Twelve Hours of Sunset

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ARTISTS

Piers Adams, recorder

Piers Adams is regarded by many to be the greatest recorder player of our time. Stylistically unique and unbounded by historical preconceptions this modern-day Pied Piper coaxes truly extraordinary sounds from his simple recorders. In performance with his duo-partner Howard Beach, with his ensemble Red Priest and as soloist with numerous celebrated orchestras, he has thrilled, charmed and transported many thousands of listeners, attracting the highest acclaim from the music press.

Website: http://www.piersadams.com/PiersAdams/index.html

BBC Symphony Orchestra,

The BBC Symphony Orchestra has played a central role at the heart of British musical life since its inception in 1930, and as the flagship orchestra of the BBC provides the backbone of the BBC Proms with at least a dozen concerts each year, including the First and Last Nights. Strongly committed to twentieth-century and contemporary music, it has given the premiere of more than 1,000 works by composers such as Bartók, Britten, Hindemith, Holst, Stravinsky and Shostakovich, and more recently has premiered BBC commissions by Simon Bainbridge, Jonathan Dove, Michael Nyman and Sir John Tavener among others. Its annual season of concerts as Associate Orchestra of the Barbican includes a weekend each January focusing upon a single composer from the twentieth or twenty-first century, most recently James MacMillan, Elliott Carter and Sofia Gubaidulina.

Jiří Bĕlohlávek took up the post of Chief Conductor in July 2006 and David Robertson was appointed Principal Guest Conductor in 2005. The BBC SO works frequently with Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis and Artist-in-Association John Adams. All concerts are broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and a number are televised, giving the BBC Symphony Orchestra the highest broadcast profile of any orchestra in the UK. The BBC SO is committed to innovative education work, with ongoing projects including the BBC SO Family Orchestra and Music Intro, introducing families to concert-going.

The BBC SO has appeared on 34 of NMC’s CDs, including the best-selling recording of Elgar’s Third Symphony.

Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/symphonyorchestra

Martyn Brabbins, Conductor

Artistic Director of the Cheltenham International Festival of Music 2005-2007, he was Associate Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 1994-2005. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, a position which started in September 2009. After studying composition in London and then conducting with Ilya Musin in Leningrad, his career was launched when he won first prize at the 1988 Leeds Conductors' Competition. Since then Brabbins has regularly conducted all the major UK orchestras and is much sought-after in Europe, notably in Germany, Holland, Belgium and Scandinavia.

Brabbins’ symphonic engagements have included appearances at London's South Bank in subscription with the London Philharmonic and Philharmonia orchestras, his Tokyo debut, with the Tokyo Metropolitan (where he returns in 2011); and visits to the Netherlands Radio Chamber in the prestigious Matinee series, the Residentie Orkest, Salzburg Mozarteumorchester and Lahti Symphony. He is a regular guest with the City of Birmingham Symphony, Halle and BBC Philharmonic orchestras, and appears several times each season with the BBC Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony orchestras in subscription and at the BBC Proms.

Website: http://www.intermusica.co.uk/

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Tracks

Disc 1

Alleluia Timpanis

14"

Symphony No.1 - Introduction - Allegro

18"

Symphony No.1 - Adagio

07"

Symphony No.1 - Presto

33"

Recorder Concerto: I

08"

Recorder Concerto: II

06"

Recorder Concerto: III

34"

Recorder Concerto: IV

17"

Recorder Concerto: V

28"

Twelve Hours of Sunset

34'

25"

CD

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COMPOSER:

David BEDFORD

DESCRIPTION

The haunting and atmospheric title work - inspired by a Roy Harper lyric - is accompanied by the celebratory Alleluia Timpanis, Bedford's Symphony No.1, and his Recorder Concerto, with soloist Piers Adams.

REVIEWS

"Someone who can combine the shimmering sounds of Sixties texture music with greater consonance than most would dare deserves his place in the sun."

BBC Music Magazine, 1998

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (2)

You'd be surprised what we

Submitted by EleanorWilson on 14 May 2012 - 10:58am.

You'd be surprised by what we listen to in the NMC office, all of the bands/artists you list and more! That is the delight of being a music fan with open ears. Glad you enjoyed this disc. David was involved with the NMC label in its early years and is deeply missed by the industry.

Twelve Beautiful Hours of Sunset

Submitted by Michael Baldock (not verified) on 11 May 2012 - 9:58pm.

Not sure if I am the sort of person who would leave a customer review on this sort of website; in my spare time I listen to Goth symphonic metal, Godspeed You Black Emperors, Vangelis, Hawkwind and Brian Eno. I am also a 'sort of' Mike Oldfield fan. And much else which is noisy! And there is the connection. Many many years ago when I was a teenager I used to listen avidly to Derek Jewell's 'Sounds Interesting' programme on Radio 3 and one evening he played the entire David Bedford album 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'and I was entranced by it; by todays's standards it was raw and harsh but again it was a work of pure genius including the wonderful song 'Homeward Bound' and many years later I finally obtained a copy of it on CD. The Mike Oldfield connection is that he played his guitar on David Bedford's early albums with much atmospheric effect. So much for the past, a year ago I learnt that Dave Bedford had died and I was very saddened and I wanted to find out what else he had produced. I found this recommended CD 'Twelve Hours of Sunset' and persuaded my wife to buy it as a Christmas present (Good grief! When I originally listened to Ancient Mariner I could not even imagine having a wife!)and a few days after Christmas I put it on the stereo system for the first time. This is not an easy CD to listen to. I was very impressed by the opening to Alleluia Timpanis and with time this piece is impressive, it seems to have a medieval theme to it. Symphony No.1 took a bit more time and was worth the effort. I still cannot relate to the Recorder Concerto though hopefully one day I will, however that is my inadequacy, not that of David Bedford. 'Twelve Hours of Sunset' is 34 minutes 26 seconds of pure musical enigma / bliss. The premise of this piece is a long aeroplane journey in the evening in the evening travelling due west, the sun appears to stand still with a strange feeling of suspension, timeless and perpetual evening. Travellers on Concorde would have understood this completely. I have no formal musical background so I struggle to describe this track; if I can say that there is no formal start, middle, end, that the strings and the choir seem to slide up and down, that the choir seems to chant out of sequence against a heavenly chorus, the whole thing is quite etherial. Suspension, timelessness, perpetuality are strongly suggested and are easy to imagine. The whole track is beautiful and, for me, completely emotionally engaging. I intend to obtain Davis Bedford's several other albums however a small voice is telling me that 'Twelve Hours of Sunset'is as good as it gets and if that be so, well so be it and God rest your soul David Bedford and thank you for 34 minutes 26 seconds of aural heaven.

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RECORDING CREDITS

Recording date: 3 January 1997 (Recorder Concerto), 7-9 February 1997

Recording venue: BBC Studio 1, Maida Vale, London

Engineer: Mike Clements
Producer: Colin Matthews
Editing & mastering: Geoff Miles

Cover image: Francois Hall

(P) 1998 NMC Recordings Ltd

Catalogue number: NMC D049

Release Date: 1 April 1998

NMC D049

David Bedford: Twelve Hours of Sunset