Archive for piano

Divine Art announces Part 2 of the Messiaen Catalogue d’Oiseaux series

English pianist Roderick Chadwick is having an incredibly busy time in various recording locations and in January he will be recording the second volume of a series which presents Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux coupled with works which are linked either in style or subject matter. This follows the well-received issue in October 2020 of the first volume, entitled ‘La Mer Bleue’ which included Book 1 of the Catalogue.

This double album is a continuation of Chadwick’s journey through Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux, programming it alongside an array of solo piano works that share its themes, atmospheres and inspirations. The latest issue features Books 2 through 5, including the cycle’s great centrepiece ‘La rousserolle effarvatte’ (The Reed Warbler), which evokes the sights and sounds of the Sologne region across a full day’s span.

The theme of the release is “night and day”, explored further by Messiaen in the atmospheric nocturnes of Book 3 (Tawny Owl and Woodlark), and the intense heat of a Provencal afternoon in The Short-toed Lark. Also featured is the first recording of Julian Anderson’s Sensation, a six-movement suite first heard at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2016 – with movements such as ‘Nuits’, ‘Alba’ and ‘She Hears’, a touching opener dedicated to Imogen Holst. Betsy Jolas’ Chanson d’Approche brings together Messiaen-like melodies with chant-style material in a typically fluid tapestry.

Roderick Chadwick has already recorded solo works by Sadie Harrison, and here he gives us a new account of her Lunae (4 Nocturnes), pieces that encompass love, starscapes, nightingales and medieval psalmody in her distinctively wide-ranging style. Well-loved miniatures by Grieg and Debussy complete the offering.  

Originally the album was due to be recorded in August but noisy building works forced a delay and relocation and recording will now take place at City University, London in January 2022 with a prospective release date around July.

Roderick Chadwick
Roderick Chadwick © Claire Shovelton

Roderick Chadwick is a pianist, teacher and writer on music. He has performed some of the most challenging works for the instrument, including Lachenmann’s Serynade at the inaugural London Contemporary Music Festival, and the first complete performance of Jeremy Dale Roberts’ Tombeau since its 1969 premiere at the hands of Stephen Kovacevich. He collaborates with some of the UK’s most adventurous musicians, with previous recordings for Divine Art/Métier including music by Michael Finnissy and David Gorton with members of the Kreutzer Quartet, and Mihailo Trandafilovski, Mozart and Ole Bull with violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved. Other recordings to date include Stockhausen’s Mantra with Mark Knoop and Newton Armstrong – which was described as ‘a real contender’ by Gramophone magazine – and works by Gloria Coates, Sadie Harrison and Alex Hills.  Most recently he recorded the first two of Edward Cowie’s superb sets of birdsong-inspired music:  “Bird Portraits” (with violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved) and “Where Song was Born” (with flautist Sara Minelli).

Roderick is a member of ensembles CHROMA and Plus-Minus, performing with them at festivals such as Huddersfield, ltima (Oslo) and the 2019 Warsaw Autumn Festival. His first performance on BBC Radio 3 was at the age of 14 (the Britten Gemini Variations live from the Aldeburgh Festival), and broadcasts since have included solo works by Laurence Crane, Richard Barrett and Will Gregory. In 2018 Roderick published Messiaen’s ‘Catalogue d’oiseaux’, from Conception to Performance, co-authored with Peter Hill. He is a regular performer of Messiaen’s works, including the entire Catalogue d’oiseaux and La Fauvette des jardins in a single concert event. In 2008 he was artistic advisor to the Royal Academy of Music for their part in the Southbank Centre’s Messiaen centenary festival.

He attended Chetham’s School in Manchester in the 1980s, studying with Heather Slade-Lipkin, and later moved to London to learn with Hamish Milne. He lives in South London and is Reader in Music at the Royal Academy of Music.

What pictures tell… (DDA 21240)

Works

Catalogue d’oiseaux (Olivier Messiaen):

  • Livre II – Le Traquet stapazin
  • Livre III – La Chouette hulotte
  • Livre III – L’Alouette lulu
  • Livre IV – La rousserolle effervatte
  • Livre V – L’Alouette calandrelle
  • Livre V – La Bouscarle

Lunae: Four Nocturnes (Sadie Harrison)
Sensation (Julian Anderson)
Préludes, Book 1 – Nos IV, V & XII (Claude Debussy)
Chanson d’approche (Betsy Jolas)

Lyric Pieces (Edvard Grieg):

  • Book III, Op. 43 – No. 4 Little Bird
  • Book V, Op. 54 – No. 4 Nocturne
  • Book VIII, Op. 65 – No. 6 Wedding-day at Troldhaugen

Roderick Chadwick on Divine Art/Métier

Divine Art Announces Album of Piano Music by Bernard Hughes

Bernard Hughes
Bernard Hughes © Sarah-Jane Field

Divine Art Recordings Group is delighted that the distinguished English composer Bernard Hughes (b. 1974) has joined the label for an album of his complete (so far) output of works for solo piano. The composer describes the works as “an eclectic collection” which covers a period of over 25 years. The oldest piece dates back to his student years at Oxford and the most recent is a brand new suite (simply named “Suite”) in which Hughes transforms Baroque dance forms into something quirky and new. The rest of the music ranges from the large-scale Strettos and Striations to little occasional pieces written for the composer’s children. The album represents the culmination of many years of collaboration between Hughes and the pianist Matthew Mills, who commissioned and will premiere the new Suite. The recording is to be made in the spring of 2022 in Belgrade and is scheduled for release in the autumn of next year.

Bernard Hughes studied music at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford and Goldsmiths College, London. He received a Ph.D in composition from Royal Holloway College and was then appointed as Composer-in-Residence at St. Pauls’ School.  Bernard’s music has been widely performed and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and across Europe.  His latest commission Birdchant was chosen to receive its premiere by the BBC Singers at the 2021 Proms; he has composed operas, choral and vocal works as well as piano music, to great acclaim.  A recording of his choral music was issued on Signum Classics in 2016, and will be followed by a further choral album in 2022 on Delphian Records.

Matthew Mills
Matthew Mills © Matthew Mills

Matthew Mills is an established pianist and himself an accomplished composer and also the founder and owner of publishing company Wild Woods Music which includes Bernard Hughes amongst its roster of composers. He now lives in Montenegro.

‘Bagatelles’ (DDA 25231)*

Composer: Bernard Hughes

Artist: Matthew Mills

Works

Suite (in 7 movements)
O du liebe meine liebe
Bagatelles (12 movements)
Beginner’s Guide to Boiling a Nourishing Egg
Strettos and Striations
Miniatures (12 movements)
Song of the Walnut
Song of the Button
Three Studies
Cradle Song

Duration:  approx. 79 minutes

*Working title – not finalized

Divine Art Announces First Complete Recording of All 18 Geoffrey Allen Piano Sonatas

Divine Art Records is delighted to announce the forthcoming recording of the 18 Piano Sonatas by British-born Australian composer Geoffrey Allen, who has just celebrated his 92nd birthday with the completion of his most recent sonata. Allen has had a great deal of influence in the Australian music world since retiring from his career as a librarian in 1992, when he founded The Keys Press, which functioned to promote and publish Australian music until 2014. Among other activities he has proved to be a very accomplished composer indeed. Stephen Sutton, CEO of the Divine Art group, says “It’s wonderful to anticipate the recording of Geoff’s complete sonatas. We recorded his 4th sonata along with the delightful Three Piano Pieces back in 2001 (Divine Art DDA 25007 ‘Blue Wrens’ – pianist Trevor Barnard), so I was really pleased that the opportunity came along to produce a complete set.”

The pianist on the new set is Murray McLachlan, Head of Keyboard at Chetham’s School of Music and one of Britain’s most brilliant and busy pianists.  Please see below for an appraisal of the Allen Sonatas by McLachlan.

The recordings will take place at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester on five dates commencing on September 25, 2019, with engineer Stephen Guy.  The set will be issued on two 2-CD sets and two double albums;  the exact make up of each disc/set is not yet finalised but will include the 17 numbered Piano Sonatas and a rhapsodic piece from 2003 titled ‘Rhapzonata’. The sonatas stretch from the first composed in 1959 (later revised) to no. 17, completed only a few weeks ago (April 2019).

The two sets will be released in the first half of 2020 on the Métier label, Divine Art’s primary new-music imprint, as MSV 77209 and MSV 77210

Murray McLachlan on Geoffrey Allen:

I’m extremely excited and eager to get started with the extraordinary project of recording for Divine Art the complete 17 sonatas of the 90-year-old Australian based British born composer Geoffrey Allen. Geoffrey’s story is unique: He was born in 1927 in Essex and went to Oxford before emigrating in 1952 to Sydney, Australia. After a brief period as a geography teacher he had much success as a librarian, working first in Sydney then in Perth and travelling internationally for his work. His musical talent and facility was first apparent in 1950 when three of his four songs were performed at an Oxford University Music Society concert. Clearly composing has continued and grown apace over nearly seventy years of serious endeavour.

Geoffrey is characteristically modest about his work, but he feels that the year 1989 was especially crucial for his artistic development. A visit to Spain with his second wife had a huge impact on his piano Sonata No. 2 and after this work a great momentum – a great rush of energy and creativity – unquestionably occurred. This momentum has continued right up to 2019 with final touches to sonata 17 only appearing a few weeks back!

Geoffrey has mentioned many pieces and composers who have influenced him – with the notable exception of Beethoven! Performances heard as a student of Brahms horn trio and Sibelius 4th Symphony made a strong impression, but he also was influenced by performances early on that he heard on the radio from figures including Bax, Milhaud, Khatchaturian, Bliss, Ireland and Walton.

From the 1950s in Australia Geoffrey was a fervent supporter of new music from his adopted homeland. He helped found and organise Brolga Records, a pioneering venture that enabled contemporary Australian music to be available as commercial LPs for the first time. After his retirement as a librarian in 1992 he established The Keys Press, a one-man publishing activity concentrating on Australian classical music that continued functioning until 2014.

How can one describe Geoffrey’s music? It is all too easy to start classifying and referring to new or unfamiliar music via references to music that is familiar. What is really interesting and special about Geoffrey’s music is the fact that it looks orthodox on the page initially, but is in fact extremely thought-provoking. He has a unique way of combining the familiar with the unfamiliar: Geoffrey’s music is always extremely well crafted and looks deceptively simple on the page, but as soon as you begin to play any phrase from his works you discover that he is always subtly reinventing the wheel! There is a unique special voice. The textures and structure will appeal to diverse audiences. If you enjoy Prokofiev, Tcherepnin, Barber and even Tippett, you will admire the Allen aesthetic too – diverse though these famous names are!

There is unquestionably subtle originality, extraordinary variety and colourful fascination in Geoffrey Allen’s prolific output for the instrument. The collection of recordings we are about to make will unquestionably amount to a significant contribution in the ongoing development of the 20th/21st century piano sonata.

John McCabe – The ‘Lost’ Recital

In 1985 the internationally renowned pianist and composer John McCabe recorded an album of contemporary piano music by Australian and American composers. Made in the EMI Studio in Sydney on a commission from Earle Page College, the recording was put aside when the studio closed and was believed lost. Attempts to trace the master through EMI’s successor, Warner Music, were not replied to. Amazingly, a cassette copy was found among the composer’s papers and has been remastered to produce a wonderfully fine album with superb sound. Works by Peter Sculthorpe, George Rochberg, Wendy Hiscocks, Barney Childs, Don Banks, Graeme Koehne and David Maslanka. Probably the last ‘new’ recording to be released featuring McCabe, who died in 2015, as pianist. The album will be scheduled for release by Métier Records in spring 2019 (catalog number MSV 28585).

The Master Completer

Our late friend Anthony Goldstone was, aside from his skill as a pianist, a fine arranger, and was especially adept at completing works left unfinished by major composers, especially Schubert. But his completion and realisation of the fragmentary B flat Sonata for Two Pianos by Mozart drew particular praise from several eminent musicians and musicologists: “bravissimo!” (Brian Newbould), “Mozart would not have been displeased” (Anthony Payne), “An excellent example of the genre and a most welcome addition” (Julian Rushton), “brilliant” (Philip Wilby), “very cleverly done” (H.C. Robbins Landon), “Extremely successful” (John McCabe). This and several more fascinating rarities appear on Divine Art DDA 25046 ‘Mozart on Reflection’ by Goldstone and Clemmow. Check out also Tony’s pioneering work with Mozart’s solo piano works in ‘The Unheard Mozart’ (DDA 25051).

Ustvolskaya works for violin & piano

Following the critical praise and popularity enjoyed by her 2-CD set of the piano music of Galina Ustvolskaya, Russian pianist Natalia Andreeva is joining forces with the exceptionally talented violinist Evgeny Sorkin, to record Ustvolskaya’s two major works for violin and piano, which they performed in concert to great acclaim in March.

Natalia started her ‘Ustvolskaya project’ in 2006 in Chicago, where she was a Fulbright scholar. Since then she has regularly included Ustvolskaya’s solo piano and chamber works in her recitals and remains in touch with Ustvolskaya’s widower, Mr Konstantin Bagrenin, who is a great help and encouragement for her works. Natalia currently holds the position of the Lecturer in Piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia, where she completed her PhD in Piano Performance.

Evgeny Sorkin attended the Moscow State Conservatorium and went on to study at the Australian National Academy of Music and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he is currently a staff member while he balances his teaching with a busy recital schedule. Most notable is Evgeny’s performance of the complete Beethoven sonata cycle with the renowned Dutch-Australian pianist Gerard Willems.

The recording is to be made at the ABC Studios in Sydney, Australia in September, and will be scheduled for release in the spring of 2019.

Athene release from Mariko Terashi

Japanese pianist Mariko Terashi is currently resident in the UK. She pursued her musical training in France from Catherine Collard and Yvonne Lefébure and now performs regularly on the UK concert platform, has appeared on Spanish TV, and collaborates with the Polish Orchestra Vita Activa.

Her upcoming album is one of baroque pieces, but performed on modern piano. The album was recorded by Nami Records, and released locally in Japan to great praise and will now see worldwide distribution with its summer 2018 release on the Athene label (ATH 23207) – our label for early and baroque works and ‘period instruments’.

Mariko has developed her own playing style that retains the poise and ornamentation of the original music, while exploiting the warmer timbre of the piano. Regarded as “offering fresh insights into the music”, she responds with “delicate nuance” and “tremendous emotional depth”.

Tomono Kawamura – ‘Reminiscence’

Japanese Pianist Tomono Kawamura studied in the UK and has performed to acclaim in many parts of the world. Her debut album, ‘Reminiscence’, reflects repertoire found in her concerts with a program of popular masterwork which Tomono believes can trigger emotions and memories – taking the listener back to magical moments associated with that piece of music.

‘Reminiscence’ will be issued on the Divine Art label (DDA 25170) , probably in spring 2019.

Tomono was awarded a scholarship by the Yamaha Music Foundation, after studying at the Yamaha Music School starting at the age of 3, to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. There she studied with Christopher Elton and the late Maria Curcio. She has appeared as a soloist throughout Asia, Europe and the UK in such venues as the Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, St. Martin in the Fields and the Wigmore Hall, London. 

Music for two pianos…

… and percussion.  Bartok’s Concerto and Camilleri’s  Sonata,  for this combination, are joined by Stravinsky’s own 2-piano transcription of The Rite of Spring in another fine reissue from the Dunelm Records catalog. Murray McLachlan and Kathryn Page (pianos), Heather Corbett and Stephen Burke (percussion). To be issued at mid price (CD and digital) in April 2018.

Artist and album receive international awards

Pianist Burkard Schliessmann has been distinguished with the award of three Silver Medals at the 2017 Global Music Awards. Known as “music’s golden seal of approval”, the Global Music Awards honored Schliessmann as an instrumentalist and for ‘Outstanding Achievements as a Classical Artist’, as well as for his Divine Art album ‘Chronological Chopin’.