Charlotte Bray At the Speed of Stillness Aldeburgh World Orchestra - Sir Mark Elder conductor Lucy Schaufer mezzo-soprano, Alexandra Wood violin Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Huw Watkins piano - Oliver Knussen conductor Claire Booth soprano - Andrew Matthews-Owen piano NMC D202 • Celebrating 25 years of NMC Recordings. Discover — Connect — Challenge — Inspire • Debut Discs is a 4-year series in collaboration with BA (Hons) Graphic Design students at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design who have designed the cover artwork for the series. • Debut Discs has the ambassadorial support of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. • Releases in the series also feature the composers Huw Watkins, Dai Fujikura, Sam Hayden, Richard Causton, Joseph Phibbs, Helen Grime and Ben Foskett. At the Speed of Stillness, commissioned by Aldeburgh World Orchestra, explores paradoxes of energy and movement: 'the hummingbird motionless as a star' (in Dora Maar's description), or the contained energy of a power station.   Caught in Treetops, a violin concerto written for Alexandra Wood and BCMG, takes its inspiration from two poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Federico García Lorca, while also drawing on the relentless energy of Sonny Rollins. Two song-cycles make explicit Bray's close relationship with poetry: Fire Burning in Snow sets three poems by Nicki Jackowska exploring desire, obsession and loss - also the subject of Songs from 'Yellow Leaves', a sequence of haikus based on Shakespeare's sonnets.   The album is completed by the energetic piano quartet Replay, and Oneiroi, a dark study for piano. 1. At the Speed of Stillness     11’14     Aldeburgh World Orchestra     Sir Mark Elder conductor     Fire Burning in Snow     10'45 2. Moonshot     5'26 3. Loose Ends     2'54 4. Occupations     2'25     Lucy Schaufer mezzo-soprano     Birmingham Contemporary Music Group 5. Oneiroi     9'33      Huw Watkins piano       Songs from Yellow Leaves     11'33   7. Still Standing     2'00   8. Collusion     3'32   9. While the bell tolls…     2'26 10. Farewell     2'23 11. Old Tales     1'12       Claire Booth soprano       Andrew Matthews-Owen piano       Caught in Treetops     16'49 12. Part 1     10'46 13. Part 2     6’03       Alexandra Wood violin       Birmingham Contemporary Music Group 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