For fans of the popular TV series Downton Abbey Christmas Day 2012 came to a sad close as they witnessed the death of the well-loved character Matthew Crawley. This piece by Mats Lidström was composed in response to the shocking season finale and seeks consolation for what had just unfolded on the screen. Composed for Cello and Piano  Lamenting Matthew Crawley also makes the perfect encore due to its romantic tone.

Le blues s?est façonné dans les plantations du Sud des États-Unis. C?est dans cette musique mélancolique que les esclaves tentèrent d?apaiser quelque peu les souffrances d?une vie de misère. Le blues devient alors source de consolation. Parmi les éléments qui caractérisent ce genre musical on trouve les blue notes composantes fondatrices du style qui apparaissent également dans cette composition de Roland Kernen.

To what God shall we chant our songs of battle? was commissioned by James O’Donnell and Westminster Abbey for a service of solemn commemoration on 4 August 2014 marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.Stark and gritty yet always rooted in tonality Matthews’s expressive harmonies bring a potent immediacy to the bitter disillusioned words of war poet Harold Monro and the two lyrical solos for soprano and tenor which set passages from the Book of Lamentations and St Luke’s Gospel. Beginning with a violent and impassioned energy this anthem ultimately offers little consolation. In the words of James O’Donnell it ‘leaves you standing on theedge of an abyss’ its impetus petering out in a series of hushed troubled questions.

Another great assortment of pieces assured to broaden your repertoire. This beautiful edition of The Pianist's Choice Book Two includes 11 pieces for solo Piano: Allegro from Sonatina (Elgar) Bagatelle in G minor Op 119 No 1 (Beethoven) Consolation No 1 (Liszt) Folk Song Op 38 No 2 (Grieg) Humoreske in F Op 101 No 4 (Dvorák) Inquiétude Op 77 No 4 (Moszkowski) Lament (Nielsen) Minuet in C minor (Haydn) Northern Song (Schumann) Romance Op 15 No 2 (Rimsky-Korsakov) and The Orphan Girl (Granados).

Le blues s?est façonné dans les plantations du Sud des États-Unis. C?est dans cette musique mélancolique que les esclaves tentèrent d?apaiser quelque peu les souffrances d?une vie de misère. Le blues devient alors source de consolation. Parmi les éléments qui caractérisent ce genre musical on trouve les blue notes composantes fondatrices du style qui apparaissent également dans cette composition de Roland Kernen.

Le blues s?est façonné dans les plantations du Sud des États-Unis. C?est dans cette musique mélancolique que les esclaves tentèrent d?apaiser quelque peu les souffrances d?une vie de misère. Le blues devient alors source de consolation. Parmi les éléments qui caractérisent ce genre musical on trouve les blue notes composantes fondatrices du style qui apparaissent également dans cette composition de Roland Kernen.

At First Light was commissioned by Eric Bruskin a resident of Philadelphia USA in memory of his mother. Eric had a longstanding enthusiasm for my work and I was touched to be the person he approached for a task which is both a privilege and a daunting responsibility. In a sense no music can ever measure up to the weight of love or the hope of consolation vested in it under such circumstances – but in memory I carry the deaths of both my own parents and I was able to draw upon that. Eric’s fondness for my Cello Sonata (itself written in memoriam) led him to ask that I include a solo ‘cello part in the new work – but his attachment also to my polyphonic sacred choral writing meant that he wanted a centrepiece which would be both a showcase of that approach and the celebration of a life well lived. Therefore the seven movements of At First Light arrange themselves as a series of slow meditations surrounding an exuberant 9-minute motet in which the lamenting cello falls temporarily silent. Eric’s Jewish faith meant that approaching an agnostic humanist brought up within the Anglican tradition was hardly free of problems! Gradually though I was able to win his approval for a collated mosaic of texts. This embraces some liturgical Latin (necessary for the motet) as the shared preserve of broad western culture in general but balances it with a secular approach to loss celebration remembrance and the many shades of our mourning those whom we see no longer. Eric was adamant that he did not want the title Requiem; but what has emerged is still a form of semi-secular Requiem in all but name taking its title instead from a phrase in the poem by Thomas Blackburn set as the third movement. This seemed to suggest succinctly how the loss of one very close to us is an awakening into an unfamiliar world where everything is changed. Following the exuberant central movement the texts by the Lebanese-born Kahlil Gibran and the US Kentuckian poet Wendell Berry first address the departed loved one directly then place us within an imaginary funeral cortège where the perennial and universal in human experience become personal without subscribing explicitly to any particular faith (or lack of it). The final text of all is a translation of a Hebraic prayer requested and provided by Eric Bruskin which serves to mirror its Latin counterpart heard at the outset. Throughout the lamenting cello represents a commentary on the experience articulated in the text. It evokes and in a sense tries to embrace and sanctify the individual existential journeys of the bereft as they in turn seek to make their own sense of what the short-lived Second World War poet Alun Lewis called ‘the unbearable beauty of the dead’ (movement 5). In a modern world hostage to ever greater menace displacement bloodshed and anguish I hope fervently that this music not only brings a measure of solace to the person who commissioned it but also makes its own small contribu

Contemplative scriptual music-In God Alone consists of twelve peaceful tranquil and straight- forward compositions based on scriptural texts. They are idea for choirs seeking music of reflection and meditation Andrew Moore's beautiful music will begreatly enjoyed by both congregation and choirs; it will also increase the depth of our understanding of these wonderful texts of consolation and compassion.

Instrumentation : High voice - Pf (Fr.) Those interested in French music have often had reason to be grateful to Roger Nichols; his writings on Debussy, Ravel, Messiaen and Poulenc are indispensable to the music lover. Nichols now turns his attentions to the mélodie, where it is his mission to encourage singers to explore beyond the well-trodden paths of French song. In these two anthologies he does not ignore masterpieces by composers of the stature of Fauré and Duparc, but sets them alongside music - almost impossible to find elsewhere in print - by such under-estimated figures as Reber, Viardot, Massé and Paladilhe. Even the more celebrated songs are often not easily found in practical editions, which makes this selection an ideal starting point for wider exploration. In each of these volumes the songs appear in the chronological order of their composer's birth, but Nichols somehow contrives a line-up of music which seems delightfully arbitrary at the same time as carefully designed to enrich everyone's understanding of the mélodie. The books also contain a remarkable amount of scholarship, lightly worn and pithily expressed. As well as complete translations of the songs, there is a useful and concise introduction on singing in French, together with an illuminating historical note and critical commentary; and Nichols gives full due to the poets who were of crucial importance in the development of the mélodie tradition. Graham Johnson Content : Niedermeyer:Le Lac (Meditation poétique);Berlioz:Absence;Gounod:Ô ma belle rebelle;Viardot: Fleur desséchée; Franck: S'il est un charmant gazon; Massé: Consolation;Lalo: Ballade à la lune; Saint-Saëns: La sérénité;Delibes: Chanson espagnole; Bizet: Pastorale; Massenet: Nuit d'Espagne; Chabrier: L'île heureuse; Paladilhe: Sérénité de la nuit; Fauré: Lydia; Fauré: Après un rêve; Duparc: Extase; Chausson: Le colibri; Debussy: Mandoline; Debussy: C'est l'extase langoureuse; Satie: Daphénéo; Satie: Spleen; Séverac: Ma poupée chérie; Dupont: Chanson des noisettes; Poulenc: La Grenouillère Editor :Nichols

21 Pieces by 12 Composers-Some of the most often taught original piano literature by dozens of master composers of the past has been carefully selected and compiled by difficulty level. The Intermediate edition features 20 pieces by 12 composers including: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Sofeggio in C minor H. 220 · Johann Sebastian Bach: Invention No. 1 in C Major · Johann Sebastian Bach: Invention No. 8 in F Major · Ludwig van Beethoven: Bagatelle in G Major Op. 126 No. 5 · Ludwig van Beethoven: Bagatelle in A minor Für Elise WoO59 · Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonatina No. 2 in F Major Anh. 5 No. 2 · Frédéric Chopin: Mazurka in A minor Op. 68 nO. 2 · Frédéric Chopin: Prelude in B minor Op. 28 No. 6 · Frédéric Chopin: Prelude in A Major Op. 28 No. 7 · Frédéric Chopin: Prelude in D-flat Major Raindrop Op. 28 No. 15 · Claude Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin · Claude Debussy: Le petit nègre · Scott Joplin: The Entertainer · Franz Liszt: Consolation No. 5 · Felix Mendelssohn: Venetian Boat Song No. 2 from Songs Without Words Op. 30 No. 6 · Erik Satie: Gymnopédie No. 1 · Franz Schubert: Moment Musical in F minor D. 780 No. 3 · Franz Schubert: Scherzo in B-flat Major D. 593 No. 1 · Robert Schumann: The Happy Farmer from Album for the Young · Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky: Morning Prayer from Album for the Young.

Those interested in French music have often had reason to be grateful to Roger Nichols; his writings on Debussy Ravel Messiaen and Poulenc are indispensable to the music lover.Nichols now turns his attentions to the mélodie where it is his mission to encourage singers to explore beyond the well-trodden paths of French song. In these two anthologies he does not ignore masterpieces by composers of the stature of Fauré and Duparc but sets them alongside music - almost impossible to find elsewhere in print - by such under-estimated figures as Reber Viardot Massé and Paladilhe.Even the more celebrated songs are often not easilyfound in practical editions which makes this selection an ideal starting point for wider exploration. In each of these volumes the songs appear in the chronological order of their composer's birth but Nichols somehow contrives a line-up of music which seems delightfully arbitrary at the same time as carefully designed to enrich everyone's understanding of the mélodie. The books also contain a remarkable amount of scholarship lightly worn and pithily expressed.As well as complete translations of the songs there is a useful and concise introduction on singing in French together with an illuminating historical note and critical commentary; and Nichols gives full due to the poets who were of crucial importance in the development of the mélodie tradition.Complete with translations and guidance on pronunciationNiedermeyer Le Lac (Meditation poétique)Berlioz AbsenceGounod Ô ma belle RebelleViardot Fleur desséchéeFranck S'il est un charmant gazonMassé ConsolationLalo Ballade à la luneSaint-Saëns La sérénitéDelibes Chanson espagnoleBizet