Ikon Arts News

Handel in Oxford 2006 opens with a concert given by The Symphony of Harmony and Invention, which will feature two of Handel's most popular works, the Water Music Suites and the Music for the Royal Fireworks together with the overture from Jephtha. Centrepiece at this year's Festival is the oratorio Alexander's Feast performed by The Sixteen, The Symphony of Harmony and Invention and soloists Susan Gritton, James Gilchrist and Ben Davies. Included in the oratorio are two concertos both of which will be performed on the organ by Alastair Ross.

The Festival also sees one of the most popular countertenors of all time, Michael Chance, give a masterclass based on Castrato roles. In addition, novelist, Jamila Gavin, will talk about her award winning book Coram Boy, its transition from page to stage for the recent Royal National Theatre production, and how Handel came to feature so prominently in the story.

Continuing a festival tradition, the Sunday morning chamber concert will showcase one of The Sixteen's talented young soloists. Soprano Elin Manahan Thomas will be accompanied by members of The Symphony of Harmony and Invention for a performance of some of Handel's most beautiful Italian secular cantatas

TONUS PEREGRINUS release their latest CD recording on Naxos records, entitled Hymns and Songs of the Church, focusing on the first English hymnbook by Orlando Gibbons, and with new realisations and original settings by Antony Pitts and Alexander L'Estrange that has immediate appeal; the music is simultaneously published as sheet music online at TONUS PEREGRINUS' website.

The new Naxos disc from TONUS PEREGRINUS starts where The Naxos Book of Carols reached its climax, after gradually opening a sonic Advent Calendar with one carol for each of the first 24 days of December: Hymns and Songs of the Church traces the liturgical year from Christmas Day itself right round to the beginning of Advent, where it all starts again. Orlando Gibbons' exquisite tunes and rock-solid bass-lines are realised in this unique recording which features voices, an early English chamber organ, and electric bass.

"I always said the most fascinating beautiful little piece in all of music is a hymn by Orlando Gibbons, by the name Thus Angels Sang" said 20th-century icon Glenn Gould. "I couldn't count the times I've let these bars wander through my mind or how often I've played them on the piano". This new disc is believed to be the first complete recording of all of the hymn melodies ascribed to Orlando Gibbons and included in [The] Hymnes and Songs of the Church as it was originally published by George Wither in 1623. Specially realised by Antony Pitts and Alexander L'Estrange, the collection is interleaved with new English hymns linked directly to the performers on this recording, TONUS PEREGRINUS. Often compared to the mass appeal of John Rutter, Antony Pitts' compositions are at the forefront of England's choral tradition, and have "the potential to be a real runaway success" (Gramophone Magazine, August 2005).

This new CD release continues a series of milestones of Western music – specially commissioned recordings by Naxos from TONUS PEREGRINUS. From the first-ever polyphony and music in four-parts (Leonin & Perotin: Sacred Music from Notre Dame Cathedral) to the first Passion setting (St Luke Passion, 15th century); from the first-ever polyphonic mass setting (Mass of Tournai, 14th century) to the first opera (Adam de la Halle; Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion). "All the recordings that we have made for Naxos, starting with Arvo Pärt's Passio, have not only been of incredibly beautiful music but are also milestones in the history of Western Classical music, each with their own challenges of how to be both authentic and original," says Antony Pitts. "It is a wonderful adventure exploring this monumental music and bringing it home to all kinds of new audiences."

In another first for the group, TONUS PEREGRINUS has also just posted their first podcast, discussing the making of their new CD, and is available to download from their website - http://www.tonusperegrinus.co.uk/.

Full texts and scores of the music of Hymns and Songs of the Church are available at http://www.tonusperegrinus.co.uk/, while The Naxos Book of Carols is published as a carol-book (with free CD) by Faber Music and is widely available.

Hymns and Songs of the Church is available now from all good record shops and from Amazon.co.uk