“The choir at once impresses by the vividness with which it treats words and by its intelligent verbal phrasing… it commands a wide dynamic range, thrilling at climaxes… with perceptive tonal nuances.”
(Gramophone, about Poulenc CD)
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Erik Bergman – Choral works Nox Bim Bam Bum Fåglarna Hathor Suite New London Chamber Choir Endymion Ensemble Penelope Walmsley-Clark – soprano Stephen Varcoe – bass John Potter – tenor James Wood – conductor Chandos ABTD 1189 |
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Lili Boulanger – Works for chamber choir Clairières dans le ciel Les sirènes Renouveau Hymne au soleil Pour les funérailles d’un soldat Soir sur la plaine New London Chamber Choir Andrew Ball – piano Amanda Pitt – soprano Jeanette Ager – mezzo-soprano Martyn Hill – tenor James Wood – conductor Hyperion CDA 66726 |
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Ruth Crawford Seeger – Portrait Ruth Crawford Seeger Music for Small Orchestra Three Chants for Women’s Chorus* Piano Study in Mixed Accents Three Songs String Quartet 2 Ricercare Andante for Strings Rissolty Rossolty Suite Charles Seeger John Hardy Schönberg Ensemble Lucy Shelton – soprano Oliver Knussen – conductor* New London Chamber Choir Amanda Pitt – soprano Jeanette Ager – mezzo soprano James Wood – conductor Deutsche Grammophon 449 925-2 This recording appears no longer to be in DG’s catalogue, and may therefore unfortunately only be available used or remaindered. |
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Luigi Dallapiccola – Choral works Canti di Prigionia † Cinque Frammenti di Saffo † Due Liriche di Anacreonte † Sex Carmina Alcaei † Tempus Destruendi – Tempus Aedificandi * Due Cori di Michelangelo Buonarroti il Giovane* New London Chamber Choir Ensemble Intercontemporain Julie Moffatt – soprano Nicola Jansen – choir soprano soloist Lora Sansun – choir mezzo soprano soloist* James Wood – conductor † Hans Zender – conductor Erato 4509-98509-2 |
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Frank Denyer – A monkey’s paw Stalks ‡¥ After the rain ‡¥ A fragile thread A monkey’s paw *† Winged play ¥ Members of New London Chamber Choir * Yoshikazu Iwamoto – shakuhachi ¥ James Wood – conductor † Frank Denyer – conductor ‡ Continuum CCD 1026 |
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Leos Janácek – Choral musicRíkadla (Nursery Rhymes) Kaspar Rucky * Sedmdesát tisíc (The 70,000) † Vlcí stopa (The Wolf’s Trail) * Elegie na smrt dcery Olgy (Elegy on the death of my daughter Olga) ‡ Hradcanské písnicky (Songs of Hradcany) * Ave Maria Otcenás (Our Father) ‡ New London Chamber Choir Critical Band Amanda Pitt – soprano * Jamie McDougal – tenor ‡ Daniel Norman – tenor † James Wood – conductor Hyperion CDA66893 “An idiomatic and lively record…. James Wood draws excellent performances from his extremely varied forces.” (Gramophone – May ’97) |
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Branko Lazarin – selected works Passacaglia Tri Stavka From My Diary Divici Mariji / To the Virgin Mary * Tri Eseja / Three Essays Gudački Kvartet / String Quartet New London Chamber Choir* James Wood – conductor* Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra Miro Belamarić – conductor Tomislav Žužak – alto saxophone Zagreb Saxophone Quartet Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Wind Orchestra Dragan Sremec – conductor Porin String Quartet Cantus 98898496092 |
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Francis Poulenc – Complete secular choral works Un soir de neige Chansons françaises Sept chansons Chanson à boire Petites voix Figure humaine New London Chamber Choir James Wood – conductor Hyperion CDA66798 |
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Music by Pierre de la Rue and Josquin des Prez Pierre de la Rue Missa pro defunctis Josquin des Prez Mass – Hercules Dux Ferrariae La Deploration de Johannes Ockeghem, “Nymphes des bois” New London Chamber Choir James Wood – conductor Amon Ra CD-SAR 24 |
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Giacinto Scelsi – Complete choral works Three Latin Prayers Sauh III & IV TKRDG Antifona Yliam Tre Canti Popolari Tre Canti Sacri New London Chamber Choir Percussive Rotterdam James Wood – conductor Accord-Una Corda 4654012 Una Corda originally released this recording under catalogue number 206812. This number has been deleted and is likely only to be available used or remaindered. |
| Roberto Sierra | Roberto Sierra – Cantos Populares (VRAS Productions CD-87-001) |
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Stravinsky – The Flood and Requiem Canticles The Flood * Abraham and Isaac † Variations Requiem Canticles ‡ Charles Wuorinen A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky New London Chamber Choir *‡ London Sinfonietta Lucy Shelton – soprano * Susan Bickley – contralto ‡ Peter Hall – tenor * Bernard Jacobson – baritone * David Wilson-Johnson – baritone *†‡ Stephen Richardson – bass * Michael Berkeley – narrator * Oliver Knussen – conductor James Wood – choral director Deutsche Grammophon 447 068-2 |
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Stravinsky – Les Noces and other choral works Les Noces * Four Russian Peasant Songs (both versions) * Bogoroditse dyevo, Otche nash, Vyeruyu † Tres sacrae cantiones * The dove descending breaks the air * Introitus: T S Eliot in memoriam * Traditional Five bridal folksongs from the Voronezh district † New London Chamber Choir Chamber Choir of the Institute of the Arts, Voronezh, Russia * James Wood – conductor † Oleg Shepel – conductor Hyperion CDA 66410 In September 2000 this recording was chosen by Iain Burnside on BBC Radio 3’s “Building a Library” as the one which best combines the earthly with the spiritual in Stravinsky’s most Russian Ballet.”James Wood’s New London Chamber Choir – a crack team at all things 20th century – joins forces with a Russian chamber choir from Voronezh. The combination is terrific. They sing like they own the music.” |
| Michel Tabachnik | Michel Tabachnik – Le Pacte des Onze (with Ensemble Intercontemporain – Grammont CTS-P26-2) |
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Mihailo Trandafilovski – Five Arc-en-ciel Magnets, Lava, Crystals (S)pacing Ripple Effect Chetiri * New London Chamber Choir * Aidan Oliver – conductor * Kreutzer Quartet Neil and Eve Heyde Roger Heaton Roderick ChadwickInnova 914 |
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James Wood – Incantamenta Choroi kai Thaliai (Revels and Dances) *†‡ Ho shang Yao (Songs by the River) †‡ Rogosanti ‡ Incantamenta (Incantations) * New London Chamber Choir * Sara Stowe – soprano † James Wood – percussion ‡ James Wood – conductor Continuum CCD 1037 |
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James Wood – Phainomena Two men meet, each presuming the other to be from a distant planet † Phainomena * Venancio Mbande talking with the trees ‡ New London Chamber Choir * Critical Band Steven Schick – percussion † Kuniko Kato – marimba ‡ James Wood – conductor NMC D044 |
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Iannis Xenakis – Choral Music Medea Senecae Nuits Knephas (Commissioned by the Almeida Festival for James Wood and the New London Chamber Choir. Dedicated to Marc Dondey and James Wood.) Serment A Colone New London Chamber Choir Critical Band James Wood – conductor Hyperion CDA 66980 “At last year’s [1997] Bath Festival, James Wood’s New London Chamber Choir gave a quite brilliant concert that was the high point of a weekend devoted to the music of Iannis Xenakis. Now here comes the recording, and it serves the composer’s craggy, architectural music just as well. The programme is neatly framed by declamatory works based on classical models. Medea (1967) radiates a wonderful, violent primitivism, the singers clashing pebbles together, the instruments contributing wails, howls, and ominous thuds. There are gestural extremes in the agonised Nuits (1967), a piece reflecting the torments of Greece under the junta. There’s also the incandescent Serment (1981), which celebrates (and sets) the Hippocratic Oath, and the affecting wordless lament of Knephas (Darkness) of 1990. Everything is delivered with staggering virtuosity by these astonishing amateur singers under the conductor James Wood, and the instrumentalists of Critical Band are just as impressive. A likely disc of the year.” – Stephen Pettitt, Sunday Times |
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Flemish Polyphony of the High Renaissance Regis O admirabile commercium Obrecht Factor orbis, Salve crux Josquin Preter rerum seriem Brumel Nato canunt omnia Busnois In hydraulis, Anthoni usque limina Dufay Ave regina celorum New London Chamber Choir James Wood – conductor Amon Ra CD-SAR 56 |