• Introduction to Luminate Records

    Many people ask me about my fledgling classical label Luminate Records, so I thought I’d produce this quick video explaining a little bit about it and the role of the Royal Philharmonic Society and Harriet’s Trust in helping me establish it. If you have further questions, or a project you’d like to talk about, please visit Luminate Records online or drop me a quick message via this site’s contact form.

  • Royal Philharmonic Society- Enterprise Grant

    On 26th May 2021 the Royal Philharmonic Society in conjunction with Harriet’s Trust very generously awarded me a grant from their Enterprise Fund to expand and consolidate my audio recording facilities at home. The expected outcome of this is that I will be able to offer a much higher quality of audio stems to clients for film, tv and music productions, and also through my small independent classical record label, Luminate Records, continue to record and release other musicians’ projects, particularly those who make up the exceptional orchestras in the United Kingdom. I can’t thank the Royal Philharmonic Society and Harriet’s Trust enough for believing in the work I do,…

  • Deutsche Grammophon- The British Project

    This week Deutsche Grammophon have released the entire “British Project” that we at the CBSO recorded with Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, pairing Elgar’s Sospiri and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis with the previously released EPs of Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem and Palmer’s suite from Walton’s Troilus & Cressida. My thoughts on each of the previous EPs from when they were released have been collected together below. To be honest, I’d been really looking forward to hearing how the Vaughan Williams would turn out, as throughout the season and for this recording, I was lucky enough to be playing the double bass part for the distantly placed chamber orchestra. As it turns out, DG decided to really…

  • New Release- Eccles Sonata for Double Bass and Ukulele

    In my new recording of Eccles’ charming Sonata in G minor I wanted to present a piece well known to so many instrumentalists in a slightly different light. Nearly always it’s the solo violin part that is transcribed for another instrument. But my favourite recordings of this sonata are of performances where the accompaniment is a non keyboard instrument. I always wanted to record this with a classical nylon string guitar, but when I had the opportunity to record it during lockdown here in the UK, what I had to hand, and what I could play, was the ukulele. The result is far less unusual than I expected it to be, and probably…