Virtuoso group of hand-picked string players directed by violinist Peter Fisher

CDs

In 2026 a new CD will be released on the SOMM label

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Eclogue

Released by SOMM Recordings in 2022, ‘Eclogue’ – solos with string orchestra accompaniment - has had dozens of broadcasts, especially of tracks featuring the pianist Margaret Fingerhut and oboist Michael Stowe.

Clive Jenkins (b. 1938)
Three Pieces for Oboe and Strings

1. I. Pastorale. Andante
2. II. Air. Adagio
3. III. Scherzo. Giocoso

Gerald Finzi (1901-56)

4. Eclogue, Op. 10

Don Shearman (b.1932)

5. Venice in the Rain (Eine Kleine Leichtmusik)

Alan Ridout (1934-96)
Concertino for Flute and Strings

6. Movement 1
7. Movement 2
8. Movement 3

William Lloyd Webber (1914–82)

9. Frensham Pond (arr. Peter Cigleris)

Ronald Binge (1910–79)

10. The Watermill

Elias Parish Alvars (1808-49)

11. Romance from Concertino for Harp and Orchestra, Op. 34

Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951)

12. Y Deryn Pur

Don Shearman

13. Seventeen Going On Eighteen (Eine Kleine Leichtmusik)

Joseph Horovitz (1926-2022)

14. Concertante

Robin Milford (1903–59)

15. Mr John Peel Passes By

Clive Jenkins
Piano Concertino

16. I. Allegro
17. II. Moderato
18. III. Allegro

 

Review:
“The most nourishing inspiration here is to be found in the piano concertante offering by Finzi that lends the album its title. Margaret Fingerhut handles the solo part beautifully in a most pleasing performance that combines expressive fibre and poetic grace. Clarinettist Peter Cigleris makes an eloquent case for the engaging single-movement Concertante from 1948 by the much-loved Austrian-born British composer Joseph Horovitz, and he also excels in Cecilia McDowall’s hauntingly evocative Y Deryn Pur…
Harpist Gabriella Dall’Olio lends uncommonly deft advocacy to the ingratiating Romance from the Concertino by Devon-born Elias Parish Alvars…
Two offerings by Clive Jenkins (another Devonian, born in 1938) top and tail proceedings, both given by their dedicatees: Fingerhut has a ball in the engagingly frothy Piano Concertino from 2018, while Michael Stowe was the lucky recipient of the even more recent (2021) Three Pieces for oboe and strings.…
Unfailingly sympathetic music-making throughout, then, realistically captured by Michael Ponder’s microphones. First-rate annotation, too, by Robert Matthew-Walker. If the concept appeals, don’t hesitate.”
—Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

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British Serenade

HERITAGE RECORDS
HTGCD 204

Solos with String Orchestra
CHAMBER ENSEMBLE OF LONDON

directed from the violin by Peter Fisher
Michael Butten (solo guitar); Richard Waters (solo viola)
Chris Shrimpton (solo harmonica); Michael Mace (solo cello)
Peter Cigleris (solo clarinet); Peter Fisher (solo violin);

*WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS
Malcolm Arnold: Serenade for Guitar and Strings Op.50
Clive Jenkins: Romance for Viola and Strings *
Paul Lewis: On Pevensey Levels *
Edward Elgar arr. Levine Andrade: Salut d’Amour Op. 12 *
Paul Carr: Viola Air *
Malcolm Arnold arr. Roger Steptoe: Concertino for Clarinet and Strings Op.29a *
Clive Jenkins: Rhapsody for Harmonica *
Don Shearman: Winter Sunshine *
Clive Jenkins: Cologne *
Malcolm Arnold arr. Philip Lane: Five Pieces for Violin and Strings Op.84a *
Total time: 65.22

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Majesty

Majesty - by Clive Jenkins, CEOL's latest recording, is now out from Heritage Records. It is available as a download from Amazon and iTunes.

Clive wrote the piece for a CEOL concert at the V & A to go with an exhibition of photographs of the royal family. Since then, it has been played as the Queen herself led members of the royal family and Knights of the Garter into the Waterloo Chamber at a function in Windsor Castle. 

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Set in Silver

NEW RELEASE FROM EM RECORDS

This double CD was launched at the English Music Festival on 25th May.
EMRCD032 is a reprint of CEOL's 2006 disc 'English Music for Strings'.
EMRCD033 is all new. Premiere recordings are marked with an asterisk.

Recorded: Coombehurst Studio, Kingston University, 10th and 11th January, 2015
Producer/engineer: Michael Ponder
Editor: Richard Scott.

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