目录

专辑简介

《采茶纪》是一首后现代民谣，由温莨作词，徐梦圆作曲，双笙演唱。iam Boughton. The meeting happened, discussions went very well and the orchestra – renamed English String Orchestra – made its first Nimbus recording on 31 May 1983. A potpourri featuring harpist Susan Drake ‘Music for Harp and Strings’, Sadly this recording, a digital pioneer, has degraded beyond repair.

The next recording was an altogether grander affair; popular string orchestra works of Elgar, made in the Great Hall of Birmingham University. The orchestra under William’s direction quickly became a regular feature of Nimbus’s releases, as did the Great Hall. The relationship was so close and so active that it might have appeared to be a house band – except that the orchestra and its music director had a rich and busy concert life quite independently of their work in the studio. Neither William nor I recall there being any particular reason why this recital was held back. However, I believe the following chronology of events holds a clue. Just two months after this record we were back in the Great Hall to record an album of Butterworth (A Shropshire Lad, The Banks of Green Willow, Two English Idylls), Parry (Lady Radnor’s Suite) and Bridge (Suite for Strings).

When it was released, particularly in the USA, it became the orchestra’s, and Nimbus’s calling-card, instantly racking-up chart successes, a top spot in the Billboard 100 and endless radio play. In those days classical radio in the US stretched from coast-to-coast, so not wanting to miss an opportunity our American agent put William and me on a trans-American PR tour. The obvious question came from all sides – ‘what’s your follow-up?’ the only possible answer being ‘more English music’. Finzi, Delius, Holst, Tippett and Britten were the order of the day. Josef Suk, Antonín Dvořák and Leos Janácek have waited a long time for their day in the sun. © Adrian Farmer