New & upcoming releases from SOMM Recordings
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May 2026 – all releases May 15
SOMMCD0723 Charles Wood String Quartets
To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of the Irish-born composer Charles Wood (1866-1926), SOMM Recordings is honoured to release the World Premiere Recordings of his String Quartet No. 2 ‘Highgate’ and String Quartet No. 4 ‘Harrogate’ along with his Variations On an Irish Folk Tune. This follows SOMM’s 2024 release of Wood’s sixth and last String Quartet in a performance by the London Chamber Ensemble Quartet [SOMMCD 0692], which received a stunning review in The Observer, BBC Music Magazine, MusicWeb International, Klassik.com and The Strad, and was a Gramophone recommended recording. Featured again on this album, the London Chamber Ensemble was formed in 2019 and is led by violinist Madeleine Mitchell. The ensemble has been praised for its “high quality chamber music-making” (Musical Opinion) and its “passionate and persuasive advocacy [and] gripping interpretations” (Gramophone.)
SOMMCD0722 Clarinet Concertos by Finzi, Swain & ApIvor
Clarinettist Peter Cigleris is adding another gem to the SOMM catalogue less than a year after the release of his Clarinet Concertos (with symphonic band) [SOMMCD 0705, October 2025], which featured two world-premiere recordings and was roundly praised by Gramophone’s Guy Rickards: “Cigleris is possessed of a beautifully mellifluous tone… A hugely varied, enjoyable programme, then, superbly played and recorded; enjoy!” For this release, Cigleris again offers concertante works, and again two first-ever recordings, but here the tutti forces, rather than winds, are the luminous strings of the London Mozart Players led by John Andrews.
The trio of composers is British, and along with Gerald Finzi, whose Clarinet Concerto is justly beloved, come two others keenly deserving of the light this recording sheds on their music. The three works, all composed in the late 40s, are bound together by the common thread of the eminent English clarinettist Frederick Thurston (1901–1953).
ARIADNE50482 Elgar from the Archives Volume 3
The third volume in the series Elgar from the Archives from SOMM Recordings includes two historic recordings conducted by Sir Adrian Boult: the oratorio The Kingdom, Op. 51 and the ever-popular Variations on an Original Theme ‘Enigma,’ Op. 36. These variations form an interesting comparison to the two acoustic versions from the well-received Vol 1 in this series [ARIADNE 5046], one conducted by the composer in 1920, the other by Sir Henry Wood in 1924. These recordings, released commercially for the first time, are remastered by audio engineer Lani Spahr, whose work on Elgar from the Archives Vol 1 James Jolly, Editor in Chief of Gramophone Magazine, described as “astounding,” adding that “thanks to Siva Oke’s SOMM label, Spahr has an outlet for his truly revelatory work.”
