RECORDINGS
Bachianas
ALBUM — 2017The VIDA Guitar Quartet are delighted to announce the release of their new recording on BGS Records called Bachianas which features the music of Bach as well as music inspired by Bach, including two new pieces especially commissioned for this project.
Presented as a kind of theme and variations on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 (in a stunning new arrangement for four guitars by Mark Eden) the programme presents music that takes its influence from Bach by composers such as Felix Mendelssohn and Heitor Villa Lobos.
Also included are new works by Howard Skempton, who celebrated his 70th birthday this autumn, and talented young composer Laura Snowden.
Available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music.
The Leaves be Green
ALBUM — October 1, 2015VIDA Guitar Quartet return to disc on BGS Records with a new CD of quintessentially British music composed and arranged for Guitar Quartet. Featuring works by iconic composers including Britten, Elgar and Vaughan Williams, ‘The Leaves Be Green’ blends folk melodies and much-loved compositions in a collection of never-before heard arrangements for guitar quartet, featuring several world-premiere recordings. It also features original compositions for quartet by composers Stephen Dodgson and Timothy Bowers.
The recording continues to highlight Vida’s passion for ground-breaking arrangements. Mark Ashford’s version of the English Folk Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams is just one example of the quartet’s ability to re-work established masterpieces with breath-taking virtuosity.
Available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music.
Rhapsody
ALBUM — April 22, 2013VIDA’s ability to “conjure up an orchestral palette of colour and effects” (Classic FM) combined with their “exquisite tonal and dynamic control” has firmly established them as a passionate and masterful ensemble who sparkle with “vitality and spontaneity” (Acoustic). Rhapsody is a collection of new works and arrangements by the world-class VIDA Guitar Quartet. The pieces are united by a theme of dance music as interpreted by different classical composers, covering the swing-band dance music of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Malcolm Arnold’s English Dances, Gaelic folk- melodies in David Crittenden’s A Scottish Fantasy, and the Klezmer rhythms of traditional Yiddish communities in Adam Gorb’s Yiddish Dances.
Available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music.
Love, the Magician
ALBUM — September 30, 2011The debut recording from the celebrated VIDA Guitar Quartet, comprising Mark Ashford, Mark Eden, Helen Sanderson and Christopher Stell. Their Andalucian-flavoured debut combines arrangements of Falla’s El amor brujo (Love, the Magician), El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat), Turina’s La oraci?n del torero (Prayer of the bullfighter) and Bizet’s Carmen Suite.
Available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music.