‘Requiem Sequence’ is the latest in a series of releases on Prima Facie promoting British contemporary music, this time featuring a selection of music by renowned English composer John McCabe who died in February 2015, aged 75.

Among the works are the premiere recordings of Requiem Sequence and the ‘Irish Song Book’, and the musicians include the Northern Chamber Orchestra and the William Byrd Singers. The album also features the composer - who was a world-class pianist - playing the Theme and Four Studies by Alan Rawsthorne.

Stephen Plews (who has produced many recordings of contemporary English music, from the complete piano works of Peter Maxwell Davies to Mike Westbrook’s A Bigger Show) writes: “I first met John McCabe in 1997 when he came to my studio in Macclesfield to record the Theme and Four Studies by Alan Rawsthorne (featured on this CD). It was one of my first classical recordings. John came to my studio with his wife, Monica, and simply sat down and recorded the piece and stayed for a spot of lunch. No fuss, just straight to the point. He was very encouraging about my new label, ASC Records, and we had a brief chat. A modest and brilliant man, I will never forget our short meeting. With that in mind I have newly recorded ‘Requiem Sequence’, ‘Irish Song Book’ and ‘Desert IV: Vista’ and put them with other works that I have recorded in the past to make a disc that is in memory of John.”

The CD was prepared with assistance and advice from Monica McCabe, the wife of the late John McCabe.