Palace Premieres The Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra & Major David B. Hammond

• Thomas Dunhill (1877 - 1946): In Rural England, Op. 72:
• 1 In Rural England, Op. 72: I. A Pastoral 02:08
• 2 In Rural England, Op. 72: II. Playfellows 01:34
• 3 In Rural England, Op. 72: III. A Country Tune 02:47
• 4 In Rural England, Op. 72: IV. Meadow-Fairies 02:07
• 5 In Rural England, Op. 72: V. Festivity 02:02
• Peter Thorne (b. 1955):
• 6 Cold Winter Nights 05:05
• Alicia Scott (1810 - 1900):
• 7 Annie Laurie "Maxwelton Braes" (Arr. F. Hartley) 02:38
• Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953):
• 8 In Georgian Days (Gavotte from Rosmé) 03:06
• Traditional:
• 9 Blow the Wind Southerly (Arr. H. Dexter) 02:26
• Allan Macbeth (1856 - 1910):
• 10 Forget Me Not, Op. 22 03:44
• Alec Rowley (1892 - 1958): Shepherd's Delight:
• 11 Shepherd's Delight: I. Spring Woodland 01:43
• 12 Shepherd's Delight: II. Hush Song 01:40
• 13 Shepherd's Delight: III. Shepherd's Rondel 02:11
• Peter Wilson (b. 1956):
• 14 Iris and Lavender 03:56
• Frederic Curzon (1899 - 1973):
• 15 Pastoral Scene 04:48
• Bertram Walton O'Donnell (1887 - 1939):
• 16 Fragment for Strings 02:34
• Traditional:
• 17 Shenandoah (Arr. E. Thiman) 02:38
• 18 Billy Boy (Arr. E. Thiman) 01:44
• William Henry Speer (1863 - 1937):
• 19 Nocturne for String Orchestra, Op. 17 04:30
• Ernest Markham Lee (1874 - 1956): Rivers of Devon Suite:
• 20 Rivers of Devon Suite: I. Tamar (Stately Ships Ride Out to Sea) 03:04
• 21 Rivers of Devon Suite: II. Dart (Waters Flash and Leap) 02:31
• 22 Rivers of Devon Suite: III. Torridge (Dusk Deepening Between the Hills) 04:07
• 23 Rivers of Devon Suite: IV. Lynn (Through the Wild and Woodland) 01:53
• Giles Farnaby (1563 - 1640): Suite of Seven Pieces (Arr. G. Bantock):
• 24 Suite of Seven Pieces (Arr. G. Bantock): I. A Toye 01:21
• 25 Suite of Seven Pieces (Arr. G. Bantock): II. Giles Farnaby's Dreame 01:47
• 26 Suite of Seven Pieces (Arr. G. Bantock): III. Giles Farnaby's Conceit 00:52
• 27 Suite of Seven Pieces (Arr. G. Bantock): IV. His Rest 01:11
• 28 Suite of Seven Pieces (Arr. G. Bantock): V. His Humour 01:40
• 29 Suite of Seven Pieces (Arr. G. Bantock): VI. A Maske 02:07
• 30 Suite of Seven Pieces (Arr. G. Bantock): VII. Tower Hill 01:06
• Total Runtime 01:15:00

Info for Palace Premieres

World Premiere recordings of British music for String Orchestra performed at the Royal Palaces.

We are very pleased to announce a new recording from MPR of music for string orchestra entitled 'Palace Premieres', with the Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra. The playlist consists of hitherto unrecorded music performed during Royal Investitures (where honors are bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen or by one of her close family) and includes works such as Suite: In Rural England by Thomas Dunhill, Shepherd's Delight by Alec Rowley, Pastoral Scene by Frederic Curzon, Fragment for Strings by Bertram Walton O'Donnell, Nocturne by WH Speer, In Georgian Days by Roger Quilter, Rivers of Devon Suite by Ernest Markham Lee and a number of beautiful light music arrangements for strings of folk songs. We have also included as a 'bonus' a suite of Seven Pieces by Giles Farnaby, arranged by Bantock. We recorded the latter only to discover that in fact it has already been recorded but only once to our knowledge and we decided that as it is such good material we just had to include it.

The Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra is very sensitively directed by Major David Hammond, a truly fine musician. The orchestra consists of the best string players in the Army who are very fine and highly trained musicians. The quality of playing is really excellent and the performances committed. The album was recorded in the sumptuous acoustic of the Guards Chapel in London and the recording engineer is the legendary Tony Faulkner. Mike Purton was producer and editor and we recommend this recording to anyone who loves British music of a certain period (see above). Lee's 'Rivers of Devon' Suite is very Elgarian, Speer's little 'Nocturne' brings to mind Wagner’s 'Siegfried Idyll' and you can see from many of the titles that spirit of Rural Englandis frequently invoked. This recording has been made in collaboration with the Corps of Army Music Trust.

The Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra
Major David B. Hammond, conductor

Major David B. Hammond
grew up in Cornwall and studied at the London College of Music and York and Cambridge Universities, playing horn, as well as jazz and rock guitar with various groups. In 1986-7, while in London, he played French horn with NYJO, regularly performing the horn feature April Fool. In 1990 he moved to Southern Africa to work for the Bophuthatswana Arts Council for four years as a musician and teacher in schools, music centres, and for the local Defence Force.

Returning to the UK he joined the British army, spending four years in Germany as a horn player and later two years in Gibraltar as a Bandmaster. After deploying several times on operations to the Balkans and Afghanistan, and several positions as an army Director of Music, David led the mounted bands on the Queen’s Birthday Parade (Trooping the Colour) in 2014. Promoted to the rank of Major he currently holds the position of Director of Music, The Countess of Wessex’s String Orchestra, performing for Royal and State events.

Booklet for Palace Premieres