KATYN . . . . . JOHN BARTON ARMSTRONG . . . . . £7.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM004
You are in a Dark Forest: they push you forward: they shoot you in the back: you fall into a mass grave. You think of your home in Poland  -  possibly of village life: maybe echoes of your native mazurkas? - Every mood is explored, as a tribute, in this scintillating set of five mazurkas.

UBIQUITOUS POODLE . . . . . JOHN BARTON ARMSTRONG . . . . . £7.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM003
But could that dog really have had such dazzling adventures? A veritable Odyssey! Life on the Ocean Wave! Antics at a Dutch party! All the exhilarations of wild Nature! Capers in Latin America! These eight pieces tell his story—and contain much of that Crisp Canine Counterpoint which he has made so fashionable. That animal gets everywhere … (Or is he really yourself in disguise?)

CURIOS . . . . . JOHN BARTON ARMSTRONG . . . . . £5.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM001
Between murder, kidnap, scandal, drugs, rape, arson, earthquake, famine (our daily news-fare!) and joy, pleasure, happiness (which are rarely there!) - lie strange experiences. Your parachute doesn’t open. At night in an empty house, you hear footsteps upstairs. You fall off your bunk in a train crash. A hostile crowd is around you. You awake to be told you’ve been asleep for seven years. Your dress rehearsal goes without a single hitch! This music tells all … 

LEGEND . . . . . SIR ARNOLD BAX . . . . . £8.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM005
As in much of his work from the 1930s Bax here cuts to a primitive reality and creates music of metaphor, revealing vast spiritual regions in the half-light of legend.

IN THE NIGHT . . . . . SIR ARNOLD BAX . . . . . £7.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM006
From the obscurity of night’s deepest darkness this poem grows into a gorgeous, darkly-petalled rose: its sinews a relentless passacaglia, now passionate, now tender, now strident, eventually a lilting lullaby. Completed November 6th 1914.

FOUR PIECES . . . . . SIR ARNOLD BAX . . . . . £12.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM007
From 1947, Bax well into his 14 year residency at the White Horse inn, Storrington, comes FANTASTIC MARCH, a far-away ROMANZA, IDYLL, poignant with the late-spring scents of a Sussex by-way, and an uneasy PHANTASIE.

CYPRUS QUARTET . . . . . NIGEL BENSON . . . . . . £22.50 . . . . . STRING QUARTET . . . . . FM025
Cyprus Quartet is based on a programme concerned with certain events in Cyprus in the late 1950s. It is dedicated to the composer’s father. An astonishingly original and moving essay concerning violence and Religion.

LYRICS FROM THE EAST . . . . . CAREY BLYTON . . . . . £7.45 . . . . . TENOR & PIANO . . . . . FM056
Here the true miniaturist’s art. Carey Blyton, at the end of his career, working with Sappho and Khayyam and anonymous Chinese and Indian poets. Years before, the composer had travelled to the East and now, seen from afar, a distillation of the magic, the fragrance, in tiny drops, tiny songs.

EL TANGO ULTIMO . . . . . CAREY BLYTON . . . . . £9.45 . . . . . ORCHESTRA . . . . . FM066
All you ever wanted (lasciviously!) from - all you ever wanted to know (educationally!) about—the provocative Tango—here in a thimble. A chromatic masterpiece. The perfect orchestral aperitif, filler, encore.

VALE, DIANA! . . . . . CAREY BLYTON . . . . . £12.50 . . . . . STRING ORCHESTRA . . . . . FM067
The hunter and the hunted. DIANA: the death of a young princess, and the mythological resonances of her name, all seem to play in this pithy, haunting lament. An intensely moving reflection on a perennial theme; composed at the end of the last century.

SHADOW-PLAY (WAYANG KULIT) . . . . . CAREY BLYTON . . . . . £12.45 . . . . . 4 (OR 8) FLUTES . . . . . FM028
Far Eastern delicacy in bell-clear air, as shadowy finger puppets dance upon imagination’s screen. Here is wonderful new material for flute ensembles. Not difficult: TEACHERS NOTE!

THE LAST NORFOLK WALK . . . . . ROGER ENO . . . . . £5.00 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM118
Held, as in a delicate piece of crystalware, deep poignancy within reflected light; perhaps a profound sorrow, unspoken, yet hauntingly present within the music’s gentle simplicity. Tendrils of light down a minimalist requiem.

NOTES TO MYSELF . . . . . ROGER ENO . . . . . £8.00 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM126
This is a faithful reproduction of a sketchbook. Perhaps it gets as close to improvisation as notated music may. In which case it comes as close to the essence of Roger Eno’s art as any notated music may. Here are the composer’s first and last thoughts. Enjoy it as much as you may.

TEN VENERABLE DILEMMAS . . . . . ROGER ENO . . . . . £6.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM008
Once a piece of music has been presented to players, it is finally out of the composer’s domain; the piece becomes that which the player makes it. This is particularly the case in Ten Venerable Dilemmas. The question is one of approach: how you approach them is your dilemma!

THREE BEN JONSON SONGS . . . . . GARY HIGGINSON . . . . . £8.00 . . . . . TENOR & PIANO . . . . . FM109
Try Higginson’s fresh approach to these three antique lyrics. You’ll be smitten by the heartfelt bi-tonality of ‘Slow, Slow Fresh Fount’ and by the pugnaciously rhythmic third number concerning women as ‘men’s shadows’. The coy first song rolls as easily into favour as an oyster ...

IN OXFORD CITY ... . . . . . JOHN MITCHELL . . . . . £5.00 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM113
A folksong prelude. Wisps of folksong heard through the early morning mists, haunting the imagination. Briefly there is a wonderful clarity as the song comes in sonorous glory. But a far-away poignancy returns in a brief epilogue.

FAREWELL TO HIRTA . . . . . FRANCIS POTT . . . . . £7.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM010
Parting is sweet sorrow—but in a major key. A Gaelic offshore community; the long and precarious hold on their cliffbound island home coming to an end; a final glance westward in the heartbreakingly perfect sunset of 29th August, 1930, as the familiar outline falls below the horizon for the last time. ‘There is no end of things in the heart’ (Li Po / Ezra Pound.)

TOCCATA . . . . . FRANCIS POTT . . . . . £7.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM011
Enigmatic and ominously insistent, not headlong until its final stages: a nod at Prokofiev in the same vein, but developing fugally and homing in like an arrow on a climax of hair-raising virtuosity. Not for the faint-hearted: a rough vintage, hard on the nose, with iron and steel notes and a smoking finish. Has travelled well—but won’t lay down. Uncork now! ...

MR PTOLEMY: HIS PASSIONS AND POLEMICS . MARTIN READ . £7.45 . CLARINET in A, BASSOON, PIANO, 2 VIOLINS, VIOLA, BASS . FM031
This explores the nature of relationships—each instrument having its own character. The clarinet and bassoon are individuals—as is the bass, although less so, the piano happily relates to everybody, whilst the upper strings can only act in a rather ladlike fashion.

THREE STUDIES . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £5.45 . . . . . GUITAR . . . . . FM095
Three little miniatures upon which to ponder life!

THE MYTHICAL BUGLER . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £9.50 . . . . . ORCHESTRA . . . . . FM068
When The Mythical Bugler sounds return stores, the houses of Portsmouth will collapse as items stolen from the Portsmouth Dockyard start to march back to the Dockyard stores.

WATER MUSIC . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £14.50 . . . . . COR ANGLAIS, VIOLIN, VIOLA, ‘CELLO . . . . . FM033
Handel it’s not, pollution of England’s ground water it is!! Our ancient land is represented by music based on a plainsong melody, whilst our modern desecration of these treasures is depicted by occasionally dissonant and rhythmic tension.

THE ANGEL OF HISTORY . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £5.00 . . . . . SOLO VIOLIN . . . . . FM097
“His face is turned towards the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, waken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; … this storm is what we call progress.” Walter Benjamin

THE NUMBERS GAME . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £5.00 . . . . . SOLO CLARINET OR SAXOPHONE . . . . . FM051
Three imaginary journeys through a magic square for unaccompanied clarinet or saxophone!

DRAWING DETAILS IN AN OLD CHURCH . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £5.45 . . . . . VOICE & PIANO . . . . . FM058
          I hear the bell-rope sawing,
          And the oil-less axle grind,
          As I sit alone here drawing
          What some Gothic brain designed;

THREE SONGS FROM AS YOU LIKE IT . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £8.45 . . . . . FLUTE, CLARINET, VOICE & PIANO . . . . . FM034
Jazzy with bounce; blue notes in abundance; whole tone scales shiver on the harpsichord, as we move enharmonically through unexpected, crazy keys: written for an open air production, but ideally suited as concert pieces.

SNOW NEVER FELL ON HIS GRAVE . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £11.50 . . . . . ORCHESTRA . . . . . FM069
In 1830, demands for a living wage by farm workers in Hampshire led to an agricultural revolt. During this period, a local Justice of the Peace ordered a group of labourers to disperse. Getting down from his horse the JP collared their leader, and during the ensuing disturbance his hat was knocked off. As a result a 19 year old labourer was charged with attempted murder, tried, found guilty and hanged. Legend has it that snow never remains on the site of his grave.

FULL FATHOM FIVE . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £7.45 . . . . . OBOE OR CLARINET, VOICE & PIANO . . . . . FM037
Something rich and strange.

ELEGY . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £9.45 . . . . . FLUTE, ‘CELLO & PIANO . . . . . FM030
So who is the most impressive—the flute or the ‘cello? Combative until the end—when they eventually sing the same song, the piano acts as peace maker.

SINGSONG . . . . . MARTIN READ . . . . . £8.45 . . . . . SSAA & PIANO . . . . . FM073
From the chromatically shifting Jewels, through the Elton John-esque Is the Moon Tired?, the funky Who has seen the Wind?, the brittle Dead in the Cold to the rhythmically exciting Kookoorookoo!, this set of choral songs for upper voices makes an exciting addition to the repertoire.

VIOLIN SONATA . . . . . CHRISTOPHER STEEL . . . . . £8.45 . . . . . VIOLIN & PIANO . . . . . FM039
An arresting example of British chamber music from a composer whose publishing career began to take off in the 1960’s. The essentials of Steel’s art—rhythmic virility, bi-tonal sonority, a gravely elegant lyricism, are all in this representative three movement sonata from the early 1970’s.

AT THE WINDOW . . . . . PETER THOMPSON . . . . . £9.45 . . . . . SATB CHOIR . . . . . FM074
Words by one of the greatest and most visionary of contemporary poets, RICHARD BURNS. Thompson here skilfully follows all the turnings and phrases, all the doubts and eventual un-nameable glory AT THE WINDOW is concerned with. Not for the unimaginative choir.

MAY SONG . . . . . PETER THOMPSON . . . . . £6.00 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM115
Morning air! The hounds of spring! Ripe grasses! Floating May-blossom tinkles the air and then … an ecstasy of gorgeous colour and high spirits as the spring begins!

HAMPSHIRE SUMMERS . . . . . PETER THOMPSON . . . . . £14.50 . . . . . ORCHESTRA . . . . . FM070
Have you ever, perhaps, come upon some old crumbling wall and in sudden wonder glimpsed again Eden’s meadows and woods; and have you stared and sensed there, young love’s fragrance upon summery downs; or thrilled at the blue view of distant seas? It is all in this pastoral music for a new century!

SUITE NO.5 ‘HOLIDAY SUITE’ . . . . . PETER THOMPSON . . . . . £7.45 . . . . . PIANO . . . . . FM018
You’d expect Thompson’s quirky holiday snapshots to view the unexpected: ghostly Donaghadee, Grantchester meadows over-laden with memory, Suffolk lanes from an ‘extatic motorbike’, a ‘Mighty Nowhere Bridge’ somewhere over the Humber. After all, enchantment comes when least expected. Come! The unexpected!

TOP O’ THE MORNING . . . . . PETER THOMPSON . . . . . £9.45 . . . . . BRASS QUINTET . . . . . FM047
A sparky, humorous and ‘well met’ number for an equally sparky, humorous ‘well met’ brass quintet!

SONATA . . . . . PETER THOMPSON . . . . . £9.45 . . . . . ‘CELLO & PIANO . . . . . FM046
A superbly written ’cello sonata. Contemporary Romanticism, where deeply felt, wide-spanning moods are keenly explored by equal partners. The middle movement of this three-movement work seems to act as a still point, its dreamy seascape nature an axle.

SONATINA . . . . . PETER THOMPSON . . . . . £8.50 . . . . . BASS CLARINET (OR BASSOON) & ‘CELLO . . . . . FM128
This unusually scored duo is certain to intrigue your audience, especially as they hear the full range of each instrument ingeniously explored. Of course, dark-hued tones predominate, but fire gleams on the burnished surfaces.

QUATRE CANTILENES, SET 2 . . . . . ADRIAN WILLIAMS . . . . . £9.00 . . . . . ‘CELLO & PIANO . . . . . FM103
Four richly contemplative songs in which the intricacy of textures (wide ranging cantabile lines, subtle piano writing with a meditative English pastoralism at its heart) is no mere technical adjunct, but is as the essence of a cottage hearth fire as that fire’s own flickering flames!