BAGATELLES Piano Music by Bernard Hughes

Matthew Mills piano

Release date: 9^th June 2023 | Divine Art Recordings (Divine Art DDX 21107)

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This album presents the complete works of Bernard Hughes for solo piano, an eclectic collection covering a period of over 30 years. The oldest piece dates back to his teenage years and the most recent is a brand new suite, Partita Contrafacta, a quirky take on traditional Baroque dance forms. The rest of the music ranges from the large-scale Strettos and Striations to little occasional pieces written for the composer’s children. With such a varied range of music, there is something for everyone on this disc.

What makes this album truly special is the culmination of many years of collaboration between Hughes and Mills, who commissioned and premieres Partita Contrafacta on the disc. The two musicians have been working together for years, resulting in a deep understanding of each other’s artistic vision and an unparalleled ability to bring Hughes’ compositions to life on the piano.

By his own admission Bernard Hughes does not have a single musical style and this album reflects Hughes’ varied, wide-ranging approach – from music written for early piano students level to complex, virtuosic works, fleeting miniatures to ferocious, post-minimalist studies.

VIDEO https://youtu.be/NrGtx0Hb4TA

Some of the most touching and intimate pieces are those written for the composer’s children. Song of the Walnut and Song of the Button, for example, were written when his son and daughter respectively were still in utero –  tender, melodic pieces, the first a tiny lied, the second an uplifting hymn-without-words.

The Partita Contrafacta (literally “Counterfeit Partita”) obviously takes its inspiration from the Baroque suite – each movement has a single “affect”, in this instance, a series of dances, from Boogie-Woogie to Bolero, replace the traditional partita dance movements. The entire suite has a suitably Baroque grandeur, while the individual movements are distinctive, witty and highly inventive.

The Bagatelles, written in the late 1990s and early 2000s, offer a mix of styles, textures and technical challenges. Some are ridiculously tricky parodies of the studies of Czerny, others draw on existing works by Debussy, Schubert (listen out for references to the Allegretto in c minor D915) and Field (Nocturne). All our replete with expression, colour and variety. The Three Studies, in contrast, explore minimalism and the composer’s desire to engage with “a pianism shorn of romantic excess” (Bernard Hughes).

The Miniatures, written for early piano students, up to cGrade 5, are similarly varied, attractive and tonal. It is clear that the composer has taken the trouble to write music which is appealing, challenging within the scope of the player’s ability, and replete with enjoyable melodies, and piquant rhythms and harmonies.

Overall, this is a most enjoyable and interesting album offering the listener insight into the breadth and variety of Bernard Hughes’s compositional output and his kaleidoscopic musical personality.

But perhaps what makes this album truly special is the culmination of many years of collaboration between Bernard Hughes and pianist Matthew Mills, who commissioned and premieres Partita Contrafacta on the disc. The two musicians have been working together for years, resulting in a deep understanding of each other’s artistic vision and an unparalleled ability to bring Hughes’ compositions to life on the piano, which he does masterfully with colour and vigour, humour and warmth.

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Works

Song of the Walnut
Partita Contrafacta (suite in 7 movements)
Song of the Button
Bagatelles (12 movements)
Miniatures (11 movements)
Three Studies
O du Liebe meiner Liebe
Strettos and Striations
Cradle Song

Bernard Hughes says: “This album brings together pretty much all my music for solo piano written over the course of more than 30 years, the earliest from when I was still at school and the latest written just weeks before being recorded, in October 2022. The inspiration was my pianist and friend, Matthew Mills, who suggested the project and who has put untold hours into learning and animating the music, some of which is very straightforward, and lots of which is very much not.

And this variety is very much the point for me. As in all aspects of my compositional work, I don’t have a single piano ‘style’, but cut my cloth according to the occasion. Although there are several of techniques, textures and devices I return to over and again – as will be obvious to anyone listening straight through – there is also a huge range of approach, from music written for piano beginners up to the most virtuosic I could imagine, and from simple blink-and-you-miss-them melodies to ferocious, post-minimalist studies. In some cases, I don’t know what possessed me.”

Pianist Matthew Mills says: “I am very pleased to have done Bernard’s piano album. It’s a substantial milestone in a musical relationship that now goes back probably twenty years or so…. It really captures all facets of Bernard’s kaleidoscopic musical personality, and, having a close knowledge of the composer as well as the music, I think gives it a special resonance.

Pre-order BAGATELLES here

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FW