Beaumont School Music Department

Life-changing news. Last night, I stumbled across an article informing me that ECM Records has released its entire catalogue on various streaming services . ECM Records, founded in 1969 by producer Manfred Eicher, is one of the best record labels in the world for fans of jazz and classical music. ECM releases are known for their superb recording quality, fascinating artwork, and for featuring some of the most innovative music being composed and recorded. Long absent from streaming services, ECM has always maintained that physical CDs and LPs were the best way to hear their music. In a recent press release revealing this news, they reiterate this position, and point the finger squarely a music piracy for 'forcing' this move to streaming. This opens up the debate about music consumption in a digital age, but for us as consumers, it means that hundreds of outstanding recordings are now much more available. The main ECM label focusses on jazz, and releases such as Keith Jarr...

These guys turn 50 this year. Obviously none of them is 50 years old, but if you don't know this group, then you should get to know them. Formed in 1968, this all six-piece male vocal ensemble have made a name for their stunning singing, ranging from Renaissance polyphony to arrangement of more current hits. For me, I have always loved going through the huge numbers of arrangements that they have made available to us. Most of them are really approachable by the amateur ensemble, and over the years, some of their arrangements have become real Vocal Ensemble favourites. I try to make a point of teaching And So it Goes  to every cohort, and this, along with Lonesome Road and She's Always a Woman  will remain very dear to past and present members' hearts. The King's Singers have recently released Gold , a three-album compilation to celebrate their 50th Anniversary. Listen to it here . Vocal Ensemble, I look forward to taking you to their concert in January.  ...

"A church or school without a choir is like a body without a soul." John Rutter delivers a very important statement about music in our lives.  I truly feel passionate about every word he says. Please watch, it is so important.

This 1950 cartoon by Looney Tunes is Bugs Bunny at his operatic finest.  Bugs escapes the obsessed Elmer Fudd and they find themselves in a production of  Il Barbiere di Siviglia  at (presumably) the Hollywood Bowl. Obligatory antics ensue, and we go all in on a creatively animated scalp massage. Rabbit Of Seville from Wet The Face on Vimeo .

I've got loads of better things to do, but I got really excited about this piece of music today and I was compelled to blog about it. Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960) wrote this piece,  The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, in 1994. In the words of the composer: "Eight centuries ago Isaac The Blind, the great kabbalist rabbi of Provence, dictated a manuscript in which he asserted that all things and events in the universe are product of combinations of the Hebrew alphabet's letters: 'Their root is in a name, for the letters are like branches, which appear in the manner of flickering flames, mobile, and nevertheless linked to the coal'. His conviction still resonates today: don't we have scientists who believe that the clue to our life and fate is hidden in other codes?" Notes from the composer continue  here . The piece is scored for string quartet and 'klezmer clarinet', and uses traditional Jewish melodies, including tho...