CDs
| Laudate - Radnor Sings - Five Seasons |
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Appealing and approachable fare by this increasingly popular composer. Gramophone 2010 | Dutton Epoch CDLX 7230
Rachel Nicholls, soprano
Katherine Allen, mezzo-soprano
City of Canterbury Chamber Choir
Orchestra Nova
George Vass, conductor
Laudate (2008)
I have done what is mine to do (2006)
Now may we singen, a carol for Christmas (2007)
Radnor Songs, words by Simon Mundy (2005, revised 2009)
A Canterbury Mass (2007)
Five Seasons, words by Christie Dickason (2006)
CD is available at £10.00 (including P&P) direct from the composer or from Dutton Labs at £9.99 (plus £1.25 P&P), or from all main retailers.
Released 2009
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NEW - Gramophone review.
Dutton's fourth anthology devoted to Cecilia McDowall launches in delightful fashion with Laudate (2008), an exuberant and ingratiating setting of Psalm 112. The present account under George Vass's sympathetic lead finds mezzo Katherine Allen in fine form - as, for that matter, are Vass's own combined City of Canterbury Chamber Choir and Orchestra Nova cohorts. Choir and orchestra join forces again in the 2006 'green cantata', Five Seasons, another involving and readily assimilable canvas designed as a 'celebration of the organic landscape in the 21st century' to words by the theatre director, novelist and poet Christie Dickason. We also get three a capella offerings, the most ambitious being A Canterbury Mass, a missa brevis written in 2007 and Now may we singen . . irresistible, certainly has the potential for widespread appeal.
I have, however, left the best till last. Specially orchestrated for this recording, Radnor Songs comprises six powerfully imaginative and strikingly resourceful settings of poetry by Simon Mundy. Not only do the words and music serve up an absorbing and moving exploration of the ancient past of this once bustling and prosperous corner of the Welsh marches, but they also effortlessly convey the overwhelming natural beauty of the region. Soprano Rachel Nicholls is in gorgeous voice and she enjoys customary alert support from Vass and his useful band.
With consistently top-notch sonics and helpful presentation, this well-filled and most enterprising collection earns a strong recommendation. |
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| Chaconne Brass - Dancing in the Dark |
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| Deux-Elles DXL1141
Cecilia McDowall: Tango Oscuro
Music by Richard Baker, Torbjörn Hultmark, Vagn Holmboe and Edward Longstaff
Released 2010
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| Spotless Rose - Hymns to the Virgin Mary |
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| Chandos CHSA 5066
Phoenix Chorale
Charles Bruffy, conductor
Cecilia McDowall: Three Latin Motets - Ave Regina; Ave Maria; Regina Caeli
Music by Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells, Stephen Paulus, Javier Busto, Healey Willan and Jean Belmont Ford
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| Cecilia McDowall Choral Music CD CDLX 7197 |
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| Released on the Dutton Epoch label 2007
Works included are the substantial Stabat Mater (2004) which was short-listed for the British Composer Awards in 2005; On Angel's Wing (a setting of a poem by John Clare.) Both works are performed by the City of Canterbury Chamber Choir, Orchestra Nova, conducted by George Vass. Lonely Hearts, for equal voice choir, has been re-scored for chamber ensemble (Orchestra Nova Ensemble) and is sung by the St Catherine Singers, Haberdasher's Askes' Girls School and the South Hampstead High School Singers. The Joyful Company of Singers, conductor Peter Broadbent, perform the a cappella works: Ave Regina, Ave Maria, and Regina Caeli (short-listed for the British Composer Awards in 2005), published by OUP; the Advent carol, Annunciation, and the Vesper Hymn, Deus, qui claro lumine.
The music was recorded in St Giles Church, Cripplegate, London, on 2/3March 2007 and the CD is available at £10.00 (including P&P) direct from the composer or from Dutton Labs at £9.99 (plus £1.25 P&P), or from all main retailers.
THREE LATIN MOTETS  Ave Regina
THREE LATIN MOTETS Ave Maria
THREE LATIN MOTETS Regina Caeli
STABAT MATER Stabat Mater dolorosa
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In 55 bars the compression and economy of Cecilia McDwall's Ave Regina are impressive, but so too is the sense of spaciousness. The structure is underwritten by recurring appoggiaturas - bitter-sweets - supplying also a particularly characteristic flavour. being slightly polytonal, tuning would have to be very accurate, but it would be well worth the effort in this sumptuous music where expressive highlighting of key words gleams like episodes in a Chagall window.
Choir and Organ 2006 |
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| Cecilia McDowall Orchestral and Chamber Music |
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This winning release offers finely polished and well-recorded accounts of some of Cecilia McDowall's most compelling pieces. The life-affirming, restorative strength of her direct and unaffected speech is fully communicated in these carefully prepared, joyous performances.
Tempo 2006 | Dutton Laboratories CDLX 7159
Paul Archibald, Nicola Eimer, Freya Ritts-Kirby, Benjamin Griffiths, Amy Dickson, The Tippett Quartet and Orchestra Nova, conducted by George Vass.
Seraphim
Dance the dark streets
Dancing fish
Not Just a Place
Dream City
The case of the unanswered wire
Released 2005
Cecilia McDowall is another of the new generation of highly communicative musicians who, though often inspired by extramusical influences, favours writing which, without being in any way facile, is brightly cogent, freshly witty and expressive in its own right. She constantly tweaks the ear with her range of spicy rhythms and colours, then suddenly produces a highly atmospheric and grippingly expressive interlude which is just as compelling.
Performances here are immaculate, full of life, and above all consistently reveal the composer's imaginative resource. Not surprisingly Mike Dutton's recordings are first-class. Well worth exploring if you enjoy a piquant musical vocabulary, underpinned by moments of pure lyricism.
The Gramophone 2006
SERAPHIM Blow your trumpets
DANCE THE DARK STREETS Haar Whirlwind
DANCING FISH
NOT JUST A PLACE
DREAM CITY Walking the line Before the snow I had to dance
THE CASE OF THE UNANSWERED WIRE
CD is available at £10.00 (including P&P) direct from the composer or from Dutton Labs at £9.99 (plus £1.25 P&P), or from all main retailers.
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| Cecilia McDowall Choral Music |
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| Beautifully prepared and played, this is music making of the highest calibre.
Well worth seeking out.
The Gramophone 2005
Ave maris stella
Magnificat
Christus natus est
Fancy of Folksongs
Ave maris stella is a splendidly original setting for solo soprano, chorus and string orchestra . . . I love it and think you will, also. Christus natus est is a hit: an absolute delight from start to finish, scored for mixed chorus, children's choir and small orchestra.
International Record Review 2005
Dutton Epoch
CDLX 7146
Released 2004
AVE MARIS STELLA
MAGNIFICAT Magnificat Ecce enim Quia fecit
CHRISTUS NATUS EST Personent Hodie Entre le boeuf Gaudete Infant Holy Angelus
A FANCY OF FOLKSONGS O, no John!
DOWNLOAD THIS CD
CD is available at £10.00 (including P&P) direct from the composer or from Dutton Labs at £9.99 (plus £1.25 P&P), or from all main retailers.
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| out of the cool |
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| Metier msv28510
Susan Milan, flute
Andrew Ball, piano
Cecilia McDowall: The Moon Dances
Music by Richard Rodney Bennett, Robert Saxton, Arthur Butterworth, David Heath and Brian Lock
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The Moon Dances is not a relation of John Adams's Chairman. I will say though that this versatile and enjoyable piece opens with bright energy, and takes in a carnivalesque element. The slow movement establishes a darkening mien. I's crepuscular and insinuating and the flute's 'lost in the forest' tone, plaintive and regretful, is eventually displaced by the firefly glitter of the finale. Music Web (Jonathan Woolf) 2009
The Moon Dances by Cecilia McDowell is more tonal in style, with strong dance-style rhythms and a dialogue between the instruments. The first movement is energetic and boisterous, while the evocative slow movement uses extended techniques such as pitch bends and tongue-rams to create a sense of magical stillness. The final movement is the most dissonant, with rapid gestures and sparkling coruscations between the instruments.
Music Web (Carla Rees) 2009 |
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| The Feminine Flute |
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| Dutton CDLX 7193
Christine Hankin, flute
Tim Murray, piano
Cecilia McDowall: Not just a place (1999, revised 2001/2006)
Music by Claude Arrieu, Anne Boyd, Elizabeth Maconchy, Cécile Chaminade, Elisabeth Lutyens, Lili Boulanger, Sofia Gubaidulina and Amanda Jane Fox.
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| A Song More Silent: new works for Remembrance |
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| Avie AV 2147
Michael Chance, countertenor
Carolyn Dobbin, mezzo soprano
Alexandra Stevenson, soprano
Sophie Bevan, soprano
Ben Johnson, tenor
Dawid Kimberg, baritone
Sebastian Comberti, cello
Paul Archibald, trumpet
The Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir
The London Mozart Players
Nicolae Moldoveanu, conductor
Cecilia McDowall's Ave maris stella is featured alongside music by Lynne Plowman, Tarik O'Regan and Sally Beamish.
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| Fire Island - Music for Flute |
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| Dutton CDLX 7210
Anna Noakes (flute)
Caroline Palmer (piano)
Justin Pearson (cello)
Cecilia McDowall:
The Moon Dances for flute and piano (2003)
Not Just a Place for flute, cello and piano (1999 rev. 2004)
(world premiere recordings)
Music by Martin Yates, David Heath and Astor Piazzolla
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| Piper's Dream |
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| 'Cecilia McDowall's music is superbly crafted, unpretentious but sincere, and supremely communicative.' - Hubert Culot, MusicWeb UK, August 2002, writing about the new CD of McDowall's Chamber Music with Richard Shaw (piano), Emma Williams (flute) and the exciting new chamber group, Ensemble Lumière, which was released on the Deux-Elles (Piper's Dream, DXL 1033) label on 5 June 2002.
ELEVEN TAPSALTEERIE VESPERS IN VENICE
LE TEMPS VIENDRA PAVANE PIPER'S DREAM
WINTER MUSIC Andante
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| Homage a Lorca - In search of Duende |
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| Meridian Records CDE 84513
Siân Philipps, violin
Sophia Rahman, piano
Cecilia McDowall: Not Just a Place
Music by Revueltas, Hawkins, Poulenc, Sotelo, Franck and Crumb.
Released 2005
NOT JUST A PLACE
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| A Garland for Presteigne |
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A Garland for Presteigne was released in August 2004 on the Metronome label (MET CD 1065) and features a new song for soprano by Cecilia McDowall, The Buzzard. | Twelve new songs, including works by Michael Berkeley, John McCabe and David Matthews, were commissioned by the Presteigne Festival for the first performance at the 2003 Festival and are a glorious celebration of the Welsh borders. The Buzzard, sung by Canadian soprano Gillian Keith, accompanied by Simon Lepper, is a setting of a poem by the distinguished writer and poet, Simon Mundy. The CD, price £10, is available direct from The Presteigne Festival.
Metronome MET CD 1065
2004
THE BUZZARD
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| The Spirit of St Martin's |
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| Karuna Records
Karuna 114
Released 2004
The Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Nicholas Danks, director
David Hirst, organ
Mark McGrath, organ
Cecilia McDowall: St Martin's Magnificat
Music by Handel, HCL Stocks, Nicholas Danks, Robert Walker, Paul Stubbings, Purcell, Tallis, Vaughan Williams, Richard Peat, Stanford, Howells, Arvo Pärt and Philip Moore
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| Hotfoot |
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| London Flutes released their new CD Hotfoot in June 2004, named after one of their signature pieces by Cecilia McDowall. This début CD contains works for both flute quartet and solo flute, including première recordings by Jean Michel Damase, Matthew Wright and Cecilia McDowall. To purchase your copy of the CD please contact URM Audio or email info AT londonflutes DOT com.
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| Piano 40 |
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| Regent Records REGCD194
Cecilia McDowall: Piano Forty
Works by Brian Chapple, Rory Boyle, Richard Nye, Charles Camilleri, Andrew Peggie and John Paynter
Released 2003
PIANO FORTY
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| New Ground - seven world premiere recordings |
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| Oboe Classics
CC2003
Released 2002
Paul Goodey, oboe and cor anglais
Sally Mays, piano
Tim Palmer, percussion
Linda Hirst, voice
Cecilia McDowall: White Fox Woman
Music by Paul Goodey, Michael Oliva, David Sutton-Anderson, Graham Fitkin, Edwin Roxburgh and Timothy Salter
WHITE FOX WOMAN
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| Bright Future - Schubert Ensemble |
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| Committed playing throughout by the Schubert Ensemble ... those who've already acquired the earlier volume need not hesitate: an ideal starting-point to experience the rewards of Chamber Music 2000. - Gramophone 2003
NMC D080
Released 2002
A DRAUGHT OF FISHES
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