Natural Studio Records

LumièreOpalińska & Whates Mira Opalińska—piano Douglas...

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:17:00 +0100

Lumière
Opalińska & Whates

Mira Opalińska—piano
Douglas Whates—bass

Folk Radio reviews Dark Nights...

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:00:00 +0200

Folk Radio reviews Dark Nights...:

A really excellent 4* review of Samantha Whates’ forthcoming album Dark Nights Make for Brighter Days.

Dark Nights Make for Brighter Days Samantha Whates featuring:...

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:17:00 +0200

Dark Nights Make for Brighter Days
Samantha Whates

featuring:
Samantha Whates, vocals & guitar
with Aisling Angnew—flute; Feargus Hetherington—violin & viola; Angus Lyon—accordion; Mira Opalinska—piano, rhodes, celesta, glockenspiel; Matthew McAllister—guitars; Douglas Whates—bass and guitars; Jamie Flanagan—drums & percussion; Brian McRae—drums & percussion.

Debut album from singer-songwriter Samantha Whates.

To be released on the 10th October 2011.

Please join us for the launch concert.

Click the cart icon above to pre-order your album and be among the first to get your hands on this eagerly anticipated release!

An excerpt from Feargus Hetherington and Mira Opalińska’s...

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:29:00 +0200

An excerpt from Feargus Hetherington and Mira Opalińska’s recording of Highland Ballad - a 19th Century work for violin and piano by Scottish composer Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie.

Part of ‘A Highland Ballad’ project to be released on Natural Studio Records.

Mini-documentary. James Akers recording his new album, Thesaurus...

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:41:00 +0100

Mini-documentary. James Akers recording his new album, Thesaurus Harmonicus, due for release later this year.

Making of Matthew McAllister’s new album, Bach &...

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:25:00 +0100

Making of Matthew McAllister’s new album, Bach & Brouwer.

Bach & Brouwer Matthew McAllister This recording is a...

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0200

Bach & Brouwer
Matthew McAllister

This recording is a pairing of two works by composers whose styles would appear at first glance to be in sharp contrast. Despite two centuries separating their composition, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suite No.1 (BWV 1007) and Leo Brouwer’s Suite No.2 share distinct similarities.

Recorded at the Cathedral of The Isles, Millport, 9th and 10th November 2010.

A little behind the scenes look at the making of the debut album...

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:28:00 +0100

A little behind the scenes look at the making of the debut album from Samantha Whates, to be release in 2011.

"Standing Stones (NSRCD011): Here is Frevo Quartet at their most versatile and beautiful best...."

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:40:00 +0200

“Standing Stones (NSRCD011): Here is Frevo Quartet at their most versatile and beautiful best. Standing Stones is their second offering in their themed EP series and displays the full virtuosity of these young musicians. An unlikely combination of instrumentation - guitar, violin, flute and bass - works superbly well to produce a perfectly balanced whole. From the beautifully haunting “Arisaig” to the rumbustuous “Guards Brigade at Anzio” we have a delightful selection of Scottish and Irish music reflecting both the traditional and contemporary. The enjoyment of playing comes through clearly in this superb quality recording. If you haven’t heard Frevo before, this is the perfect introduction.”

- Alistair Sutherland

"Histoire du Tango (NSRCD010): Their musicianship is of the highest order and the fact that they did..."

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

“Histoire du Tango (NSRCD010): Their musicianship is of the highest order and the fact that they did their own arrangement of this now legendary work, also illustrates their extremely good taste in orchestration. My admiration of this group is further enlarged by the fact that it was recorded ‘live’ in front of an audience in a concert from Crail Parish Church, Fife, a fact that really only comes to light when the audience’s applause erupts at the conclusion; despite the fact that it states it on the sleeve, one does tend to forget this live situation, so good is the recording and playing quality.”

- Steve Marsh, Classical Guitar Magazine

"Histoire du Tango (NSRCD010): Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango has been recorded many times. This..."

Tue, 05 May 2009 13:01:00 +0200

“Histoire du Tango (NSRCD010): Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango has been recorded many times. This recording is like no other. The Frevo Quartet’s arrangement adds depth and sparkle to the original flute and guitar version. These musicians (and they are all excellent) bring the work to life in this performance recorded before an audience at Crail Parish Church in Fife. There is nothing else on this twenty-two-minute CD, and nothing else is needed. A little gem, and presented in a beautifully produced folder. Wonderful.”

- Pan Flute Magazine

Tales from the Dark Side Gordon McPherson, composer featuring:...

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:00:00 +0200

Tales from the Dark Side
Gordon McPherson, composer

featuring:
Hebrides Ensemble
Scottish Flute Trio
The Music Lab

“Trauma? There is a little more to say. How easy it is to suppose that McPherson’s music “represents” trauma, that it “depicts” traumatic experience. (What comfort there would be in this: a trauma seen from a distance.) But in doing this we do music a disservice, we jumble categories and practices, we mistake one art for another: an art of representation for an art of the actual. Music is a performing art, and however abstract and mediated it might be, it lives and thrives in what is actual, the reality of its production. Real breath, spit, fingers, lips, back and arms; real physical and mental control: the real possibility of an error, a trip and a collapse. Risk, uncertainty attend every performance.”

“McPherson, and other composers at the RSAMD, cite the tradition of pop and rock performance – the overtness of bodily and collective commitment, the noise, the vibrant (the compelling, the frightening) extortions of sound, pulse and rhythmic drive, and ask, can these be found in the concert hall? Where, in carpeted, air-conditioned environs of official, institutionally sanctioned culture, is the pulsional body, the thrown body, the hubris? How is the skill and accomplishment of the performer parenthesised? How can the prodigiously endowed contemporary musician be made poor? This CD has three examples of how this is accomplished.” - Dr. Martin Dixon (from the liner notes)

Spiricom was recorded at the Academy Concert Hall, RSAMD, Glasgow, 10th October 2007.

Waltzer was recorded at the Alexander Gibson Opera Studio, RSAMD, Glasgow, 5th November 2007.

Bloodshake was recorded at the Academy Concert Hall, RSAMD, Glasgow, 12th November 2007.

"Merula (NSRCD001): Scottish classical guitarist Matthew McAllister has incredible talent as a..."

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0200

“Merula (NSRCD001): Scottish classical guitarist Matthew McAllister has incredible talent as a composer and guitarist. A student from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, he knows his stuff, and this instrumental album is sure to soothe any guitar-loving beast. It’s best served with a glass of red wine and a comfy chair. If you’re into listening to more than one instrument, this may not be the album for you. While it’s beautifully composed, all you hear is guitar and not much else. Highlight: ‘Mr. Dowland’s Midnight’—just gorgeous!”

- Rachel Mercurio, cdreview.com

Standing Stones Frevo Quartet In this, the second in a series...

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:00:00 +0200

Standing Stones
Frevo Quartet

In this, the second in a series of themed EPs, Frevo Quartet perform music that is close to home; all the members of the quartet hail from Scotland or Ireland and the music on this new recording reflects that heritage.

Recorded at the Cathedral of The Isles, Millport, 13th and 14th September 2008.

Making of Frevo Quartet’s soon to be released album,...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:23:00 +0200

Making of Frevo Quartet’s soon to be released album, Standing Stones.

Histoire du Tango Frevo Quartet In this, the first in a series...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:00:00 +0200

Histoire du Tango
Frevo Quartet

In this, the first in a series of themed EPs, Frevo Quartet present their stunning new arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango. Recorded live in concert, this dynamic performance exudes the vivacity and excitement of tango music.

Recorded live at Crail Parish Church, 15th March 2008.

"Recital (NSRCD004): Recital is a CD where two musicians, Matthew McAllister (guitar) and Aisling..."

Sat, 17 May 2008 00:00:00 +0200

“

Recital (NSRCD004): Recital is a CD where two musicians, Matthew McAllister (guitar) and Aisling Agnew (flute) play a very wide variety of music, from Bach (his sonata BWV1034) to very modern works by Dave Heath, Greg Caffrey and David Fennessy – with plenty of works in between! I found the whole CD quite enthralling, wonderful individual musicianship and yet quite obvious “togetherness”. It was simply amazing how much just these two instruments could achieve, and how much they could put over to the listener. To say it is worth listening to is putting it very mildly! Whether it is the variety of flute-playing demonstrated, or the continuo of the guitar (in the Bach sonata particularly), every note is well worth repeated playing!

I had never heard some of the modern works, but their impact is tremendous, whether it is the power of “Pluck, Blow” (Greg Caffrey) or the mystery of “Continuity Error “ (David Fennessy), and one can easily listen to “Gentle Dreams” (Dave Heath) again and again. These three form the middle part of the whole performance, after that we are back to more well-known music, a
wonderful arrangement of “Carmen Fantasie” by Francois Bome, followed by Poulenc’s “Mouvements Perpetuels” and finally Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane pour une infante defunte”. All in all a delightful programme, quite superbly played.

For an introduction to the wide variety of music played by just these two instruments, this CD is excellent in every aspect – thoroughly recommended.

”

- H L Foxworthy (President of the Forfar Arts Guild)

"Merula (NSRCD001): It has almost become a general consensus that classical and contemporary..."

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0200

“Merula (NSRCD001): It has almost become a general consensus that classical and contemporary repertoire need to be treated fundamentally different. ‘Merula’, however, works exactly because it defies the dogma. For his debut album, Matthew McAllister has taken the liberty of showing his abilties within the most diverse contexts, of organising a time-travel package through the ages and of recording his own interpretations of ‘a choice selection of classic guitar repertoire, alongside newer styles of contemporary guitar music.’ Even more significantly, he has allowed in an element, which has strangely been forgotten in the debate on historical practise: Empathy.”

- Tobias Fischer, Tokafi.

"Maelasta (NSRCD002): What distinguishes this album is the fresh timbral palette of the unusual..."

Thu, 17 May 2007 00:00:00 +0200

“Maelasta (NSRCD002): What distinguishes this album is the fresh timbral palette of the unusual instrumental combination on the one hand and the surprising, sometimes even willful, but always convincing repertoire, which the duo totally makes their own. Starting with a detailed excursion into the world of the tango and Astor Piazzolla, McAllister and Hetherington turn towards a couple of less obvious, but highly rewarding shorter pieces, including Frederic Mompou’s dreamy “Prelude 5” and a stupendously idiosyncratic renderings of “Cailin na Gruaige Doinne”: Imagine an Irish traditional performed as though it were Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”, the beautiful lament drifting off into a place of quiet sonorities before returning to sad acceptance.”

- Tobias Fischer, Tokafi

Rawlnish Blue Rose Code Ross Wilson, Blue Rose Code’s...

Mon, 14 May 2007 18:00:00 +0200

Rawlnish
Blue Rose Code

Ross Wilson, Blue Rose Code’s singer says: “Rawlnish is the name of my family’s house on the Isle of Lewis. In Gaelic it literally means: the point at the end of the land. The house has been standing for over 200 years and is my favourite place. Legend has it that it’s the last inhabited house before Canada on the island and at the right time of year you can see the northern lights. It’s been home to my muse for a long time and has inspired much of our music so it’s only right that it should be the name of our debut release.”