Robert Simpson - Canzona; Media morte in vita sumu; etc. (Matthew Best)

Information

Composer: Robert Simpson

1. Canzona for brass
2. Media morte in vita sumus
3. Tempi
4. Eppur si muove for organ: I. ricercar
5. Eppur si muove for organ: II. Passacaglia

Corydon Singers & Brass Ensemble

Matthew Best, conductor

Iain Quinn, organ

Date: 1998

Label: Hyperion

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67016

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Review

Robert Simpson (d1997) was not only one of Britain’s leading exponents of the symphony and string quartet, but an outstanding Bruckner and Nielsen scholar. Both composers have had a fruitful impact on his music, alongside Beethoven, who remains probably the key formal influence.

As well as works for brass band, Simpson wrote pieces using a smaller brass consort – tuba, two or three trumpets and trombones, and (in the striking choral work Media morte in vita sumus) four French horns.

In Tempi, Simpson teases the imagination by setting to music for a cappella choir the familiar musical time-markings, ranging from prestissimo to calmo, lento and a striking morendo al niente. The result is witty, cheerful and sinister by turns, and highly effective. Media morte is a darker, more introspective piece, whose text reflects on man’s struggle for immortality.

In this and the contrasted Canzona, Matthew Best’s first-class Corydon Brass (including Steele-Perkins and Laird on trumpets) demonstrate as much fugal versatility as the exquisitely controlled choir. Lastly, Eppur si muove is a tour de force for organ, full of changes and contrasts recalling Nielsen’s epic Commotio, and culminating in a massive passacaglia, imaginatively registered on the Winchester Cathedral organ by Iain Quinn.

-- Roderic Dunnett, BBC Music Magazine

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Robert Simpson (2 March 1921 – 21 November 1997) was an English composer and long-serving BBC producer and broadcaster. He studied composition under Herbert Howells. Simpson is best known for his orchestral and chamber music, and for his writings on the music of Beethoven, Bruckner, Nielsen and Sibelius. He wrote 11 symphonies as well as concertos for violin, piano, flute and cello. His extensive output of chamber music comprised 15 string quartets, 2 string quintets, a clarinet quintet, piano trio, clarinet trio, horn trio and violin sonata. The Robert Simpson Society was formed in 1980.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Simpson_(composer)

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Matthew Best (born 6 February 1957) is an English bass singer and choral conductor. Best founded Corydon Singers in 1973 which achieved recognition as one of the foremost choirs in Britain. Their numerous recordings, all for Hyperion Records and under Matthew Best's direction, earned the approval of the press in Britain, Europe, the United States, Japan and elsewhere. From 1985, he was also a guest conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra. He is currently engaged as Music Director of the Academy Choir Wimbledon and as a Principal Study singing teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Best_(conductor)

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