Divine Art Records

Genre: Orchestral

  • Artyomov: Gentle Emanation Symphony, etc

    Artyomov: Gentle Emanation Symphony, etc

    The foremost composer living in Russia today, Artyomov is producing works in the grand symphonic and post-Romantic traditions, unquestionably masterpieces of the modern age. The ‘Gentle Emanation’ symphony, part of his tetralogy ‘Symphony of the Way’ is typically underpinned by his deep spirituality but is universal and cosmic in scope. Tristia II is a fantasy for piano and orchestra which incorporates prayers and readings from the writings of Nicolai Gogol.

    A companion CD contains the symphony ‘On the Threshold of a Bright World’ and other works (DDA 25143). The Artyomov series now consists of 11 albums in all.

  • Charles Avison: Collected Concerti Grossi & Keyboard Sonatas

    Charles Avison: Collected Concerti Grossi & Keyboard Sonatas

    The Avison Ensemble with Pavlo Beznosiuk & Caroline Balding (violin), Gary Cooper (harpsichord), Robert Howarth (harpsichord & chest organ)
    25% off the price of individual purchases!
    5 Double CD sets comprising:

    Award winning and highly praised recordings of wonderful baroque music: all but DDA21213 are first-ever recordings
    All downloads include booklets in PDF format.

  • J S Bach: Keyboard Concertos

    J S Bach: Keyboard Concertos

    The Bach Keyboard Concertos are cornerstones of the baroque repertoire, for performance both on modern instruments as here, or on ‘authentic period’ fortepianos, harpsichords or clavichords. Maltese pianist Lucia Micallef is lauded wherever she performs for crisp, articulate phrasing and nuance and this shows through clearly in this beautifully balanced and lively performance. The EUCO under Brian Schembri shine and support perfectly. Among the hundreds of recordings made of these works, this one has a freshness that will make it stand out for a very long time.

  • David Ellis: Concert Music

    David Ellis: Concert Music

    David Ellis has been a major figure in British music for longer than he cares to remember – a doyen of the ‘industry’ as conductor, composer, record producer and for many years head of music for BBC North. This is a super anthology of orchestral works recorded at different times by various Manchester orchestras; the style is in the best tradition of modern-approachable-impressionistic, post-Romantic if one needs a label, but the excellent music can stand without being pigeon-holed.

  • In Beauty Walking – Orchestral Music by Carson Cooman

    In Beauty Walking – Orchestral Music by Carson Cooman

    As well as being a very busy and highly regarded organist, teacher and music consultant, Carson Cooman is one of America’s most prolific and gifted composers. His work retains the best of traditional forms in a modern and personal idiom; here, he has produced a body of lyrical works which are truly Romantic and pastoral but never soft or shallow. Exquisitely scored, these works tell of the beauty of the world we so often take for granted or pass by.

  • Guido: The Four Seasons

    Guido: The Four Seasons

    Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is perhaps the “classical” work best known to the general public; until very recently this work by Giovanni Antonio Guido was almost forgotten. It is a splendid work and some scholars now think it was the first to be written and may well have been known by Vivaldi and inspired him to write his own version. In any case, this is a superb baroque work and beautifully performed by The Band of Instruments under their director Roger Hamilton.

  • J S Bach – 4 Klavierkonzerte

    J S Bach – 4 Klavierkonzerte

    Bach’s Concertos for keyboard and chamber orchestra are rightly acknowledged as masterpieces of the genre, and among the first truly great concertos of the Baroque/Early Classical period. They are performed with a wide variety of instrumentation, and here Peter Seivewright plays a modern Steinway Model D grand piano, accompanied by a baroque size ensemble, also using modern instruments, but in the authentic one-to-a-part style. The continuo here is provided, again authentically, by the Spanish guitar, which gives a warmer sound than the more common harpsichord.

  • Venice in Mexico

    Venice in Mexico

    Mexico after the Spanish arrived saw a great deal of European art and culture being imported, including music from the great centres such as Venice. Not having harpsichords to hand, it became usual to use local instruments, vihuela and guitarron, for continuo. This policy is used here, and the sharp clear sound of the strings with the rhythmic base gives these works a new impetus and vitality. The Vivaldi pieces are fairly well known but the fine concertos by Facco were only discovered relatively recently.

    Soloists: Miguel Lawrence (sopranino recorder); Manuel Zogbi (violin); Daniel Armas (psaltery)

  • Idylls and Elegies – Music by John Jeffreys

    Idylls and Elegies – Music by John Jeffreys

    The music of John Jeffreys is an absolute delight – overtly Romantic and non-modernist, very much in the tradition of Delius, Warlock and Vaughan Williams. Here a number of delicious orchestral works of stunning beauty are accompanied by fine dramatic vocal works and a Suite of Variations for piano. This CD is essential for anyone interested in the English pastoral tradition – or just in exquisite music.

    Jeffreys songs also available: The Far Country (DDA 25049) and Northumberland and Beyond (DDV 24128)

  • Peter Warlock: Collected 78rpm recordings (2CD)

    Peter Warlock: Collected 78rpm recordings (2CD)

    Philip Heseltine, aka Peter Warlock, was an enigma in many ways – song-writing and arranging genius; fine orchestrator – but also a political animal, bon-viveur and ultimately a self-absorbed depressive who took his own life. This 2 CD set comprises (with one exception) all the recordings of Warlock’s work issued on standard-groove records, between 1925 and 1951 – all lovingly collected by the late John Bishop, stalwart of the Peter Warlock Society, which has generously assisted with the production of this album whcih can be seen as a tribute to one of England’s most influential composers of the early 20th century. Detailed notes on the man and his music, and these recordings, are included. Performers include some of Britain’s finest of the age.

    The ‘missing’ item is a recording of ‘The Curlew’ by John Armstrong with the International String Quartet – this omission was not taken lightly, but would have required a 3rd CD making the set quite expensive – the recording is available via Pristine Audio

    TRACKS:

    Capriol Suite
    London Chamber Orch/Bernard
    Serenade for Strings
    NGS Chamber Orchestra/Barbirolli
    Purcell/Warlock: Fantaisie no. 3
    The Pasquier Trio
    Purcell/Warlock: 2-Part Fantasia no. 9
    The Griller String Quartet
    Capriol Suite (arr. Szigeti)
    Josef Szigeti & Nikita Magalov
    The Curlew
    Soames, Nielsen, Aeolian String Quartet
    Serenade for Strings
    Capriol Suite
    Constant Lambert String Orch. /Lambert
    Captain Stratton’s Fancy
    Peter Dawson
    Oh Good Ale;
    Flow not fast ye fountains; There is a garden; O eyes, O mortal stars; Come, my Celia
    John Goss
    Corpus Christi
    The English Singers
    Sleep; Chop Cherry
    John Armstrong/ International String Qt.
    The Fox; Sleep; Take o take those lips away; Sweet and Kind; As Ever I Saw; The Passionate Shepherd
    Parry Jones
    Corpus Christi
    Ann Jones, Peter Pears, BBC Chorus
    A Cornish Christmas Carol
    BBC Chorus/Woodgate
    Six Nursery Jingles
    Cecil Cope
    Milkmaids; Captain Stratton’s Fancy; Sigh no More; Pretty Ring Time; Passing By; My Own Country; Fair and True; Piggesnie
    Roy Henderson
    Sweet and Twenty; Sleep
    Nancy Evans
    Rest Sweet Nymphs
    Truro County Girls’ School Choir
    The First Mercy
    Billy Neeley
    Corpus Christi
    Flora Nielsen, Rene Soames, Festival Singers
    The Frostbound Wood; The Fox
    Dennis Noble
    Captain Stratton’s Fancy
    Oscar Natzke

  • Haydn : Stabat Mater, Libera Me etc.

    Haydn : Stabat Mater, Libera Me etc.

    Haydn’s wonderful Stabat Mater is far less well known than those of Pergolesi and other composers; this recording made in Paris in 1978 was a pioneering version using reconstructed scores and revised by renowned musicologist and scholar H C Robbins Landon. Also included is the even rarer LIBERA ME, only discovered in the mid 20th century. The soloists are: ANNA MARIA BONDI (soprano), CLAUDIA EDER (mezzo), AXEL REICHARDT (tenor) and KÜRT KRATTINGER (bass) with the Choral Philippe Caillard.

    As bonus tracks, we include classic 1964 recordings of the 44th Symphony (Trauersinfonie) and the rare Double Concerto for Violin and Harpsichord, which features violinist Jacques Francis Manzone and harpsichordist Françoise Petit.

  • Avison: 12 Concerti Grossi after Scarlatti

    Avison: 12 Concerti Grossi after Scarlatti

    Thought by many to be Avison’s greatest masterpieces, these arrangements of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas were for many decades the only Avison music known. Now thanks to Gordon Dixon and the Avison Ensemble, a complete edition of his quite large output is well underway; this is the fifth in the series, following two sets on Naxos and two on Divine Art. This is sublime baroque music at its best, performed on period instruments. Purchase the full five volume set.