Announcing Edward Cowie’s 24 Preludes for Piano

Métier’s series of recordings featuring the superb music of Edward Cowie continues with the release of his ’24 Preludes for Piano’ in early spring of 2022. This album was originally issued by UHR (the short-lived label of the University of Hertfordshire) in 2008.  Stephen Sutton, CEO of the Divine Art group, expressed his delight: “we’ve been in discussions with the University for a few months and I am very grateful to them for the opportunity to re-release this wonderful recording. I am hopeful that it will begin a larger collaboration to unearth other very worthy recordings from the UHR archive.”

The 24 Preludes are performed by Philip Mead, whose previous recordings for Métier have been highly acclaimed and who was the dedicatee of the set. The composer, Edward Cowie, describes this recording:

“My 24 Preludes for piano were composed between 2004-5 to a commission from the wonderful pianist, Philip Mead, and to whom the set is dedicated. Each Prelude is inspired by a different land-sea-water-or skyscape in many different parts of the world where I have travelled, worked, and explored. Of course there is a connection with the great Chopin Masterpieces by the same name though, in fact, it is the Preludes of JS Bach which probably had more influence! A 20th-century composer who decided to revisit the 24 major and minor keys might be treading on dangerous ground, but it was via Bach that I realised how deliciously plastic and interconnected an open exploration of those tonal regions could be.

Music has infinite powers to invoke and stimulate a sense of place. It was at this time that I first gave myself totally to making drawing an integral and essential ‘primer’ for rhythm; musical line; speed; different degrees of complexity and perhaps above all-colour. Poets write of the oft desire to sing in the presence of natural places. I certainly wanted these pieces to ‘sing’ and perhaps to guide a listener into opening all of the senses to the unique and captivating forms that inspire and move us in the great ‘out there’. No composer could ask for a greater executant for his or her music. I count myself fortunate indeed to have this fabulous recording to remind me what a truly great interpretation can evoke and conjure.

I am profoundly grateful to the University of Hertfordshire for granting permission for Métier/Divine Art to re-release this beautiful recording which received glowing reviews:

‘Philip Mead’s consumate skill and understanding is evident in every bar’.

—International Record Review

‘Mead seems sensitive to every nuance of Cowie’s imagination, and truly appreciates the beauty contained there…..Cowie’s imagination is remarkable. This is a fascinating, cogent set of Preludes…a startlingly successful whole’.

—Tempo Magazine

Philip Mead enjoys a very successful career as pianist, composer and conductor; he has been a regular performer on BBC Radio 3 since 1979 and his recordings have been widely praised: his recording of Charles Ives piano music was called by Gramophone ‘the best Concord Sonata recording’. He is a tireless champion of contemporary composers and has a very substantial discography including for Métier music by Charles Ives, George Crumb (the complete solo piano music) and Katharine Norman. He is currently visiting professor at the University of Hertfordshire.

Edward Cowie: 24 Preludes for Piano (MSV 28625)

24 Preludes for Piano by Edward Cowie

• Book 1 (Water):  1. O brook (C major)  |  2. Kiama Blowhole (C minor| 3. Cancleve (G major)  |  4. River Dronne (G minor)  |  5. St Maxime Beach (D major)  | 6. Tennessee River (D minor)
• Book 2 (Air):   7. Boscastle  (A major) |  8. Hay Plains Twisters (A minor) |  9. 35,000 Feet  (E major)|  10. Tapada  (E minor)| 11. Lake Eacham (B major)  |  12. Dartington Gardens (B minor)
• Book 3 (Earth): 13. Uluru (F sharp major) | 14. Crackington Haven (F sharp minor) | 15. Rosedale (C sharp major) | 16. Glencoe (C sharp minor) | 17. Brecon Beacons (A flat major) | 18. Shenadoah Valley (A flat minor)
• Book 4 (Fire): 19. Sunrise at Loch Carron (E flat major) | 20. Bush Fires (E flat minor) | 21. Home Fire (B flat major) | 22. Blast Furnaces at Port Kembla (B flat minor) | 23. New Year Fireworks in Kassel (F major) | 24. Sunset, Dartmoor (F minor)

Artist: Philip Mead

Recorded 26 and 28 November 2007, and originally released on UHR in 2008
Projected release date: March 2022