| Royal Classics |  |
| Disc No: ROY6476 | |
| Price: Sek. 51 |
The church of St Martin-in-the-Fields dominates Trafalgar Square in London's West End, a massive and imposing structure close by the National Gallery of Art. It was at this church in 1959 that (now Sir) Neville Marriner and a group musicians decided to band together to form a chamber orchestra, taking the noble church as its name. It is significant that they avoided the name 'St Martin's Chamber Orchestra': in the middle of the 20th century the term 'chamber music' tended to discourage listeners. Instead, 'Academy' was chosen. This word derives from a character in Greek mythology, Academus, who lent his name to a grove in which Plato taught. Eventually the word came to mean any scholastic establishment, and since music became an important part of their curricula by the 16th century it has a specific musical connotation. In France, England, Germany and elsewhere, the Italian term was adopted for concert-giving organisations, so the old word for a new orchestra seemed appropriate. Because it at first boasted only a few players, the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields naturally turned to Baroque music and smaller modem works, but its recordings and concerts proved increasingly successful and its membership and repertoire grew proportionately. Today, somewhat contrary to the connotation of miniaturisation implied by the word 'academy', the orchestra tackles the standard repertoire as a matter of course and, as these recordings demonstrate, in its third decade it was well-equipped to play virtually any repertoire item, from the modestly-scored pieces by Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Faure, Boccherini and Wagner to the full orchestral works of Suppe, Ponchielli and Nicolai. It is a mark of the success of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields that it has made probably more recordings than any other orchestra. Its versatility, technical expertise and sheer enthusiasm are amply demonstrated in this recording. Robert Dearling. Discontinued |
| Name: The Academy plays. | |
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| Composer | Opus | Produced | Music | Key | Performer |
| Boccherini, Luigi | Op.13 no.5 | 1980 | String Quintet - minuett | E major | Academy of St. Martin-in-the-fields - Sir Neville Marriner |
| Dvorak, Antonin | Op.40 | 1980 | Nocturne | B major | |
| Fauré, Gabriel | Op.50 | 1980 | Pavane | ||
| Grieg, Edvard | Op.34 no.1,2 | 1980 | Two Elegiac Melodies | ||
| Nicolai, Otto | 1986 | The Merry Wives of Windsor - Overture | |||
| Ponchielli, Amilcare | 1986 | La Gioconda - Dance of the Houres | |||
| Suppé, Franz von | 1986 | Light Cavalery Overture | |||
| Tchaikovsky, Peter | Op.11 | 1980 | String Quartet no.1 | D major | |
| Wagner, Richard | 1980 | Siegfrid Idyll |