Divine Art to release new Album of Thomas Pitfield Songs with James Gilchrist

Early 2024 will see the release of a new album of songs by Thomas Pitfield, performed by tenor James Gilchrist with pianist Nathan Williamson.

To be recorded at the Menuhin Hall, Cobham, Surry on 4^th and 5^th November, for release spring 2024. All the songs are receiving their first recording. The album production is generously supported by the Pitfield Trust.

Bolton-born composer Thomas Pitfield (1903-1999), taught composition at The Royal Manchester College of Music, where his admiring pupils included John McCabe, Ronald Stevenson, John Ogdon, Peter Donohoe, John Golland and David Ellis. He was multi-talented, being also an artist, poet, furniture maker and wood carver. He wrote and published three fascinating volumes of autobiography. In addition he was a committed vegetarian and pacifist.

Pitfield was basically a miniaturist as a composer, but larger works, all recorded, include two piano concertos and concertos for recorder and for violin. His songs vary from the frivolous and the folksy to to the lyrical and dramatic, and past performers included Pears and Britten, Owen Brannigan and Honor Sheppard. A large and lavishly illustrated volume about Pitfield’s life and work, “Endless Fascination”, with contributions by his many admirers, is shortly to be published by the Manchester firm of Forsyth Brothers Ltd., who also publish the songs.

Tenor James Gilchrist began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time music career in 1996. His musical interest was fired at a young age, singing first as a chorister in the choir of New College, Oxford and later as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. His extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world with renowned conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington, Bernard Labadie, Harry Christophers, Harry Bicket, Masaaki Suzuki and Richard Hickox.

A master of English music, James has performed Britten’s Church Parables in St Petersburg, London and at the Aldeburgh Festival, Nocturne with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and War Requiem with the San Francisco. Recent highlights have included the role of Rev. Adams in Deborah Warner’s award-winning production of Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Equally at home in the baroque repertoire, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St John and St Matthew Passion feature prominently in James’ schedule. Indeed, he is celebrated as perhaps the finest Evangelist of his generation; as one review noted, “he hasn’t become a one man Evangelist industry by chance”.

James’ impressive discography includes recordings of Albert Herring (title role) and St John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Finzi song cycle Oh Fair To See , and critically-acclaimed recordings of Schubert’s song cycles for Orchid Classics. More recently he has released Solitudeand Songs of Travel for Chandos Records, both alongside Anna Tilbrook, and 100 Years of British Song , a three-part recording project focussing on ’The Art of British Song’ in collaboration with pianist Nathan Williamson for SOMM Recordings. His most recent release, Inn Stetter Hut, is a recording of 16^th Century viol music recorded in collaboration with the Linarol Consort for Inventa Records. His previous recordings for Divine Art include a programme of songs by John Jeffreys with Anna Tilbrook (“The Far Country” DDA 25049) and vocal items by Nicholas Marshall, David Dubery and Antony Hopkins.

Nathan Williamson is an accomplished pianist and composer; he gives solo recitals of repertoire from the Germanic Classical and Romantic tradition, as well as 20th-century and contemporary music, with a particular focus on British and American composers. Nathan has performed at many of the world’s leading venues and festivals and worked alongside numerous living composers in performances of their work.

His recordings for SOMM Recordings and Lyrita Recorded Edition, both solo and collaborative, have been widely acclaimed. Since 2016 Nathan has also been a member of the renowned new music ensemble Piano Circus.

Songs of Thomas Pitfield (Final Title Not Determined) (DDX 21119)