The World to Me: The Music of Simon Beattie London Choral Sinfonia & Michael Waldron

• Simon Beattie (b. 1975): Advent Calendar:
• 1 Beattie: Advent Calendar 02:52
• Magi viderunt stellam:
• 2 Beattie: Magi viderunt stellam 02:11
• The Little One:
• 3 Beattie: The Little One 03:00
• One day, God walked in:
• 4 Beattie: One day, God walked in 04:01
• To Our Lady:
• 5 Beattie: To Our Lady 04:53
• The Angel and the Unicorn:
• 6 Beattie: The Angel and the Unicorn 04:46
• Each a sanctum replete:
• 7 Beattie: Each a sanctum replete 04:54
• At Cana:
• 8 Beattie: At Cana 05:59
• Missa Sanctae Annae:
• 9 Beattie: Missa Sanctae Annae: Kyrie 01:42
• 10 Beattie: Missa Sanctae Annae: Gloria 03:01
• 11 Beattie: Missa Sanctae Annae: Credo 05:02
• 12 Beattie: Missa Sanctae Annae: Sanctus 01:42
• 13 Beattie: Missa Sanctae Annae: Benedictus 00:41
• 14 Beattie: Missa Sanctae Annae: Angus Dei 01:45
• O sacrum convivium:
• 15 Beattie: O sacrum convivium 02:42
• A Remembrance:
• 16 Beattie: A Remembrance 02:27
• Short Service:
• 17 Beattie: Short Service: Magnificat 04:22
• 18 Beattie: Short Service: Nunc dimittis 02:14
• With one's thoughts:
• 19 Beattie: With one's thoughts 04:19
• Three Heine Love Songs:
• 20 Beattie: Three Heine Love Songs: Rose, Lily, Sun, Dove 00:56
• 21 Beattie: Three Heine Love Songs: Songless 02:15
• 22 Beattie: Three Heine Love Songs: Exercise in love 01:33
• Remember me:
• 23 Beattie: Remember me 04:55
• The World to me:
• 24 Beattie: The World to me 02:22
• Total Runtime 01:14:34

Info for The World to Me: The Music of Simon Beattie

A compelling introduction to the choral works of Simon Beattie, this album showcases a fresh yet deeply rooted voice in British music. Entirely self-taught, Beattie draws on the English choral tradition with a rare sensitivity to text and vocal colour. His settings range from medieval Latin liturgy to contemporary poetry by Rowan Williams and Carol Ann Duffy, as well as Beattie's own English translations of Rilke and Heine. Highlights include Advent Calendar, first broadcast by St John's College, Cambridge; the evocative Missa Sanctae Annae for upper voices; and poignant standalone works such as A Remembrance and The World to me. Whether writing for massed voices or just two lines in counterpoint, Beattie's music is marked by narrative clarity, lyrical precision, and emotional resonance. Performed by the London Choral Sinfonia under Michael Waldron, this album includes many premiere recordings and affirms Beattie's growing reputation as a distinctive choral composer.

I first came across Simon’s music several years ago. I was initially grabbed by a setting of Advent Calendar – a setting of a Rowan Williams text I have always been very fond of – which really spoke to me. It’s an incredibly simple musical setting, but executed in such a skilful and powerful way. There are no cheap tricks or gimmicks, just very well-written vocal lines alongside a distinctive harmonic language which, when combined, communicate something emotive and atmospheric.

Delighted I was to discover that Simon has composed so many other pieces in a similar vein. Though largely comparable in size and concept, each is distinctive. Throughout the process of creating this album I have been struck by the different colours, sound worlds, and dramatic intentions Simon’s music is able to conjure from a choir.

These stand-alone pieces form the backbone of the disc, but I was keen that we should also include the very functional settings of the Mass and Evensong canticles. Functional does not mean boring. How he has been able to write an entire Mass setting using just two upper-voice parts (unaccompanied), is nothing short of extraordinary. It is imaginative from the first bar to the last, despite such incredibly sparse resources. The rich sonorities of the divided lower voices in the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis are the polar opposite, but no less inspired.

One or two of the pieces on this recording are more technically demanding and require a reasonable number of singers to succeed. Many, however, are well within the grasp of an amateur choir, or a church choir looking to expand its core repertoire into more interesting corners of contemporary repertoire. I really hope some (or indeed many) of these pieces end up in the mainstream of the choral repertoire – they deserve to. (Michael Waldron)

London Choral Sinfonia
Michael Waldron, conductor

Nick Pritchard
is gaining fast recognition for his performances of the music of Bach and in particular his interpretation of the Evangelist in the Passions. Described as a ‘Masterly Evangelist’ in The Guardian, he has sung the role in Bach’s St John and Matthew Passions around the world and his recording of the St John Passion (Evangelist) for Deutsche Grammophon with Sir John Elliot Gardiner was nominated for a Grammy Award for best Choral Performance (2023). Recent performances of the piece include those with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra at the Concertgebouw under Jonathan Cohen, for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Polyphony and Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.

On the concert platform he has performed with Ensemble Pygmalion, Concerto Köln, Les Talens Lyriques, Les Violons du Roy, L’Orchestre du Chambre de Paris, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, English Concert, Early Opera Company, Philharmonia Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Gabrieli Consort, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Early Opera Company and he made his BBC Proms debut with Britten Sinfonia under David Bates performing Mozart’s Requiem. He has performed under conductors including Harry Bicket, John Butt, Laurence Cummings, Jonathan Cohen, Christian Curnyn, Maxim Emelyanychev, Adam Fischer, Emmanuelle Haïm, Simon Halsey, George Petrou, Raphaël Pichon, Christophe Rousset, Sir András Schiff and Ryan Wigglesworth.

A fine actor and equally at home on the operatic stage, roles have included Oronte, Alcina in a new Tim Albery production for Opera North, Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of the Aldeburgh Festival’s 70th anniversary, Tamino, Die Zauberflöte for Glyndebourne on Tour and for Irish National Opera and Peter Whelan, Prologue The Turn of the Screw and Ferrando, Cosí fan tutte for Opera Holland Park, Amphinomus, The Return of Ulysses for the Royal Opera House, Purcell’s The Indian Queen for the Opéra de Lille, Théâtre de Caen, Opera Vlaandern and Grand Theatre Luxembourg all under Emmanuelle Haïm as well as Albert Albert Herring, John/Angel 3, Written on Skin, Colonel Fairfax, The Yeomen of the Guard, Acis, Acis and Galatea and the title role in Candide. A regular performer of New Music he has also given several World Premieres, including creating the role of Matthew in Mark Simpson’s opera Pleasure (Opera North, Aldeburgh and The Royal Opera House), Through these Pale Cold Days, a song cycle for Tenor, Viola and Piano written by Ian Venables for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, Sleepsinging by Cassandra Miller (with David Bates and La Nuova Music at Wigmore Hall), Daniel Kidane’s Songs of Illumination (with Ian Tindale at the Leeds Lieder Festival), Gabriel Jackson’s Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ (with The Choir of Merton College, Oxford and Benjamin Nicholas) and Bob Chilcott’s Christmas Oratorio (The Three Choirs Festival and Adrian Partington).

In August 2023 Nick gave his Edinburgh International Festival recital debut with pianist Ian Tindale which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 including works by Gabriel Fauré, Francis Poulenc and Benjamin Britten. He has also given recitals with Gary Matthewman, James Bailieu, Simon Lepper, Sholto Kynoch, Christopher Glynn, Graham Johnson and Malcolm Martineau at Wigmore Hall, Oxford International Song Festival, Leeds Lieder Festival, Ryedale Festival, Lammermuir Festival and Two Mores Festivals.

The 23/24 season highlights include a US tour of Handel’s Allegro and Bach’s B Minor Mass with Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra with two performances at Carnegie Hall, New York, performances with Early Opera Company, Les Talens Lyrique Lully’s Atys at l’Opera Royal de Versailles and at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Evangleist with Irish Baroque under Peter Whelan, Residentie Orkest under Richard Egarr and Stavanger Symfoniorkester under Masato Suzuki, George Benjamin’s Written on Skin (John/Angel 3) with the Finnish Radio Symphony conducted by the composer, Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music and the Flemish Radio Choir and Britten St Nicolas at the Aldeburgh Festival.

Miriam Allan
The “sublime singing” (Gramophone, 2017) of Soprano Miriam Allan has been enjoyed across the world, from her native Australia, through Japan and Singapore, as well as at festivals throughout Europe and North America and the Funeral of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Recent engagements saw her return to Australia for a recital tour of Haydn’s Canzonettes with fortepianist Erin Helyard, as well as performances of Vivaldi with Pinchgut Opera, productions of The Indian Queen (Purcell) in Caen, Antwerp and Luxembourg with Emmanelle Haim and Concert d’Astree, as well as Bach’s B Minor Mass with Berner Kammerchor, St Matthew Passion with John Butt and Dunedin Consort and two documentary recordings with Sir John Eliot Gardiner around the life and work of Monteverdi for Mezzo and Stage+. Recordings of Gesualdo Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants were awarded several international prizes.

Highlights during the 2021-22 season saw Miriam perform with Philippe Herreweghe & Collegium Vocale Gent; multiple projects with Les Arts Florissants & Paul Agnew, as well as engagements at the Wigmore Hall with Jonathan Cohen & Arcangelo; return performances for Christian Curnyn & Early Opera Company; Messiah in Madrid and Oxford with The Instruments of Time and Truth and concerts at King’s Place with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

“the vocal magic of the night…she took the audience’s breath away.”

On the opera stage she is a regular company soloist with Pinchgut Opera, for whom she has sung Isifile (Giasone, Cavalli) and Costanza (Griselda, Vivaldi). For the Innsbruck Festival she has sung Galatea (Acis & Galatea, Handel), whilst she has taken various roles in The Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera Comique, Paris, and Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. Other roles include Queen of the Night (Magic Flute, Mozart), Musica and Proserpina (Orfeo, Monteverdi) and various roles in Dardanus, Rameau.

She has appeared alongside Sir John Eliot Gardiner & English Baroque Soloists, Masaaki Suzuki & Bach Collegium Japan, Nicholas Collon & Aurora Orchestra and Lars Ulrik Mortensen & Concerto Copenhagen as well as conductors William Christie, Stephen Layton and Laurence Cummings and orchestras the BBC Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Les Violins du Roy, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music.

She has sung Mozart Mass in C Minor in Lincoln Centre, New York, Bach Magnificat in the Musikverein, Vienna, Handel Messiah in Sydney Opera House, Haydn Die Schöpfung at the Barbican, London, Rameau In Convertando in Chapelle Royale, Versailles and appeared in Mozart Opera Galas at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Salle Pleyel, Paris.

Her discography includes the Gramophone award winning series of Monteverdi Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew, with whom she can also be seen in the DVD release of Orfeo as Proserpina , as well as the Mozart Requiem with Leipzig Kammerorchester, a recital of Handel and Purcell on ABC Classics and Pinchgut Opera’s series of live recordings.

Reviewing the latter’s release of Giasone, Gramophone remarked that her “stylish [Isifile] steals the show several times,’ whilst Voix des Arts wrote of the same performance “the timbre is one of polished gold from the top to the bottom.”

The London Choral Sinfonia
is a dynamic professional ensemble, who specialise in bringing new life to a wide range of choral and orchestral music, striving to deliver world-class performances of mid-sized repertoire.

Each season the LCS performs in a number of concerts across London, at venues including Cadogan Hall, St John’s Smith Square and Kings Place. These performances involve collaborations with emerging composers to commission new works, whilst also seeking to shine a light on lesser-known pieces in the canon of classical music.

Recent concerts have included ‘Colourise: Music from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ with violinist Jack Liebeck, and ‘Sword in the Soul: Music for Good Friday’. Each year the ensemble also enjoys smaller concerts, including their music and wine, Tasting Notes series, as well as private events and social gatherings for Friends of the LCS.

The ensemble’s 2023-24 Season sees the launch of two exciting new initiatives: a singing competition and a composition competition.

Since 2019 the LCS - in association with Orchid Classics - has released seven albums, ranging from popular Christmas music (O Holy Night) to a 3-disc project of more music by Richard Pantcheff. Recordings also feature world-premiere recordings by Vaughan Williams, a rediscovered cantata by Lennox Berkeley (Colourise), music for Passiontide (Sword in the Soul) and their newest release, a double disc of music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. September 2023 sees the release of an album of music by Sir Stephen Hough.

Michael Waldron
is establishing himself as one of the leading conductors of his generation. His work has been praised in the national press and appears frequently in concerts in the UK and internationally.

Michael works regularly with many of the top choirs and orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Polyphony, London Mozart Players, Holst Singers, and City of London Choir.

Operatic collaborations including projects with the Royal Opera House, Iford Opera Festival, Buxton Festival Opera, West Green Opera, and Opera Della Luna, building on his experience in the worlds of vocal and instrumental music gained during his time as Organ Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge.

This album contains no booklet.