Herald AV Publications

HAVPCD283 – Bang! An opera for young people by John Rutter

‘Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason, and plot…’ With this age-old verse, John Rutter begins his alluring opera for young people. Like many events in the colourful history of England, legend over the years has woven a web of fantasy around the true facts of the Gunpowder Plot. However, within the space of an hour, David Grant’s resourceful libretto for Bang! manages to portray a remarkably accurate picture of thos dramatic days around 1605 in this musical version of the story.

HAVPCD264 – Stephen Watson: Cello Concerto

Completed in 1999, the Cello Concerto was first performed in a BASF concert on 21 June 2000 in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, by the same artists who have made this premier recording. The Concerto embodies a traditional as well as a personal approach to concerto form: traditional, in the sense of virtuoso writing for the solo instrument, yet personal since there is no contest between the soloist and the orchestra – both elements are often integrated and each is of equal prominence. In the middle Adagio, however, the solo cello is the prime mover, and this is reflected in the scoring and atmosphere of the movement.