We are delighted to announce that, after two years in preparation, a new CD of our music is now available.
A Different Lore (the title comes from a poem by Lakeland Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge) is a CD consisting of music found in manuscripts from the county of Cumbria. The earliest dates from 1739 and the latest circa 1850; the manuscripts themselves are from throughout the county – Holme Cultram, Consiton, Troutbeck, Watermillock, Martindale, Brampton, Middleton and Skelton.
The music covers a range of West Gallery Music – from the simple two part Sevil (Psalm 34) dating from 1739, to the stately Stonehenge, a Unitarian hymn, which started life as a solemn march from Gluck’s opera Alceste and published in Samuel Webbe’s A Collection of Psalm Tunes etc used in Martindale Church. Some of the pieces are unaccompanied, and some are accompanied by our string trio comprising violin, viola and cello; one of the pieces Bright Seraphim by Thomas Taylor of Brampton features the organ part from the original manuscript. Hocton (Psalm 116) is accompanied by our in-choir band of oboe, clarinet, tenor horn and cello.
The CD features 16 tracks and has a running time of just under an hour; find out more and how to buy a copy here. We are holding two launch concerts in October 2018 where we will be performing music from the CD and we will have copies for sale: find out more at our Concert Dates page.