Divine Art Records is delighted to announce a forthcoming release comprising the 24 Preludes for Piano by Nicholas Scott-Burt, in its premiere recording, performed by Da-Hee Kim. The double album will be recorded in the first half of 2025 and will be scheduled for release in the autumn.
In his 24 Preludes for Piano, Nicholas takes a post-modern approach to the long-standing tradition of presenting a set of works in all 24 major and minor keys. Following in the footsteps of J.S. Bach, Chopin and Shostakovich, among others, he aims to represent the innate expressive qualities associated with each key, such as the exuberance of B flat major, the ambiguity of F sharp major, and the mournfulness of D minor. These qualities are explored through the use of traditional triadic forms, diatonic clusters, and the surrounding related tonalities which triangulate each key in question.
Scott-Burt’s writing embraces a broad range of styles, incorporating elements of neo-Romanticism, modernism, post-modernism, minimalism and jazz.
The works are structured in a sequence of alternate major and minor Preludes, rising by a tone then falling by a semitone from each key to the next. Each Prelude functions as a miniature while also combining to create a seamless integrated structure, greater than the sum of its parts. The pieces are arranged in four suites of six movements each, structurally equivalent to the four movements of a symphony.
In addition to the cycle of Preludes, the album will include Scott-Burt’s Minimalis 1 and Love Song and marks the Divine Art debut for both composer and pianist.
Korean by birth, pianist Da-Hee Kim trained at the Paris Conservatoire, and the University of the Performing Arts in Munich, and has been a prize-winner in numerous competitions including the Valletta International Piano Competition, and the Claude Bonneton International Piano Competition in Sète. She holds a doctorate in performance from the Peabody Conservatory, John Hopkins University in the US, and is a frequent performer of solo and chamber music in Europe and the USA. She has recently returned from a highly acclaimed recital tour in Paris, which included five world premieres of music by Dae Seong Kim.
Composer Nicholas Scott-Burt studied music at the University of Bristol gaining the degrees of BA (1984), MMus (1988), and PhD (2012). His teachers in composition included Derek Bourgeois, Robert Saxton, Raymond Warren and John Pickard. Principal works include music for choirs, orchestras, chamber ensembles and solo instruments: notably the Magnificat and the Te Deum, (1997 and 2022) for choir and orchestra, the Nativity Dances and Passion Dances for orchestra (1997 and 2000), Panegyric for orchestra (2012) and A Little Jazz Piano Sonata in C (2016). He is currently (2024) working on Sinfonietta – The Western Cape for the Stellenbosch and West Coast (Cape Town) Youth Orchestras.
Album Details
- Title: Scott-Burt: 24 Preludes for Piano
- Label: Divine Art
- Catalogue Number: DDX 21248 (2CD, digital download and streaming)
- Composer: Nicholas Scott-Burt
- Performer: Da-Hee Kim (piano)
- Works:
- 24 Preludes for Piano (duration ca. 90:00)
- Minimalis 1 (duration ca.15:00)
- Love Song (duration ca.5:00)
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