THE LYRITA RECORDED EDITION TRUST THE RELAUNCH OF LYRITA RECORDED EDITION


The Lyrita Recorded Edition Trust is pleased to announce the return to a schedule of regular monthly releases for this legendary British label. The founder Richard Itter died in March 2014, but his UK Charitable Trust is making long-term plans to continue his work.

The existing label will continue to make recordings of works by British composers, concentrating on premieres. The first CDs (of works by Geoffrey Bush, and the cello concertos of Robert Simpson, John Joubert and Christopher Wright) appeared at the end of 2014.

The Trustees are also starting a new sub-label under the banner ITTER BROADCAST COLLECTION which makes its first release this month.


ITTER BROADCAST COLLECTION


Richard Itter had a life-long fascination with recording and he habitually acquired professional equipment for disc and tape recording even for solely private use. From his home in Burnham he was able to receive a good signal from the BBC Wrotham transmitter, which was constructed in 1951 and began broadcasting VHF/FM on 2 May 1955. His domestic recordings from BBC transmissions (including Proms, premieres, operas, symphonies and chamber music - more than 1500 works in total), date from 1952-1996. Everything was initially recorded on magnetic tape, but up to 1955 particularly important performances were transferred to acetate disc. These fragile discs were never played and have remained in excellent condition, as have the majority of the tapes which make up the bulk of the collection. In 2014 the Lyrita Recorded Edition Trust begun to transfer this priceless archive and has put in place formal agreements with the BBC and the Musicians Union to enable the release of items from it to the public.

In the first years of making these tapes, the idea of creating his own specifically 'British' label had not yet fully formed in Richard Itter's mind. Once the concept of Lyrita was born, around 1956, the BBC broadcasts he recorded became exclusively of British works. But prior to that decision he had built up an impressive archive of international repertoire. Since many of these performances are with British orchestras and soloists, and reflect the vibrant musical life of the nation immediately following the end of WW2, the Lyrita Trust will also make occasional releases from this material.


 

MATYAS SEIBER ULYSSES

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BBC CHORUS - DAVID ATHERTON


 

Born in Budapest on 4 May 1905, Seiber began to learn the cello at the age of ten. He studied composition at the Budapest Academy of Music under Kodaly from 1919 to 1924. In 1925 he entered his Serenade for wind sextet in a Budapest competition and when it failed to win the prize, Bartok resigned from the jury in protest.

In 1935 Seiber settled in London, where he founded the Dorian Singers and helped Francis Chagrin to found the Society for the Promotion of New Music. He taught at Morley College and privately and his pupils included Don Banks, Peter Racine Fricker, Anthony Gilbert, Malcolm Lipkin, David Lumsdaine, Anthony Milner and Hugh Wood. Seiber stayed in touch with continental musical developments and frequently attended the International Society for Contemporary Music's festivals, several of which featured his own compositions. On 24 September 1960, at the age of 55, he was killed in a car crash in South Africa during a lecturing tour of the country's universities. At the time of his tragically early death, Seiber was one of the most respected teachers of composition in Britain. His own body of work is distinguished by a natural versatility and by the wide range and eclecticism of his musical interests. It incorporates the successful pop song By the Fountains of Rome (1956), which entered the top ten of the charts and won an Ivor Novello Award, and his score for the animated film Animal Farm(1954), as well as numerous examples of incidental music for radio, television, and the stage.

MÁTYÁS SEIBER (1905-1960)

ULYSSES: CANTATA FOR TENOR SOLO, CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA (1947) 48.50

  1. The Heaventree 8.5

  2. Meditations of Evolution Increasingly Vaster 12.52

  3. Obverse Meditations of Involution 8.37

  4. Nocturne Intermezzo 7.54

  5. Epilogue 10.39

    Alexander Young, tenor

    London Symphony Orchestra & BBC Chorus David Atherton, conductor

    BBC Archive Performance, broadcast 21 May 1972


  6. ELEGY FOR SOLO VIOLA AND SMALL ORCHESTRA (1954) 7.50

    Cecil Aronowitz, viola

    London Philharmonic Orchestra Matyas Seiber, conductor Licensed from Decca Records


    THREE FRAGMENTS FROM 'A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN
    ' (1957) 18.28

  7. Peter Pears, narrator

    Dorian Singers & Melos Ensemble Matyas Seiber, conductor

    Licensed from Decca Records

    Catalogue Number

    SRCD348

    Total Playing Time

    75.31

    Number of Discs

    1

     

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    BRITISH VIOLIN & CELLO CONCERTOS



    Catalogue Number

    REAM2114

    Total Playing Time

    1 hr 59 mins

    Number of Discs

    2

    DISC ONE

    ARTHUR BENJAMIN (1893-1960)

    VIOLIN CONCERTO (1932)

    Derek Collier, violin

    BBC Northern Orchestra Stanford Robinson, conductor

    BBC Broadcast 30 September 1961

     

     

    E J MOERAN (1894-1950)

    VIOLIN CONCERTO (1942)

    Alfredo Campoli, violin

    BBC Symphony Orchestra Rudolf Schwartz, conductor

    BBC Broadcast 23 October 1959

    DISC TWO

    ARNOLD BAX (1883-1953)

    VIOLIN CONCERTO (1938)

    André Gertler, violin

    BBC Symphony Orchestra

    Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor

    Concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London BBC Broadcast 6 February 1957


    WILLIAM WALTON (1902-1983)

    CELLO CONCERTO (1956)

    Gregor Piatigorsky, cello

    BBC Symphony Orchestra

    Sir Malcolm Sargent, conductor

    Concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London

    European premiere

    BBC Broadcast 13 February 1957

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