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Colin Matthews

Composer

Matthews’ statement has a power and elegance that are quite his own.

— Paul Driver, The Sunday Times

The NMC Songbook

Cover of NMC Songbook CD
  • Recorded: 2009
  • Record label: NMC Recordings
  • Performers:
  • Availability: On general release

Buy from NMC Recordings

To mark its 20th Anniversary in 2009, NMC Recordings commissioned The NMC Songbook. Nearly 100 composers, ranging from the country’s most highly regarded figures to the younger generation of emerging talents, each wrote a song on the theme of ‘Britain’, for single voice or duet and a range of accompanying instruments.

The songs are set to text chosen by the composers and cover a vast array of subjects, from lyrics by Blake and Byron and schoolbook rhymes listing the Kings and Queens of England, to extracts from a National Trust brochure, chants from the Leyton Orient terraces, a recipe for whisky, and road rage at the shopping centre Lakeside. Songs are interspersed with instrumental interludes from versions of a Galliard by Thomas Morley, arranged for the Songbook by Colin Matthews.

CLASSIC FM GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2009 · GRAMOPHONE ‘RECOMMENDATION FOR MAY 2009’ · BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE ‘CHOICE FOR MAY 2009’ · MUSIC WEB ‘RECORD OF THE MONTH FOR MAY 2009

Reviews of The NMC Songbook

Anyone listening to these discs will find many things to savour… a treasure-trove of delights.

— BBC Music Magazine

The NMC Songbook will remain as a vital document of song composition at a particularly interesting point of development for British music, a point in which the songbook itself will have played no small part.

— Musical Criticism

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Upcoming Performances

Click on the date and title of the performance to view venue and booking details in a new window.

19 July, 2023 - Nicht zu Schnell (Matthews/Mahler)
Orquesta Joven de Andalucia, Victor Pablo Pérez (conductor)
Palacio de Carlos V, Granada, Spain

20 July, 2023 - Nicht zu Schnell (Matthews/Mahler)
Orquesta Joven de Andalucia, Victor Pablo Pérez (conductor)
Palacio de Carlos V, Granada, Spain

6 June, 2025 - A Visit to Friends (World Premiere)

Snape Maltings Concert Hall - Aldeburgh Festival

7 June, 2025 - A Visit to Friends

Snape Maltings Concert Hall - Aldeburgh Festival

8 June, 2025 - A Visit to Friends

Snape Maltings Concert Hall - Aldeburgh Festival

View all performances

Useful Links

Faber Music
NMC Recordings
The Holst Foundation

© 2023 Colin Matthews · Website by Bookswarm

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