Peter Graham is one of the leading brass band composers of his generation, and the first outside the US to win the American Bandmasters Associations prestigious Ostwald Award for composition. Black Dyke Band celebrates his 60th birthday with this recording, the theme of which derives from Grahams time in New York and from some of the giants of American culture. On the Shoulders of Giants pays tribute to great brass virtuosi such as Miles Davis and John Philip Sousa; New York Movie is a musical narrative on seven of Edward Hoppers iconic, haunting paintings; and Metropolis 1927 takes its inspiration from the dystopian beauty of Fritz Langs classic science fiction film.

The Estonian composer Toivo Tulev has forged a unique sound world. His music, with its almost obsessive focus on religious mysticism, can be sensual and emotional but also cerebral and technically demanding. Tulev often takes inspiration from his extensive travels, in particular from the city of Istanbul which, like his vocal music, bridges East and West. His meditation on the words of Sufi mystic Mansur Al-Hallaj, I said, Who are You? – He said, You, conjures up a transcendent atmosphere, while his Magnificat departs from the text’s traditionally solemn setting with its stratospherically high string writing and wild percussion solos.

This recording realizes Barthold Kuijkens long-held desire to restore to Jean-Baptiste Lully, and to French Baroque orchestral works in general, the power and intensity that once held the musical world in thrall. To the grandeur, finesse and diversity of the genre he has brought original source material to inform specific bowing techniques and the use of ornamentation. The result, as with Telemanns Suite in E minor, which stands firmly in the Lully tradition, and Rameaus magnificent Suite from Dardanus, evokes the spectacle and splendor of Versailles. Barthold Kuijken is an eminent leader in the field of early music. A virtuoso traverse soloist, teacher and conductor, he has shaped the fields of historical flutes and historically informed performance over the last forty years. Kuijken has widely performed and recorded the repertoire for the Baroque flute and has collaborated with other early music specialists including his brothers Sigiswald and Wieland Kuijken, Frans Bruggen, Gustav Leonhardt, and Paul Dombrecht.