Grossman's War BBC Radio 4

Vassili Grossman’s Stalingrad, aired on BBC Radio 4 30Nov & 1Dec2019.
Music by John Hardy, composed & recorded in 2011 for 'Life & Fate'

including Musicians:

Stacey Blythe - Accordion;

Max Pownall - Hammer Dulcimer;

Olly Wilson-Dickson - Violin.

Tempus per annum: timeless chant from last medieval monastery in Britain.

Pluscarden Abbey presents their first new recording in six years: Tempus per annum, an exploration into the wealth of music used during the year between feasts and religious seasons.

Researched, programmed, performed and, recorded by the monks of Pluscarden Abbey and produced by Ffin Records, this album has been crafted to share the rich variety of music used in Ordinary Time.

The album falls into four main sections - firstly joyous and dynamic, then meditative and slow, bold and confident, and finally adoring and glorifying, with a brief closing section dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus. 

Mesmerising chant from the medieval Pluscarden Abbey

Monks feature on BBC Four and BBC Radio 3 

Pluscarden Abbey features on BBC Four and a BBC Radio 3 series this week, in 'Slow TV' and 'Slow Radio' programmes exploring the deep peace and serenity of the life in the community of monks living in this medieval monastery hidden away in rural Scotland. 

“The wordless, daily rhythms of Benedictine monks provided the most relaxing television that the “slow TV” trend has ever managed”

— Review in The Times

The BBC Four programme follows a typical day in the life at Pluscarden Abbey, from waking for the first service at 4.15am through to compline, the final service of the day before the monks retire to bed.

The BBC describes the programme: "filmed with an eye to the beauty and peace of the ancient surroundings, the film has a painterly quality that creates a feeling of restfulness and quiet contemplation. And by focusing on the natural sounds of nature and the peace of the abbey we have created a meditative soundtrack that adds to this unique experience." 

“Beautifully and unobtrusively filmed, this was an exemplar of its type, a universe away from the gratuitous celebrity, gratuitous music and gratuitous editorialising that crowds in on so many other programmes.”

— Review in The Independent

BBC Radio 3 series

The radio series is made of five 'slow radio' soundscapes, featuring themes from monastic life, including silence, meditation, and prayer. 

"The programmes allow the listener to appreciate life at a monk's pace, reflecting the gentleness and calm of monastic life. Listeners will hear musings from the monks themselves, interspersed with their singing and sounds from the natural world." - BBC

Listen at the BBC website.

Music of Pluscarden Abbey monks 

Every day of the year the monks gather and sing together several times, using Gregorian chant in the original Latin. Their intimate understanding and practical application of the music is captured in records remastered and released by Ffin Records.

The recordings have been praised as "flowing and graceful, and never clinical or cold" and as having "a high level of musical as well as spiritual sensitivity."

Hinterland / Y Gwyll Series 3

John Hardy Music’s soundtrack for the third series of the internationally-acclaimed Hinterland / Y Gwyll is available as digital download and CD now!

Hear how John Hardy Music created the distinctive musical identity for the thrilling new series:

As with the other two Hinterland / Y Gwyll albums, we've used beautiful images by Warren Orchard captured on set during the filming of the show, and for this series we've worked with local designer Oliver Norcott to produce our high-quality casing.

Mile End soundtrack

Ed Scolding's award-winning soundtrack for the critically acclaimed movie Mile End is released on CD and download on Saturday 15th April.

The film premieres on digital platform Flix Premiere in the UK on the same date, with the USA film release later in April.

“Mile End (reflects) a growing discomfort between Londoners and their financial emperors... P.s. the music by Ed Scolding is absolutely brilliant…”

— CRISPY SHARP

“The score, by Ed Scolding, moves from harmony to discord, adding considerably to the tension and sense of foreboding. Elsewhere, percussive elements draw us in to Paul’s obsession and anxiety.”

— QUADRAPHEME

Out now - Gregorian chant from Pluscarden Abbey

Our first release from Pluscarden Abbey is out now! The Liturgy of Easter is a remastered recording originally made between 2010 and 2011. 

The meticulously remastered release of Gregorian chant was recorded by the monks of Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland - the only medieval British monastery still being used for its original purpose.

The monks at Pluscarden pray together in Latin through Gregorian chant several times each day of the year, as a core part of their worship. This album features the music they sing at Easter, a particularly important occasion for Benedictine monks.

All music was sung and recorded by the monks of Pluscarden Abbey in  2010 and 2011. The CD includes a 32-page booklet with full text and translation, and commentary on every piece, written by the monks.

Find it at:

The monks' singing shows a high level of musical as well as spiritual sensitivity. The almost perfect ensemble of the Choir is impressive, even in those pieces involving the whole community. The monks' joy and spiritual fervour are almost palpable.
--Sr. Bernadette Byrne OSB, Choir Mistress, St. Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde, in the Ryde Chronicle Christmas 2010

This is beautiful and intelligent singing... expressive and moving (in both senses of the word), never too slow. It has the ring of truth. Buy this disc and listen to it. Holy Week will be there for you.
--Christopher Francis, review in the bulletin of the Association for Latin Liturgy

The CD is accompanied by a wonderfully informative booklet, in marked contrast to many a heavily marketed chant recording. The Pluscarden monks incorporate into their interpretation the work of recent chant scholarship, though this is done naturally and not as a self-conscious academic exercise. Their singing generally exhibits that light energy and springiness that are essential for good chant performance, giving the line a sense of momentum. The abiding impression of the CD is of a community at prayer; it is as if the listener is invited to join the monks and re-connect with the ancient chant of the Church, as it intensifies the message of those powerful texts that concern us at the most solemn moments in the liturgical year.
--Richard Jones, review in Music and Worship, the magazine of the Society of St. Gregory

Solo harp Hinterland

The title theme for crime drama Hinterland has been arranged in a special version for solo harp.

The theme is also available in a new version for solo piano. Buy the sheet music now.

Get the original soundtrack album.

John Hardy's music in concert

John Hardy - by Jody Daunton

October sees two performances of music by composer John Hardy: by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and in a portrait concert for John at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

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The 'blue letters' sent by John's mother from Tanganyika in the 1950s, describing her adventures

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"The first movement is her arrival there, a dangerous and rough journey, at one point she inadvertently walked through an area patrolled by lions" - Tanzania in the 1950s

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales will play Blue Letters from Tanganyika in their concert Welsh Foundations 1,  which explores the work of Welsh composers over the last century. The concert takes place at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff on 18th October.
Tickets at http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ew4gwh.

Blue Letters from Tanganyika was inspired by the adventures described by John's mother in letters she wrote home during her time travelling across East Africa as a teacher in the 1950s. “What I did was to take some of them and use them as the basis for a sort of tone poem,” explains John, “describing in music some of the colour and drama of her time there.”

The 18-minute piece is split into four movements, each based on a different part of her travels.

“The first movement is her arrival there, a dangerous and rough journey, at one point she inadvertently walked through an area patrolled by lions; the second movement is a scherzo which describes travelling on a lake, sometimes calm and tranquil and other times stormy; the third describes the calm and peace of the very long and dark African nights near the Equator and then the last movement is an on-safari finale.”

Find out more about the story and listen to the music on John's website.

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Composer John Hardy

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama are producing a special portrait concert, called The Music of John Hardy, on 5th October. The concert will include extracts from John's music for the 1918 film The Life Story Of David Lloyd George, performed live as the film is screened. 

Also in the concert is Cofiwch Orovela/Remember Orovela, a piece by John inspired by "an ancient Georgian folk song which I found a recording of, sung, unaccompanied, by an old woman - it is strange and beautiful. Then I later arranged this semi-neo-Baroque piece for three solo violins, with small ensemble, for the Singh Family of Llandybie... for me the singing seems to contain all the ancient and modern sorrows of the world, all the loss, all the grief. Yet with a fairly brisk Baroque/modern accompaniment, there is an exuberance to the mix of ingredients too."

The concert takes place on 5th October at Dora Stoutzker Hall, Cardiff. Get more information and tickets from RWCMD.

Welsh noir Hinterland back on BBC

Acclaimed Welsh detective series Hinterland is on BBC TV from Saturday 27th August 2016. It goes out at 9:30pm - see more at the BBC website. 

Described as "surely one of the loveliest soundtracks to grace a crime drama" by the Radio Times, the complete music for Hinterland is available to buy now on iTunes, Amazon or direct from the artist. 

Discover more about how John Hardy Music composed the music for Hinterland on their minisite, or create your own soundtrack for a scene from the show using specially created ingredients from the original score. 

First listen: chant from Pluscarden Abbey

Listen to Alleluia, Lapis Revolutus Est from THE LITURGY OF EASTER, our new release coming in summer 2016. The recording of Gregorian chant sung by the monks of Pluscarden Abbey will be available on iTunes, Amazon and all major online stores.

MILE END film wins in NYC

It's great to see thriller feature MILE END continuing to make waves in festivals across the world, recently winning Best Narrative Feature at the New York City Independent Film Festival.

The soundtrack by Ed Scolding was nominated for Best Original Composition - Feature Film Score at the 2016 Music + Sound Awards, and we'll be releasing it later this year. Listen to a track now.

MILE END director Graham Higgins at the NYC Independent Film Festival 2016, with the prize for Best Narrative Feature.

Create your own noir soundtrack

BBC Connected and John Hardy Music have made a new online app where you create your own soundtrack to a scene from crime drama Hinterland, using elements of the original score.

Discover it now at BBC Connected.

"People can get creative using a simple interface that allows them to layer together individual elements of the original soundtrack. The Hinterland logo has been made interactive, where each letter triggers a short sound segment called a 'stem' when clicked or tapped. These stems can then be layered upon one another to create an atmospheric background to the drama sequence. Playing around with the music like this, you really start to see how important it is to creating the feeling of mystery and suspense that Hinterland is known for!"
Suzy Shorthouse, BBC Connected.

Hinterland / Y Gwyll Series Two soundtrack

Updated April 2016

The soundtrack album for the second series of Welsh noir TV hit Hinterland / Y Gwyll is out now.

Get it at iTunes, Amazon mp3, Amazon CD, direct from Bandcamp, and in all major download stores. 

 

Visit Wales campaign soundtrack

Check out the new £4million tourism campaign featuring original music by John Hardy Music!

Watch the films and learn about the "making of".

Hinterland Series 2 shows over Christmas

The second series of award-winning Welsh detective drama Hinterland will be shown from Wednesday 23rd December on BBC One Wales. The series will be out on BBC Four in Spring 2016.

The acclaimed soundtrack for Series 1 is available in our shop now. The soundtrack for Series 2 will be released in Spring 2016.

ALCHEMY

Listen to The Joy Of Calculus from ALCHEMY, the new album from John Hardy Music released 20th November 2015.

Buy it now from iTunes, Amazon or direct from Bandcamp.

John Hardy features on BBC Radio 3 Sound of Cinema

"Opera is an opportunity to move outside the box."

John joined Matthew Sweet to discuss the deep connections between opera and film music on BBC Radio 3's Sound of Cinema, live from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama as part of the BBC's coverage of Cardiff Singer of Year.

Find out more about the programme, or listen to John's score for oscar-nominated film Hedd Wyn, discussed in the programme.

'Deceive yourself' with the Mile End film soundtrack

Catch the first taste of Ed Scolding's powerful score for the psychological thriller Mile End.

The film premieres on Saturday 3rd October at Raindance Festival, London, and is nominated for Best UK Feature: "the actors’ performance is matched by the score, which deftly conveys all that remains unspoken and sets the perfect mood for this twisted tale.”

Speaking about the score, composer Ed said:

"I worked really closely with Graham [director & writer] to create music that really told the story of the characters and the action. He originally came to me because he liked my concert music, which made me feel I could really push the boat out and explore complex music, before refining everything to work with the pictures.

"It’s a powerful film with a lot of depth - there’s a lot going on psychologically, particularly with the main character Paul. For example there are some running sequences where there’s lots going on inside Paul’s head - there’s a background sense of him having always felt like an outsider, never quite fitting in, but he’s starting to move beyond that, exploring something new, finding calm and healing.

"That kind of situation means there’s space for music to be in the foreground, and also a clear direction for what they music needs to say."

The full soundtrack album will be released in 2016.

Gregorian chant from Pluscarden Abbey

We're thrilled to announce a partnership with Pluscarden Abbey, a Catholic Benedictine monastery with an international reputation for Gregorian chant.

Regularly recorded by BBC Radio 3, the whole community of monks sing the chant in Latin several times every single day, with historically-informed innovation in the music lead by members of the community and experts from Europe.

Previously only available on site or through printed mail order, Ffin Records will be working with the monks to bring their extraordinary music to a wider public.

Mile End Official Trailer

The trailer has been launched for suspense drama MILE END, written and directed by Graham Higgins, starring Alex Humes, Mark Arnold and Heidi Agerholm Balle.

All music for the film and trailer is by Ed Scolding, out soon on Ffin Records.