NMC Recordings featuring the works of Edward ELGAR   ~   Brian ELIAS   ~   David FENNESSY   ~   Brian FERNEYHOUGH   ~   Edmund FINNIS   ~   Michael FINNISSY Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)__________________NMC D052 Sketches for Symphony No.3       ARCHIVE Anthony Payne, narrator • David Owen Morris, piano - Robert Gibbs, violin • BBC Symphony Orchestra • Andrew Davis, conductor This companion CD to the complete work (NMC D053) documents all of the sketches left by Elgar which Anthony Payne employed in order to elaborate the Third Symphony. Orchestral drafts, passages for which Elgar wrote out a violin part to be played by his friend W H Reed with himself accompanying, and sketches laid out as piano score, all contribute to the rich material Elgar left behind at his death in 1934. They are brought back to life by pianist David Owen Norris, Robert Gibbs playing Reed's own violin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with a commentary from Anthony Payne. Edward ELGAR (1857-1934) elaborated by Anthony PAYNE______NMC D053 Symphony No.3       ARCHIVE BBC Symphony Orchestra • Andrew Davis, conductor 'A triumph… Payne has caught the composer's instantly recognisable palette to perfection and Davis demonstrates his own faith in the work in the sense of control he brings to his performance' BBC Music Magazine 'It sounds like Elgar. It feels like Elgar. But the most important thing is that it has the powerful impact of new Elgar, living and breathing as his Third Symphony might have done if he had survived to complete it.' The Daily Telegraph ClASSIC CD AWARD WINNER 1998 • GRAMOPHONE AWARD NOMINATION 1998 • BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE CRITICS' CHOICE 1998 • THE INDEPENDENT PICK OF 1998. THE TIMES PICK OF 1998 Brian ELIAS (b. 1948)_______________________NMC D064 Laments Five Ratushinskaya Songs • Laments Mary King, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo-sopranos • BBC Singers • BBC Symphony Orchestra • Martyn Brabbins, Tadaaki Otaka, conductors These are two serious and involving song-cycles of and for our time' International Record Review 'A musical language of unabashed expressive intensity' BBC Music Magazine Brian ELIAS (b. 1948)_______________________NMC D173 The House That Jack Built The House That Jack Built • A Talisman • Doubles Tim Mirfin, bass-baritone • BBC Symphony Orchestra • Jiri Belohlávek, Martyn Brabbins, Sir Andrew Davis, conductors 'Purely as psychodrama, The House is gripping.   But what makes it really memorable is the clarity and vigour of Elias's orchestral writing. …' - The Times More Information Brian ELIAS (b. 1948)_______________________NMC D235 Electra Mourns Geranos • Meet me in the Green Glen • Once did I breathe another's breath • Electra Mourns Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano • Roderick Williams, baritone •Iain Burnside, piano • Nicholas Daniel, cor anglais • Psappha, Nicholas Kok conductor • Britten Sinfonia, Clark Rundell conductor More Information David FENNESSY (b.)_______________________NMC D244 Panopticon Panopticon • Piano Trio • 13 Factories • Hirta Rounds Munich Chamber Orchestra • Ensemble Modern - Johannes Kalitzke, conductor • Psappha • Hebrides Ensemble More Information Brian FERNEYHOUGH (b. 1943)_____________NMC D123 Shadowtime       2 CD Set Nicolas Hodges, piano • Mats Scheidegger, guitar • Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart • Nieuw Ensemble • Jurjen Hempel, conductor 'This inventive score, vividly performed under Jurjen Hempel, amply rewards exploration' The Observer 'This is the best possible recording of Shadowtime that one could wish for and with a clarity of detail within all aspects of the perfomance that aids understanding more of the libretto than anticipated: not just the fantastic rhythmic narration of that extraordinary pianist Nicolas Hodges, but the complex vocal settings' Classical Source Brian FERNEYHOUGH (b. 1943)_____________NMC D231 La Terre est un Homme Liber Scintillarum • Plötzlichkeit • Missa Brevis • La Terre est un Homme Olivia Robinson soprano • Jennifer Adams-Barbaro soprano • Cherith Millburn-Fryer alto • ensemble recherche • EXAUDI, James Weeks conductor • BBC Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins conductor More Information Edmund FINNIS (b.)________________________NMC D249 The Air, Turning The Air, Turning • Elsewhere • Parallel Colour • Between Rain • Four Duets • Shades Lengthen Mark Simpson, clarinet •| Víkingur Ólafsson, piano • Eloisa-Fleur Thom, violin • Benjamin Beilman, violin • BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra - Ilan Volkov, conductor • Birmingham Contemporary Music Group - Richard Baker, conductor • London Contemporary Orchestra - Robert Ames, conductor • Britten Sinfonia - Andrew Gourlay, conductor More Information Michael FINNISSY (b. 1946)_________________NMC D180 Second and Third String Quartets Second String Quartets • Third String Quartets Kreutzer Quartet More Information Michael FINNISSY (b. 1946)_________________NMC D110 Maldon Anima Christi • Descriptive Jottings of London • Forget-me-not • Maldon • Palm-Sunday • Vertue EXAUDI • James Weeks, director 'An enthralling disc… this music grips heart, mind and imagination alike. Finnissy's choral works are essentially an exploration of collective memory, drawing on a rich mixture of influences, sources, evocations and archetypes. EXAUDI are stunning advocates… the soloists are outstanding. This is compulsive listening for admirers of Finnissy, and will win many converts to his music' BBC Music Magazine Michael FINNISSY (b. 1946)_________________NMC D043 Mars + Venus Enek • Mars+Venus • Traum des Sängers • WAM IXION • Michael Finnissy, conductor 'A vital addition to the catalogue and perhaps the best possible introduction to the music of one of Britain's most distinctive compositional talents' Gramophone 'An outstanding disc, probably the most impressive Finnissy disc available' Classic CD GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE Michael FINNISSY (b. 1946)_________________NMC D040S Red Earth       CD SINGLE BBC Symphony Orchestra • Martyn Brabbins, conductor 'On one level it is an evocation of the vast spaces of the Australian desert… on another it is a metaphysical journey through the emotions… First and foremost, though, it is a hugely impressive feat of orchestral writing' BBC Music Magazine 'Finnissy's Red Earth is built from shifting blocks, smears and shocks of sound. It develops through primaeval evolutions — eruptions, blossomings, ominous undulations — rather than crafted convolutions, demanding an appreciation of nature's ageless, forbidding beauty' Classic CD 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