CDs

Welcome to our CDs page, where we provide information about the CDs that we have produced. This page will be updated as projects are completed.

All our CDs are available for purchase in two ways. (We regret that we are currently no longer able to accept cheques or Postal Orders).

You may order using a credit or debit card direct from us - please click on SHOP in the menu bar above
Our CDs are also available from some shops and independent retailers in the UK: please ask those local to you to see if they stock what you require.

CD 8 - A Treble's Voice

Oliver Barton, Treble, with Christopher Barton, Piano

A boy treble's voice is a wonderful thing, and when trained to Oliver's level of technical ability and combined with an innate musicianship, the result can be breath-taking.
This is a stunning CD!

Music on the CD:
1 A New Year Carol - Britten
2 Rune of Hospitality - Rubbra
3 Corpus Christi Carol - Britten
4 A Summer Day - Simon Mold
5 Merciless Day - Simon Mold
6 My House - from "Peter Pan" - Bernstein
7 Oh what a beautiful morning - Rodgers
8 Where is Love? - from "Oliver" - Bart
9 Long John Silver's Song - from "The Island of Benjamin Gunn" - Simon Slater
10 Deck the Halls* & Scrooge's Song - from "Scrooge" - Simon Slater
11 Old Mister Noah - Nina Perry
12 Cuando se quiere - Roig
13-17 A selection of songs from "Tales of London Town" - Burtch
18 An die Musik - Schubert
19 Der blinde Knabe - Schubert
20 Staendchen - Schubert

* for this track, the opening chorus was sung by children from Lowes Wong Junior School, Southwell.

CD 7 - Organ Masterworks from St Albans

This CD was released in 2013 in time for the 50th St Albans International Organ Festival.

"Tom Winpenny's performance is outstanding... Listeners will be amazed at the sounds which so vividly bring this music alive. A "must-have" if ever there were one." Paul Hale, July 2013

For our second organ CD we visited the newly-refurbished organ at St Albans cathedral and recorded six pieces, two of them being amongst the mightiest works in the repertoire. They were performed by Tom Winpenny, one of the leading organists of his generation, and the combination of the wonderful instrument, Tom's brilliance of execution and the great music he plays is sure to make this CD a favourite among all who love organ music.

Music on this CD:

1 Liszt - Prelude and Fugue on BACH (original 1855 version)
2 Liszt - Aus tiefer Not (after BWV 38)
3 Liszt - Adagio (after BWV 1017)
4 Liszt - Einleitung und Fuge (after BWV 21)
5 Liszt - Ave Maria von Arcadelt
6 Reubke - Sonata on the 94th Psalm

Listen to Tom playing the final two minutes of Reubke's 94th Psalm Sonata.

CD 6 - "Adventures with Alkan"

Awaited with much interest by pianists and lovers of piano music, this, our sixth CD, is now available.

Private reviews have been glowing in their praise, and we have now received a superb official review from the British Alkan Society. Please check our "reviews" pages - link top left - for reviews of all our CDs to date.

A clip with excerpts from "Scherzo Focoso", videoed during the recording, is also now available on YouTube - please see the link below.

CD 5 - "Folk on the Edge - a First Album"

Our first venture into the wonderfully exciting world of traditional folk music was something we had looked forward to for some time - and we were not disappointed on any step of the way during the preparation and recording of this superb CD - the fifth in our growing catalogue.Chris, Jim and Marielyn - all technically "amateur" musicians - showed both professionalism and musicianship of which many who make a living playing music would be proud. Their technical skill was awesome, their timing and "togetherness" impeccable and the depth of emotion and feeling that they manage to put into their music - much of which they have arranged themselves - made the recording session a sheer delight for all involved.

We recorded on site at the Grouse Inn at Froggatt Edge/Longshaw in the Derbyshire Peak District and have avoided any studio dubbing, enhancement and all but the most necessary editing - so what you hear is exactly what they play, usually every other Wednesday, for their own enjoyment and the pleasure of the Inn's customers.

The repertoire was chosen between us to be approachable, varied and interesting - and to give as wide a demonstration as possible in just over 60 minutes of the heritage, both vocal and instrumental, that folk musicians and songwriters from Britain and Ireland have left for us over the past three hundred odd years.

Whether you are a long-time connoisseur of traditional song and ballad or a newcomer to the genre, we are certain that you will love this CD at first hearing and will want to play it over and over again!

Having now put together this CD of traditional fare, we are now actively searching for something new and different in the same "folk" genre, for the future. So please keep an eye on this space - we hope to bring you something else unique in the folk music line before long...

The ARTISTS:

Jim Connolly - vocals, accordion, 12-string guitar, mandolin

Chris Cooper - main vocals, guitar, banjo

Marielyn Wright - bodhran, supporting vocals

For more information about the music and a full track listing of Folk on the Edge - a First Album, please click the button on the right.

CD 4 - "The Forgotten Romantic"

Lloyd Buck plays Bortkiewicz on Rachmaninov's piano.

Our fourth CD brings together three factors which, we're sure, will make it a must for anyone who loves the piano.

Firstly, there's the most glorious, romantic music from a genius composer who has only recently been receiving the recognition he deserves (two of his piano concertos were recorded in the summer of 2008, for release at the beginning of December). Sergei Bortkiewicz was a contemporary of Rachmaninov and lived from 1877 until 1953.

Secondly, there's the piano. We were able to obtain permission form the Bath Holburne Museum to record this music on the very piano that the great Rachmaninov chose from Steinway's showrooms at the beginning of the 20th century and which he played on all his concert tours of the UK.

Thirdly, there is the stunning technical skill and immense musicality of Lloyd, who received a rare Distinction in Performance for his Master's Degree at the RNCM.

For much more information about "The Forgotten Romantic" CD, please click the button on the right.

CD 3 - "Excelsior"

"Excelsior", our latest choral CD, is the result of a planning, collection, selection and production process that took nearly two years.

We knew that "out there somewhere" was much excellent music that, for various reasons, was not being heard. We wanted to do something positive about this, so we advertised, researched and talked to all our contacts and eventually got to look at hundreds of new pieces, from which we drew up a shortlist.

From this list, with help from others, we chose those we thought the most suitable for the project. We contacted several choirs with a view to recording, but unfortunately they were unable to fit in with our necessary timetable. So we decided to set up our very own - "Concordia".

The music was rehearsed and recorded in the lovely acoustic of All Saints' Church, Stand in Manchester - with its superb Nicholson organ - and the result is a stunning, 23 track CD of new or rarely before performed choral gems, conducted by Timothy Noon, former Director of Music at Liverpool's Roman catholic Cathedral.

For much more information on all the tracks and music on "Excelsior", please click on the button to the right.

CD 2 - 350 Years of Organ Masterworks

For our second CD we again visited Southwell Minster to take advantage both of the superb organs recently rebuilt and modified by Paul Hale and of the brilliance and virtuosity of the assistant organist there, Simon Bell. Simon later moved on to Winchester Cathedral where he held the position of Assistant Director of Music.

Choice of repertoire was all-important - we did not want to produce "just another organ music CD" - and we are convinced that we have avoided this and that we have again managed to create something very special.

In addition to the purely historical and educational value of producing a programme of masterpieces that show how organ composition developed between 1600 and 1950, there are also a couple of real surprises in the rarely recorded and hardly ever heard Krebs works.

Furthermore, there is an optional CD of a 15 minute conversation between our project manager and Paul Hale in which are discussed the works, the composers and the organs in much more detail than can be accommodated within a CD liner booklet.

This extra CD will be offered by us free of charge to anyone who is blind or has a visual impairment. Others who may wish to receive it are invited, if they can, to make a donation of £1.00 towards the cost of its production.

Total playing time: 69:46.

Track Listing:

1 Sweelinck - Variations on "Onder een linde groen"(5:16)

2 Buxtehude - Praeludium in F# minor (BuxWV 146) (7:07)

3 Bach - Fantasie & Fugue in C minor (BWV 537) (8:22)

4 Krebs - Fantasia on "Wachet Auf" for Trumpet & Organ (2:33)

5 Krebs - Fantasia in F minor for Oboe & Organ (4:33)

6 Mendelssohn (arr. Best) - St. Paul Overture (7:44)

7 Franck - Fantaisie in A (13:09)

8 Whitlock - Fanfare (7:06)

9 Howells - Master Tallis’s Testament (7:15)

10 Vierne - Carillon de Westminster (6:41)

Photo: Simon Bell, pictured at the entrance to the world-famous Chapter House in Southwell Minster.

We are pleased to be able to offer a short extract from one of the tracks on this CD. Please click the button on the right to hear Simon playing W.T. Best's majestic arrangement of Mendelssohn's "St. Paul" Overture on Southwell's magnificent screen organ.

CD 1 - Words of Comfort, Music of Peace

With a combination of Bible readings from St. John's Gospel and sacred choral music related to each reading, this beautifully-produced and unique CD will give pleasure not only to Christians, who will value the comfort of the words of Christ, but to others who simply enjoy wonderful choral music.

The readings are by the former Archdeacon of Chesterfield, David Garnett, and the music is sung by the top-ranked choir of boys and men from Southwell Minster, in Nottinghamshire, directed by the Rector Chori, Paul Hale. Within one of the choral pieces there is short solo by Ben Inman, Head Chorister at Southwell, who came to international fame as a boy treble as part of the group "The Choirboys".

The CD has been warmly received in dozens of countries across the world.

To find out more about "Words of Comfort, Music of Peace" and to hear an excerpt, please click here.