London Choral Sinfonia • Mentor: Britten & Oldham (CD)
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From Michael Waldron's sleeve note:
I’ve always loved Britten’s music, and it’s been a strong thread across 10 years of LCS concerts. This recording project, however, fell into place somewhat accidentally. I was skimming the Wikipedia entry on Britten when I came across the following: “Unlike many leading English composers, Britten was not known as a teacher, but in 1949 he accepted his only private pupil, Arthur Oldham, who studied with him for three years.”
I did a double-take, not realising Britten hadn’t really taught anyone, and secondly not knowing this only acknowledged private pupil was someone I’d never heard of.
Thus began one of my internet ‘deep-dives’, which occupied me for the days and weeks to come. I’ll let George Hall’s excellent programme notes say more about Oldham, but I was immediately captivated by his music. His compositions account for only a relatively small part of his successful and sizeable musical career. Although few in number, I believe his works to be top quality and in all instances – from solo songs to larger works for chorus and orchestra – highly successful. I hope the selection of pieces by Oldham on this disc demonstrates the skill and quality of his work. It’s an original sound, yet one with obvious influences from his famous teacher.
In a happy coincidence I was interested to learn Oldham had prepared the vocal score for Britten’s St Nicolas, a piece I have performed with Nick Pritchard and LCS often. It was a joy to collaborate with Nick and Annemarie – both very keen Britten exponents in their own rights – for the Britten Serenade.
It’s been a real pleasure researching and preparing this project, with a 2026 release honouring the 50th anniversary of Britten’s death, and 100 years since Oldham’s birth.
London Choral Sinfonia
Michael Waldron conductor
Sumei Bao-Smith soprano
Annemarie Federle horn
Nick Pritchard tenor
Rachel Ambrose Evans soprano
Archie Inns tenor
Carolyn Sampson soprano
James Orford organ
ORC100424 • Released 2026