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Bertram Walton O'Donnell (1887-1939) studied Cello and Composition at the RAM. He was a bandmaster in the military for much of his life but also conducted the legendary BBC Wireless Military Band (London's finest orchestral wind, brass and percussion players including Malcolm Arnold on trumpet) from its inception in 1927 until his death when his brother Percy (also a former bandmaster) took over the baton until it was shut down in 1944. BW was hugely influential in composing innovative yet very attractive music for military band. He was way ahead of the game in this genre and Holst asked him to advise him in his composition of his Prelude and Scherzo 'Hammersmith' and indeed Holst acknowledged BW's expertise by dedicating the work to him. The other brother Rudolph became Principal Director of Music for the RAF during WW2 when his band contained the likes of Dennis Brain and Norman Del Mar in the horn section. Courtesy of Irish folksinger Alison O'Donnell we have acquired a number of forgotten and unpublished works, mostly be BW with some (including an overture for wind band) by Rudolph. There is a brief and jolly march arranged by Percy, several already published items and three delightful arrangements for the BBCWMB. It's delightful music, with a delicious Irish flavour (the three brothers were of Irish origin) and quite groundbreaking. Official release isn't until February, but it's now available from my website shop at www.mikepurtonrecording.com . The RAF College Band perform beautifully and the recording engineer is none other than Tony Faulkner. Perfect for Christmas - my wife couldn't stop listening to it and that is saying something!

After Percy Hilder Miles Chamber Music Volume 1 received an excellent review on BBC Radio 3's Record Review, we are delighted that Volume 2 is now available pre-release on my website at www.mikepurtonrecording.com at £13.99 plus postage. It's wonderful music and totally fits within the UC brief. Ian Tindale plays his Piano Sonata, his Six Album Leaves (a tribute to Schumann) and his 'Sunshine Over the Avon' a rather amusing 'dig' at the Second Viennese School. Then we have his delightful 'Grand Solo for Viola' marked (with tongue in cheek) as being 'so difficult as to be absolutely impossible', played superbly and with great style by Peter Mallinson. To finish this selection, we have a huge find, his unknown four movement Clarinet Quintet in E flat of 1903/04, played by John Bradbury (Principal Clarinet with the BBC Philharmonic) and the Cirrus String Quartet who recorded that brilliant CD of WH Reed's String Quartets for MPR in 2022. If you like romantic music (which you should do!) you will absolutely love this and indeed the other tracks on both discs. All world premiere recordings. PS Tony Faulkner's beautiful recorded sound once more.

Please support us by buying a CD, we can't record the music of unsung composers unless people buy the recordings! Percy Volume 2 is available now - who will be the first to buy one?

Listening clips will be uploaded shortly.

Thanks Mark and our friend from Stamford US for your kind remarks, it's very satisfying when people enjoy our recordings, let's hope we can afford to continue! We do have a few more releases lined up soon, including a second  Percy Hilder Miles CD, featuring his Piano Sonata plus other piano works and his Clarinet Quintet with John Bradbury, Principal Clarinet with the BBC Phil and the Cirrus String Quartet. There will then be  a Clarinet and Piano CD also with John Bradbury (which includes much little known British music), accompanied by Ian Buckle and last but not least a CD of music for strings and piano of music by Fred Hartley the doyen of British light music composers.

I'm delighted to announce that MPR's world premiere recording of string quartets by that Unsung Composer William Henry 'Billy' Reed is available NOW to buy PRE-RELEASE from my website at www.mikepurtonrecording.com . There are mp3 audio samples available here to enjoy. This is absolutely gorgeous music, by Elgar's close friend, the former Leader of the London Symphony Orchestra 'Billy' Reed. Produced by me with superlative sound from Tony Faulkner, this was recorded with the excellent Cirrus String Quartet in the fine acoustic of The Pamoja Hall, The Space, Sevenoaks School in Kent, which was designed by Arup Acoustics and is like a smaller version of Snape Maltings. We have recorded String Quartets nos 4 and 5 plus the two movement Legende. If you enjoy music by Elgar or indeed RVW, you will love this, it's warm, romantic and beautifully crafted music, demonstrating Reed's innate empathy for stringed instruments. Thoroughly enjoyable.

While you are on my website, please look at (audio samples also available) Volume 1 of Chamber Music by Percy Hilder Miles, teacher of Rebecca Clarke - vVolume 2 to follow soon! This was featured very favourable recently on BBC Radio 3 Record Review and on Petroc Trelawney's show. Please support new releases by purchasing CDs and downloads (downloads to be available soon) but don't stream. We small labels receive 0.037p per track streamed and if people don't purchase from us we can't afford new releases.

Last week we recorded WH 'Billy' Reed's String Quartets nos 4 & 5 plus the Legende (in two movements). It is quite extraordinary that these pieces have been neglected, they are simply superb. Reed was a first rate composer in his own right, a great friend of Elgar and the longest serving Leader of the LSO. Methinks I detect whiffs of Vaughan Williams and Holst in these gorgeous pieces as well as Elgar, bound together by Reed's own distinctive and inspirational compositional style. Watch this website and www.mikepurtonrecording.com for news. Should be out of the factory and available for purchase from me in a couple of months and on general release late spring/early summer. The excellent performers are the relatively newly formed Cirrus String Quartet. Yours truly as producer and Tony Faulkner as recording engineer.

Just to let you know that our wonderful Percy Hilder Miles CD is now on general release and is available at all the usual dealers. Or you can buy directly from my website at www.mikepurtonrecording.com

Great reviews so far including 'Very strongly recommended – my disc of the year' (Kevin Maundry BMS Journal December 2021). More on the way!

Thanks for all the kind comments, it really is fabulous music. We are on course to record the String Sextet and the Septet (Beethoven instrumentation) and are planning some string quartet recordings and more sonatas and trios. It is such lovely music that I hope people will buy it!

Best wishes to all

Mike

This was on the Wikipedia entry about Percy, but you may be right. Anyway, Percy and Lionel Tertis clearly knew each other well! Glad you like the CD, let's hope others buy it so we can afford to make more recordings.

I am seeing my source tomorrow and will report back!

HI! Do I call you Gregory or just J? Yes you are the first and as a result I have discovered that for some reason the 4GBP shipping charge has not been applied so I am trying to find out what has happened and change the settings. And as you are the first to buy, I will ship you the CD minus the shipping charge so there won't be any more to pay, I hope that is acceptable!

Best

Mike

I am delighted to announce that MPR111 Percy Hilder Miles Chamber Music Volume 1 with the wonderful Ensemble Kopernikus has today arrived safely from the factory. This is delicious music, Miles (1878-1922) had a rare gift for melody and harmony and was exceptionally imaginative as a composer - such a tragedy he has been overlooked - when you hear this you will really be pleasantly surprised. Miles was a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Rebecca Clarke was a pupil. When he was a student Miles played in a string quartet with Billy Reed and Lionel Tertis (NB Reed String Quartets are in the pipeline) and at the age of 16 he performed Beethoven's Violin Concerto. This is the first CD in a series of music by Miles and features the Cello Sonata in C, the Violin Sonata in G and the Piano Trio in B minor. Suffice it to say (in my humble opinion) that the music, the playing and the recording make this unmissable. The official release date will be February 2022 but it's available now to purchase ONLY via my website www.mikepurtonrecording.com . Email me via the website if you experience any problems, some work is yet to be done on the website for this release but purchasing it should work OK! Go to the 'listen' page and you will find some clips down below. The music will be available for high quality download in a few weeks from the Willowhayne website and doubtless it will be on Spotify etc, although please don't stream, we get almost no income from that and we would like to afford to make more recordings! If you but from my website I will usually post the CD the same day.

NB if you are buying from abroad there is a 4 GBP shipping charge but if you are purchasing from outside the UK, you need to check the box by that option. Thanks!

As part of the first step in recording a pioneering series of music by the unjustly neglected North Kentish composer Percy Hilder Miles (1878-1922) I am putting the finishing touches to Volume 1 of PHM's Chamber Music  which features the brilliant new young Ensemble Kopernikus performing his Cello Sonata in C (1916), the Violin Sonata in G (1894) and his Piano Trio in B minor (1901). All recorded in the sumptuous acoustic of Henry Wood Hall, London with Tony Faulkner as Recording Engineer and me as Producer. Not having heard any of Percy's music before, I was introduced to it by Phil Hall, who is usually seen as no. 2 Viola with the BBCSO. Phil has lived all his life near the Thames in Erith, near where Percy himself lived. This music is a fantastic find, it is absolutely beautiful to listen to, imaginative, Romantic in style and demonstrating an inspired gift for melody and harmony. There is the influence of Brahms, Elgar and Dvorak but Percy's English voice can definitely be heard emerging. Percy taught Composition at the Royal Academy of Music and one of his pupils was Rebecca Clarke. This first CD will be released in February 2022 but will be available to buy from my website at www.mikepurtonrecording.com from early/mid November. There will be some listening samples available on the website too. This is gorgeous stuff - do look out for it!

This is now available - for pre-release copies, please visit www.mikepurtonrecording.com



Robert Franz (1815-1892) was a neglected German composer, highly thought of in his day, who specialised almost entirely in Lieder, generally of a small but perfectly formed nature. Suffice it to say that this is a collection and sequence of beautiful and very moving miniatures (nearly all previously unrecorded), superbly performed by soprano Harriet Burns and tenor William Searle - both hugely talented young soloists, with gorgeous recorded sound engineered by Tony Faulkner. It is a double album containing all 51 songs set to poems by Wilhelm Osterwald, the project being originated by musicologist Victoria Edge, who through her research has discovered that composer and poet were even closer than very close friends as can be seen in the texts. It's a delightful and very moving musical journey and will be available pre-general release from my website at www.mikepurtonrecording.com around the middle of October. A fabulous project which I am delighted to be involved with.

Many thanks, I'm sure you won't be disappointed! It will be up on my website imminently to order. best, Mike

I'm very pleased to announce a new recording from MPR of music for string orchestra entitled 'Palace Premieres', with the Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra. The playlist consists of hitherto unrecorded music performed at Royal Investitures and includes works such as Suite: 'In Rural England' by Thomas Dunhill, 'Shepherd's Delight' by Alec Rowley, 'Pastoral Scene' by Frederic Curzon, 'Fragment for Strings' by Bertram Walton O'Donnell, 'Nocturne' by WH Speer, Gavotte 'In Georgian Days' by Roger Quilter, 'Rivers of Devon Suite' by Ernest Markham Lee and a number of beautiful light music arrangements for strings of folk songs. We have also included as a 'bonus' a suite of Seven Pieces by Giles Farnaby, arranged by Bantock. We recorded the latter only to discover that in fact it has already been recorded but only once to our knowledge and we decided that as it is such good material we just had to include it.

The Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra is very sensitively directed by Major David Hammond, a very fine musician who also happens to be (to my deep joy!) a horn player (I was Principal Horn in the Hallé 1973-86). The orchestra consists of the best string players in the Army and before any of you switch off 'because they couldn't possibly be any good', you will be proved utterly wrong. They are largely conservatoire trained musicians and are led by a violinist who played with the RPO for years before realising that she and her children would benefit from a much better lifestyle. The quality of playing is excellent and the performances musicianly and committed. The CD was recorded in the sumptuous acoustic of the Guards Chapel in London and the recording engineer is the legendary Tony Faulkner. I was producer and editor and recommend this recording to anyone who loves British music of a certain period (see above). Lee's 'Rivers of Devon' Suite is very Elgarian, Speer's little 'Nocturne' brings to mind 'Siegfried Idyll' and you can see from many of the titles that Rural England (whatever that was!) is frequently invoked. I do hope folk will buy this and other CDs, this helps small labels such as mine be able to afford new projects. Do remember that streaming brings to the record label the princely sum of 0.01p per track. My website can be found at www.mikepurtonrecording.com - thanks for reading this! The recording has been made in collaboration with the Corps of Army Music Trust.