Perpetuo

Perpetuo – Reels, Drones & Jigs (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:10:19 minutes | 2,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Champs Hill Records

The British chamber ensemble Perpetuo seeks to bring chamber music to new audiences through varied collaborations and performances in unusual venues. The group has commissioned new music from several composers and worked with some of the most prominent compositional figures in Britain today. Perpetuo was founded in 2013 by oboist James Turnbull. The group’s membership changes according to the repertory it undertakes, but the players are active professional musicians drawn from the ranks of soloists, chamber players, and orchestral musicians around Britain. Perpetuo has collaborated with figures and venues ranging from theatres, dance companies, and artists to photographers, filmmakers, digital studios, and even chefs. The group has commissioned new music from composers, including David Fennessy, Donald Grant, and Alasdair Nicolson, and has performed music of such leading composers as Thomas Hewitt Jones, Cecilia McDowall, and Roxanna Panufnik. Among Perpetuo’s stated goals is to expose chamber music to new audiences; to this end, the group has performed not only in traditional concert halls but in museums, cafes, and other unexpected locations such as the British tea clipper ship Cutty Sark. Perpetuo has been especially popular as guests at festivals, including St. Magnus (Orkney), Rye, Totally Thames, and Little Venice. Perpetuo served as artists in residence for Metal, a London group active in several English cities that has transformed derelict buildings of historical significance into new community spaces. The group has been broadcast on the BBC 3 radio network and has often offered live streams on video services. Perpetuo has benefited from support from Arts Council England and the PRS Foundation. Perpetuo made its debut recording, Airs, Blues, & Dances, for the Champs Hill label in 2016, featuring Turnbull on oboe and Libby Burgess on piano. The group returned in 2021 on a Naxos recording of Stephen Dodgson’s opera Margaret Catchpole – Two Worlds Apart.
– James Manheim
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Perpetuo – Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:55:37 minutes | 2,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos

Among Stephen Dodgson’s portfolio of more than 250 works are chamber operas, of which Margaret Catchpole: Two Worlds Apart is a most striking example. It is based on the true story of a woman who was convicted of the then capital crime of horse stealing and transported to Australia, and Dodgson conveys the romance and drama of the story with characteristic lyricism and rhythmic energy. Words are paramount for Dodgson, and his setting is vivid, immediate and tonal, with some swaggering rustic moments amidst the precise characterisation and idiomatic instrumental writing.

“Stephen Dodgson was one of the UK’s most admired composers of the 20th century, writing a number of chamber operas including a true story of Margaret Catchpole.

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