Announcing a new album from Australian Composer John Carmichael

Divine Art Records adds to its roster of new releases for the first quarter of 2023 with a collection of superb and approachable music by Australian composer John Carmichael, whose overall style can perhaps best be described as neo-Romantic, and which will appeal to a wide audience which may not be keen on the more avant-garde new music.  His Piano Concerto, while being totally original, carries definite echoes of Rachmaninov.
 
John Carmichael was born 1930 in Melbourne, Australia. He studied piano and composition at the University Conservatorium there, followed by two years piano studies with Marcel Ciampi at the Conservatoire National in Paris. Further composition studies followed with Arthur Benjamin and Anthony Milner in London while Carmichael joined the first group of musicians working for the newly established Council for Music Therapy, for whom he introduced music therapy programs at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and Netherden Mental Hospital, Surrey. In 1960 he became musical director of the Spanish Dance group Eduardo Y Navarra touring extensively with them both abroad and in Britain; foreign languages are one of his passions – the latest challenge being Chinese.         
 
The album includes duos, solos, a Piano Concerto (exuberant pianism matched with string orchestra, with a Caribbean flavoured final movement), a Piano Trio aspiring towards the light, works designed to bring the viola, regarded by many as the Cinderella of the string instruments, into the spotlight, a Divertimento for flute, oboe, clarinet & piano; overall a varied collection of works with melodic elements being an important feature.  Joining this celebration of the potential in new orchestral and chamber music are many of Britain’s most highly talented artists, including pianist Antony Gray whose recent recordings of Saint-Saëns piano music for Divine Art have attracted glowing praise and are the label’s top sellers of 2022.

Music of John Carmichael (DDA 25240)

Works and Artists:

• Piano Concerto No, 2
• Antony Gray (piano); St. Paul’s Sinfonia; Andrew Morley (conductor)
• Piano Trio “Toward the Light”
• Paul Manley (violin); Andrew Fuller (cello); Michael Dussek (piano)
• Aria & Finale
• Contrasts
• Morgan Goff (viola); Antony Gray (piano)
• Short Cuts
• Susan Torke (flute); Clare Hoskins (oboe); Shelley Levy (clarinet); Antony Gray (piano)

Album duration approximately 74 minutes
Recorded in London, summer 2022
Release date to be announced – around February / March 2023