Lammas Records to cease issuing new CDs

[alanwa...@aol.com]

Lammas Records, the small UK company founded by BBC sound engineer
Lance Andrews when he left the Corporation 12 years ago, are to cease
making new recordings.

In an announcement to mailing list customers Lance says that at the age
of 66 he has decided to retire.

The last catalogue has now been issued and a note says the office and
web site will continue as usual "and we will keep selling all available
titles until stocks run out."

Two of the (last) new releases may be of interest to some, possibly, as
they include Schubert's 5th Symphony and Mendelssohn's 4th transcribed
for organ duet and a recording of Michael Head songs (once quite
popular in the UK) by Richard Rowntree (tenor) and David Bednall
(piano). It includes Foxgloves (which Jennifer Vyvyan virtually made
famous on her own).

Lammas have made some fine recordings with high sound quality and often
very interesting repertoire including Russian organ music and other
material not easily available elsewhere.

Their web site is www.lammas.co.uk

I wish Lance a very happy retirement but organ and choral enthusiasts
will miss this fine little company a great deal.

Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins
Alan M. Watkins

[tomdeacon]

This is the first mention of this company I have ever seen, Alan.

I presume that they are not regularly reviewed in The Gramophone?

TD

[makropulos]

Not that regularly perhaps, but Lammas is hardly an unknown firm in the
UK. Four Lammas CDs come up in the Gramophone review archives, the most
recent was reviewed a year ago:

Duruflé - Complete Sacred Choral Works »
Truro Cath Ch/Sharpe.
Reviewed: Gramophone 8/2005 Roger Nichols
CD Lammas LAMM174D

Stainer - The Crucifixion orch Rose »
Auty/Williams/Guildford Camerata/Guildford PO/Rose.
Reviewed: Gramophone 8/2003 John Steane
CD Lammas LAMM154D

Sounds Majestic »
Sharpe.
Reviewed: Gramophone 11/1999 Malcolm Riley
CD Lammas LAMM114D

Awake my Glory »
Jesus College Chs/Thomas/Morris.
Reviewed: Gramophone 6/1999 Andrew Achenbach
CD Lammas LAMM106D

[alanwa...@aol.com]

Silly me! I have no idea. I thought they would be well known to
people interested in solo organ or choral music.

It is a fabulous catalogue to those interested in same as in the Masses
of Josef Rheinberger and the orchestrated version of The Crucifixion
(Stainer) by Barry Rose as in....errr...anything conducted by Barry
Rose.

Organ music of Francis Jackson, Le Tombeau d'Oliver Messiaen (Hakim).
Whitlock, Mushel (neither much about today), Malcolm Archer, Hurd,
German (On Jordan's Banks the Baptist's Cry), Ives Short Mass for
Sheffield, Poston, Hurford, Atkins, Thalben-Ball, Wills (Grumpy Old Sod
but hear "Homage to Howells" et al.

And, no, The Gramophone didn't bother with most of them but the
specialist choir and organ journals DID so who cares about The
Gramophone?

I have no insight but I don't imagine that many of these CDs were
pressed beyond 500/1000 so if anyone is really interested having looked
through the catalogue I think it might be a good time to get the order
in, sooner rather than later.

Fabulous "Music for Christmas and Advent" section as in Christmas
Across The Centuries or Angelus ad Virginem or I Look From Afar but I
digress probably......

And there was me thinking this label was well known:):)

But Lammas are going to be terribly, terribly missed by some sections
of the musical community including me.

[Curtis Croulet]

I didn't know about them -- but maybe I should have. My loss, since I like
organ music.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California
33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W