniment in the Wigmore International Song
Competition (2001).
Benjamin MacLean was senior chorister at Westminster Abbey. He sang for the Royal Wedding,
the 60th Coronation Jubilee and the Papal Mass in Rome for Pope Benedict XVI.
William Towers appeared extensively as a soloist in Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Bach Cantata
Pilgrimage and his performances in the complete Bach series have been issued on CD.
Roderick Williams encompasses a wide repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, in the
opera house, on the concert platform and in recital.
Harriet Walter has worked extensively in theatre, television, film and radio. Most recently she
was Livia in Women Beware Women at the Olivier NT. She is an associate artist with the RSC.
Richard Watkins was Principal Horn of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1985 until 1996, and is
currently a member of the Nash Ensemble, London Winds and the Transatlantic Horn Quartet.
Hugh Webb has worked extensively in the contemporary music field and Javier Alvarez, Robert
Keely and Ian Dearden have all written solo works for him.
www.stonerecords.co.uk
ENDS
Disc: Britten: Canticles & The heart of the matter
Artists: Daniel Norman (tenor) & Christopher Gould (piano)
Label: Stone Records
Catalogue number/barcode: 5060192780314
Release date: 2 September 2013
Track Listing:
1.
Canticle I: My beloved is mine
2.
Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac
3.
Prologue: Where are the seeds of the Universal Fire
4.
Reading: The earth of my heart was broken and gaped low
5.
Song: We are the darkness in the heat of the day
6.
Reading: In such a heat of the earth
7.
Canticle III: Still falls the rain
8.
Reading: I see Christ's wounds weep in the Rose on the wall
9.
Epilogue: So, out of the dark
10. Canticle IV: Journey of the Magi
11. Canticle V: The death of Saint Narcissus
MEDIA CONTACT: Mark Stone at Stone Records Ltd
Tel: 07595 534350 Email: [email protected]