Coleridge-Taylor: Partsongs The Choir of Kings College London & Joseph Fort

• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912):
• 1 Coleridge-Taylor: Sea Drift 06:24
• 2 Coleridge-Taylor: By the lone seashore 02:53
• 3 Coleridge-Taylor: Isle of Beauty 02:42
• 4 Coleridge-Taylor: The Lee Shore 02:55
• 5 Coleridge-Taylor: Dead in the Sierras 04:34
• 6 Coleridge-Taylor: Song of Proserpine 02:28
• 7 Coleridge-Taylor: The Fair of Almachara 05:13
• 8 Coleridge-Taylor: The Sea Shell 02:30
• 9 Coleridge-Taylor: All my stars forsake me 03:25
• 10 Coleridge-Taylor: The Evening Star 02:53
• 11 Coleridge-Taylor: Whispers of Summer 03:45
• 12 Coleridge-Taylor: Summer is gone 02:52
• 13 Coleridge-Taylor: Requiescat 03:49
• Total Runtime 46:23

Info for Coleridge-Taylor: Partsongs

Amidst the explosion of choral writing in Britain at the turn of the twentieth century, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s contribution to the all-important genre of the partsong has long remained underappreciated.

The Choir of King’s College London explore a selection of vivid settings of Romantic poetry from Britain and America, full of rich harmonies and poetic sensibility, inspired by subjects ranging from the exquisite beauty of nature to the Victorian fascination with death.

Featuring no fewer than seven premiere recordings in characteristically committed performances from Joseph Fort’s singers, this album adds another piece to the jigsaw portrait of a composer who was a household name in his day and is once more coming into his own.

The Choir of King's College London
Joseph Fort, direction

Joseph Fort
is a conductor and musicologist based in London. Since 2015 he has been College Organist & Director of the Chapel Choir, and Lecturer in Music at King’s College London, which role he took up immediately upon the completion of his PhD at Harvard University.

Joseph's performances with the Choir of King’s College London have been recognised as ‘English choral singing at its best’ (Choir & Organ), ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Gramophone), and ‘superbly drilled’ (The Guardian). His expansive discography with Delphian Records has received considerable critical acclaim, including Editor’s Choice and the ‘best new classical albums’ lists in Gramophone. Recent orchestral conducting includes Britten Sinfonia, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Hanover Band and the London Mozart Players. He also directs the acclaimed professional choir of St Paul’s Knightsbridge.

Joseph’s academic research focuses on eighteenth-century music and dance. He is currently completing a monograph on Haydn and minuets. He has published in the Eighteenth-Century Music journal, and has chapters in books with Cambridge University Press and Leipzig University Press. His chamber arrangement of The Cloud Messenger by Gustav Holst is published by Stainer & Bell.

The Choir of King’s College London
is one of the leading university choirs in England, and has existed since its founding by William Henry Monk in the middle of the 19th century. The Choir today consists of some thirty Choral Scholars reading a variety of subjects. The Choir’s principal role at King’s is to provide music for Chapel worship, with weekly Eucharist and Evensong services offered during term, as well as various other services. Services from the College Chapel are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio. The Choir also frequently sings for worship outside the university, including at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In addition, the Choir gives many concert performances. Recent festival appearances in England include the Barnes Music Festival, London Handel Festival, Oundle International Festival, St Albans International Organ Festival, Spitalfields Festival, and the Christmas and Holy Week Festivals at St. John’s Smith Square. In 2017 the Choir joined forces with Britten Sinfonia to give the UK premiere of Samuel Barber’s The Lovers (Chamber Version) at Kings Place, the performance described in The Times as ‘sung beautifully, the voices judiciously blended’. The Choir tours widely, with destinations including Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Nigeria and the USA. In 2017 it served as Choir-In-Residence for the northeast convention of American Guild of Organists and Royal Canadian College of Organists in Montreal.

The Choir has made many recordings, and enjoys an ongoing relationship with Delphian Records. Recent recordings include the German Requiem of Johannes Brahms in its 1872 English-language setting, praised as ‘utterly uplifting’ (Norman Lebrecht, La Scena Musicale), ‘an intimate, highly charged performance’ (Stephen Pritchard, The Observer), and the Masses for Double Choir by Kenneth Leighton and Frank Martin, described as ‘a performance of astonishing intensity and musicality’ (Marc Rochester, Gramophone), and ‘a colourful performance . . . Joseph Fort’s superbly drilled Choir of King’s College London singing with shedloads of oomph’ (Graham Rickson, theartsdesk.com). More recent releases include Gustav Holst’s The Cloud Messenger, in a new chamber version by Joseph Fort.

Following some twenty years under the leadership of David Trendell, the Choir has been directed by Dr Joseph Fort since 2015.

Booklet for Coleridge-Taylor: Partsongs