New Chamber Music by Edward Cowie Featuring the Guitar

Following the exceptionally fine response from customers and critics to recent albums of music by Edward Cowie, Divine Art’s Métier label is now planning the release early next year of a new recording of chamber works concentrated on the guitar. ‘Stream and Variations’ includes music for solo guitar, two guitars, woodwind/guitar and one major work for two violins.

Composer Edward Cowie introduces this new project:

“It was the late and great Julian Bream, who – through a brand-new commission for a major work from me for solo guitar – reconnected me with this extraordinary if somewhat daunting instrument. It took me two years to compose Stream and Variations – and working with the magnificent soloist, Saki Kato for over a year before the astonishing premiere in the Wigmore Hall, London, in November 2019. I quickly moved on to write a series of short duos for two guitars based on 8 Haiku by Basho, performed by the Miyabi Guitar Duo, Saki Kato and Hugh Millington.
Right then, I knew I wanted a new album mainly devoted to the guitar but twice pairing it with very striking and interesting partners, namely in this case the fabulous baroque flautist and close friend, Stephen Preston and the mercurial and brilliant bass clarinetist, Ron Woodley. An incredible palette of sonic marvels then, with works that conjure with the movement of a Dorset Stream; the often solemn yet mystic brevity of a Japanese poet’s Meditations on the seasons; incantations of Shakespearean ‘spells’ with essences from wild British flowers, and a set of audio-translations from 5 staggeringly wondrous paintings by my wife and best friend Heather Cowie. An extra and I think precious and unique 21 minutes is given to a huge and intricate duo for two violins based on an 8-part time line in Particle Physics, my Particle Partita played by two performing geniuses and also close friends, Peter Sheppard Skærved and Mihailo Trandafilovski.
This is, I hope a heady as well as sensual mix! No composer could dream of a better team of musicians to realise music like this.”

The new album is to be recorded at Silverdale Parish Church, Lancashire, England on October 15/16 and December 10, 2020, with expert engineer Paul Baily (apart from the violin duo which is already recorded).