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Archive for Coming Soon – Page 4

Divine Art signs vibrant pianist Jenny Q Chai

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

15 September, 2021

The latest signing among 20 new artists joining the Divine Art Recordings roster this year is the brilliant, radical, and forward-looking Chinese pianist Jenny Q Chai, whose new recording of Schumann, Bach and Ives is scheduled for release in February.

Described as ‘an artist of singular vision’ Jenny Q Chai is widely renowned for her ability to illuminate music of many centuries. Whilst thoroughly grounded in core repertoire (and a special affinity for the works of Scarlatti, Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy and Ravel) she has developed a strong expertise in new, groundbreaking and experimental music and techniques, working with many contemporary composers including Jarosław Kapuściński, Cindy Cox, Andy Akiho, and György Kurtág. She is also a noted interpreter of the works of Cage, Messiaen and Ligeti.

Jenny is also a leading champion of the synchronous-score-following software Antescofo and was instrumental in testing and honing the program which offers a real-time computerised animation response to live performance elements, enabling performers to create sophisticated, fluent and relevant multimedia presentations. Jenny has toured internationally with the software giving multimedia performances in Shanghai, New York, Havana and several other cities.

Ms Chai made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2012, Wigmore Hall in 2018 and she has given lectures and recitals in many countries. In 2019 she became a piano faculty member at University of California Berkeley, an alumni mentor at the Curtis Institute of Music, and an official career mentor at the Manhattan School of Music. Her studies took place at Manhattan, at Shanghai Music Conservatory, Curtis Institute and Cologne University of Music and Dance. She has previously recorded for Naxos, MSR, ArpaViva and Duetschlandfunk and she has been the recipient of a number of competition prizes and awards.

Proving that an artist working so much at the cutting-edge of experimental media can still be an astoundingly good interpreter of core repertoire, Jenny Q Chai presents this album as a special tribute to her teacher and mentor Seymour Lipkin. Born and raised in China, Jenny was accepted at the age of 12 into the Curtis Institute of Music to study under Seymour Lipkin for seven years. She credits Lipkin with giving her a wide and solid musical understanding. At 18, Lipkin introduced her to Schumann’s Kreisleriana, which she performed at her graduation. The work has ‘lived inside of me’ as the pianist puts it, and this new recording of the work is devoted to the man that Jenny calls her ‘music grandpa’.

(a more detailed biography and ‘dedication’ statement are available and will be included in the album booklet)

Songs of Love (DDA 25228)

Label: Divine Art

Artist: Jenny Q Chai

Works:

Robert Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16

J S Bach: Aria from Goldberg Variations, BWV988

Charles Ives: The Alcotts (3^rd movement) from Piano Sonata No. 2 (‘Concord’)

Recorded in 2020

Release date February 11, 2021

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Divine Art Announces Mini-Album from Composer James Cook

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

30 August, 2021

January 2022 will see the release of a mini-album (31 minutes duration, longer than an ‘EP’) on the mid-priced Diversions label, containing five arias from operas by British composer James Cook.

The album showcases items from the operas Jane the Quene (2014) and Abishag (2019). The former relates the tale of Lady Jane Grey, the tragic ‘nine days Queen’ who so briefly ascended to the throne (but was never formally crowned) in July 1553. Abishag dramatizes a story found in the First Book of Kings.

Both operas have a young female character at their centre, sung by soprano Joanna Songi. Tenor Roberto Abate sings three roles: Queen Jane’s husband, Lord Guilford Dudley, and Abishag’s lustful suitor (Adonijah), and her true love, Solomon.

The role of the dying King David in ‘Abishag’ is sung by baritone Adam Green in David’s Liebestod, the title of the aria (and the album) an indirect tribute to the work of Wagner in Tristan und Isolde.

The piano accompaniment is played by Paul McKenzie.

James Cook (b.1963) briefly studied composition at Oxford University during the Hilary Term of 1994. Prior to that he composed works which include ‘A Carrollean Symphony’, ‘Symphony in Yellow’ and the ‘Jude the Obscure Symphony’. After his stint at Oxford, he wrote sacred vocal music, much of which has been released on the Divine Art and Diversions labels. From the year 2000, he turned to writing organ music and in 2006 completed a sequence of nine organ symphonies, four of which have also been released by Divine Art.

Since 2010 he has concentrated on composing opera, four of which make up a cycle of Biblical operas. His first opera, Dorothy was performed by Secret Opera at Theatre N16 in London in December 2015.

“David’s Liebestod” — operatic extracts by James Cook (DDV 24170)

Artists

Joanna Songi (soprano)
Roberto Abate (tenor)
Adam Green (baritone)
Paul McKenzie (piano)

Tracks

Abishag: Opening Scene
Abishag: Closing Scene
Abishag: David’s Liebestod
Jane the Quene: Gentle My Aylmer
Jane the Quene: Love’s Farewell

Duration: 31.50

To be released in CD and digital formats on January 14, 2022

Recorded in London in January 2020

James Cook Discography

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Tags : Coming Soon, Diversions, James Cook

Divine Art Signs Greek Pianist Zoe Samsarelou for Double Album

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

13 August, 2021

Zoe Samsarelou is a well-known Greek pianist and currently a Professor at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki. She is also the Artistic Director of the International Pelion Festival. She studied the piano in Greece and Germany (Berlin and Hamburg). Having also studied archaeology and then pursuing a career as a pianist, she has been closely connected to mythology, history and the Arts her entire life.

This has led her to present in a new double album recording a unique series of compositions, under the title “Ekstasis – Dionysus, Nymphs and Satyrs”, which will be scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2022.

The god Dionysus (also known as Bacchus) had ardent supporters throughout the ancient Greek world, making his cult the most popular in classical Greece. He is primarily the god of fertility and vegetation and his worship was identified with mystical religious ecstasy. It is believed that ancient drama, the tradition of tragic and comic performance – one of the most complete forms of expression that combined poetry, music and dance – originated in Athens from the cult of Dionysus in the 6^th century B.C.E.

The two discs (and digital programmes) include pieces (some of them recorded for the first time) by the following three groups of composers:

by the French clavecinists, such as Couperin, Rameau, Dandrieu and Daquin
by international composers of the 19th-20th century, such as Debussy, Séverac, Dukas, Schmitt, Bortkiewicz, Levitzki, Farjeon, and Juón, and
by many eminent Greek composers of the 20th-21st century, including Koumentakis, Marangopoulos, Nasopoulou, Skalkottas, Taylor, Terzakis and Tonia.

All pieces chosen have a strong and direct relation to the myth of Dionysus and its symbolism. This unique programme highlights the creativity and ingenuity of the Greek spirit and its influence on humanity for over 2,500 years.

The recording was made in the Dimitris Mitropoulos Hall, Megaron, Athens, on June 24 and 25, 2021.

The album was produced by Zoe Samsarelou, engineered by Nikos Espialidis, and mastered by Konstantin Kontos.

Ekstasis: Dionysus, Nymphs and Satyrs

Label: Divine Art

Catalogue no.: DDA 21237

Availability: CD, download in HD and SD formats, and streaming

Artist: Zoe Samsarelou (piano)

Works:

La Sirène (Jean-Francois Dandrieu, 1682-1738)
Les Naïades et le Faune indiscret (Déodat de Severac, 1872-1921)
Prelude of Naïades (Lina Tonia, b. 1985)
Satyr und Naïdaen (Dimitri Terzakis, b.1938)
La Ronde Bachique (Louis-Claude Daquin, 1694-1772)
La plainte, au loin, du faune (Paul Dukas, 1865-1935)
From Tethys to the Mediterranean (Giorgos Koumendakis) **
Les Satires (François Couperin, 1668-1733)
3 Morceaux, Op. 24 – No. 2 Valse grotesque (Satyr) (Sergei Bortkiewicz, 1877-1952)
Ein Satyrspiel (Dimitri Terzakis, b.1938)
Les bacchanales (François Couperin, 1668-1733)
The enchanted nymph (Mischa Levitzki, 1898-1941)
Echoe (Nikos Skalkottas, 1904-1049)
Et Pan, au fond des blés lunaires, s’accouda (Florent Schmitt, 1870-1958)
Procession to Acheron (Nikos Skalkottas, 1904-1049)
6 Epigraphes antiques : No. 1 Pour invoquer Pan, dieu du vent d’été
And No. 4 Pour la danseuse aux crotales (Claude Debussy, 1862-1918)
Huis Clos – Erinyes (Nestor Taylor, b.1963)
Les Cyclopes (Jean-Philippe Rameau, 1683-1764)
Pictures from Greece, Op. 13 (Harry Farjeon, 1878-1948)
Dionysus and the Pirates: the Voyage from Ikaria to Naxos (Dimitris Marangopoulos, b.1949)
La Bacante (Jean-Francois Dandrieu, 1682-1738)
9 Miniaturen für klavier “Satyre und Nymphen“ (Paul Juón, 1872-1940)
Krokeatis Lithos-Lakonia (Apasia Nasopoulou, b. 1972)

** From the collection ‘Mediterranean Desert’. Koumendakis rose to fame as the musical director and creator of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympics.

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Tags : Coming Soon, Divine Art, Ekstasis, Zoe Samsarelou

Premiere Performance of RUNE by Alastair White

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

20 July, 2021

On 17th August 2021 at the Round Chapel, in London, Alastair White’s RUNE fashion-opera will receive it’s world premiere performance as part of the Tête à Tête Festival. There will also be an interactive broadcast of the show on 17th September. Learn more and purchase tickets at tete-a-tete.org.uk

Re-opening theatre doors with a grand fashion-opera spectacle, RUNE is a vast cosmological fantasy from the team behind the award-nominated ROBE (“excellent” – BBC Music) and WEAR (“spellbinding” – Boulezian) — featuring an ensemble of three grand pianos, contemporary dance with interactive sculpture, and high fashion by Ka Wa Key.

On a planet where history is forbidden, a young girl dares to tell her story. A voyage across galaxies and millennia, hers is a tale of the archipelagos of Khye-rell and their matterwork, through transdimensional canals and sealanes to the RUNE of the universe’s origin. This song, her story — through the very act of being told — will have consequences beyond imagining…

The interactive broadcast will include a Q&A with the creative team.

Supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the Hope Scott Trust, the Marchus Trust, the Royal Musical Association, the RVW Trust and the Sarah Caple Scholarship.

Alastair White on Métier

WOAD – fashion-opera

Price range: £8.99 through £14.99

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ROBE: a fashion-opera

Price range: £8.99 through £14.99

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Announcing a New Release of Violin Discoveries from Eugène Ysaÿe

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

3 June, 2021

Divine Art Recordings is delighted to announce a forthcoming album of musical and historical importance, which presents first-ever recordings of works by the great Belgian composer Eugène Ysaÿe, whose known violin works are masterpieces of their genre. Fronting the album is Romanian violinist Sherban Lupu, who has been for almost ten years avidly researching the unpublished manuscripts left by Ysaÿe. All the works here are receiving their first recordings; it should be noted that the Violin Concerto here is NOT the same work (also recently rediscovered) which has been recorded by Nikita Boriso-Glebsky.

The production of this album originated from Sherban Lupu’s tribute to the great 20th century violin teacher Joseph Gingold, who made significant contributions to violin teaching in the United States. Gingold was a pupil of Ysaÿe during his stay in Belgium from 1927 to 1930 and Lupu studied with Gingold in his studio at Indiana University in the 1970s.

In 2012, Lupu started his journey to discover Ysaÿe’s remaining manuscripts by visiting the libraries of Brussels and Liège, the main libraries containing most of his personal archives. He found some very interesting things in the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels, though the main sources of this album were discovered in the library of The Royal Conservatoire of Liège. Lupu edited the pieces on this album out of the manuscripts, adding fingerings and bowings, and readied them for performance use. This album is a result of several years of effort by Lupu, similar to previous contributions he has made to the Romanian violinist and composer George Enescu, the dedicatee of Ysaye’s Sonata no.3, “Ballade” for solo violin.

One of the world’s leading performers of George Enescu’s music, Sherban Lupu is professor emeritus of violin at the University of Illinois and has been artistic director of the Gubbio Festival in Italy. Solo appearances include The Kennedy Center, Gstaad Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elisabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Berlin Philharmonic Hall and Carnegie Hall. He has also performed the Brahms and Tchaikovsky violin concertos in live broadcasts with the BBC Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the Northern Israeli Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Lupu has published eight volumes of previously unknown works for violin by George Enescu. The works were discovered, edited, and arranged by Sherban Lupu. Since December 2011 Mr. Lupu has been President of the George Enescu Society of the United States.

In addition to concert tours and masterclasses Mr. Lupu is presently pursuing several other recording projects, such as the complete works for violin by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst.

Album Details

Label: Divine Art
Title: Eugène Ysaÿe: Violin Discoveries
Catalog number: DDA 25222

Works:

Violin Concerto in G minor, orchestrated by Sabin Pautza
Sherban Lupu (violin); Liepaja Symphony Orchestra; Paul Mann (conductor)
Scènes Sentimentales: Nos 3 & 5
Élégie
Trois Études-poèmes
Petite Fantaisie Romantique

Sherban Lupu (violin) ; Henri Bonamy (piano)

Concerto recorded 29 March 2020 in Liepaja, Latvia
Other works recorded 16 March 2019 in Brasov, Romania

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Edward Cowie working on score and study drawing for Bird Portraits

Métier Records announces two major duo-cycles by Edward Cowie

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

19 April, 2021

Métier Records is delighted to announce two related albums to be recorded this year featuring the music of esteemed British composer Edward Cowie. Since linking up with Métier (part of the Divine Art group) Cowie has seen two albums of string quartet and orchestral music respectively issued to enormous critical acclaim. Métier’s CEO Stephen Sutton is now working with Cowie on no less than ten new projects, to culminate in a 5-album festival to mark the composer’s 80th birthday in 2023.

The composer, who has a sizeable and diverse output, has told Sutton that he is composing better than ever and Sutton believes this will be proved by the forthcoming recordings of orchestral, chamber and vocal music all planned for 2021.

Cowie’s music is almost always inspired by or descriptive of the natural world, its workings and inhabitants (and accompanied by marvellous pictorial art, of which Cowie is also a master). This is borne out by the two albums in preparation which are inspired (like, but very much unlike Messiaen) by birds and their song, “Bird Portraits” and “Where Song was Born”.

NOTE: both albums are due to be recorded in London in the summer, exact dates remain a little uncertain as UK lockdown eases; release dates to be confirmed, between October 2021/February 2022

Bird Portraits (MSV 28618)

24 STUDIES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
Peter Sheppard Skærved (violin); Roderick Chadwick (piano)
Edward Cowie is no stranger to the inspirational attractions of the forces of Nature. For more than four decades now, he has frequently musically responded to many kinds of habitats all over the world and to many different types of sounding creatures. It is this lifelong study and experiencing of wild nature with his own unique and powerful sonic translations of those experiences that have earned for him the just accolade ‘considered by many to be the greatest living composer directly inspired by the natural world’. In this brand new cycle of 24 ‘sonic portraits’ of different British birds from 4 distinctive habitats, Cowie has drawn even closer to composing music that not so much imitates nature, but that -through many forms of study and extensive field-work- has led to new music with highly original treatments of the relationships between singers and where and how they sing. Comparisons with Messiaen might be expected but Cowie’s music is in a world and sonic habitat of its very own. Virtuosic, brilliantly coloured and magnificently diverse, this is music for all of the senses, and from a composer who uses all of his own senses under the spells of Nature.

TRACK TITLES
1. Mute Swan | 2. Kingfisher | 3. Great Crested Grebe | 4. Dipper | 5. Bittern | 6. Coot | 7. Barn Owl |
8. Pheasant | 9. Rook | 10. Magpie | 11. Starling | 12. Skylark | 13. Tawny Owl | 14. Green Woodpecker | 15. Song Thrush | 16. Wren | 17. Bullfinch | 18. Wood Warbler | 19. Curlew | 20. Cormorant | 21. Osprey | 22. Arctic Tern(s) | 23. Puffin(s) | 24. Great Northern Diver

Where Song Was Born (MSV 28620)

WHERE SONG WAS BORN
24 STUDIES FOR FLUTE(S) AND PIANO
Sara Minelli (flute); Roderick Chadwick (piano)
Once, it was thought that the great bird-songsters evolved in the Northern hemisphere. Elaborate and sophisticated ornithological study has revealed a total reversal of that view. The greatest birdsongs first appeared in the Southern hemisphere actually- Australia especially. In recognition of that discovery and in an act of remembering Cowie’s extraordinary 12-year residence in Australia, here we have an incredible cycle of ‘bird-portraits-in-sound’ drawn, (literally in Cowie’s case, since a great deal of his music is primed and prepared through acts of drawing and painting), from some of Australia’s most individual and brilliant bird-songsters. Like its succeeding and ‘sister’ duo-cycle Bird Portraits, a singing bird is placed within its own distinctive habitat and in its own temporal dimensions and forms. This, like the British Bird cycle, is a journey and a sonic tapestry inspired by both place and events occurring in both space and time. Intriguingly, Cowie likens sonic gems like these to ‘a kind of collection of sonic icons where each bird symbolises the ‘saint or angels’ of those great religious miniatures’. Cowie has one simple imperative that drives music like this; he seeks to ‘charm and charge both mind and senses.’

TRACK TITLES
1. Australian Raven | 2. Australian Wood Duck | 3. Australian Masked Plover | 4. Eastern Whip bird | 5. Willy Wagtail | 6. Golden Whistler | 7. Superb Fairy Wren | 8. Brolg Crane | 9. Pied Butcher Bird | 10. Bush Stone Curlew | 11. Wedge-tailed Eagle | 12. Australian Magpie | 13. Bell Bird(s) | 14. Wampoo Pigeon |
15. Golden-headed Cisticola | 16. Tawny Frogmouth | 17. Pied Currawong | 18. Kookaburra |
19. Mangrove Kingfisher | 20. Helmeted Friarbird | 21. White-breasted Sea Eagle | 22. Green Cat Bird | 23. Sooty Owl | 24. Lyrebird(s)

Edward Cowie Divine Art Records Group Catalogue

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Tags : Edward Cowie, Peter Sheppard Skærved, Roderick Chadwick, Sara Minelli

Divine Art/Athene Records announces new recording by Peter Sheppard Skærved of English baroque music for solo violin

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

13 April, 2021

Important aspects abound in a new recording from Athene, featuring virtuoso violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved, to be released in the autumn. The album, titled ‘Florish in the Key’, presents John Walsh’s ‘Preludes & Voluntarys’ (published before 1704, 2nd edition 1705) and works by Thomas Balzar, providing a comprehensive survey of music for solo violin in London at the turn of the 18th century. As well as being of interest historically and musically, the album also features two extraordinary violins: the 1629 Girolamo Amati, which Skærved presented in his recent ‘Great Violins’ album (volume 4, Athene ATH 21210), and for the majority of the tracks, the so-called ‘Charles II’ violin of 1664. Though by an unknown maker, its inlay and known date suggest strongly that it was used in one of King Charles II’s violin bands, and possibly may have been played by some of the composers represented here. With the modern but early-baroque-style small bow by Airenti, this instrument demonstrates how this intimate early music would have sounded in its own day.

Peter Sheppard Skærved is one of the most accomplished violinists of our age with a hectic concert and recording schedule. Equally comfortable with ancient music and the very newest, as soloist or chamber musician with the Kreutzer Quartet and Longbow, he has had over 400 works written for him. His pioneering work on music for solo violin has led to international research, performances and recordings of many pieces and cycles. His recordings appear on several labels including the Athene (period instruments) and Métier (new music) imprints of the Divine Art group. Currently he is recording works by Edward Cowie for Métier and has just completed volume 5 of the ‘Great Violins’ series for Athene which is to be formally announced soon.

Album Details

TITLE: ‘Florish in the Key: The solo violin in London 1650-1700
LABEL: Athene
CATALOGUE NUMBER: ATH 23211
ARTIST: Peter Sheppard Skærved

Works (in order of album appearance)

Works from ‘Preludes and Voluntarys’ published by John Walsh)

Prelude in D major (Arcangelo Corelli)
Prelude in E minor (Giuseppe Torelli)
Prelude in A major (Nicola Cosimi)
Prelude in D major (Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber)
Prelude in D minor (Giovanni Bononcini)
Prelude in A major (Nicola Matteis)
Prelude in D major (Francesco Gasparini)
Prelude in F major (Nicola Francesco Haym)
Prelude in D major (Johann Gofttfried Keller)
Prelude in A major (“Mr. Dean”)
Prelude in D major (Tomaso Albinoni)
Prelude in A major (William Corbett)
Prelude in A minor (Henry Eccles)
Prelude in A major (Arcangelo Corelli)
Prelude in A major (Nicola Cosimi)
Prelude in D minor (Tomaso Vitali)
Prelude in B flat major (John Bannister)
Prelude in D minor (Johann Christoph Pepusch)
Prelude in D minor (Ambrogio Lonati)
Prelude in G minor (Henry Purcell)
Prelude in F minor (“Mr. Simons”)
Prelude in A major (Robert King)
Prelude in E flat major (Giovanni Battista Bassani)
Prelude in E major (“Mr. Smith”)
Prelude in A major (William Gorton)
Prelude in F minor (Marc-Antonio Ziani)
Prelude in E major (Gottfried Finger)
Prelude in A major (“Mr. Hills”)
Prelude in B flat major (Johann Christoph Pepusch)
Prelude in C minor (Giuseppe Torelli)
Prelude in D minor (Nicola Francesco Haym)
Prelude in C major (Tomaso Albinoni)
Prelude in C major (Nicola Matteis)

Works by Thomas Baltzar

“A Set of Tunings by Mr. Baltzar” (Suite in A major, Thomas Baltzar)
Preludium in C minor (Thomas Baltzar)
Corant in C minor (Thomas Baltzar)
Courante in G minor (Thomas Baltzar)
Sarabande in G minor (Thomas Baltzar)
Sarabande in B flat major (Thomas Baltzar)
Allemande & Variatio in G minor (Thomas Baltzar)

Peter Sheppard Skærved Recordings for the Divine Art Recordings Group

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Divine Art announces forthcoming release of three albums by pianist Antony Gray

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

13 April, 2021

London-based Australian pianist Antony Gray has signed to the Divine Art label and will hit the markets with a resounding boom with three double-CD albums this year.

Two of those sets are filled with the magical and almost unknown piano music of Camille Saint-Saëns, comprising original works and also several fantasies and transcriptions of music from opera (his own and others), oratorio and cantata. While Liszt and several of his German contemporaries such as Thalberg have attained great fame for their operatic transcriptions, those of the French composer have largely been forgotten. This very extensive programme should rectify that and bring many fine works from the Romantic era into the wider consciousness. The first double CD and digital album is scheduled for release in July with the second following in the autumn (probably October).

The other forthcoming release is also set for July and is somewhat unique. It features works from a host of composers written specifically to be played by a piano teacher with pupils, beginning with Haydn’s obviously-titled ‘Il Maestro e lo Scolare’ and including the Easy Pieces by Stravinsky – the only work of this type to be considered ‘core repertoire.’ Antony Gray’s duet partners are 50 of his students ranging in age from ‘very young indeed’ to ‘quite senior’. The music may be relatively simple but is all a joy to listen to and hopefully an inspiration and repertoire-guide for other teachers and budding young pianists! What is also special about this disc is the ethnic diversity of the students which is as wide as that of London itself!

Antony Gray has long been regarded as one of the most interesting and communicative performers of his generation. His career to date has encompassed solo and chamber music performances around the world, as well as regular recordings for CD and radio. He has been a (selective) champion of contemporary music, and has premiered many pieces written for him. He has also championed many formerly neglected composers such as Enescu, Dussek, Martinů and Malcolm Williamson.

Recordings already released are the complete solo piano works of Eugene Goossens, Malcolm Williamson and John Carmichael, as well as the late piano pieces of Brahms, on ABC. A recital disc for the Spanish label KNS Classical was released early in 2005. He has also been involved in a disc of music by French composer François Sarhan (‘Hell, a small detail’) on the Zig Zag label as well as the Chandos Grainger series.

Album Details

Saint-Saëns: The Piano Music vol. 1 Opera, Ballet & Places

Label: Divine Art (recorded 2015 & later at BBC Maida Vale Studios; release date July 9, 2021)
Catalogue number: DDA 21235 (2CD / double digital album)
Artist : Antony Gray (piano)

WORKS (all by or arranged by Saint-Saëns)

CD1, Opera & Ballet transcriptions

Javotte – Quatre pièces. 1 Bourrée, arrangé par le compositeur
Javotte – Quatre pièces. 2 Scène et Valse Lent, arrangé par le compositeur
Javotte – Quatre pièces. 3 Pas de deux, arrangé par le compositeur
Javotte – Quatre pièces. 4 Allegretto – Allegro non troppo, arrangé par le compositeur
Caprice pour le piano, sur les airs de ballet d’Alceste de Gluck
Ascanio – deux transcriptions; 1 Danse du mendicant, arrangé par le compositeur
Ascanio – deux transcriptions; 2 Danse de l’Amore, arrangé par le compositeur
Valse du Prophète de Meyerbeer
Henry VIII – Quatuor, transcription pour piano par l’auteur
Paraphrase sur Mandolinata de E. Paladilhe
Proserpine – Deux Pièces. 1 Prelude to act II, arrangé par le compositeur
Proserpine – Deux Pièces. 2 Pavane, arrangé par Ph. Bellinot
La Mort de Thaïs, Paraphrase de concert sur l’opéra de J. Massenet
Scherzo, sur les Pêcheurs de Perles, de Georges Bizet

CD 2, Countries

Suite Algerienne Op. 60 – Marche Militaire Française, a 2 mains par l’auteur
Suite Algerienne Op. 60 – Rêverie a Blidah
Lola Op. 116 – Tango
Élégie Op. 160 pour Violon et Piano, transcription pour piano seul par l’auteur
Rhapsodie d’Auvergne Op. 73
Bénédiction Nuptiale Op. 9
Une nuit à Lisbonne Op. 63
Souvenir d’Italie Op. 80
Paraphrase sur La Islena (Havanaise), mélodie de Paladilhe
Souvenir de la Russie

Saint-Saëns: The Piano Music vol. 2 Oratorio, Bach & Milan

Label: Divine Art (recorded 2015 & later at BBC Maida Vale Studios; release date October 2021 tbc)
Catalogue number: DDA 21236 (2CD / double digital album)
Artist : Antony Gray (piano)

WORKS (all by or arranged by Saint-Saëns)

CD1: Oratorio

Prélude du Deluge, Op. 45
Serenade in E flat major, Op. 15
Hymne de la Fête de Pâques, fragment de La Damnation de Faust, de Hector Berlioz
Chant du Soir (Abendlied), Schumann, Op. 85 no 12. Transcription pour piano seul.
Improvisation sur le Beethoven-Cantata de Fr. Liszt
Andantino in C
Molto Vivace in G
Berceuse in E major, op 105
Paraphrase sur ‘Gallia’ de Gounod

CD2 : J S Bach & L. de Milan

Deux Fantaisies écrites pour le luth par Luis de Milan de Valence : No 1 in D
Deux Fantaisies écrites pour le luth par Luis de Milan de Valence : No 2 in G minor
Ouverture de la 28e cantate de J.S.Bach
Adagio d’après le 3e cantate de J.S.Bach
Andantino d’après le 8e cantate de J.S.Bach
Bourrée de la 2e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Andante de la 3e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Presto de la 35e cantate de J.S.Bach
Introduction et Air de la 15e cantate de J.S.Bach
Fugue de la 5e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Largo de la 5e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Recitatif et Air de la 30e cantate de J.S.Bach
Gavotte de la 6e sonate de violon de J.S.Bach
Air de la 36e cantate de J.S.Bach
Choeur de la 30e cantate de J.S.Bach

‘Il Maestro e lo Scolare’

Label: Divine Art (recorded 2015; release date July 9, 2021)
Catalogue number: DDA 21234 (2CD / double digital album)
Artist : Antony Gray (Maestro) and c. 50 of his students (lo Scolare)

Works:

Petit Carillon (Emile Paladilhe)
Il Maestro e lo Scolare (Joseph Haydn)
Two Romances from Op. 111: Nos 1 & 2 (Carl Czerny)
Le Maître et l’Elève, Op. 96 (Moritz Moszkowski)
La mère et l’enfant, Op. 32 (Edouard Lalo)
Seeing Russia with Teacher (Leo Ornstein)
Dedicatoria, ‘A mi hijo Eduardo’ from Cuentos de la Juventud, Op 1 (Enrique Granados)
Etudes à quatre mains pour un commençant, book 1: Nos 2 & 3 (Jean Roger-Ducasse)
Un tas de petites choses dans tous les tons, book 1 (André Caplet)
Une semaine de petit elfe Ferme-l’Oeil, ou Les songes de Hialmar, Op. 58 (Florent Schmitt)
Petites pièces pour piano à 4 mains (Guy Ropartz)
Steps (John Carmichael)
Paraphrases, 24 Variations et 15 petites pièces pour piano sur le thème favori et oblige
(Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Anatole Liadov & Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
Three Easy Pieces (Igor Stravinsky)
From the Stoep (Michael Blake)
Napoli, from Travel Diaries (Malcolm Williamson)
Five Easy Pieces (Igor Stravinsky)
Avec un doigt (Bohuslav Martinů)
Noch en Wiegenlied (Federico Maria Sardelli)
Jaggamuffin (Erik Windrich)
The Immovable Do / Zanzibar Boat Song / Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon (Percy Grainger)
Bridge over the River Kwai (Malcolm Arnold, arr. Percy Grainger)
Three Jazz Duets (Joe McGrail)

Coming Soon

Tags : Anthony Gray

Coming Soon – Burkard Schliessmann: At the Heart of the Piano

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

26 March, 2021

Virtuoso German pianist Burkard Schliessmann will increase his representation in the Divine Art catalogue with a new triple CD/digital album entitled ‘At the Heart of the Piano’. The album consists partly of items from CDs previously issued by Bayer (nla) and new tracks not previously released. This issue follows Schliessmann’s two critically-acclaimed and award-winning SACD albums of music by Bach and Chopin, and precedes his new recording of works by Schumann, delayed from 2020 due to the Covid lockdown.

Burkard Schliessmann perfectly embodies musical Romanticism in his exceptionally expressive approach, never ‘smoothing out’ textures and rhythms in what can be very troubled and dramatic music, but instead searching for that music’s soul – it’s heart. Also a fine organist, professional scuba diver and owner of show-winning pedigree Maine Coon cats, he attracts awards at every turn including the Goethe-Plakette of the city of Frankfurt-am-Main; Classical Finalist 2019 International Acoustic Music Awards; 2 Gold Medals in the 2018 Global Music Awards; 3 Silver Medals in both the 2017 and 2018 Global Music Awards. Schliessmann is a Steinway Artist, recording and performing on his own Model D concert grand.

Among many other accolades, the American Record Guide said of two of the original albums that contribute tracks to this new set (when Schliessmann was still a young and relatively unknown performer):

“The best pianist I know at entering the world and expressing the awareness of the German romantics. There is something personal and unique about Schliessmann’s Schumann. It does not sound like anyone else’s. He is better than any other pianist I have heard–including Richter–in conveying the sense that this is deeply troubled music composed by a deeply troubled soul.” (ARG September/October 2000). “This spellbinding performance calls attention to itself, as Romantic playing should, and thus to Liszt’s music. It is an authentically Romantic reading. The Schumann Fantasie is even more astonishing, if only because one hears exciting recordings of it so rarely.” (ARG).

Praise for the pianist’s Scriabin is also glowing:

“…this is the most imaginative playing one has heard yet – on the level of Richter, Michelangeli, Wild, Gould – the highest order of artistry. Schliessmann gives the impression that his technique can stretch to fit anything his astonishing intellect can conceive ” (High Performance Review)

Divine Art CEO Stephen Sutton hopes that this part-new, part-reissue album will be ready for release in the Autumn; currently it is being remastered and reassembled by Paul Baily at ReSound UK. Sutton remarked “Having had to wait almost two years for Burkard’s new Schumann, after it was unavoidably delayed, it’s wonderful to be able to launch this new album shortly, in a new configuration, since its original version received such high praise.”

ALBUM DETAILS:

Label: Divine Art
Catalogue number: DDA 21373 (3CD/triple digital)
Artist : Burkard Schliessmann (piano)

Works:

Symphonic Etudes (R. Schumann)
Fantasie in C, Op, 17 (Schumann)
Piano Sonata in B minor (F. Liszt)
Chaconne (J S Bach, arr. F. Busoni) *
Piano Sonata No. 3 in F sharp minor, op. 23 (A. Scriabin)
Etudes Op. 2 No. 1 and Op. 8 No. 12 (A. Scriabin)
Preludes, Op. 11, Op. 16, Op. 27, Op. 37
Quatre Morceaux, Op. 51: No. 2 (Prelude) & No. 4 (Danse languide) (A. Scriabin)
Deux Danses, Op. 73 (A. Scriabin)
Vingt Preludes, Op. 74 (A. Scriabin)
Piano Sonata No. 1 (Alban Berg) *

Most tracks originally issued in different programmes on CDs by Bayer

* First commercial release

Burkard Schliessmann Discography

Available 21 November, 2025
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Tags : At the Heart of the Piano, Burkard Schliessmann

Divine Art announces third album for composer Robin Stevens

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

21 January, 2021

British composer Robin Stevens (b. 1958) is embarking on a recording of his music for cello and piano, to be recorded in the first three months of 2021. The performers are Nicholas Trygstad, lead cellist of the Manchester-based Hallé Orchestra (with whom he recently played the Elgar Cello Concerto), and David Jones, Head of Keyboard Accompaniment at the Royal Northern College of Music, also in Manchester, who made a superb pianistic contribution to Robin’s 2020 CD of wind music, Prevailing Winds. The largest piece on the album will be the expansive, single-movement Sonata Romantica, a predominantly lyrical composition which also incorporates expressive use of microtones, including in particular, and rather unusually, thirds of a tone. Most of the remainder of the disc comprises shorter pieces in Robin’s personal brand of accessible Modernism: here the composer’s intimate knowledge of the cello (he is himself a music-college-trained cellist) comes to the fore in miniatures of considerable power and originality. By way of contrast, the set will also showcase the lighter side of Robin’s output in his tuneful Balmoral Suite, five movements portraying different members of the royal family, including an affectionate depiction of Prince Philip in his centenary year. The album is due to be released in the Autumn of 2021.

Robin Stevens: Music for Cello and Piano (DDA 25217)

Label: Divine Art
Recording Date: Jan – Mar 2021
Album Release Date: Autumn 2021

Performers:

Nicholas Trygstad, cello
David Jones, piano

Works for cello and piano:

Sonata Romantica
Balmoral Suite
Say Yes to Life
On the Wild Side
3 Character Pieces
3 Epigrams
A Birthday Trifle

Works for solo cello:

Unfailing Stream
Sospiri
Sound and Fury
Much Ado about …
Carried on a Whimsy

This collection follows two previous releases by Divine Art of Stevens’s works, both of which received very high critical praise:

Coming Soon News

Tags : David Jones, Music for Cello and Piano, Nicholas Trygstad, Robin Stevens

Divine Art Announces Great Violins 4: 1629 Amati Brothers

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

1 December, 2020

Divine Art Recordings Group (Athene division) will be adding to its highly praised Great Violins series in the spring of 2021 with the fourth volume, featuring a ‘Brothers Amati’ instrument from 1629, played as usual by the virtuoso Peter Sheppard Skærved. In practice the violin was most likely produced by Girolamo Amati with his son Niccolò; Girolamo continued using the ‘Brothers’ label for many years even after the partnership with his brother Antonio had been dissolved with great rancour!

Peter Sheppard Skærved describes the instrument as having extraordinary qualities. It has a front of spruce, the back a single piece of maple. It has particularly fine f-holes and purling in poplar and pearwood and is a magnificent work of art. It also has a phenomenal sound.

The music on this album is no less spectacular: the Six Partitas for solo violin by Johann Vilsmaÿr (1663-1722). These works constitute a bridge between the virtuosic solo writing from the end of the 17^th century such as heard in the music of Biber, to the more philosophical masterpieces that would emerge in the 1720s from Bach and Telemann. Vilsmaÿr’s partitas include elements of both, from the use of older, rhetoric and virtuoso bravado to the later more considered (though still astonishing) style of violin-playing. The six partitas are also notable for the use of scordatura (non-standard tuning).

This new album was recorded at various dates (because affected by lockdown restrictions) during 2020 by engineer Jonathan Haskell of Astounding Sounds, who has been responsible for the very fine sound of this series, and is scheduled for release around April 2021.

Album Details

Title: Great Violins IV: 111629 Amati
Works: 6 Partitas (or parties) for violin alone by Johann Vilsmaÿr *
Label: Athene
Catalog number: ATH 23210

* The full title (excluding the very lengthy dedication) is Artificiosus Concentus pro Camera, Distributus Sex Partes, seu Partias à[sic] Violino Solo Con Basso Belle imitante

Great Violin Series

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Alfonso Soldano to Record Piano “Metamorphoses”

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

26 October, 2020

Divine Art is to produce a new album of piano works performed by young Italian star Alfonso Soldano. Titled ‘’Metamorphoses” the programme includes piano transcriptions, some well-known and some receiving the first recording, including Soldano’s own set of 15 Romances, Books 1-3, after Rachmaninov songs. The recording is due to be made in Italy in the spring of 2021 though due to new lockdown restrictions this does remain subject to final confirmation.

This will be Soldano’s fourth recording for Divine Art. He was a favourite student of Aldo Ciccolini (and now is Artistic Director of the Aldo Ciccolini European Arts Academy Foundation based in Trani, Italy). He has won many competitions and has been widely praised for his virtuosity and deep insight into music and has widely toured throughout Europe. His mentor Ciccolini praised him: “Alfonso Soldano : a huge great promise for the piano, supported by outstanding instrumental abilities as well a musical sensitivity absolutely out of the ordinary. Alfonso Soldano was born in Puglia, South Italy: and therefore belongs to a land which is, and has always been a breeding ground for top class artists. Congratulations with all my heart!” – Aldo Ciccolini

His Romances, based on Rachmaninov Songs, are published by MusePress in Japan and among many other projects is continuing to produce song transcriptions for solo piano. He is also an author, having written the first biography of Sergei Bortkiewicz (Florestano Edizioni) and has three more recordings in preparation for release over the next two years including the complete piano music of Alexander Scriabin.

Metamorphoses (DDA25215)

15 Romances after songs by Rachmaninov (arr. Soldano)
Debussy: Prelude from L’enfant prodigue (arr. Soldano)
Pabst: Concert Paraphrase on Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty (new edition by Soldano)
Debussy: Fêtes (arr. Soldano)
Franck: Prélude, Fugue et Variations (arr. Bauer)
Wagner : Isolde‘s Liebestod (arr. Liszt)

Alfonso Soldano on Divine Art

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Tags : Alfonso Soldano, Transfigurations

‘1847: LISZT IN ISTANBUL’: pianist Zeynep Ucbasaran

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

23 October, 2020

High Romantic piano works and transcriptions make up the latest album from Turkish-American pianist Zeynep Ucbasaran, to be released early in 2021 by Divine Art Records. The year 1847 saw Franz Liszt arrive in Istanbul (then still called Constantinople) to spend six weeks in the Ottoman capital. Liszt created much interest with the public and in the Sultan of the Ottoman Court, Abdul Medjid, for whom he performed twice. The Erard company shipped over ‘ a beautiful piano with seven octaves’ for Liszt to play. One of the pieces that Liszt played in the Court was his brilliant paraphrase on a march by Giuseppe Donizetti for the Sultan. Donizetti was the Sultan’s Chef d’Orchestre and the brother of the more famous Gaetano.

Zeynep Ucbasaran celebrates this creative time in her home country’s capital with a program of Liszt works and pieces by Chopin and Weber, which Liszt performed during his visit. The pianist, who now lives and works in California, is making her debut solo album for Divine Art, having featured in both duos and trios recently: with Sergio Gallo in another program of mainly mainstream works (“Liszt to Milhaud”, Divine Art DDA 25208) and with Gallo and Miguel Chavaldas in “The Three-Piano Project” on Divine Art DDA 25207.

LISZT IN ISTANBUL (DDA 25213)

Franz Liszt :
- Magyar Dalok (Hungarian Melodies), S. 242
- Introduction et Polonaise de l’opéra I Puritani de Bellini, S. 391
- Réminiscences de Lucia de Lammermoor de Donizetti, S. 397
- Grande Paraphrase de la Marche de Giuseppe Donizetti, composé pour sa Majesté le Sultan Abdul Medjid-Khan, S. 403
- Erlkönig (after Schubert), S.558
Frédéric Chopin :
- Mazurka in B minor, Op. 33 No. 4
Carl Maria von Weber:
- Invitation to the Dance, Op. 65

1847: Liszt in Istanbul

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The 3-Piano Project

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Announcing “Sempiternam” – A New Album Celebrating the Choral Music of Rhona Clarke

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

23 October, 2020

Over the past few years, Divine Art Records and its new-music imprint Métier have developed an ongoing series of albums of music by composers from the Irish Republic, to quite considerable critical acclaim. The latest addition to this collection will be the first album celebrating the choral music of Rhona Clarke, a Dublin based composer who has created a wide range of work in which choral and vocal music play a significant part. The programme spans a period of almost thirty years from A Song for St Cecilia’s Day (1993) to the four-movement Requiem (2020), written during ‘lockdown’ due to the Covid pandemic; a work which is compact and does not follow the full traditional setting of Requiem Mass texts. The texts range from Catullus (c.55 BC) and anonymous medieval lyrics to the late Irish poet, writer and pugilist Ulick O’Connor. Besides the Requiem, there are a number of other settings of Christian sacred texts: O Vis Aeternatis (Hildegard), Veni Creator, Two Marian Anthems and Rorate Caeli, but also lyrics which look at death from very different perspectives: Ave Atque Vale, Catullus outpouring of grief on his brother’s death and the humorous children’s rhyme with its depiction of worms crawling in The Old Woman.

All of the works are composed for mixed a capella choir and vary in levels of complexity: some were commissioned by professional and others by amateur choirs. ‘Pie Jesu’ and Do Not Stand by my Grave are straightforward homophonic pieces each involving a solo soprano; ‘Lux Aeterna’ and Veni Creator are more dissonant, and more complex texturally while other works use extended techniques such as stamping, clapping and long glissandi.

Every piece seeks to define a mood, with plenty of contrast here from the joyous salute to ‘Musick’ in A Song for St Cecilia’s Day and the reverential O Vis Aeternitatis to the poignancy in the Introit of Requiem. On this recording, all performances are by the superlative, internationally acclaimed State Choir Latvija directed by Maris Sirmais. The recording is due to take place in Riga at St John’s Church from 5-9 July 2021 and should be released by Autumn 2021.
Rhona Clarke is celebrated for her eclectic and varied approach which produces fascinating and often surprising work, from her fresh but relatively conservative Piano Trios to the incredible, avant-garde, Sprechstimme-with-rock-percussion piece “…smiling like that…” all available on Métier recordings.

‘Sempiternam’ Choral music by Rhona Clarke (MSV 28614)

Composer: Rhona Clarke (b.1958)
Artists: Latvia State Choir, conducted by Maris Sirmais

Works

Requiem (2020): Introit/Lux Aeterna/Pie Jesu/In Paradisum
Two Marian Anthems (2007): Regina Caeli and Salve Regina
‘Make we Merry’ – Three Carols on Medieval Texts (2014): (Glad and Blithe/Lullay my Liking/Make we Merry)
The Kiss (2008)
A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day (1991)
Do Not stand over my Grave (2006)
The Old Woman (2016)
Rorate Caeli (1994)
Ave Atque Vale (2017)
O Vis Aeternitatis (2020)

Rhona Clarke on Métier

Sempiternam: Choral music by Rhona Clarke

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Ghost Songs: Contemporary Music and Words from Ireland

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A Different Game: Piano Trios by Rhona Clarke

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I am Wind on Sea

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Dancing in Daylight – Piano Trios from Ireland

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Tags : News, Rhona Clarke, Sempiternam

Pianist Jill Crossland plays J.S. Bach Keyboard Works

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

14 September, 2020

Divine Art Recordings are preparing an album of keyboard works by J.S. Bach, played by English pianist Jill Crossland, which will be officially released on January 8, 2021 though available direct from Divine Art as CD or digital download from mid-December. The recording was originally issued in 2003, on the Calico Classics label which was devoted to recordings by Crossland and distributed by Divine Art; it is now being transferred to the main lower-price Diversions imprint.

Jill Crossland studied with Ryszard Bakst in Manchester and with Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna. Her repertoire is firmly rooted in the baroque and classical periods, with a particular focus on Johann Sebastian Bach. Her style has been described as ‘intimately scaled and sensitively nuanced’ (Gramophone). Since 2006 her recordings have appeared on both Divine Art and Signum.

Jill Crossland: Bach Keyboard Works (played on modern piano)

Diversions DDV 24169

Works (all by J.S. Bach)

Toccata in D major, BWV 912
English Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807
Partita No. 1 in B flat major, BWV 825
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903

Also from Jill Crossland

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New Chamber Music by Edward Cowie Featuring the Guitar

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

2 September, 2020

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).

Stream and Variations (MSV 28612)

Stream and Variations (Saki Kato, guitar)
Basho Meditations (Myabi Duo – Saki Kato and Hugh Millington, guitars)
Particle Partita (Peter Sheppard Skærved and Mihailo Trandafilovski, violins)
Spell Checks (Stephen Preston, baroque flute, and Saki Kato, guitar)
HJ In Colour (Ronald Woodley, bass clarinet, and Saki Kato, guitar)

Previous Edward Cowie Releases

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Guitarist Raymond Burley To Record “The Segovia Legacy”

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

16 July, 2020

‘THE SEGOVIA LEGACY’ TO BE RECORDED BY BRITISH GUITARIST RAYMOND BURLEY

The latest signing to the Divine Art label is acclaimed British guitarist Raymond Burley who is to record a new album in homage to the great Andrés Segovia.

‘The Segovia Legacy’ is a programme of works written for and recorded by the great Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia (1893-1987), it also includes one piece composed by him. The recording features just a small portion of Segovia’s huge legacy but offers a very wide variety of musical styles.

Raymond Burley is one of Britain’s most experienced guitarists. As a soloist he has toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, North and South America and the Far East, performed and recorded with many of England’s finest orchestras and appeared many times at London’s Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and Symphony Hall in Birmingham.

Raymond has given premieres of works by composers that include Stephen Dodgson, Bernard Stevens, Reginald Smith Brindle, Gilbert Biberian, Christopher Wright, John Duarte and James Patten. He has also worked in duo with guitarists Alice Artzt, John Mills, Clive Carroll, Gilbert Biberian, Giorgio Mirto, Gordon Giltrap, John Etheridge and John Feeley. Other partners include actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft, harpsichordist Gilbert Rowland, violinist Emanuel Salvador and keyboard player Rick Wakeman.

Raymond has directed masterclasses and guitar festivals in the UK, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Seattle, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Washington DC, New York, Princeton, Kowloon, Dublin, Bonn, Bremen and Lima. He also has numerous recordings and publications to his credit.

The album is to be recorded in early January 2021, and is likely to be released in the late spring of next year.

The Segovia Legacy (DDA 25212)

Program:

Moreno Torroba: Eight ‘Castles of Spain’
Roussel: Segovia, op.29
Ponce: 20 Variations on “Folia de España” and Fugue
Segovia: Estudio Sin Luz
Tansman: Cavatina
Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Rondo op. 129

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Tags : Andrés Segovia, guitar, Raymond Burley

Coming Soon: Songs and Poems from Ireland

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

24 June, 2020

Divine Art’s Métier Records label will soon be releasing an album comprising a unique collaboration of leading voices in poetry, drama, and contemporary music from Ireland. Choral works performed by Laetare Vocal Ensemble are interspersed with evocative and intense readings from the poetry of Paula Meehan, the plays of Marina Carr, and the bilingual collections of Dairena Ní Chinnéide, exploring the otherworldly, the liminal, the mysterious, the haunted, and the interaction of the real and the imagined. The poetry of radical Irish-American poet Lola Ridge (1873–1941) is revived through sensitive readings by well-known Irish radio voice Carl Corcoran, while the ethereal vocals and harp improvisations of Síle Denvir add depth and dimension in this innovative and immersive listening experience. This new recording emphasises Divine Art’s strong connection to the musicians of Dublin following several recent releases of choral, vocal and chamber music, to be followed by a full album of choral works by Rhona Clarke next year.

Artists

Laetare Vocal Ensemble (pictured at top photo by Lorcan Doherty) is an award-winning chamber choir from Dublin, Ireland, directed by Róisín Blunnie. Previous releases include In Circling Flight: Contemporary Choral Music by John Buckley, Rhona Clarke, and Seán Doherty.

Playwright Marina Carr won the Windham-Campbell Prize in 2017. Her plays have been translated into many languages and are produced around the world.

Paula Meehan is a former Ireland Professor of Poetry. Her work includes collaborations with dancers, visual artists, film-makers, and musicians.

Dairena Ní Chinnéide is a bilingual poet living and writing in the Irish-speaking area of Corca Dhuibhne in south-west Ireland.

Síle Denvir is a harpist and Irish traditional singer from the Irish-speaking area of Connemara in the west of Ireland. She lectures and researches at Dublin City University.

Carl Corcoran is a musician and arts professional. He was formerly presenter and curator of the critically acclaimed Blue of the Nighton RTÉ Lyric FM, Ireland’s national classical music and arts radio station.

GHOST SONGS: Contemporary Music and Words from Ireland (MSV 28599)

Release date – to be confirmed by early 2021

Recorded in April-December 2019 and January 2020

Tracks include the following choral works:

The Destroyer (Seán Doherty)
The Old Woman (Rhona Clarke)
It’s Strange About Stars (Seán Doherty)
The Threat of the Dead (Michael Holohan)
The Ghost Song (Seán Doherty)
Under-Song (Seán Doherty)
The Graves of Arbour Hill (Seán Doherty)
Do Not Stand at my Grave (Rhona Clarke)
The Salley Gardens (trad., arr. Seán Doherty)

And poems (including some of the texts of the above settings) read by Carl Corcoran and the authors: Paula Meehan, Marina Carr, Dairena Ní Chinnéide.

Album Cover features “All These Others” by Marie Hanlon

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Tags : Carl Corcoran, Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Ghost Songs, Laetare Vocal Ensemble, Marina Carr, Paula Meehan, Róisín Blunnie, Síle Denvir

World Premiere Recording of Piano Music by Sam Hayden Coming to Métier

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

17 June, 2020

Divine Art Recordings will soon be releasing an album featuring the first ever recordings of Sam Hayden’s complete music for solo piano, performed by well-known contemporary music specialist Ian Pace. The album includes the monumental virtuosic 7-movement cycle Becomings, the most recent work from which the album takes its name, and some earlier shorter works reflecting diverse modernist and experimentalist influences. Although Hayden’s output for solo piano spans three decades, he has tended to use the instrument much more often in ensemble, chamber or electronic music contexts, often focusing on the percussive and resonance characteristics of the piano. During the fewer occasions when he has engaged with the piano as a solo acoustic instrument, the medium is always pushed to its sonic, spatial and physical limits. These solo pieces have in common constant transformation, existing at the extremes of gesture, polyphony, density, register, dynamics and textual juxtaposition.

Sam Hayden is a composer whose work contains much diversity and variety in its modernism; he teaches at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, and Pianist Ian Pace is one of the UK’s primary exponents of contemporary music as well as being head of music at City, University of London. His previous recordings for Metier over several years include highly praised albums of music by Michael Finnissy including the gigantic 5-CD long History of Photography in Sound.

The new Hayden album “Becomings” is scheduled for release in November.

“Becomings” – piano music by Sam Hayden (MSV 28611)

All World Premiere Recordings

Becomings (Das Werden), nos 1-7
…still time…
Fragment (After Losses)

Recorded at City University London in April and May 2020

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Tags : Ian Pace, Sam Hayden

Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour, Mary Dullea, Hormoz Farhat

Métier to Release New Recording of Piano Music from Iran

Posted by Divine Art Recordings Group on

29 May, 2020

Métier Records to release new recording of piano music from Iran by composers Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour and Hormoz Farhat, performed by Mary Dullea

Divine Art Recordings is honoured and delighted to announce a new recording of piano music by two foremost Iranian composers, of two generations, to be released in winter 2020-21 on the Métier new music imprint. The recording has been engineered and produced by top-ranked expert Adaq Khan in London.

Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour was born in 1974 and specialises in music which reaches across boundaries of geography and politics – and also time. He studied in Denmark and England and has enjoyed international success with recordings on Métier and Naxos. He wrote the first ever Harp Concerto by an Iranian composer on a commission from the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His opera The Doll Behind the Curtain – the first Iranian opera with an English libretto – was premiered in London in 2015. Some of his works for string ensemble were recorded along with works by Fozieh Majd on the album ‘In Absentia’: Metier MSV 28576 (2019)

Hormoz Farhat is perhaps the most senior of Iranian composers of ‘international’ art music. He was born in 1930, became a student of Darius Milhaud, and was the first Iranian to write a formal piano sonata.

The works here are performed by Irish pianist Mary Dullea, a formidable virtuoso dedicated to contemporary works whose skill and ability to realise aleatory and avant garde works is astonishing. She is pianist with the world-acclaimed Fidelio Trio which has performed in many countries and has made recordings with several leading labels including Delphian, Atarus and NMC as well as Métier; as a soloist she has performed throughout Ireland, England, Europe, USA, Hong Kong and South Africa. She has recorded for Métier music by Michael Finnissy, Eric Craven and Paul Whitty as well as a collection of new Irish works by Benjamin Dwyer, David Fennessy, Ed Bennett, Frank Lyons, Gráinne Mulvey, Jonathan Nagle and John McLachlan. She has just completed a recording of Craven’s ‘Pieces for Pianists’ (2 CDs) which will appear early in 2021.