Hot on the heels of Black Dyke’s excursion into classical territory with the highly successful release of Symphonic Brass on the budget label Naxos, Foden’s Richardson has also broken new ground with a new CD to be released shortly on the NMC label.

High quality recordings

NMC was created by the Society for the Promotion of New Music in 1988 as a charitable foundation to promote the work of contemporary British composers, providing a much needed platform for their work to reach a wider audience through the availability of high quality recordings.

Entitled New Music for Brass Band and scheduled for release on October 6th prior to the National Championship Finals, the band is directed by Bramwell Tovey in a range of contemporary repertoire masterminded by Paul Hindmarsh..4BR

New Music for Brass Band

Entitled New Music for Brass Band and scheduled for release on October 6th prior to the National Championship Finals, the band is directed by Bramwell Tovey in a range of contemporary repertoire masterminded by Paul Hindmarsh, who also provides the informative liner notes that accompany the CD.

Repertoire

The music includes Judith Bingham’s 'Prague', familiar from its use as the 2003 Championship Area test piece, 'The Alchymist’s Journal' by Kenneth Hesketh, a composer whose increasing contribution to the repertoire deserves greater attention and a lesser known work of Philip Wilby’s, Shadow Songs.

Intriguing

Less familiar still, yet all the more intriguing for it, is Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s 'Flowers of the Forest', written in 1989 for the NYBBGB and being notable as the only work for brass band by one of the most versatile major composers on the international scene.

George Benjamin is another important figure on the wider contemporary stage and his atmospheric 'Altitude', written when the composer was just seventeen years old at the request of Elgar Howarth, receives a belated first release on CD.

Tippett

Rounding things off is a set of 'Variations on a Theme of Michael Tippett', devised by Paul Hindmarsh for the RNCM Festival of Brass in Tippett’s centenary year and including contributions from Edward Gregson, Bramwell Tovey, Michael Ball, Philip Wilby and Elgar Howarth.

Attention

The disc has already received significant attention ahead of its release, with a two page feature by Philip Clark having appeared in the October issue of Gramophone magazine.

4BR has obtained an advance copy of this significant new recording and a review will appear on the site ahead of its official release date. Watch this space!