NEWS APRIL 2009

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New CDs by Julian Hellaby and Stephen McNeff, available for sale on our albums page

The Russian Piano Performed by Julian Hellaby Campion Cameo 2081 Rachmaninov: Prelude in C-sharp minor Balakirev: Sonata in B-flat minor Scriabin: Nocturne in A Prokofiev: Sonata No. 4 in C-minor

Julian Hellaby Julian Hellaby has made appearances as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician throughout the UK, including recitals in the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and theChurch of Saint Martin-in–the-Fields. Overseas engagements have included visits toBelgium, Eire, Germany, Israel, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland and formerYugoslavia. He has broadcast for the BBC, Lebanese radio and television and forRadio Novi Sad, from where his playing was transmitted across Eastern Europe. Julian plays a wide repertoire ranging from Bach to 20th century works and jazz, embracing some less familiar music. He has commissioned and given first perform-ances of a number of piano compositions by British composers and his recordings include CDs of contemporary British piano and chamber music. In 2002 Julian formed a duo with pianist Peter Noke, and their CD, British Doubles, features music by English composers, including the first recording of an early work for two pianos by Malcolm Arnold. Julian works for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for whom he has presented seminars, masterclasses and professional development work throughout the UK and overseas. He is Associate Senior Lecturer at Coventry University Performing Arts and his book on musical interpretation will be published by Ashgate in 2009.

Images in Stone Music for Wind Orchestra by Stephen McNeff Campion Cameo 2077 Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra Conducted by Mark Heron Linda Merrick: Clarinet Carolina Krogius: Mezzo Soprano

Image in Stone: Wind Music by Stephen McNeff Born (1951) in Belfast, McNeff grew up in Swansea, home of Dylan Thomas, Daniel Jones, Ceri Richards, Fred Janes, Vernon Watkins, cultural hotbed and centre of the whole dynamic mid- century Welsh arts scene. Creativity was in the air for those receptive to it. It was here that he became involved in local music-making that stands him in good stead today. Studies were at the Royal Academy of Music with Simon Harris, Leighton Lucas, Noel Cox and others (he shared a conducting class with Simon Rattle) and postgraduate research at the Drama Department at Exeter University, becoming caught up in student plays and films (also student politics, though not as a composer!) that fuelled his passion and career ambitions. After a job with a stage company in Bristol he forced his way into the profession the hard way with work-shopping and hands-on involvement at every level to establish himself in the theatre and opera world, at companies such as Contact Theatre at the University of Manchester, the Banff Centre (composer in residence), Comus Music Theatre, and Canadian Opera. Success duly and deservedly came at the Edinburgh Festival (Aesop), the Lyric Hammersmith (Slump),The Unicorn Theatre (Clockwork - also toured nationally), The Royal Opera House (Gentle Giant) and Opera North (What I Heard About Iraq). In 2007 he won the British Academy Composer Award for Stage Works with Tarka the Otter, having allegedly been pipped by a single vote a year previous. That said, he is at home in most genres, having ‘done time’ in music education in London and the South West, enjoyed collaborations with brass ensembles (Canadian, New York Phil and Boston Symphony brass), percussion groups, and shown affinity for chamber music in recital works for violin, a Cello Sonata and Piano Quintet. Firstly as ‘Composer in the House’ (funded by the Royal Philharmonic Society) and currently (2008) Composer in Residence with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, he is active in chamber, educational and community projects as well as the showpiece orchestral series. This is the first CD devoted to McNeff’s works, though major scores have featured on issues before. Remarkably they are all wind music, something he fell into almost by accident. It says something for the insidious nature of the medium that having taken the plunge he keeps returning to it. He is not the only one. Composers who previously knew better suddenly find themselves hooked. Think of Richard Rodney Bennett, Adam Gorb, Edwin Roxburgh, Nigel Clarke, Kenneth Hesketh and Fergal Carroll, but McNeff has it worst: like Bennett (Morning Music) he was 50 when he came to it, but pure chamber music apart there are now 9 works at every level of difficulty, sophistication and negotiability of forces. Others are on the way and perhaps to his surprise he finds himself at the forefront of British wind writers.