English String Orchestra
The English String Orchestra and the English Symphony Orchestra are two versions of the same performing organization, which was founded under the English String Orchestra name. These ensembles, which often use the abbreviation ESO, are named not for any claim to be national or state-supported English organizations, but instead for the concept of Englishness. Based in the city of Worcester, they have stressed their roots in the English countryside.
The first of the pair to exist was the English String Orchestra, which was founded in the city of Malvern in 1974 by conductor William Boughton. Later moving to Worcester, the group played pastoral string music, and emphasized its rural English roots. As the orchestra's repertory developed, works with brass and winds began to be featured more often. Boughton began to program large works by the likes of Bax, Bridge, and Elgar in the expansive mode of the Enigma Variations. As a result, the group's name was changed to the English Symphony Orchestra in 1984. However, the original name continued to be used for all-string repertory, as on a 1988 recording of the complete String Symphonies of Mendelssohn. For a time, the English String Orchestra name was mostly eclipsed as the larger English Symphony Orchestra broadened its reputation under conductors Yehudi Menuhin, Vernon Handley, and, as of 2013, Kenneth Woods. The English String Orchestra name continued to appear on reissued albums, and sometimes, as on a 2017 recording of music by Philip Sawyers, both names might appear on an album. By the late 2010s, the English String Orchestra was once again regularly mounting tours and making recordings under its own name.
The group has recorded for Nimbus, Signum Classics, and other labels. In 2017, it joined the English Symphony Orchestra in the 21st Century Symphony Project, an enterprise planned to record nine new symphonic works by nine different composers. An early fruit of that project was a 2019 recording of the Symphony No. 9 and other works by David Matthews. Both the English String Orchestra and English Symphony Orchestra names were used on that recording, too. The English String Orchestra issued the album The Art of Dancing, featuring music by Nimrod Borenstein, Deborah Pritchard, Geoffrey Gordon, and Toby Young, on Signum Classics in 2018.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis & Orchestral Favourites, Vol. III
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Portrait of Vaughan Williams
English String Orchestra, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Quatuor Medici
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Aug 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Philip Sawyers: Double Concerto for Violin & Cello
Daniel Rowland, Maja Bogdanovic, English Symphony Orchestra, English String Orchestra, Kenneth Woods
Classical - Released by Nimbus Alliance on 3 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi, Parry & Bridge : An English Suite
English String Orchestra, William Boughton, Martin Jones
Classical - Released by 1993 Wyastone Estate Limited on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar Reimagined
David Matthews, Raphael Wallfisch, English String Orchestra, Kenneth Woods
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 4 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Spirit of England Volume 1
English Symphony Orchestra, English String Orchestra
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pachelbel's Canon: Orchestral Favourites, Vol. I
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi: A Centenary Collection
Martin Jones, Alan Hacker, English String Orchestra
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 6 Feb 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Butterworth, Parry & Bridge: Orchestral Music
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 3: Orchestral Favourites, Vol. II
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
English String Orchestra, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, The Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Oct 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Orchestral Favourites, Vol. XXIII
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English String Orchestra
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Menuhin Conducts Prokofiev
Christopher Lee, English String Orchestra, Hu Kun
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Dancing: 21st-Century Concertos for Trumpet, Piano & Strings
Concertos - Released by Signum Records on 25 Aug 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
An Eventful Morning in East London: 21st Century Violin Concertos
Harriett Mackenzie, English String Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra, Retorica
Concertos - Released by Nimbus Alliance on 2 Jun 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Portrait of Elgar
English Symphony Orchestra, English String Orchestra
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Spirit of England, Vol. 2
Philharmonia Orchestra, English String Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Metamorphosen - Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Mar 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boyce: The Eight Symphonies
Classical - Released by 1994 Wyastone Estate Limited on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Complete String Symphonies, Vol. 3
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Complete String Symphonies, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Nimbus Records on 1 Jan 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo