Symphonic Visions (2018)

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Catalogue No: MSVDX 99103
EAN/UPC: 809730010392
Artists: Clare Hammond, New Music Players, Orchestra of Sound and Light, Richard Casey
Composers: Ed Hughes
Release Date: February 2018
Genres: Chamber Music, Orchestral
Periods: Contemporary
Total Playing Time: 109:44

His reputation as a highly inventive and skilled composer grows steadily. - John Pitt

This DVD presents the marvellous music by Ed Hughes for silent films (both new and old). His scores for the early classics for chamber ensemble (Alice in Wonderland and Voyage to the Moon) and piano (The Nose) are matched by his orchestral masterpiece for the new cityscape feature ‘Brighton: Symphony of a City’, by producer/director Lizzie Thynne. Rounded off by another piano score, ‘Night Music’, written for the RAF Archive film about the building of Lancaster bombers, but a work which stands on its own just as well. The DVD also includes a bonus, a vintage documentary film about the Lancaster and its work in World War II.

Ed Hughes is a master of large scale works and these movie scores are a little more traditionally styled than his chamber and operatic work but whichever genre is chosen, his reputation as a highly inventive and skilled composer grows steadily.

Also available as a download album (music only)

Works:

  • Brighton: Symphony of a City

  • Alice in Wonderland

  • Le Voyage dans la Lune

  • The Nose (film courtesy of Cinedoc Paris)

  • Night Music

  • Sky Giant

 

MusicWeb International

This engrossing DVD showcases five attractive scores together with the silent films for which they were written. The entire package has been thoughtfully curated and is attractively presented. Each film is uniquely fascinating but the thread that connects them is Ed Hughes’s skilfully conceived and delightfully accessible music which receives unstinting advocacy from all the performers here.

Richard Hanlon 

Silent London

The feature itself is a vibrant and engaging portrait of the famously bohemian city by the sea. Ed Hughes’s score for a mid-size ensemble, and recorded by the Orchestra of Sound and Light, is just as colourful as the images on screen, too. It seems he was really inspired by the material, and the results are a joy. He has done excellent work on the shorts on the disc too.

Pamela Hutchinson

 

New Classics

This unique DVD features music written by Ed Hughes for a series of silent films, both new and old. Ed Hughes is a master of large scale works and these movie scores are a little more traditionally styled than his usual chamber and operatic work. Whichever genre is chosen, his reputation as a highly inventive and skilled composer grows steadily.

John Pitt