NMC SONGBOOK NMC D150 - 4 CD Box Set Artists: Claire Booth, Ailish Tynan, Elizabeth Atherton soprano Susan Bickley, Loré Lixenberg, Jean Rigby mezzo-soprano James Bowman, Michael Chance, Andrew Watts countertenor Andrew Kennedy, Daniel Norman, Benjamin Hulett tenor Stefan Loges, Roderick Williams, George Mosley, Richard Jackson David Stout baritone; Andrew Swait, Sam Harris treble Iain Burnside, Andrew Ball, Andrew Plant, Andrew West, Michael Finnissy, Huw Watkins, Jonathan Powell piano Lucy Wakeford harp; Jane Chapman harpsichord Owen Gunnell percussion; Antonis Hatzinikolaou guitar COMPOSERS to name a few James Dillon, Jonathan Harvey, Tansy Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, James MacMillan, Huw Watkins, Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr, Gordon Crosse, Michael Berkeley, Judith Weir, Julian Anderson, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Howard Skempton, Robin Holloway, Roxanna Panufnik, Tarik O'Regan, Thea Musgrave, Michael Finnissy, Gerald Barry, Stuart MacRae, John McCabe, Luke Bedford, Colin Matthews 'This extraordinary project confirms the robust health and endlessly varied landscape of Britain's new music.   There is no other document anywhere that has given such a snapshot of an artistic community that, while comprised of a hundred different ways of expressing itself, is of one voice when it comes to creative energy.' JOHN ADAMS To mark its 20th Anniversary in 2009 NMC Recordings has commissioned the NMC Songbook.   Nearly 100 composers, ranging from the country's most highly regarded figures to the younger generation of emerging talents, have each written a song, loosely themed on 'Britain' and scored for single voice or duet and a range of accompanying instruments.   Songs are interspersed with instrumental interludes from an arrangement of a Galliard by Thomas Morley, specially made for the Songbook by NMC's Executive Producer, composer Colin Matthews. The songs have been set to text chosen by the composers and cover a vast array of subjects, from traditional poems by Blake and Byron through to a list of the Kings and Queens of England, extracts from a National Trust brochure, chants from the Leyton Orient terraces, a whisky recipe, and a colourful rant about our consumerist society. • The first recording to be made at the new state-of-the-art concert hall at Kings Place, London • 4-CD set with special packaging and a 60-page booklet. • Available as digital download. • Podcasts by featured composers and singers. • Launch concerts, featuring performances of some of the songs, in London's newest venue, Kings Place, April 1-4 2009. • Digital publication of the Songbook sheet music. • Education workshops, composition and interpretation competitions at Guildhall and Royal Academy of Music. DISC ONE 01. DAVID SAWER The Source   1'55 02. LUKE BEDFORD Upon St. George's Hill   1'36 03. ANTHONY POWERS Shining Plain   3'55 04. GARY CARPENTER interlude   1'25 05. JONATHAN COLE tss-k-haa   3'11 06. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 1   1'04 07. ANTHONY GILBERT Those Fenny Bells   3'56 08. PHILIP CASHIAN Daisy's Song   2'02 09. NICOLA LEFANU The Bourne   3'27 10. NICHOLAS SACKMAN Maiden in the moor   2'40 11. JOHN WHITE Houses and Gardens in the Heart of England   2'31 12. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 2   1'28 13. HARRISON BIRTWISTLE This Silence before light   2'39 14. JULIAN PHILIPS Blist's Hill   2'38 15. ANNA MEREDITH Fin like a Flower   2'13 16. JOE DUDDELL Cease Sorrows Now   3'11 17. ALISON BAULD Titania's Song   3'34 18. DONNACHA DENNEHY Swift's Epitaph   2'49 19. HELEN GRIME Nobody Comes   3'34 20. JOHN MCCABE A Cat   2'59 21. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 3   1'46 22. MICHAEL FINNISSY Outside Fort Tregantle   3'17 23. PHILLIP NEIL MARTIN Blaze of Noon   4'01 24. JOE CUTLER Bands   2'31 25. JAMES MACMILLAN Mouth of the Dumb   3'55 26. JONATHAN POWELL Stanzas 1814   2'34 27. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 4   1'33 28. HUGH WOOD Easter   2'06 Disc 1 total timing   74 '36 DISC TWO 01. GORDON CROSSE Dirge from Cymbeline   3'19 02. DAVID HORNE A curious thirsty fly   2'19 03. RACHEL LEACH Out of Town   3'2l 04. RICHARD CAUSTON English Encouragement of Art   1'02 05. DAVID BLAKE A Swallow   2'58 06. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 5   1'42 07. ROBERT SAXTON The beach in winter: Scratby (For Jess)   2'30 08. JULIAN ANDERSON lucretius   3'14 09. JAMES DILLON Upon the cloudy night   3'15 10. SADIE HARRISON Easter Zunday   3'49 11. PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Labyrinth to Light   2'43 12. EDWARD RUSHTON With my Whip   2'43 13. SIMON HOLT Raju Raghuvanshi is a Ghost   3'40 14. THEA MUSGRAVE A Winter's Morning   3'20 15. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 6   1'06 16. TARIK O'REGAN Darkness Visible   3'46 17. EMILY HALL A Simple Neo-Georgian Summer   1'43 18. PETER WIEGOLD A Cause for Wonder   3'43 19. EMILY HOWARD Wild Clematis in Winter   2'39 20. BAYAN NORTHCOTT Poet and Star   2'41 21. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 7   1'47 22. RUPERT BAWDEN Vocalise - Loch Lurgainn in the Sunshine   2'15 23. RODERICK WILLIAMS A Coat   2'58 24. JULIAN GRANT Know Thy Kings and Queens   2'13 25. ROBERT KEELEY Because I breathe not love to everyone   x3'12 26. TANSY DAVIES Destroying Beauty   2'11 27. PHILIP GRANGE First Known When lost   2'20 28. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 8   1'25 29. BLÁAR KINDSDOTTIR haiku   1'28 Disc 2 total timing   75'36 DISC THREE 01. BRIAN ELIAS Meet Me in the Green Glen   3'12 02. LLOYD MOORE Music, thou Queen of Souls   1'44 03. DAVID MATTHEWS Plover's Peak   3'11 04. JEREMY DALE ROBERTS Spoken to a Bronze Head   4'06 05. JONATHAN LLOYD The Greenwood's Lament   3'11 06. DIANA BURRELL Love Song (for yoga)   1'43 07. JOHN CASKEN Night and Morning   3'17 08. DANIEL BASFORD Hour-glass   3'35 09. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 9   1'07 10. HUW WATKINS Proud Maisie   1'42 11. LYELL CRESSWELL A Recipe for Whisky   3'28 12. MICHAEL BERKELEY Echo: hommage à Francis Poulenc   3'30 13. ROGER MARSH lullaby   2'46 14. DAI FUJIKURA Lake Side   2'37 15. RICHARD BAKER English Lullaby   2'43 16. STEPHEN MONTAGUE The Poison Tree   2'39 17. JUDITH BINGHAM She walks in beauty like the night   3'33 18. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 10   1'48 19. CHRISTOPHER FOX The True Standard Advanced   2'15 20. ROXANNA PANUFNIK That Mighty Heart   2'51 21. CHRISTOPHER MAYO The Fitful Alternations of the Rain   2'45 22. ERROLLYN WALLEN Free   4'08 23. CHRIS DENCH An Hypollage   3'17 24. EDWIN ROXBURGH A Dangerous Crossing   2'54 25. DAVID BEDFORD The Romon Centurion's Song   3'16 26. LUKE STONEHAM 25   3'07 27. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 11   1'25 28. MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE Bellamy   l'14 Disc 3 total timing   77'23 DISC FOUR 01. JONATHAN HARVEY Ah! Sun-flower   1'56 02. JUDITH WEIR Blackbirds and Thrushes   2'48 03. STUART MACRAE The lif of this World   3'42 04. GERALD BARRY The Importance of Being Earnest   2'05 05. MARTIN BUTLER London   3'37 06. COLIN MATTHEWS Out in the Dark   2'l8 07. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 12   1'26 08. GAVIN BRYARS Old Man and Sea   4'50 09. ALEXANDER GOEHR Ulysses' Admonition to Achilles   3'32 10. CLAUDIA MOLITOR My favourite sound   2'51 11. JOHN WOOLRICH Stendhal's Observation   1'58 12. HOWARD SKEMPTON Silence on Ullswater   0'53 13. GEOFFREY POOLE Heynonnynonny Smallprint   4'17 14. JOSEPH PHIBBS The Moon's Funeral   3'20 15. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Version 13   1'29 16. JULIA SIMPSON Bees a-zwarmen   2'03 17. SIMON BAINBRIDGE Sonnet XVIII   3'18 18. ROBIN HOLLOWAY Go, lovely Rose   4'06 19. JORDAN HUNT An Aesthetic of Lines   2'45 20. GILES SWAYNE I look into my glass   2'12 21. ANTHONY PAYNE Ghost Train   4'07 22. MORGAN HAYES A Dictionary of London   3'10 23. BEN FOSKETT Driving   2'02 24. THOMAS MORLEY Galliard: Complete Version   3'09 25. BRYN HARRISON An Oblique   345 Disc 4 total timing   71'50 NMC Recordings are distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading, P.O.Box 44, Briar Hill, Vic, 3088, Australia Telephone (03) 9432 4149 ~ Facsimile (03) 9444 6879