| …a genuinely creative talent. | ||
| —Musical Opinion |
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| …a genuinely creative talent. | ||
| —Musical Opinion |
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Fand’s archive of news announcements goes back as far as 2009. Use the control to the right to determine what to display.
Fand announces a varied selection of pieces by Peter Thompson and Carey Blyton this Easter:
Labyrinth was completed in February 2021 and is a single movement work for full orchestra. Its ‘labyrinthine way’ might be suggested by the weaving, developing and return, often slightly alarmingly, of different musical material. This creates a gradual building of tension, but there is release in the final bars, perhaps into spacious skies and seas…
Carey Blyton had a rare talent for melodic invention. Girl Friday was originally commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes, and was originally scored for piano and string orchestra in 1974. The original version can be heard on the Carey Blyton – Film & Television Music (1/4) CD, available from Fand.
However, the chic melodic charm and captivating immediacy of Girl Friday – with her slightly South American flavour – seemed to call out for a solo piano arrangement, particularly one playable by the Grade 4–5 pianist. Hence this special Fand edition of the work, arranged by John Mitchell and Peter Thompson.
With words from a roundel by A. C. Swinburne written in 1883, after he had retired to The Pines, Putney, the poem explores a ‘living memory’ of over 20 years before, when Swinburne had visited Italy and Ventimiglia:
This new setting is dedicated to Lorna Windsor (Web site), who in 1981 premiered Peter Thompson’s Four Swinburne Pictures.
Having been awarded Sheet Music Publisher of the Year two years running by the SME News Southern Enterprise Awards, Fand Music Press’ reputation for quality and enterprise in music publishing has now been recognised internationally by its being granted a Corporate LiveWire Global Award for:
In such a competitive market, Fand is delighted to learn of this recognition for its service to contemporary classical music publishing.
The award text (also available to download as a PDF) notes in particular “the quality of the publisher’s platform” and how it is “easy to explore the sheet music, recordings, and books that Fand Music Press offers in its impressive catalogue” of more than 40 composers, authors and recording artists.
Fand is excitied to announce a trio of orchestral character pieces by Carey Blyton, plus another new song cycle by John Mitchell and a didactic suite of piano pieces by Adrian Williams:
Mary Webb (1881–1927) had a great love of her native Shropshire, where she spent most of her short life. Her most significant writing dates from her mid-thirties, and her collected poems were not published until shortly after her death. Much of her verse focuses on a detailed observation of the rural Shropshire landscape, with some notable descriptions of nature. The five poems selected for Secret Joys are in this category, and the songs to which they give rise have all been given titles referencing a colour. The name of the collection itself alludes to the original title of the fourth set poem: The Secret Joy.
Continuing with our Adrian Williams series, we are delighted to present these Three Piano Pieces, a charming, rather English Sicilienne sandwiched between two very vivacious, fast moving numbers, Little Toccata and Scherzetto.
The set is very pianistically laid out and would suit aspiring Grade 6+ players; indeed they were originally written for Adrian’s son, Eugene, when he was about 10 years old. We are happy to report that he enjoyed them very much!
These three orchestral works were written for different forces and are excellent repertoire, encores or ‘fillers’ for any orchestral concert programme. They are wonderfully tuneful and are thus memorable from a first hearing, and are sure to be loved by most audiences.
Peter Thompson’s ’Cello Concertino was written between 2000 and 2001, and is in three linked movements which run continuously. The second movement references music Thompson wrote at Cambridge Arts College in the early 1970s, specifically the Two Sonnets for Small Orchestra, which were prefaced by words of James Joyce: “Welladay! Welladay! For the winds of May! Love is unhappy when love is away.” The Concertino is now available as both a full orchestral score and as a large-format Conductor Score. A piano reduction is also available for purchase. The solo ’cello part is included, and orchestral parts are available on request.
Fand Music Press is thrilled once again to announce that – for the second year running! – it has been awarded:
in SME News’ seventh annual Southern Enterprise Awards.
Also released this month…
Fand presents the third work to be published in our ongoing Adrian Williams collection. This piece was commissioned by the Gloucester Music Society and is dedicated to its Chairman, Christine Talbot-Cooper. It was subsequently premiered by Maria Marchant in the Ivor Gurney Hall, Gloucester on November 3rd, 2019. Stylistically contemporarily relevant, Soliloquy also has deep roots in an older tradition and is fabulously written by a composer whose own pianism is of the highest order.
Fand Music Press has three new releases for July, all of them involving the voice. Gary Higginson’s setting of Two Czech Carols bring together a pair of Christmas carol arrangements, both for three voices, that he wrote for different purposes quite some years ago. One is entirely a cappella; the other also has keyboard accompaniment.
Philip Mead’s atmospheric setting of words from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Nightingale is most unusual for being a four-part (with divisi) choral work accompanied by solo flute. This evocative and joyous piece was Philip’s first tonal composition after previous ventures into the avant garde, and it presents the audience with a mystical yet accessible representation of its poetic inspiration.
Finally, John Mitchell adds to his growing portfolio of short song cycles to verse by English writers with Bright Clouds, a setting of four poems by Edward Thomas. This writer had only just embarked on his poetic career when his life was cut tragically short in the First World War. The four poems presented here all allude, perhaps nostalgically, to nature in rural England, the first one mentioning locations in Essex where Thomas was posted after enlisting.
This month, Fand Music Press presents a new choral work and a new song. Philip Mead’s setting of Ave Maris Stella is a plaintively simple one for upper voices (SSA) only, with piano accompaniment.
Red Kite Flying is Adrian Williams’ contribution to A Garland for Presteigne, a cycle of twelve songs by ten composers commissioned by the Presteigne Festival on the borders of Wales to celebrate its 21st birthday. This is the concluding song from the cycle, and uses a musical depiction of the red kite, a familiar Welsh resident, as a metaphor for flights of the human heart. Both music and words are by the composer. Already performed by a number of high-profile professional singers such as Gillian Keith and Roderick Williams, the song may be sung by female or male singers.
For its first set of announcements of 2023, Fand is delighted to have a bumper collection of eight new publications, ranging from several new sets of songs composed by John Mitchell to instrumental works by Philip Mead and Peter Thompson, not to mention a little novelty by Sir Arnold Bax…
In Spring 1951, Sir Arnold Bax wrote a simple SATB arrangement of Happy Birthday To You on commission from Samuel Barber for Mary Zimbalist’s birthday. Fand now issues the arrangement as an affordable single-sheet publication.
A. E. Coppard is best known for his short stories, but he was also a poet, and the three poems set to music in Soft Smiling Time are taken from his Collected Verse, published in 1928. Each song has a link to one of the four seasons, though Summer is not icumen into this particular collection. Richard Hallas, Fand’s designer, webmaster and long-term music editor/setter, is extremely proud and privileged to be the dedicatee of this delightful triptych.
Clifford Bax was Sir Arnold Bax’s younger brother, and a playwright, poet and author of many books. One of his earlier publications, Twenty Chinese Poems, forms the basis of Pale Shadows, which sets two songs from Bax’s original 1910 collection and one from a 1916 update that added a further five poems to the collection. The first and last songs are descriptive pictures of scenes at evening and night respectively, whereas the longer middle song also has a narrative quality.
John Drinkwater was a dramatist and poet whose verse frequently dealt with rural subject matter, and two of the songs in Beauty’s Hour fall into this category, one being concerned with the Cotswolds and the other specifically with the Worcestershire village of Mamble. The collection features four songs of a generally light-hearted nature, though one song has a more serious theme.
Philip Mead’s Elegiac Melody was inspired by Grieg’s similarly titled piano pieces, and inhabits a similar sound-world. Written for his wife in the summer of 2022 as a wedding anniversary gift, the piece is suitable for pianists of Grade 7 or higher standard.
In Rutland, for solo ’cello, was written in Ketton, Rutland, in the winter of 1999. First published the following year, this new 2023 edition has been significantly enhanced with minor notational errors corrected. It is a five-movement suite ranging from a meditavely free, Andante amabile first movement to a virtuosic and joyful Presto finale. The work is a welcome addition to the unaccompanied ’cello repertoire and is of a similar level of difficulty to the variable demands made by the J. S. Bach unaccompanied suites.
Flower Piece for string orchestra was written in 1979 and first performed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1981. It is in three movements, the third of which becomes a kind of envoi containing music from all three movements.
The Two Interludes were written in 2022 for the Rotherhurst Piano Quartet. The first interlude, Flower of the Morning, opens with a sustained violin solo and gradually the morning ‘awakens’ with the arrival of the other instruments and a quickening of tempo. The ending is reflective and is not unassociated with the opening mood. Toccata Rotherhurst gives an ensemble the opportunity to exhibit lightness and deftness of touch and mood, and creates an ebullient encore.
Fand is proud to announce another clutch of publications for September, most of them by Peter Thompson:
Thirty years after the publication of the original Hope and Fear for five-part professional choir, Peter Thompson has now produced a brand new reworking of the piece for Baritone solo and String Orchestra (with an arrangement for Baritone solo and Piano also available).
Fand’s designer, webmaster and long-term editer/setter of many music editions, Richard Hallas, feels enormously privileged to be the dedicatee of this superb new pair of arrangements.
Morningtide is a set of three songs by John Mitchell to texts by A. E. Housman. Because the majority of poems from Housman’s A Shropshire Lad have been memorably set to music already, for Morningtide John Mitchell deliberately avoided this source and instead set a single poem from each of Housman’s three subsequent, lesser known collections of verse. The collection’s title reflects the fact that all three songs relate to early morning.
Peter Thompson’s Apple-Gathering, an Autumn Poem, was composed in, and between, two autumns – those of 2014 and 2015. However, the kernel of the material came much earlier and from a setting of words by Damaris West, Apple-Gathering, a poem originally written in 1976 and set for voice and piano in the summer of 1985. The orchestral version is an entirely new score for double woodwind, two horns, one trumpet, percussion, timpani and strings.
The Piano Sonata is a new work by Peter Thompson, completed in April 2022. It is in three movements, of which the first is the most extensive. Virtuosic at times and spilling over onto three and four staves, the sonata conducts an ‘argument’ through its thematically linked movements and ends in brilliant light.
Fand Music Press is thrilled to announce that it has been awarded:
in this year’s SME News Southern Enterprise Awards.
Fand is pleased to announce three new publications from Peter Thompson:
The score of South Coast Postcards for Orchestra was completed back in 1998. There are three postcards, and all are miniature tone poems; so in movement 1 a picture of kites flying over, and falling down, and being launched from the slopes of Butser Hill is presented. Number 2 visits Emsworth Harbour on an autumnal, rather overcast evening and number 3, Roller-Coaster, is an energetic contrast of movement and dipping fun.
The Nonet from 2002 is scored for woodwind trio, horn and strings and consists of twelve short movements that are sometimes interconnected.
Finally, the Three Excursions for two flutes (or for flute and oboe) are whimsical excursions, jaunts, all marked ‘poco allegro’, and date from 1992.
April brings a fascinating pair of new releases from Fand:
Hubert Bath was a composer of light music, writing works for the stage, silver screen and brass band. As a film composer he penned music to what is usually believed to be the first British talkie film: Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail in 1929. From that year on, he continued composing music for many films, writing for over thirty features up to 1944’s Love Story in the year before his death.
Today his best known work, at least from sheer exposure, is his march Out of the Blue, as it has been used continuously as the theme music for BBC Radio’s Sports Report programme since its inception in 1948.
Bath’s own piano solo arrangement of the piece contains a few awkward corners, and was not able to include some of the counter-melody material. This is what prompted John Mitchell to adapt the piece into piano duet format, so as to include more detail and hopefully make it more playable and easier to articulate.
Peter Thompson’s latest publication is for full orchestra and was completed in March 1999. It is scored for double woodwind (plus third flute/piccolo), brass, percussion (including piano) and strings.
Symphonietta Doppio consists of a single movement of contrasting material and two, basically opposite, tempi. This is where the ‘doppio’ in the title comes from: one tempo is ‘double’ the other.
There is thus a certain formal conflict.
Otherwise the music has the ambience of an overture and would be well placed to open a concert of symphonic music.
This February, Fand presents a bumper crop of important new releases:
Back in 2004, John Mitchell acquired the manuscript of Eric Thiman’s Sonata in One Movement for Piano. It turned out that this was a previously unknown Thiman work, and it is now being presented as an important première by Fand on the very centenary of its composition.
It is unknown whether this virtuosic work was ever performed during Thiman’s lifetime, but the work has nevertheless recently received a superb first performance by Zibo Li as part of his doctoral recital at the University of Miami. We are very fortunate to be able to present a video of that performance here on the Fand site and accompanying YouTube channel.
Christmas may have recently gone by… but that leaves plenty of time to find and rehearse something new and highly attractive for next Christmas! A new and very appealing (yet straightforward) piece for SATB choir is what we have here in the form of Philip Mead’s lullaby, Qui creavit cælum. Using a relatively uncommon (though far from unknown) text, this new carol setting is simple but deeply felt, and should fall well within the capabilities of most amateur choirs whilst nevertheless producing an enchanting effect on the audience. There is a simple piano or organ accompaniment.
Peter Thompson’s Autumn Sketchbook is the twelfth in a series of piano suites exploring the art of writing for the piano in fairly brief movements. Suite no 12 concentrates mainly on the reflective and colourful aspects of Autumn, rather than the stormy and winter-leaning traits, although one of the movements, Twirling Leaves, encourages a challenging briskness. The music is aimed at relatively advanced pianists of Grade 7 to 8 standard.
A career in conducting the Royal Ballet had some impact on the time that Constant Lambert was able to devote to composition, and his fame as a composer has been somewhat eclipsed accordingly. His most often heard work is the jazz-influenced The Rio Grande. We are pleased to introduce this composer to our catalogue via John Mitchell’s new arrangement for piano of Lambert’s Aubade Héroïque, originally for small orchestra. This was composed in 1942, partly as a 70th birthday tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams, but also to capture in music an experience Lambert had had two years earlier, when an idyllic morning spent in the garden of a Dutch château was set against the backdrop of the German invasion of Holland in 1940 (the blissful nature of the occasion being clouded by distance gunfire).
Lambert only published three works for solo piano during his lifetime – a substantial Piano Sonata and two shorter pieces – and the present arrangement will add a further option to those pianists wishing to play his music.
Competent pianists of Grade 6 to 7 standard should enjoy tackling this arrangement.
Today, Fand helps Philip Mead celebrate the birthday of his wife Gillian by publishing Nocturne for Gilly, a piece that Philip wrote in 2018 to celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary. Although Philip has spent much of his career as a concert pianist performing avant-garde music, his own compositions are not in that genre, and this Nocturne is a highly approachable and attractive work, suitable for pianists of Grade 6 to 7 standard.
Fand announces its first publications of the new year.
Three Welsh Folk Songs, arranged by Carey Blyton in 1972 and never before published, can be heard on the CD Carey Blyton – The folksong arrangements, where they were recorded by their dedicatee, Robert Ivan Foster. Fand’s top quality new edition is equally suitable for use with either harp or piano accompaniment.
We are delighted also to release an arrangement (for recorder and piano) of the Air and Two Eclogues by Peter Thompson, recently recorded (in their original guise for recorder and ukulele) by Donald Bousted and now available on the Barry Tone’s Fantastic Adventure CD.
Fand is rounding off 2021 with the release of a work by a new composer to the catalogue: Walter Leigh. Although now an unfamiliar name, he was a highly promising young English composer whose death in the Second World War was a major loss for British music. One of his most famous and successful compositions was the comic opera Jolly Roger (or The Admiral’s Daughter), which met with great critical success in the early 1930s and ran in London’s West End for 199 performances.
John Mitchell has arranged the Jolly Roger Overture for piano duet with characteristic panache. The resulting show piece is great fun and sets a splendidly nautical scene, complete with a humorous quotation from Rule, Britannia and even a wry dig at Beethoven’s 5th…
Fand Music Press is excited to present two new small works by Carey Blyton, one of them a new discovery.
The newly unearthed novelty is The Ballad of Lady Maynard and Dudin Brown. In 1971 Carey Blyton made an arrangement for choir of The Mistletoe Bough, which was subsequently recorded by Canzonetta and Jennifer Partridge (piano) on The Choral Music of Carey Blyton. Amongst his papers in the studio where he worked, Peter Thompson recently came across The Ballad of Lady Maynard and Dudin Brown, an apparently new choral work. Apparently, at some point, Carey Blyton decided to ‘arrange’ his arrangement of The Mistletoe Bough by composing new words and presenting them as a newly collected folksong—clearly with humorous intentions. The ‘new’ song would make a welcome ‘tongue-in-cheek’ filler to any choral programme and so Fand Music Press is delighted to present it to a wider public.
The second item is a previously unpublished fanfare for brass ensemble, Fanfara Pian’ e Forte. Written for Bandmaster Douglas Mackay and the Trumpeters of Kneller Hall, this is a welcome addition to the fanfares that bejewel British music in an illustrious tradition that included Elgar, Bax and Bliss.
Fand is delighted to introduce a new name to the catalogue in the form of John Goss, who was best known as a lyric baritone in the first half of the twentieth century. A close friend of Peter Warlock in particular, Goss was heavily involved in reviving interest in traditional folksongs, which he orchestrated and performed himself.
L’amour de moi is a well-known fifteenth-century French chanson that John Goss published in an arrangement by Hubert Foss back in 1929. However, Goss independently wrote his own arrangement, pitched in a better key for medium voices than Foss’s version, and it was rediscovered in a manuscript dossier of songs, written in Goss’s own hand, in 2008. This Fand publication is the arrangement’s first appearance in print.
Update, December 2021: An audio recording is now available of the song being performed in its original French by Giles Davies (baritone) and John Mitchell (piano).
John Mitchell’s newest piece, To Wheelbarrow Town, is an evocative impression of place for Grade 6-level piano solo, and was written in part to mark the 80th birthday in August 2021 of John’s long-time friend, Frank Bayford.
In terms of musical content, John writes: “Have you ever noticed how a certain area or view can have that special personal appeal that can’t quite be readily accounted for in words? Such is a place for myself, just a few miles from where I live in East Kent, where a quiet country lane approaches Wheelbarrow Town. The name itself is rather spurious in that the latter is actually a small hamlet, located just south of the village of Stelling Minnis. How it got its curious name seems to be somewhat shrouded in mystery; all that appears to be known about it is that in the eighteenth century a remote Baptist settlement was established there, and in the nearby burial ground there can still be seen three well preserved tombstones from that period. I like to think the piano piece I have written contains something of the magical and mystical nature that the location holds for myself, an aspect that is well captured in Richard Hallas’ wonderfully imaginative artwork on the cover.”
As a special bonus, John has made his own recording of the piece especially for the Fand website:
John Mitchell’s latest composition, Dance Cameos for Two Violins, was inspired by his recent work on the Four Bagatelles for Two Violins by Gordon Jacob, published by Fand last December. The frustrations of recent pandemic-related lockdowns have inspired a lightheated mood for this suite of seven dance fragments, which are based on classical, folk/traditional and Latin dance forms.
Dance Cameos is a seven-movement suite of dances in various styles for two violins, pitched at around Grade 5–7 level, and the movements are helpfully presented in a format that requires no page-turns.
Admirers of E. J. Moeran’s music will all agree as to the ‘rare gold dust’ quality to his work, and lament its scarcity.
This is particularly true of his piano music, which often seems akin to the watercolourist’s art with its intimate and picturesque delightfulness.
And now, thanks to the skill of John Mitchell, we have nine ‘new’ piano pieces from Moeran! These are arrangements of songs, and, in their new guise, stand alone as piano miniatures – Songs Without the Words – and thus are sure to be welcomed by all players of this composer.
The strong melodic lines and individual harmonic schemes of the originals are never lost sight of, but neither do the pieces ever become over complex, and so both the professional and amateur pianist will find here further music of rare gold dust!
E. J. Moeran: Songs Without the Words is a collection of nine song arrangements for solo piano, pitched at pianists of around Grade 5 to 8 standard.
Indeed, this new E. J. Moeran volume extends and complements the work that John Mitchell has already done on a pair of similar volumes of Songs Without the Words by Peter Warlock:
RECORDINGS: All of the Songs Without the Words (both Moeran and Warlock versions) can now be heard, performed by their arranger, John Mitchell, on this site. Just visit the product pages to find the tracks.
Despite many glorious spring days in 2020 there was, of course, the stain of the pandemic underlying them. The music of Peter Thompson’s Suite no 11: Spring 2020: ‘The Stain’ seeks to convey this in its often abruptly turning moods and colours.
‘The Stain’ is a six-movement suite for solo piano, pitched at around Grade 7 level.
Fand is proud to round off 2020 by introducing the music of Gordon Jacob (1895–1984) to the catalogue. His Four Bagatelles for Two Violins were composed in 1961 as a Christmas gift for his violinist friend, David Martin. They are published here for the first time, and benefit from a recent recording made by Midori Komachi and Sophie Rosa on the EM Records label.
E. J. Moeran’s Whythorne’s Shadow, composed in 1931, is a piece for small orchestra based on an Elizabethan part-song (1571) by Thomas Whythorne. By way of commemorating the seventieth anniversary of Moeran’s death in December 1950, John Mitchell has arranged this delightful work as an attractive piano solo. It complements John’s other transcription of another small orchestral composition of Moeran’s: the companion piece, Lonely Waters (also available from Fand).
E. J. Moeran arr. John Mitchell
Fand Music Press, in line with, and enhancing, its association with poetry books, is embarking on a series of poster poems – which will also be available as postcards.
The first in the series is a poster poem by Damaris West: Dog rose.
These beautifully printed posters are ideal for framing, and the cards perfect for that ‘note with a touch of class’!
Lyrics from the Chinese: Seven Songs for High Voice and Piano by Carey Blyton.
This is a fine arrangement, by the composer, of his well-known work for voice and string orchestra, setting seven Chinese poems from 1121 BC–650 BC. This version offers the piece to a wider range of performance and is a superb addition to our Carey Blyton collection and to English Song generally.
The original version of the work, with string orchestra accompaniment, has been recorded by Ian Partridge with the Britten Sinfonia and is available on CD from Fand Music Press.
Peter Thompson’s Serenade is a seven-movement orchestral work in which the movements are linked by association, and which run continuously. The movements are subtitled: Homesickness; Reflection on Kindness; Delight; Heroes; Play; Lament; and Envoi.
Although written for a professional symphony orchestra, the work is approachable, stylistically, and is well within the range of enterprising youth and amateur orchestras. A performance by John Meccanico and the Dorico NotePerformer Orchestra illustrates this capably, if not with all the desirable subtlety.
Peter Thompson’s Symphony no 1 has been in the Fand catalogue for many years, but there has hitherto been no way to actually hear the music.
Now, thanks to the latest software advancements, it has been possible to add a synthetic rendition of acceptable quality to the site, so please head over to the symphony’s catalogue page and listen to this attractive and accessible work for full orchestra.
Following on from arrangements of Peter Warlock’s songs (Songs Without the Words in two volumes), we here present another first rarity: Six English Tunes by Warlock, arranged for piano duet by John Mitchell. The tunes, originally scored for string quintet, make a fitting companion to the Capriol Suite, similarly arranged for piano duet. Admirers of Warlock and English music will be especially delighted to be able to place this work on their pianos and experience it at first hand!
Published at the same time is John Mitchell’s own arrangement, for piano solo, of a folk song first collected by George Butterworth, The Rambling Sailor. This characterful, cheeky and generally good-humoured work makes a superb addition to the folio of John Mitchell titles held by Fand.
John has also been kind enough to provide a recording of himself performing the piece, which you can listen to on the score’s information page.
Fand Music Press is pleased to announce the publication of Peter Thompson’s 4th Symphony. A compact work of three movements, but of nonetheless contrasting symphonic drama, it is approachable on both stylistic and technical levels yet is an uncompromisingly trenchant essay. As yet unperformed, we offer a simulation to allow you to hear how it sounds.
New to the Fand catalogue this Summer is a lavishly produced FULL COLOUR volume called Gallery, which is a fascinating collection of piano miniatures by Gary Higginson, whose idea was to write a piece as a foil to Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The difference with Gallery is that the images are so diverse that they would never be seen together in one place.
The work is a series of eleven exhibits interspersed, like Mussorgsky’s Pictures, by four Intradas, which act as occasional promenades around the gallery, plus a concluding movement.
Each exhibition piece in the publication is accompanied by its related full-colour artwork, and the inspiration behind the music should therefore be readily apparent. Not only are the illustrations contrasting but the individual pieces are also very eclectic in style, ranging from jazz to minimalism to twelve-tone writing.
Gary Higginson
Written for Patrícia Bretas and Josiane Kevorkian (Duo Bretas–Kevorkian), this new Brazilian Scherzo for two pianos by Peter Thompson would be ideally suited as either a concert opener or an encore: a rhythmic, fast-moving, playful piece requiring scintillating ensemble work.
Fand Music Press rounds off 2019 by publishing, on New Year’s Eve, a two-volume collection of piano arrangements by John Mitchell of eighteen songs by Peter Warlock, suitable for pianists of Grades 5 to 8 standard.
Peter Warlock (1894–1930) is rightly famed for his 120 or so solo songs. They vary enormously in range, from the uproariously extrovert drinking songs, via those on pleasingly charming pastoral themes, and through tender love songs to the hauntingly sad and desolating songs of The Curlew. Another feature they share is that they are more often than not quite melodically distinguished and attractive.
The cue for arranging the nine songs in each of these volumes as piano pieces came in the form of a piano transcription that Alec Rowley had made many years ago of Warlock’s song Milkmaids. Including the latter in a recent concert, it struck John Mitchell that a similar treatment might be extended to some of the other songs in Warlock’s output. The arrangements here may appeal especially to those pianists who greatly enjoy accompanying these songs, but may not always have a singer on hand to contribute the vocal line (the latter now being incorporated into the piano texture).
Fand is honoured to present a new commemorative first edition of a work by a composer new to the catalogue: Batuque by leading Brazilian composer Murillo Santos is a spectacular and engaging encore piece, presented here in versions for both piano solo and piano duet (four hands) in the same booklet.
Sadly, the composer died during the late stages of preparation of this publication. We therefore present it in a commemorative edition with a foreword written by the pianist Patrícia Bretas. A personal friend of the composer, Patrícia has recorded the solo version of the piece on a commercial CD and – as one half of the Bretas–Kevorkian Duo – is a dedicatee of the piano duet version. Visit the piece’s product page to hear her CD recording of the solo original and a live performance by the dedicatees of the duet version.
We are also delighted to publish two new songs for voice and piano by Peter Thompson, which set words by contemporary poets Roger Eno and Julian Farmer; additionally, we present Thompson’s two settings of the 17th century metaphysical poet Richard Crashaw for medium voice, two violins and ’cello, originally written in 1992 and now published for the first time.
Fand Music Press is delighted to present December Spring, a new piano work by John Mitchell, together with Peter Thompson’s String Quartet no 7.
Composed in December 2018, December Spring borrows its title from a Jocelyn Brooke poem, which reflects on our darkest month, and how some will see it as a negative time of year whilst others are already focused on a brighter Spring ahead. Accordingly, the piece veers towards a mood that is hauntingly sombre, but one that also has several moments of quiet optimism and serenity.
Peter Thompson’s new String Quartet no 7 is in three movements. Like the other quartets in the cycle it is unconventional in form and contains unexpected allusions to previous works – which adds a personal tone to its expression. The three movements, though tending to brevity, are nonetheless each romantic in tone and related intrinsically.
A revised second edition of Peter Thompson’s String Quartet no 2 (‘Integration’) has also just been issued.
Arcadia Calls by Peter Thompson is a set of five violin and piano pieces. They are not difficult, but offer new interpretive challenges for the Grade 3–6-standard violinist. Each number can be performed as an independent repertoire piece and they can serve as excellent fillers for school concerts if that is required. Otherwise, the suite will suit the professional player wishing to offer the audience music of a simple grace and charm as might be imagined to have existed in a long-ago Arcadia.
We are delighted to offer for sale the first published edition of Sir Arnold Bax’s Sonata in E flat for piano.
The ‘story’ of this major work from one of Britain’s foremost composers at the time is not that well known; the Bax scholar Graham Parlett writes:
—Graham Parlett
This is the work that FAND MUSIC PRESS now presents: the original version, as played by Bax that evening. The second movement is entirely different from that in the eventual symphony, being an elaborate seascape with the magical freshness of The Garden of Fand seemingly within reach. And there are new variants in the outer movements which show Bax’s original inspiration.
Carefully prepared and edited from the original manuscript by Graham Parlett, this is a wonderful addition to our Bax collection!
The new Sestina by Peter Thompson is an extended one-movement work. It takes its cue from the verse form, though it is not a literal mirror. A sense of repeated rhyme is given throughout in the way musical material is treated. This is merely a technical device whilst the music itself is Romantic in concept and, though episodic, has a sense of developing drama which the repeating ‘rhyme’ helps to evoke.
The first published edition of Sir Arnold Bax’s Piano Sonata in E flat (‘Nº 3’), later to become his First Symphony. The Sonata contains material not used in the Symphony, together with a completely different second movement. A wonderful addition to our Bax collection!
In August 1995, Gary Higginson wrote Three Ben Jonson Songs for tenor and piano, mostly for himself to sing in various concerts that he was giving at the time. Fand published them soon after. But now, with a new CD of his works due to be recorded later in 2018, containing songs and solo flute music, he felt he wanted these songs to be sung by a baritone whilst also hoping that a new transposition would open them up to a wider range of voices. Fand is delighted to issue this new baritone edition whilst still stocking the original version for tenor.
At the same time, we publish Two Pieces for Solo Flute by Gary Higginson. The first of them, Landscape, although down as Opus 62, was partly composed whilst Gary was still at school. It was enlarged and revised many years later and a new piece was composed to go with it, Sweet Song of the Summer Woods. Both pieces were initially performed by Gary in various concerts in the 1970s and ’80s.
Also new to the Fand catalogue this spring comes a pair of little pieces for piano solo: Two Wildflowers by Peter Thompson, written whilst scoring his recently completed Fourth Symphony.
John Mitchell is a house composer for Modus Music, who publish the majority of his works. Fand Music Press is therefore delighted to be permitted to publish this saucy number from the main table. Listen to John Meccanico’s performance at the composer’s ideal tempo of minim = 138, buy the music and have a go…
Fand Music Press is pleased to announce the publication of something of a milestone: the tenth in the series of piano suites by Peter Thompson. Suite no 10 is a set of five characterful movements, each lasting around a couple of minutes, aimed at competent to advanced pianists. Moods range from the contemplative to the exuberant, but the entire suite is in Thompson’s approachable, energetic and harmonically spicy style. Overall, this is a joyous and entertaining set.
Fand is also privileged to publish the autobiography of composer Frank Bayford. A pharmacist by trade (one of two Fand composers to pursue this profession), the multitalented Mr Bayford is not only an accomplished self-taught composer but also a talented artist, and several of his drawings and watercolours illustrate the book. Dispensing Notes: Stepping-Stones towards an Autobiography is a 100-page volume that tells the compelling story of Frank Bayford’s Enfield-based life and music.
The first new Fand publication of 2017 is a choral (SATB) setting of the well-known poem by Robert Burns, My love is like a red, red rose. Called simply A Red, Red Rose, this gentle setting has already received a concert performance from Philip Mead’s choir, the St Augustine’s Singers, as noted in this month’s Friends of Fand news. The video of the performance can be found on the product page.
As promised in last month’s early announcement of the new Carey Blyton CD, the disc has now been added to the Fand catalogue and has its own page with detailed track listing and sample tracks, together with sample pages from the deluxe CD packaging.
We are excited to announce that we have just taken delivery of a new CD of world première recordings of music by Carey Blyton. Produced on the Sleeveless Records label as a collaboration between the Carey Blyton Trust and Fand Music Press, this new CD is a really top quality production from all points of view.
Performers on the CD are the Chameleon Arts Wind Quintet; Harriet Adie, harp; Derek Foster, vibraphone; and Ian Partridge, narrator.
Music on the CD is as follows (all world première recordings):
The physical CD is a deluxe production with an attractive ‘picture disc’ label, full colour inlays throughout and a 16-page full-colour booklet that includes extensive music notes (including the composer’s own commentary on several pieces), the text of the poems that inspired some of the music, and ample illustrations of the Hiroshige watercolours portrayed by some of the musical settings.
The CD will, of course, soon be added to the Fand catalogue and will be listed on this site with a detailed information page and sample tracks as usual. In the meantime, you can order the CD by clicking the Add to Cart button above. The price is £10·99 + P&P.
Fand presents a selection of choral pieces as its latest batch of releases – all by composers new to the Fand catalogue. The new publications are available for purchase immediately.
First of all, we are delighted to welcome J. Alex Whyte to the catalogue. A man of multiple talents, and already the author of a number of humorous books (try reading his biography for a taste of his writing style), his first Fand publication is a cantata, set to his own text, called For Unbelievers. The composer has even used his graphical talents to create the cover illustration.
For Unbelievers is a highly attractive and uplifting work. The text is non-specific and open to multiple interpretations; although not overtly religious, it nevertheless conveys a sense of the value of faith and a broad hope for peace. In the composer’s words, “It was written as an invitation to think things over. And perhaps come to a decision.”
The cantata is for SATB choir with a soloist of each voice part, and has been published in two new editions: the intended original scoring with chamber orchestra and an alternative version with piano accompaniment. The two versions are ‘compatible’ in that the choir & piano score serves both as a performable work in its own right and as the choir and soloists’ part for the version with orchestral accompaniment. So, in situations where an orchestra is not available, a satisfactory performance can still be staged.
The work has already been performed on several occasions, but with an earlier orchestral scoring. For its Fand publication, the piece has been revised by a former pupil of the composer, Julian Cole, who has improved the orchestration and written the new piano accompaniment (with the composer’s full approval).
Although intended as a serious work, we feel that this piece, given its highly tuneful and attractive nature, very straightforward musical material and positive sentiments, would make an ideal work for performance by youngsters, within schools or youth choirs etc.
The second person to join the Fand ranks this month is Richard Hallas. Richard has, in fact, a very long-term involvement with Fand already; as KeyNote, he has typeset many Fand editions since the early 1990s, and he is the named editor on several of Fand’s early Bax editions. Moreover, he has been Fand’s Webmaster since 2010 and is responsible for the presentation style of most of Fand’s more recent publications. He now joins the Fand ranks at last as a composer/arranger with the following two items:
Written for a specific choir and a specific concert (The Huddersfield Singers’ A Yorkshire Christmas event on 3rd December 2016), The Yorkshire Shepherds was created for a very specific purpose. However, during its creation, it became apparent that it had the potential to be of much greater interest than just something for a one-off performance, so efforts were made to maximise its appeal and flexibility – with the result that it can be performed in several ways, and provides the scope for optional audience participation within the context of a Christmas concert.
The Yorkshire Shepherds is, in fact, a setting of the text of While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night, to a range of traditional Yorkshire melodies. The tune that ‘everyone’ knows for this carol is called Winchester Old, and is actually used in fragmentary form in the accompaniment of this new setting. It may also optionally be sung at the end, if audience participation is desired. However, the main piece uses four alternative melodies, all of which are very popular in the Yorkshire region. A strong generations-old carolling tradition exists in the area of Yorkshire between Sheffield and Holmfirth, and the people of this area still regularly sing While Shepherds Watched to a dozen or so well-established melodies. This new piece celebrates the Yorkshire carolling tradition by taking four of the most popular of those regional melodies and setting a verse of the carol to each of them in a new concert arrangement.
The piece is intended to be light-hearted without being silly. The audience may smile in surprise as the choir enters to the well-known tune of On Ilkla Moor Baht ’At – yet this is actually authentic, as this carol was sung to this tune before the familiar ‘Ilkley Moor’ words were even written.
The music is for SATB choir with either piano or organ accompaniment, and a choice of three different ways of ending the piece (one of which involves audience participation) is available for use as circumstances dictate. Overall, then, this is a fun item that could be used as a concert highlight or perhaps an encore.
Finally, moving from Yorkshire to Wales…
This new setting of the traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gân aims to provide an attractive version for four-part choral use. The melody was made famous particularly through its memorable use in the early Steven Spielberg war film, Empire of the Sun.
Sung to a lilting accompaniment (which will require a pianist with a fairly light touch), the first verse may be performed by a solo soprano or treble (or a small semichorus), and the rest of the song is sung by the four-part choir. Aside from the need for careful tuning in the chromatic third verse, the straightforward musical setting should put this song easily within the grasp of amateur choirs, and the generally sonorous nature of the arrangement should, we hope, make it an audience-pleaser.
Easter may seem an unusual time to publish a Christmas carol, but never mind; it’s in plenty of time for the next festive season!
With Christmas Bells, Fand Music Press is delighted to welcome Philip Mead to its list of published composers. Philip is known primarily as a concert pianist who specialises in modern repertoire, and is a longstanding ‘Friend of Fand’, having performed many of Peter Thompson’s piano pieces over the years. Indeed, near the end of 2015 Philip gave a piano recital featuring the music of Bax and Thompson, most of it published by Fand, and even more recently his chamber choir premièred Peter’s arrangement of The Keys of Heaven.
However, Philip is now making his Fand debut as a composer, and presents us with not just the music of Christmas Bells but also an audio recording of a recent performance of the piece, given by the chamber choir that he conducts. This highly attractive new carol, featuring a memorable melody, is written for four-part SATB choir (with divisi) and a choice of piano, organ or (ideally) brass ensemble accompaniment. The style of the accompaniment (especially when played by the brass ensemble of two trumpets and two trombones) evokes, as suggested by the title, the sound of chiming and later pealing bells.
Last November, Fand Music Press published John Mitchell’s piano arrangement of Sir Arnold Bax’s Dance in the Sun, the second movement of the unpublished Four Orchestral Pieces of 1912–13.
This is now being followed up by a companion piece, Pensive Twilight: a new arrangement of the first movement of the Four Orchestral Pieces. The Four Orchestral Pieces were first performed in their original version in March 1914, so this piano arrangement appears on the 102nd anniversary, to the month, of that event. Bax subsequently revised the work in 1928, omitting the last movement and renaming the others while revising them; thus, Pensive Twilight later became Evening Piece.
John Mitchell’s arrangement is of the original version and hence bears its original title. As with Dance in the Sun, the arrangement attempts to present Bax’s music faithfully in a pianistic way, and is aimed at advanced pianists.
Fand’s final release of 2015 is an exciting and important one: the first edition of Sir Arnold Bax’s Scherzo for piano, edited and typeset by leading Bax authority Graham Parlett. A work of significant length and considerable technical demands, it represents a stimulating challenge to advanced pianists.
The precise origins of the Scherzo are unknown: completed in 1913, it was clearly marked as being the second movement of an otherwise unknown Piano Sonata; it may possibly be part of Bax’s lost Sonata in D minor. Bax orchestrated the score in 1917, in which form it received a couple of performances, and he also created a truncated arrangement for pianola roll, released in 1921, in which form the piece apparently enjoyed significant popularity. Some time later, in 1933, Bax produced a revised orchestral version under the title Symphonic Scherzo, and this version of the work was recorded by Chandos in 1986.
As for this original piano version of the piece, the first known performance – from the manuscript – took the form of a recording made by Malcolm Binns for a Pavilion Records LP in 1981. The score itself has never previously been published, and Fand is delighted to finally bring it to light.
We are pleased to announce the publication of Peter Thompson’s Symphony no 3. It is in three movements and is now available to purchase both as an A4-sized study score and in a wire-bound A3 Conductor Score. Separate parts will be available in due course.
Fand Music Press continues its pioneering efforts with the music of Sir Arnold Bax by publishing a new piano version of his Dance in the Sun, arranged by John Mitchell.
Dance in the Sun is the second of Four Orchestral Pieces that Bax wrote in 1912–13; it was performed once in 1914 and then neglected for a century! In the meantime, Bax revived three of the four movements in 1928 as Three Pieces, transposing this movement and renaming it Dance in the Sunlight.
For this new piano arrangement, John Mitchell has gone back to the original version of the Dance in the Sun score, which has recently been edited by Bax authority Graham Parlett. John’s arrangement is typically pianistic, and is aimed at advanced pianists; whilst presenting a technical challenge, it remains accessible to competent players and attempts to preserve as much as possible of Bax’s score whilst allowing the music to be performed at its intended rapid pace on the piano.
International concert pianist Philip Mead is giving an exciting free lunchtime concert in the Mumford Theatre, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge this November.
Philip is playing a highly innovative programme, comprising mostly world première performances, that should be of extreme interest to visitors to this site! Indeed, almost all of the music that Philip will be playing is published by Fand.
The highlight of the programme is the first performance of the original piano version of Sir Arnold Bax’s tone poem Nympholept. Philip will also play Bax’s Hill Tune.
The other composer represented in this performance is Peter Thompson, and Philip will be playing a total of four piano pieces by him, three of which are premières, including his recently published Soliloquy and Toccata.
The concert takes place on Friday, 6th November at the Mumford Theatre, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, at 1·10 pm. Please visit the concert page for further information.
The latest issue from Fand Music Press is Gary Higginson’s newly-written Inventions on a Theme of Carey Blyton for piano: a delightful tribute to Carey Blyton which, though skilfully simply written, nevertheless offers great scope for variety of expression, ranging from the wistful, through dancing gracefulness, bird calls and Blyton-esque humour, to the darker shades at the end – all unified by Carey Blyton’s original folk-like melody. This charming work should suit pianists of intermediate ability; Grade 6 and up. Gary Higginson was a pupil, friend and champion of the works of Carey Blyton, and there is a further personal connection between the two in terms of the theme on which the Inventions are based.
Fand Music Press is delighted to publish another new piano piece by Peter Thompson: his just-completed Toccata for Piano. This fast, exciting and flamboyant piece with intricate dance overtones should be highly rewarding material for competent pianists (Grade 8 and above).
Also new this month from Fand, unusually, is a new edition of a very well-known piece, beloved of choirs in the North of England in particular: Hail, Smiling Morn by Reginald Spofforth. This is arguably the most well-known and lastingly popular glee in the entire glee repertory, and although it has ‘universal’ words and is not inherently seasonal in any way, there is such a strong tradition of performing it at Christmas and Easter that people often consider it a carol. Nevertheless, it can be sung at any time of year.
The new Fand edition is an enhanced version of an edition published in the nineteenth century, and has been produced with amateur choirs in mind. It has also been priced accordingly, to make it affordable to often struggling groups. A characteristic of many amateur choirs today is a shortage of male singers to fill out the lower voice parts. This version of Hail, Smiling Morn recognises this problem and provides a single male-voice line that can be sung by tenors and/or basses (together with Soprano and Alto upper parts). Alternative upper and lower notes are provided for tenors and basses, but either or both may be sung and the male line is otherwise in unison.
The resulting three-part arrangement is still sufficiently harmonically full to be performed unaccompanied if desired. (The original glee was written for four unaccompanied male voices, with the top alto line being sung by one or more countertenors.) However, an optional piano part is also provided, and is a proper accompaniment rather than merely a reduction of the voice parts. It too fills out the harmony in places and provides further interest to the arrangement.
The latest composition by Peter Thompson to be published by Fand Music Press is his newly written Soliloquy for Piano. This sonorously discursive piece for the competent pianist (Grade 8 and above) has already received a rave review by Murray McLachlan in the May/June 2015 issue of International Piano. As the reviewer notes, the music is sufficiently rich that it conveys an orchestral impression:
His four-page ‘Soliloquy’ for solo piano is intriguingly crafted, with strikingly original harmonic and contrapuntal movement that takes your fingers, if not your ears, by surprise. The colours and textures are orchestrally charged – yet the effects are achieved without bombast or excess. Beautiful, wistful music which makes considerable use of motivic variation techniques in only 112 bars. The music sounds like an orchestral transcription…
…yet this does not come at the cost of excessive technical difficulty:
…it is in fact a pleasure to play through, especially at the sustained chordal climaxes towards the end. Post-Grade 8 players in search of something different but not outlandish could really enjoy this. A quietly original piece that will give tactile as well as aural pleasure. I look forward to becoming familiar with more music from this underrated composer.
Regular visitors to this site may like to note the new Friends of Fand feature, now visible on this opening news page. An extension of our News system, we intend to use this new feature to draw attention to items that are tangentially related to Fand or, at least, of interest to Fand and its visitors.
So, please keep an eye on this page regularly for interesting updates, and if you know of anything that we should be aware of for the Friends of Fand section, do please get in touch with us!
Incidentally, just like our other news items, the Friends of Fand entries will be archived permanently in the News Archive, so they’ll remain available even when they’re too old to appear on the opening page.
We have also strengthened the connection with our new YouTube channel by embedding appropriate YouTube videos on all the relevant pages of the site (example CD page; example music page).
Fand Music Press is rounding off 2014 by publishing a suitably seasonal string quartet. Although Peter Thompson’s recent String Quartet no 6 has no overall title, it does feature a conspicuously wintery theme, with its four movements bearing the titles Day in November, Children’s Games, December Sunlight and Chase. An energetic and engaging work, the movements alternate between impressionistic sound-pictures of winter months and more acrobatic representations of youthful exuberance.
Fand Music Press now has its own YouTube channel!
We intend to use this to promote particular music published by Fand, and hopefully also future events. The channel is being launched with three commercial recordings of music by Peter Thompson: the Marc Chagall Suite, the Bolinge Hill from Sketches & Fancies and Sonatina for Cello and Piano. Here are the YouTube playlists:
Each piece of music is accompanied by an attractive and appropriate video based on a still image. Please note also that the videos are all available in HD quality; just choose the quality setting you require from the pop-up menu at the bottom-right corner of the YouTube video.
In conjunction with this, Fand has also set up its own page on Google+, which links back both to this main site and to the Fand YouTube channel. Find our page here:
http://plus.google.com/+FandMusicPress
Two new buttons have been added to the Fand menu system – at the bottom-left top-right of the site – which, when clicked, will take the visitor to Fand’s YouTube channel and Google+ page.
Also, since Fand has now started to connect with social media, a new tool has been added: a column of icons at the right of each page allows the visitor to share a page or product with their favourite social media service.
Fand is excited to announce the publication of two new books of poetry by two authors new to the Fand catalogue: Humanities by Julian Farmer and The Year by P. F. Owen.
Both books were released on 1st September and are available to buy now.
There have also recently been two updates to existing works by Peter Thompson. Most significantly, he has adapted a new Romance for Clarinet in B♭ and Piano from his existing version for viola. Also, a new edition of his Five Elegiac Fragments for small orchestra has been printed. Musically unchanged, the new edition is available as an A3 conducting score and separate set of parts. (The original A4 study score remains available.)
Fand Music Press is delighted to have played a major role in the inception of the latest CD from the highly acclaimed cello and piano duo of Lionel Handy and Nigel Clayton, featuring a couple of world-première recordings of music published by Fand. The new CD is entitled From Bohemia to Wessex and is available to order now.
The meatiest work on the disc is the monumental Cello Sonata of John Barton Armstrong, here receiving its first commercial recording. The second piece to be premièred on this CD is Peter Thompson’s Cello Sonatina, coincidentally written in the same year (1981). The disc is rounded off by Handy & Clayton’s continuation of their recordings of the Cello Sonatas of Bohuslav Martinů: this time, number 2.
This is another extremely high-quality issue in a similar style to Handy & Clayton’s previous Bax CD. Cello fans should snap it up for both its superb performances and its unique repertoire.
| Strong melodic and rhythmic lines in Martinů’s Sonata put the companion works into perspective. Thompson’s three-movement Sonatina is lyrically captivating. Eloquent performances. ★★★★ | ||
| —Jan Smaczny, BBC Music Magazine (October 2014 p111) |
Fand would like to draw attention to the fact that it has recently more than HALVED the prices of its single CDs (including the new From Bohemia to Wessex recording). So, now is an excellent opportunity to buy the three previous Handy/Clayton recordings (plus any other CDs from the Fand catalogue, of course!):
As promised in last month’s preview, The Happy Forest by Sir Arnold Bax is now available.
This exciting new release is the very first edition of the original piano version of a work that has hitherto been known only in its later orchestral incarnation. Originally composed as a piano solo, it has spent the last hundred years unknown to the public. It was completed on 13th May 1914, and Graham Parlett has now finished this first edition, which is being released in time for the work’s centenary.
Fand is happy to announce the publication of the latest two new works by Peter Thompson.
Calydon Eclogue is a short, classically poetic study for unaccompanied violin on “Arcadian Atalanta, snowy-souled,” as featured in Swinburne’s tragedy, Atalanta in Calydon. Three Pieces is a triptych of slow, reflective and not difficult poems for piano.
At the same time, Fand is also extremely happy to be able announce the imminent release of the very first edition of Sir Arnold Bax’s original piano version of The Happy Forest.
Although it is well-known as an orchestral work by Bax, The Happy Forest was originally composed as a piano solo. It was written for Herbert Farjeon, whose prose poem of the same name had inspired the piece. Bax decided to orchestrate it some time later, and the orchestral version became established, but the original piano piece remained unpublished until now.
Composition was completed on 13th May 1914, and Graham Parlett is currently putting the final touches to his first edition, which will be published in time for the work’s centenary.
Fand’s latest issue is another important and exciting one: the first edition of Sir Arnold Bax’s Nympholept, a poem for piano.
The title Nympholept refers to a person who suffers from nympholepsy, a state of rapture inspired by nymphs; the music is based on a poem of the same name by Swinburne about panic induced by noonday silence in the woods.
Bax himself also wrote a poem of the same title a few months before composing the piano piece, and he later orchestrated the music. Neither the original piano piece nor the orchestral version was performed in his lifetime, however.
As may be expected from its title and subject matter, the piece is a typically rhapsodic Baxian offering, and is a work of some considerable substance, lasting for over 10 minutes and making considerable technical demands of the pianist.
Though the following two CDs of cello works by Kodály and Carter/Messiaen/Martinů/Cutler are not Fand publications, we are delighted to stock and promote them to a wider audience. They join cellist Lionel Handy’s most recent CD, BAX: Works for Cello and Piano, which was originally launched through Fand. These three CDs represent Lionel Handy’s complete recordings to date.
Watch this space for a new CD from Lionel Handy and Nigel Clayton, featuring Martinů’s Cello Sonata no 2, John Barton Armstrong’s Cello Sonata and Peter Thompson’s Cello Sonatina…
Admirers of Carey Blyton’s work will be interested to learn of a completely new website, which has been created in place of the old one. Visitors will find a deeply searching porthole into the multifaceted work and world of Carey Blyton:
The creation of the site, the work of Richard Hallas, is an ongoing project and there is much scope, in terms of further development, for featuring Carey’s media work as well as highlighting current news, but already a number of films can be viewed as well as sundry articles, stories, letters etc.
However, perhaps the most valuable part of the new site is the fully comprehensive catalogue. Here is detailed information on each of Carey’s 111 opus numbers, together with his numerous other unnumbered works. Many of these works are still available and there are quick links to each publisher; further, there is now an online Shop where works and recordings can be instantly purchased. The Shop operates in partnership with Fand Music Press, and also offers Carey’s publications from Modus Music.
There is much else, for the website is not only a focus for scholars but is very much in keeping with the humorous nature of much of Carey’s work. The site is as friendly to the infant searching for news of B1 as it is to the venerable researcher seeking information concerning A Shoal of Fishes or Arnold and the Acorns!
Please visit www.careyblyton.com!
2013 is the 90th anniversary of composer John Barton Armstrong’s birth, and a couple of commemorative concerts are being held, featuring his Cello Sonata and Peter Thompson’s The Renaissance Spirit (in memoriam J.B.A.), along with the music of other British composers.
The second concert takes place on 17th June at the Recital Hall, Birmingham City University. The performers are:
Please visit the concert page for further information.
Fand is pleased to announce the publication of two new works by Peter Thompson.
Dark Veils, for low voice and piano, sets to music a poem by Felicity Cook whose brooding words nevertheless allow shafts of sunlight to break through. March Hares is a highly energetic, playful and rumbustious piano piece that depicts its subject matter in a most entertaining manner, and is suitable for intermediate to advanced pianists.
2013 is the 90th anniversary of composer John Barton Armstrong’s birth, and a couple of commemorative concerts are being held, featuring his Cello Sonata and Peter Thompson’s The Renaissance Spirit (in memoriam J.B.A.), along with the music of other British composers.
The first concert takes place on 28th March at the Vestry Hall, University of West London. The performers are:
Please visit the concert page for further information.
Note: although initially advertised with a £7 ticket price, the decision has since been taken to make this concert FREE!
Peter Thompson’s String Quartet no 2, ‘Integration’ has just been republished in the new Fand style, now with an excitingly abstract front cover picture. The music itself takes its inspiration from Jungian psychology, with the four voices of the string quartet representing four personality aspects that integrate with each other to form a whole. The four-colour interwoven patterning of the new cover reflects this idea.
On an unrelated note, visitors to the Fand site may like to know that sample music pages have also recently been added to a lot more items in the catalogue. Although there are still many pieces without sample pages, more than half the items in the catalogue do now have them.
Fand is delighted to be able to supply an excellent new CD featuring the music of Sir Arnold Bax, entitled BAX: Works for Cello and Piano. Bax’s Legend-Sonata, the major work featured on this disc, was written for Florence Hooton and was first performed by her in 1943. This CD was released to mark Florence Hooton’s centenary in 2012 and features her pupil, the acclaimed cellist Lionel Handy, accompanied by Nigel Clayton in a highly authoritative set of performances. Lionel is a long-serving professor at the Royal Academy of Music, teaches at the Birmingham Conservatoire and in summer schools throughout Europe, and has been guest principal with most leading UK orchestras.
John Barton Armstrong’s Pinecroft Suite for piano solo was found amongst the composer’s papers after his death in 2010. It is an affectionate tribute to a family he used to visit regularly at a house called Pinecroft in East Horsley, and dates from around 1964. Each of its six short movements is a miniature musical sketch: one for each family member. The pieces vary in difficulty (number 4, Barnes’ Invention, being significantly more difficult than the others), but overall should suit a pianist of around Grade 6 standard.
Fand has published a new collection of three songs for medium voice and piano or harp: Country Scenes by Gary Higginson. These delicate songs all cover themes of nature and the countryside, and are suitable for both male and female singers. Note that the first of the songs may also be accompanied by guitar.
Recently, a CD of Gary Higginson’s music has been issued on the Regent label: Songs of Innocence and of Experience [REGCD381]; these three songs have been recorded for this CD, and you can hear them on this site.
This autumn we are pleased to announce the publication of Romance for Viola and Piano by Peter Thompson. This will be a welcome addition to the list of short repertoire pieces for the instrument; a meditative song of shaded contrasts well suited for a Grade 7+ player.
Fand is delighted to present John Mitchell’s highly idiomatic piano solo arrangement of E. J. Moeran’s Lonely Waters: a ‘must’ for lovers of Moeran’s distinctive music.
Lonely Waters is one of a pair of short orchestral pieces (the other being Whythorne’s Shadow) that Moeran wrote in 1931 as Two Pieces for Small Orchestra. Both pieces are based on existing melodies: Lonely Waters on a folksong and Whythorne’s Shadow on an Elizabethan tune.
Unusually, Lonely Waters has a choice of endings, one of which involves a singer providing a sung motto to the piece. The new piano arrangement preserves this pair of alternative endings. Indeed, since the vocal line is almost entirely unaccompanied, it might even be performed by the pianist.
Fand’s latest major publication is an important work by John Barton Armstrong. His Sonata for ’Cello and Piano is a long single-movement work that lasts for nearly half an hour; written in 1981, it ranks as one of his most significant scores after his symphonies and opera. The sonata was first performed in 1987 and received its first radio broadcast in 1988.
Also now available in commemoration of Carey Blyton’s 80th anniversary year is a new edition of Composer Interviews no 1: Carey Blyton. This second edition presents the interview (with minor updates and corrections) in an attractive new format and adds a recent essay by Peter Thompson, written for the anniversary year.
Book now for an exciting event: Carey Blyton & Friends is a celebratory concert marking the 80th anniversary of Carey Blyton’s birth. The performers are:
The concert will feature primarily the work of Carey Blyton, along with that of his friends and pupils, such as Frank Bayford, John Mitchell and Peter Thompson, together with music by Warlock and Moeran (Blyton was a member of the Warlock Society and wrote a radio play about Warlock and Moeran).
Also featured will be three world premiere performances: Sir Arnold Bax’s Welcome, Somer, Peter Thompson’s Dawn and In the Highlands by George Butterworth.
The concert will take place at The Warehouse, London (very close to Waterloo station). Booking is by souvenir programme and spaces are limited. You are therefore strongly advised to book well in advance.
To book, go to the concert page and use the ‘Add to Cart’ button to pay via PayPal. For further enquiries, phone Fand on 01730 267341.
The publication of Sir Arnold Bax’s Welcome, Somer is another important first for Fand; this is a previously unpublished Bax song: a vigorous and typically characterful setting of words by Chaucer, for either soprano or tenor voice and piano.
In 1914, Bax composed Three Rondels by Chaucer for high voice and piano, of which only the first, Roundel, was ever published; the other two, Welcome, Somer and Of her Mercy, remained in manuscript form only.
Welcome, Somer was completed on 20 October 1914, four days before the wedding of Joan Thornycroft, its dedicatee, to Herbert Farjeon; the song was clearly intended as a wedding present. It is a setting of a rondel near the end of Chaucer’s long poem, The Parlement of Foules, in which a narrator describes a dream-vision.
Fand’s other November releases feature the music of Peter Thompson. A pair of keys/quays to start with: The Keys of Heaven is Thompson’s individualistic arrangement of a Cheshire folksong for four voices (SATB, with piano reduction for rehearsal purposes), whilst his Sidlesham Quay is an original piece for solo piano: a limpid impression of a watery landscape, suitable for pianists of Grade 5 and above.
Finally, Thompson’s new Sonatina for Piano is a substantial four-movement work for pianists of around Grade 8 standard.
As a supplement to the recent publication of Carey Blyton’s The Christmas Spirit in its two different authentic scorings for two equal voices and piano and choir (SATB) and string orchestra, Fand has also published a new arrangement of the piece for choir (SATB) and piano. This helpful and easily performed new scoring may be used in its own right – thus making the work more readily accessible for public performance – or may be used as a rehearsal score while learning the version for choir and string orchestra.
Fand is delighted to announce the availability of two new additions to the catalogue. Peter Thompson’s newly written The Renaissance Spirit is a warmly contemplative and sensitive work for piano, dedicated to the memory of John Barton Armstrong, a Renaissance man.
In a lighter and more humorous mood, Carey Blyton’s The Christmas Spirit is available in two versions: one for choir (SATB) and string orchestra and a more easily staged version for two equal voices and piano. The Christmas Spirit is a typically witty Blyton work, with comical words set to memorable tunes, interspersed with snatches of well-known existing melodies. These accessible pieces should be ideal seasonal fare for both youth choirs and amateur ensembles alike.
These issues introduce a new presentational style for Fand sheet music, with attractive full-colour covers that match the look of this Web site.
The version of The Christmas Spirit for two equal voices and piano has been recorded on the CD, The Choral Music of Carey Blyton, also available from Fand.
The Fand site has just undergone a major overhaul to add sound samples to its pages. The samples are of generous length and unusually good quality for a Web site. All CDs include sample tracks (including, in the case of shorter tracks, full-length samples). As for sheet music, a full performance is provided wherever possible, so as to allow visitors to get a good sense of the entire piece. A Speaker and Notes icon is used to indicate pieces that have associated sound samples; either alongside the titles in tabular listings or as badges on covers, as in the following example:
Fand is pleased to release two versions of Peter Thompson’s Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra, composed in 2007. As well as the orchestral version (which itself is available to buy as a regular-sized score or in a conductor-score edition), a reduction for violin and piano is also available.
We are delighted to be able to offer this double-CD box set of M. S. Sharifian’s monumental Islamic oratorio.
Eclipse is the first symphonic work based on a religious subject ever to be written in the 1400-year history of Islamic culture. As such, it is surely “crossover” music at its most pertinent, blending, as it does, so many different aspects of East and West. The result is a powerful and moving statement, the music combining elements of both traditions into one, thereby mirroring one of the most important issues facing contemporary mankind. It is performed, fittingly, by a truly international cast: a Romanian orchestra, the Oltenia Philharmonic Choir, a Persian traditional singer and Western soloists, including the British soprano, Florence Lippett.
This is a unique opportunity to purchase the first edition of a landmark recording. Translated explanatory notes are included with the CD, which has original booklet notes in Persian.
After a long period of preparation, Fand Music Press is very excited to launch its landmark event of the year: AN ENTIRE NEW WEB SITE! This isn’t just a superficial makeover; it’s a completely new database-driven site, planned afresh and written from scratch.
We hope you will enjoy exploring the features of the new site, which is far more detailed than ever before. The new database underlying the site contains just about everything you might want to know about the products in the Fand catalogue, and the site can now automatically cross-reference and catalogue pieces by instrument, by composer and so on. Use the tabs at the top of the page to explore what’s available. The buttons in the left column bring you back to this News page or provide additional information about Fand.
You will also notice that we now have online ordering for all items, accomplished through PayPal. This should make ordering items immeasurably easier than it was previously, as well as being a quicker and more secure process. (However, you can still send us a cheque through the post if you would really prefer to use the old ordering method!)
There’s still more to come, too. Although this new site is fully working and complete in itself, it will be expanded over the coming weeks and months to include further new features, such as:
As if the new Web site weren’t enough, Fand has also produced two exciting new musical issues:
Sir Arnold Bax’s A Rabelaisian Catechism was written in 1920, and was one of a set of seven arrangements of French folksongs that Bax wrote at that time, but the only one never to be published until now. Set for baritone and piano, it takes the form of a chanson de série in which a question is put twelve times and the answer given cumulatively, in the manner of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Peter Thompson’s The Oblation is a delicate new setting of a poem by A. C. Swinburne for medium voice and piano.
Welcome to Fand’s latest news. We must draw your attention to new items in our catalogue. You will possibly already be aware of our edition of Gary Higginson’s Shadows for piano; it is a set of pieces of Grades 3–4 level, and is a great introduction to different styles of composition. Here Higginson ‘shadows’ various composers, from Machaut to George Lloyd, from Bach to Peter Warlock. The volume has been welcomed enthusiastically by both Music Teacher and Piano magazines. And now, new this summer, comes Scenes from Shakespeare, again by Gary Higginson. It is a follow-up volume to Shadows, and is a set of eight pieces for pianists of higher grade, each prefaced by a quotation from Shakespeare.
Next, the first ever edition of Sir Arnold Bax’s Salzburg Sonata in B flat for piano. This piece, written by Bax in his 50s, is tremendous fun both to play and to listen to. It was never published in his lifetime, yet Bax clearly liked it, incorporating the second movement into his Violin Concerto, and, as the manuscript shows, devoted a lot of time and care into its composition. It is a great rarity, and will get you chuckling with delight as the ‘brazen romantic’ puts the ‘classical sonata’ through its paces. It includes an introductory note from Graham Parlett.
Another volume we must mention is the Fand Grade 5 Piano Album. Here is a varied selection of pieces from Sir Arnold Bax (the Minuet from the Salzburg Sonata) to Roger Eno; from Francis Pott to Warlock and Fauré tributes by Gary Higginson; from … well, discover for yourself—that’s Fand’s motto! There’s nothing above Grade 5 level here; 13 pieces, 31 pages.
Regular visitors to our site will know that we are constantly bringing out new sheet music titles, books and CDs. New publications in 2009 were Peter Thompson’s Roundels for violin and ’cello duo, and John Barton Armstrong’s 24 Preludes for piano, an exciting new exploration of the 24 keys. Following on from the latter, and now available, is Composer Interview no 2 with John Barton (Barry) Armstrong (born 1923), providing an insightful view into his long composing life.
Other publications that you might have missed include Notes to Myself for piano by Roger Eno, Pagodas for piano duet by John Mitchell, Sonatina for bass clarinet (or bassoon) and ’cello by Peter Thompson, When most I wink with words by William Shakespeare, set to music by Gary Higginson, The Bishop’s Prayer with words by Bishop Graham of Carlisle, also set by Gary Higginson, and Three Lieder on Poems by Hafez by M. S. Sharifian, an old friend of Fand Music Press but our first publication of his work.
Now also newly available: Et Omnes Eandem, a short motet for SATB by Gary Higginson, Three Pieces for solo oboe by Martin Read, a piano miniature, Kimberley, by David Llewellyn Green and, also for piano, Peter Thompson’s Suite no 7.
We would also like to remind you of our very prestigious earlier book publication, the collected poems of Dermot O’Byrne (Sir Arnold Bax’s literary pseudonym) in a large volume entitled IDEALA. This fascinating book, edited and introduced by Bax’s first biographer, Colin Scott-Sutherland, contains much other source material from the young Bax, including love letters, music and writings by those who knew him intimately. A significant treasure trove indeed!
A companion volume, The Collected Poems of Clifford Bax, also edited by Colin Scott-Sutherland, is well into preparation. Watch this space!
Returning to sheet music, our recently published Fand Left-Hand Piano Album has provoked enormous interest worldwide! Take a look at its page on this site for further details, plus a selection of the published reviews.
Much more is in the pipeline, so please bookmark our site and come back regularly!
Several pieces of music published by Fand are to be performed in a fascinating concert near Cambridge towards the end of April. A Choral Concert with Church Bells is being held to celebrate the installation of two new bells in All Saints’ Church, Landbeach, augmenting the bell tower from four to six bells. A BBC News story has further details about the bells and their installation.
The concert is being performed by the St Augustine’s Singers, conducted by Philip Mead, and the programme will include two of Philip’s own compositions: Christmas Bells and The Nightingale – both with suitably adapted words – together with Richard Hallas’s arrangement of Suo Gân.
| Title: | A Choral Concert with Church Bells |
| Venue: | All Saints’ Church
Green End Landbeach Cambridge CB25 9FD (See on a map…) |
| Date: | Saturday, 27th April |
| Time: | 6 pm (finishes around 7:30) |
| Price: | FREE Donations welcome Refreshments and bar available |
The concert is due to be featured on local radio.
For further details, visit the concert’s Facebook event page.
On behalf of Donald Bousted we are proud to announce news of, and are therefore delighted to promote, a recent recording: Barry Tone’s Fantastic Adventure.
This is a CD and download (issued October 2021) of premiere recordings for baritone ukulele, with and without recorder. The recording features the playing of Donald Bousted and Celia Ireland, and alongside works by Choan Gálvez, Gilbert Isbin, Jim Dalton and Martin Bright, features three new pieces by Fand composer Peter Thompson, written at the invitation of Donald Bousted in the lockdown spring of 2020.
Full details of this beautiful and unusual recording, along with some sample tracks, are provided here on the Fand site, along with links to buy the recording as a physical CD or digital download.
Further information may be found on the official Donald Bousted website.
John Mitchell has now recorded the complete set of his latest volume of arrangements of E. J. Moeran Songs Without the Words:
| E. J. Moeran (arr. Mitchell): ‘Songs Without the Words’ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In Youth is Pleasure | |||
| The Bean Flower | |||
| Willow Song | |||
| The Sweet o’ the Year | |||
| The Constant Lover | |||
| Loveliest of Trees | |||
| ’Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town | |||
| The Pleasant Valley | |||
| The Lover and his Lass | |||
Gary Higginson has recorded a handful of movements (with optional spoken introductions) from his recently published work, Gallery. The recordings may be found on the product page as usual.
Unfortunately, in these difficult times of the pandemic, Gary’s piano is sounding a little worse for wear! We hope to re-record the current selection, and expand it in future, once it has been possible to get the piano tuned!
John Mitchell has contributed a performance of Peter Thompson’s Three November Poems:
| Pieces by Peter Thompson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Three November Poems: I | |||
| Three November Poems: II | |||
| Three November Poems: III | |||
Following the publication of Fand’s first Poster Poem, Dog rose, its author, Damaris West, has provided a recitation. This has been turned into a video, and is available to view both here on the Fand site and on the Fand YouTube channel.
John Mitchell has recently contributed performances of four movements from Peter Thompson’s Sketches & Fancies:
| Pieces by Peter Thompson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sketches & Fancies: Naiad Music II | |||
| Sketches & Fancies: Winter Pastoral | |||
| Sketches & Fancies: Spring Bagatelle | |||
| Sketches & Fancies: Russian Fragment | |||
(Click the YouTube button at the top-right of this site to visit the Fand YouTube channel home page.)
Following all the recent recordings of his piano works by John Mitchell, Peter Thompson has himself been trying his hand at video creation and has added YouTube videos with static images, based on the new recordings, to the Fand channel. Videos now exist for Three Pieces, Ballad and June Tune (plus John Mitchell’s Joss Sticks.
Richard Hallas has also created a new video of Peter Thompson’s Sidlesham Quay in the animated style used by other previous Fand videos.
With the single exception of Ballad (which is a recording by Stephen Robbings from 1991), all these new videos are based on the recent recordings of John Mitchell.
A couple of examples…
Cradle Song (from Three Pieces for Piano):
and Sidlesham Quay:
PLEASE NOTE: The collection of audio recordings can be found all together on John Mitchell’s own information page.
John Mitchell has been continuing his efforts to provide excellent new recordings of previously unrecorded piano works from Fand, and has now supplied a selection of works by Peter Thompson (Three Pieces, Two Wildflowers, Sidlesham Quay and June Tune) and a complete recording of Roger Eno’s Ten Venerable Dilemmas.
John Mitchell has added to the recordings he provided for us last month, and has now recorded his own Clodhopper! (from The Fand Left-Hand Piano Album) and completed the entire collection of Peter Warlock arrangements from Songs Without the Words, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Finally, he has also recorded Frank Bayford’s Theydon Bois (from The Fand Left-Hand Piano Album).
| John Mitchell original composition | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clodhopper! | |||
| Peter Warlock (arr. Mitchell): ‘Songs Without the Words’ | |||
| The Bachelor | |||
| Late Summer | |||
| The Night | |||
| Adam lay ybounden | |||
| The Lover Mourns for the Loss of Love | |||
| Sweet Content | |||
| A Sad Song | |||
| Lullaby | |||
| Captain Stratton’s Fancy | |||
| The Birds | |||
| Thou Gav’st Me Leave to Kiss | |||
| Piggesnie | |||
| The Fox | |||
| Sweet-and-Twenty | |||
| Sleep | |||
| Rest, Sweet Nymphs | |||
| Mourn No Moe | |||
| Fill the Cup, Philip | |||
| Piece by Frank Bayford | |||
| Theydon Bois (left hand only) | |||
Don Bousted, for whom Peter Thompson wrote his Sonnet for solo guitar, has recently taken the trouble to make a video of himself playing the piece. We express our appreciation to him, and commend you to watch his performance, which is available on the score’s information page on this site and on the Fand YouTube channel.
As well as providing a very nice recording of his newly published The Rambling Sailor, John Mitchell has also recorded for us a delightful performance of his own highly atmospheric December Spring, which Fand published last year. The performance can be played from the score’s product page, but the playback control is also reproduced below for convenience. Indulge yourself for the next four minutes by listening to this evocative little gem:
Since providing us with live recordings of The Rambling Sailor and December Spring, John Mitchell has kindly filled some other gaps in our catalogue with new recordings of (mostly) his own compositions and arrangements. He has supplied new performances of his In Oxford City… and Joss Sticks (from The Fand Grade 5 Piano Album), and a selection of five Peter Warlock arrangements from Songs Without the Words, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Finally, he has also recorded Frank Bayford’s Invention no 3 (from The Fand Grade 5 Piano Album).
Here’s a handy summary where you can access all of John’s recent performances easily in one place:
| John Mitchell original compositions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In Oxford City… | |||
| Joss Sticks | |||
| December Spring | |||
| The Rambling Sailor | |||
| Also from The Fand Grade 5 Piano Album… | |||
| Frank Bayford: Invention no 3 | |||
| Peter Warlock ‘Songs Without the Words’ | |||
| The Bachelor | |||
| Lullaby | |||
| The Birds | |||
| Mourn No Moe | |||
| Fill the Cup, Philip | |||
Many thanks to John for providing these delightful recordings.
Fand composer Gary Higginson has created a video about his Minuet à Fauré, one of the movements of his Shadows suite for solo piano.
In the video, Gary discusses how his piece was written and structured to recall the music not only of Gabriel Fauré but also of John Dowland, and explains the piece in straightforward terms for students of music and interested amateurs. The new video can be seen below or, as usual, viewed on the Fand YouTube channel. It may also be found on the Shadows product page.
Two stories from Carey Blyton’s The Doggy Tales of Arnold have just been published by Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
After a long history, full of turns and about-turns, books about the ‘little dog with an enormous bark’, together with his friends, are now landing upon the shelves of a wider public. Good luck to him—and them! And let’s hope the remaining eight stories can speedily follow.
Both stories contain all the original drawings by Maurice Stevens, who has been involved with the conception of Arnold from the early days. His skill in marrying Carey’s charming text to pictorial representation cannot be overemphasised, and readers cannot fail to find delight in these innocent doggy tales!
The book is available in hardback, paperback and Kindle ebook formats, and can be ordered via the publisher’s page.
Further information may be found on the official Carey Blyton website.
Last year, Fand published a new arrangement of Suo Gân by Richard Hallas. The very first performance of the piece was given by the St Augustine’s Singers, conducted by Philip Mead, in a concert entitled Love Songs for Summer at St Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Fen Ditton, Cambridge on Saturday, 23rd June at 6 pm.
Further performances of the piece are coming up later in the year:
Suo Gân will be included in a concert in Brathay Church on 22nd September given by the Company of Voyces, conducted by Robin Stopford:
| Venue: | Holy Trinity Church
Bog Lane Brathay (near Ambleside) LA22 9NE (See on a map…) |
| Date: | Saturday, 22nd September |
| Time: | 7:30 pm |
| Price: | £5 |
In December, the St Augustine’s Singers, conducted by Philip Mead, will perform the piece again in three further concerts:
| Title: | Round and Round: Percy Grainger and Friends |
| Venue: | West Road Concert Hall
11 West Road Cambridge CB3 9DP (See on a map…) |
| Date: | Wednesday, 5th December |
| Time: | 7:30 pm |
| Price: | £10 (£7 concessions; £5 students) |
| Info: | Full concert details and bookings |
| Title: | An International Christmas |
| Venue: | St Augustine’s Church
Richmond Road Cambridge CB4 3PS (See on a map…) |
| Date: | Saturday, 8th December |
| Title: | An International Christmas [repeat] |
| Venue: | Michaelhouse Centre
St Michael’s Church Trinity Street Cambridge CB2 1SU (See on a map…) |
| Date: | Saturday, 15th December |
Three concerts in Cambridge will be featuring Fand composers Philip Mead and Peter Thompson.
As well as more traditional fayre, St Augustine’s Singers with Cambridge Brass will be performing Mead’s Christmas Bells and Thompson’s Carol. In addition, in two of the concerts the Singers will be performing Philip Mead’s newly composed A Child is Born (2017).
Christmas Songs and Carols, including Mead’s Christmas Bells and Thompson’s Carol.
St Augustine’s Singers with Philip Mead, keyboard.
800th anniversary celebrations; see below for programme information.
Michaelhouse Lunchtime Carol Concert
The concerts on 9th and 16th December share the same programme:
| Mead | A Child is Born (new work, 2017) |
| Purcell | Man that is born of a woman |
| Handl | Resonet in Laudibus |
| Thompson | Carol |
| Prætorius | In dulci jubilo |
| Ives | Carol |
| Mead | Christmas Bells |
| Trad. | Ding Dong Merrily on High |
| Brandvick | A Yorkshire Wassail |
St Augustine’s Singers conducted by Philip Mead with Cambridge Brass and a peal of bells.
Last year, Fand published The Yorkshire Shepherds by Richard Hallas, a light-hearted medley on While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night written for a concert given by The Huddersfield Singers in December 2016. The piece was also taken up by the St Augustine’s Singers in Cambridge and performed later in the same month.
We are pleased to be able to present recordings of both performances. The Huddersfield Singers’ première (which includes audience participation at the end) is a stereo audio-only recording made on 3rd December 2016:
As for the second performance by Philip Mead’s St Augustine’s Singers, we have a video of it here on the Fand site and also on the Fand YouTube channel. Thanks once again to Dan Leighton for supplying the video and to the choir for permitting its performance to be shared in this way.
St Augustine’s Singers also performed Peter Thompson’s newly-published A Red, Red Rose at a concert on 12th November 2016, and again we are grateful to Dan Leighton for providing a video; we have taken the liberty of adding subtitles to it.
Several pieces of music published by Fand are due to be performed soon in Cambridge, in a number of concerts by the St Augustine’s Singers conducted by Philip Mead. Brief details are as follows:
Saving Lives at Sea, part 2: A programme of music on a nautical theme in aid of the RNLI, with a guest apperance of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band (details…); programme includes:
| Thompson | A Red, Red Rose |
| Spofforth | Hail, Smiling Morn |
Christmas Carol Service (see illustration, above) led by former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams; music includes:
| Mead | Christmas Bells |
| Thompson | Carol |
Michaelhouse Lunchtime Carol Concert; programme includes:
| Thompson | Carol |
| Hallas | The Yorkshire Shepherds |
The Huddersfield Singers will be putting on a special Christmas concert this year, entitled A Yorkshire Christmas. This is the event for which The Yorkshire Shepherds was composed, and the piece will receive its first performance at this concert (followed a fortnight later by the St Augustine’s Singers performance in Cambridge; see above).
A Yorkshire Christmas; programme includes:
| Spofforth | Hail, Smiling Morn |
| Hallas | The Yorkshire Shepherds (première) |
St Paul’s Hall is a very attractive former church (now part of the university campus) in the centre of Huddersfield, just across the road from a multi-storey car park. The concert will be compèred by the highly respected musician, Dr Simon Lindley (Organist Emeritus of Leeds Minster), with the Clifton Handbell Ringers as guests. Free seasonal alcohol-free punch will be served in the interval. More extensive details about this concert can be found on The Huddersfield Singers’ website.
International concert pianist Philip Mead is giving a FREE recital (with free refreshments also included) on Saturday, 10th September 2016 at 6:00 pm. Entitled The Romantic Muse, the concert forms part of the St Augustine’s Chamber Series. Donations towards St Augustine’s Music will be gratefully received.
| Beethoven | Sonata in C sharp minor, op. 27 no 2 (‘Moonlight’) |
| Chopin | Three Nocturnes |
| Bax | Legend |
| Liszt | St François de Paule marchant sur les flots |
The concert takes place at St Augustine’s Church, Richmond Road, Cambridge CB4 3PS.
Fand followers may like to know that a new video has been created for Peter Thompson’s delightful orchestral rhapsody, Hampshire Summers.
Although the audio recording itself is the same one that has been available on this site for some time (a performance by the Solent Symphony Orchestra conducted by Steve Tanner), a selection of appropriate Hampshire imagery has now been added to reflect the moods of the music, with the full approval of the composer. The new video can be seen below or, as usual, viewed on the Fand YouTube channel.
On Sunday, 6th March 2016, St Augustine’s Chamber Choir, Cambridge, conducted by Philip Mead, gave the world première performance of Peter Thompson’s arrangement of The Keys of Heaven.
We are delighted to be able to present a video of the performance here on the Fand site and also on the Fand YouTube channel. Very many thanks to Dan Leighton for supplying the video and to the choir for permitting its performance to be shared in this way.
Recently, Fand advertised an exciting lunchtime concert given last November by international pianist Philip Mead in Cambridge. The half-hour recital featured a programme of music by Sir Arnold Bax and Peter Thomspon, virtually all of it published by Fand, and four of the performances were world premières.
We are delighted to say that the concert was videoed, and we have been given permission to put the entire performance online. So whether or not you were able to attend in person, you can now sit back and enjoy the recital at your leisure! Click the embedded video below to watch the whole concert on this page, or find more details (including separate videos of each piece) on the concert information page.
The playlist can of course also be found on our YouTube channel.
World-renowned cellist Lionel Handy has released an outstanding new CD containing both the underrated Cello Concerto of Sir Arnold Bax and the totally unknown Cello Concerto of Stanley Bate, which Lionel Handy himself has transcribed, edited and prepared. This new CD represents not just the work’s first recording but indeed its very first performance. Lionel’s two previous CDs, BAX: Works for Cello and Piano and From Bohemia to Wessex were both produced with Fand’s involvement. Although the same is not true of this new Lyrita disc, Fand is nevertheless very excited by its arrival, and is delighted to make it available for sale at an advantageous price.
Another piece performed by Cara Thompson at her recent recital was Bax’s A Milking Sian. Again, though Fand does not publish this song, given our interest in Bax we thought that our regular visitors might enjoy hearing the performance. View it below or on our YouTube channel (direct link). Please note that the words are presented as optional subtitles over the video.
Cara Thompson performed Dawn, composed by her uncle, Peter Thompson, in a recent recital. We present here a video comprising an audio recording combined with appropriate imagery. View it below or on our YouTube channel (direct link to video). Please note that the words are presented as optional subtitles over the video.
Cara Thompson, niece of Fand composer Peter Thompson, is currently a music student, and sang Bax’s I heard a piper piping as part of a final-year recital in October last year. Although Fand does not publish this particular song, our Bax ties are sufficiently strong that we thought that our regular visitors might enjoy the opportunity to experience the performance. View it below or on our YouTube channel (direct link). Please note that the words are presented as optional subtitles over the video.
Last year, Fand published Humanities, a book of poetry by Julian Farmer. Here, we are pleased to be able to present a short video of Julian reading one of his poems, The Cyclists, from a copy of the published book. Take a look at the video below or on our YouTube channel (direct link). The text of the poem is presented as optional subtitles over the video.
