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For over seven decades, a powerful piece of British musical heritage has sat in the shadows. But this July, the all-female vocal ensemble Corra Sound is set to change that. In a landmark project, the choir will perform and produce the world-first professional recording of Ruth Gipps’ dramatic cantata, Goblin Market.

The concert will take place on Friday, 3rd July at Holy Trinity Church, Guildford. A pre-concert conversation with Gipps’s daughter-in-law Dr Victoria Rowe and prominent writer and critic Jessica Duchen, offering a rare glimpse into the life of a composer who was once a “formidable force” in a male-dominated industry. The musical programme will also feature settings of Christina Rossetti’s poetry by other notable 20th-century composers, celebrating a threefold celebration of female creativity.

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The landmark recording, partnering with the Great Little Orchestra and Convivium Records, will take place on Saturday 11th July with a release date scheduled for early 2027. Corra Sound has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the production costs of the performance and recording, inviting the public to contribute to the project, helping to bring this important work to a global audience.

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This venture marks the historic and long-awaited world premiere recording of this powerful masterpiece, rich in themes of temptation, sisterhood, and female solidarity, and will be only the second UK performance of the work in 70 years. The project stands as a threefold celebration of female creativity bringing together the iconic poetry of Christina Rossetti, the masterful and long-overlooked choral writing of Ruth Gipps, and the voices of Corra Sound – an upper voice ensemble dedicated to bringing the works of female composers out of the shadows.

Ruth Gipps was a child prodigy and a prolific composer of five symphonies and numerous concertos, yet she faced significant institutional resistance throughout her career.

“Ruth Gipps was a formidable force – a composer, conductor, and advocate who carved out space for women in a profession that frequently excluded them,” says Dr Amy Bebbington, Corra Sound Founder and Director. “By performing and recording this work, we are highlighting a lineage of female creativity that has been side-lined for too long. Goblin Market is brimming with colour and emotional intensity and demands to be heard.”

“Corra Sound is an outstanding ensemble, brilliantly led,” says Neil Ferris, Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus. “This project forms an important part of their pioneering mission to uncover new repertoire and celebrate the works of often little-known female composers. The work they do is both ground-breaking and utterly essential to our choral music landscape.”

Dr Leah Broad, award-winning British musicologist says: “Gipps was prodigiously gifted and fearlessly determined and yet her impact on British music as both conductor and composer is still yet to be fully realised. This vital project by Corra Sound is a much-needed step towards redressing some of this historical imbalance, and bringing to light an important work in our musical heritage.”

Ruth Gipps’ Daughter-in-law, Dr Victoria Rowe, says “We are so grateful to Corra Sound for their vital role in preserving and championing Gipps’ musical legacy, bringing her work to a wider audience and ensuring that she finally gets the recognition she deserves.”

This ambitious undertaking is a grassroots effort to preserve a musical legacy. Corra Sound has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the production costs of this historic recording.

About Goblin Market
Composed in 1953, Goblin Market is a cantata for two soprano soloists, three-part female chorus, and string orchestra. Based on Christina Rossetti’s 1862 sensuous poem, the work is noted for its lush, late-Romantic harmonies and dramatic storytelling. Despite its exceptional quality, following its premiere in the mid-20th century, Goblin Market fell into obscurity. This is the first time Goblin Market has been performed in the UK for 70 years.

About Ruth Gipps (1921–1999)
A child prodigy who performed at the Wigmore Hall at the age of eight, Ruth Gipps was one of the most prolific British composers of the 20th century. She composed five symphonies, numerous concertos, and choral works and even founded her own orchestra so that her works could be performed. Despite her brilliance, she faced significant gender discrimination throughout her career, particularly as a female conductor and composer in a male-dominated classical music world. While a recognized prodigy, her career was marked by missed opportunities, institutional resistance, and critical marginalization.

    Ruth Gipps composing at her Steinway piano
    Goblin Market score
    Ruth Gipps
    Corra Sound
    Amy Bebbington

    (source: press release)

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    The penultimate weekend in March saw me in London for two exceptional concerts in particularly lovely settings. The experience was enhanced by the company of friends and a delicious meal with a wonderful view across Smithfield (former meat market, now the new site for the Museum of London) to St Paul’s cathedral.

    A Season to Sing is a reimagining of Vivaldi’s evergreen The Four Seasons for mixed voices by British composer, vocalist and music director Joanna Forbes L’Estrange. A co-commissioning project between the composer, The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) and over 50 choirs around the world, A Season to Sing was written to mark the 300th anniversary this year of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

    The London ‘launch concert’ took place on Saturday 22nd March at historic St Bartholomew-the-Great, a beautiful ancient church in the City of London. Luminosa Music, an exceptional amateur choir (who impressed with their pitch-perfect timing and exquisite, colourful sound) performed the music, the first half comprising choral pieces by Joanna, her husband Alexander L’Estrange, and works by Monteverdi and Thomas Morley, all with a seasonal theme. This set the scene nicely for the second half and A Season to Sing.

    The Four Seasons is a perenially popular work, and this is is not the first time it has been ‘reimagined, Max Richter’s Recomposed, being the most famous example. But A Season to Sing is the first time this music has been reimagined for voices. As Joanna says in the concert programme notes, ‘...re-imagining in no way diminishes our respect for the original compositions. On the contrary it offers a new perspective….’ – this latter point being the most striking and magical thing about A Season to Sing.

    Think you know The Four Seasons? Think again! Here, the orchestral version is transformed into a colourful extravaganza of sound which makes full use of the human voice (and other parts of the body) to bring Vivaldi’s seasons vividly to life – from whistled birdsong in Spring to “body percussion” to evoke the storm, a bagpipe’s drone and even some Swingle-style wordless ‘scat’ (Joanna was music director of The Swingle Singers for seven years, and the middle movement is dedicated to the group’s founder, Ward Swingle). New details from the original orchestration are revealed by the choir, such as interior lines and textures, and the entire piece feels as fresh as a spring shower. It’s full of affection too, and wit and warmth. It’s a wonderful tribute to this much-loved music.

    The Four Seasons is the first piece of classical music I remember listening to as a child. I have very vivid memories of dancing around the room to the 3rd movement of Autumn

    Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, composer

    A Season to Sing is being performed around the world by the choirs who took part in the commissioning project (find details of all performances here). The score will be published by the Royal School of Church Music on 1st June (pre-order here).

    Sunday afternoon and another concert at a lovely venue, this time the 1901 Arts Club, London’s most stylish and convivial small venue. This was a special concert to celebrate the 340th birthday of J S Bach and to launch American pianist Eleonor Bindman’s new album ABSOLUTE – her own transcriptions for piano of Bach’s Lute Suites BWV 996-998.

    A lifelong love of J S Bach has led Eleonor Bindman to produce a number of important transcriptions for solo piano and piano duo of his music for other instruments, including the evergreen Cello Suites and the Brandenberg Concertos. In this latest addition to her catalogue, Eleonor has turned her attention to works originally composed for the lautenwerk or lautenwerck (lute-harpsichord), one of Bach’s favourite instruments, similar to the harpsichord, but with gut (or nylon today) rather than metal strings.

    The small size of the music salon at the 1901 Arts Club lends itself to “haus konzert” style performances (such as Bach might have known) and the ambiance at this concert was warm and friendly.

    Like Joanna’s reimagining of The Four Seasons, Eleonor sees transcriptions as a vehicle to “revive interest in original compositions”, shine a new light on the original work and “increase their popularity”. And just as in A Season to Sing, new details of dynamics, texture, counterpoint and more are revealed in this transcription for solo piano.

    But for me the most satisfying aspect of Eleonor’s concert was her ability to bring so much colour and nuance to the music. Her range of sound was impressive, but never too much nor too little. Perfectly balanced to suit the small size of the venue, she brought both intimacy and grandeur (we can thank Bach for that!) to the music. I don’t think I have ever heard the Steinway at the 1901 played better!

    The following day I met Eleonor for a most enjoyable, leisurely lunch, replete with much ‘piano chat’ and conversations about food.

    ABSOLUTE is out now on the Orchid Classics label and on all major streaming platforms.