Bernard Hughes’s new album Bagatelles is now available for pre-ordering on Apple Music. The album can be pre-saved on Apple Music - and there are two advance tracks available to hear ahead of the 9 June release: ‘Footprints’ and ‘Song of the Walnut’. Click here for the full range of listening options. Bagatelles is on the Divine Art label, featuring pianist Matthew Mills.
The first pre-release track from Bernard’s forthcoming album of piano music is out now on YouTube. Pianist Matthew Mills plays ‘footsteps’ from the set of Bagatelles after which the album is named. The album Bagatelles: Piano Music by Bernard Hughes is released on the Divine Art label on 9 June 2023.
Bernard’s new anthem Above the Height of Heaven is the lead track on the new album by the choir of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge The Stalk Had No Knots. Conducted by the college’s Director of Music Catherine Groom, the album features music by a range of contemporary composers. Above the Height of Heaven, scored for SATB choir with optional organ, was written especially for the album, to a text by the medieval mystic St Bridget of Sweden. The track is available on Spotify and Apple Music and the sheet music is available now from Wild Woods Music.
Bernard’s orchestral piece Anaphora is being performed by the Wandsworth Symphony Orchestra at its concert on 19 November. This is the latest performance of the piece premiered by Woking Symphony Orchestra as part of the Adopt-a-Composer scheme in 2011. It has alse been recorded by the Brno Philharmonic. This latest performance is part of a concert of music by composers associated with St Paul’s Girls’ School in London: Bernard Hughes, Gustav Holst and Leigh O’Hara, who also conducts the orchestra. The concert is taking place at St Paul’s Girls’ School on Saturday 19 November at 7.30pm and tickets are available now.
The Thomas Tallis Society choir will be premiering Bernard’s new commission for them, Epiphany, at their concert on Saturday 12 November. The new piece sets words by the poet and playwright Hywel John. The Remembrance-themed programme will also feature Bernard’s Perhaps, alongside music by James MacMillan, Kerensa Briggs and Cecilia McDowall. The concert, conducted by Eamonn Dougan, will be at St Alfege Church in Greenwich, and tickets are available now.
The cover design of Bernard’s next album, Bagatelles, has just been released. The album will be a recording of his piano music, released in 2023 on the Divine Art label, performed by his close collaborator for many years, the pianist Matthew Mills. There have already been recording sessions at the Wathen Hall in London, with more days scheduled in October. The album includes music ranging from beginners’ pieces to highly virtuosic works like Strettos and Striations, and covers music written from the 1990s up to 2022 - a new piece, Partita, written specially for the album, and dedicated to Matthew Mills.
Bernard Hughes’s choral album Precious Things has been released. Described by Master of the Queen’s Music Judith Weir as ‘choral music as we rarely hear it – generous, light-footed, surprising’, as ‘sublime’ by The Scotsman and ‘direct and singable’ by The Arts Desk, it appeared at no.25 in the classical charts in its week of release. It featured the Epiphoni Consort, conducted by Tim Reader, and is available on Delphian Records - and on all streaming services. Here is a short film of Bernard talking about the album Precious Things and here is a video of Epiphoni performing the opening track, Perhaps.
The launch concert for Precious Things, the new Epiphoni Consort album of Bernard Hughes’s choral music, will take place at St James’s Church, Islington on Friday 24 June 2022. The concert will feature a sample of pieces from the album, as well as a Q&A with Bernard and conductor Tim Reader. There will be food and drinks available as well as the chance to purchase signed copies of the CD. Tickets are available now.
