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.
Category: CD review
Beat poetry: Rick Simpson, ‘Twice Shaded’
After a few listens, this album feels like a heroically original achievement: without doubt, a jazz record, but unpredictable in ways one wouldn’t have predicted. Warm yet inscrutable; modest in approach but confident and fizzing with ideas: it’s improvised music that feels as though it’s always existed. How can something so spontaneous feel so permanent?…
‘the music of evaporation’ – Música callada | Federico Mompou | Stephen Hough, piano
Federico Mompou’s piano work Musica Callada is a set of twenty-eight short pieces that were written between 1959 and 1967. It was the last piece of piano music published in the composer’s lifetime The title, borrowed from the Cantica spiritual by the Spanish mystic and Carmelite friar St John of the Cross, translates as “Silent…
A Bad Night in Los Angeles – piano music by Robert Matthew-Walker
The title alone invites further exploration of this interesting, varied disc of piano music by Robert Matthew-Walker, a British composer and an influential part of the classical music recording industry for more than half a century (he ran marketing and publicity departments for leading record labels CBS and RCA, and has been editor of the…
Light fantastic: Mary Bevan, ‘Visions Illuminées’
It’s always a delight to come across an album so richly crafted and ingeniously programmed, you get an overwhelming sense that you’re hearing something intensely personal, a snapshot of what the artist wants to say ‘right now’. ‘Visions Illuminées’ feels like one of those records. Soprano Mary Bevan has featured on numerous recordings, but on…
Contrasting albums from recent Leeds competition winners
Alim Beisembayev and Eric Lu, winners of the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2021 and 2018 respectively, have both released new albums. Eric Lu impressed at the 2018 competition with his beautiful tone and the phrase “poet of the piano” is regularly attached to his playing. Elegant lyricism is highly appealing, especially in the music…
Duncan Honeybourne brilliantly illuminates the piano music of William Baines
The exceptionally gifted British composer William Baines died on 6 November 1922; he was just 23, yet he left behind a remarkably large body of work, which is celebrated in this new release from pianist Duncan Honeybourne, a long-time champion of Baines’ music. Born in Horbury near Wakefield, Yorkshire, William Baines came from a musical…
Retrospecstive 2022: Adrian Ainsworth’s 25 recordings of the year
I enjoyed so many great releases during the last year that merely the act of looking back, replaying some key choices, has taken quite some (pleasurable) time. I hope the 25 I eventually settled on include some new discoveries for you, and that you enjoy them as much as I have. The main list is…
Sparkling Beethoven from Daniel Tong
Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Op. 10 Nos 1-3 Daniel Tong (fortepiano) Resonus RES10307 This sparkling new release from Daniel Tong opens with an explosive ‘Mannheim rocket’, the dramatic first sentence of the Piano Sonata in C minor, Op 10, No. 1, which sets the tone for an uplifting and very enjoyable listening experience. Daniel Tong has…
Intriguing and highly personal – ‘From Afar’ by Vikingur Ólafsson
It seems that whenever Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson touches a piano, beautiful sounds flow from the instrument – whether it’s Bach, Rameau, Debussy or Philip Glass. His latest release, From Afar, is no exception, with the added sonic treat of two pianos, offering contrasting colours and timbres. This new album, the most personal of all Ólafsson‘s recordings to date, reflects…
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