Martin Butler

These two contrasing songs, setting poems by Emily Dickinson, are highly contrasting. 'Summer' is meditative and nostalgic, whilst 'Hope' is mercurial and fleet-footed, evoking the skittering of a bir...

A celebratory, fanfare-like piece for solo piano.

This work is a light-hearted showpiece for wind quintet. It is an arrangement of Mozart's Eine Kleine Gigue K574 (1789).

Adagio und Allegro is an arrangement for wind quintet of Mozart's Fantasia for mechanical organ K594 (1790).

for violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano These arrangements of two keyboard sonatas by Scarlatti are stylish and approachable. The first sonata is vivacious and dance-like and the second is sl...

for violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano. This stylish and approachable arrangement of Scarlatti's Sonata in D (K.119) (originally composed for keyboard) is vivacious and dance-like in charact...

for violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano. This arrangement of Scarlatti's Sonata in E (K. 215), which was originally composed for keyboard, is restrained and melodic, as well as being stylish...

for piano, clarinet, and vibraphone

for piano quintet with double bass Each of the four movements of the work concentrates on a tiny amount of highly-characterised musical material derived from the scales, gestures and performing practi...

Spring Rounds is a companion work to American Rounds, which Butler wrote for the Schubert Ensemble in 1998. It consists of the same type of folky material, organised throughout in canonic dialogue bet...

Comic Book Fanfares is a fantasy for horn, by turns elegiac and broadly comedic. It expands upon ideas from the composer's comic opera, Craig's Progress, weaving them into a portrait of fond reminisce...

for string quintet. Sentinels was written for the Brodsky Quartet and John Metcalfe. The piece is really a long, unrelenting march whose pulse never slackens or quickens, and in which slightly quirky...

'Fall' is a work full of contrasting moods and influences. The delicate, melodic opening soon gives way to a dance-like melody on the flute accompanied by driving rhythms in the piano. A short, stacca...

Adapted from the Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark, Hosanna to the Son of David is a jubilant anthem with a lively, independent piano part. Adams employs dynamics as a word-painting tool, with a jubil...

For piano quartet. This piece, the second written for the Schubert Ensemble, is constructed from a sequence of episodes which gradually expose a central monody. As the title suggests, the music has a...

Setting a text by Elizabeth Barratt Browning, this thoughtful and evocative piece compares a dying relationship with the changing of the seasons from summer to winter. Also available in versions for s...

This haunting carol comprises a sequence of three rounds. It demonstrates the distinctive clarity of Skempton's musical language. It will particularly appeal to good chamber choirs.

This beautiful arrangement of the 17th-century lullaby features subtle jazz inflections and artful imitation. The text seeks to create a calm and comforting atmosphere for sleep, which Parry emulates...

First performed at the 1984 Cheltenham Festival by the Brodsky String Quartet

The music is shared at first between the upper-voice and mixed choirs before they come together, the one a delicious counter-melody to the other. The music is quite simply beautiful, in keeping with t...

Cecilia McDowall has used six Shakespeare texts, and her response encompasses a fleet-footed impression of Scottish fiddle music, a gorgeously plangent slow movement, and a helter-skelter finale that...

For string quintet. Sentinels is really a long, unrelenting march whose pulse never slackens or quickens, and in which slightly quirky military-style gestures are almost always present. Butler imagine...

Setting a beautiful text by Rabindranath Tagore, Wake, Love, Wake! explores evocative imagery and metaphors through sonorous harmonies and freedom in tempo. The resulting piece is romantic, stirring,...

Setting the well-known text by Joseph Addison, The spacious firmament is a mysterious and powerful concert work. Bullard uses a variety of textures throughout the piece, resulting in a unique and memo...

Wilberg has arranged O holy night! in the accessible key of D flat major using his signature lush textures which complement the warm, rich, and dramatic qualities found in this famous carol. Orchestra...