Field / Frith / Sinfonia / Mogrelia - John Field: Piano Concerto No. 7 - Irish Concerto - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Ten years after writing 'Les Corps glorieux' Olivier Messiaen developed a plan to compose a Book of Rhythmic Studies for the organ. This resulted in two distinct works of which 'Livre d'orgue' proved to be an anthology representative of his compositional thinking at the time. It runs the gamut of rhythms, tone colors and sonorities, ranging from extreme delicacy to the most powerful vehemence, and includes new modes, complex Hindu rhythms, and an aviary of birdsong. The test piece 'Verset pour la fete de la Dedicace' offers a more serene vision in it's own essay in birdsong. Tom Winpenny is Assistant Master of the Music at St. Alban's Cathedral, where he accompanies the daily choral services and directs the Abbey Girls' Choir. Previously, he served as sub-organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He is also musical director of the London Pro Arte Choir. Winpenny has broadcast frequently on BBC Radio and featured on American Public Media's pipedreams. He was organ scholar at King's College, Cambridge, graduating with a music degree, and twice accompanying the festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, broadcast worldwide. Album Tracks 1. Verset Pour la Fête de la Dédicace (Verset for the Festival of the Dedication of a Church) (1960) 2. Livre D'orgue (1951) 3. Monodie (1963) 4. Tristan Et Yseult Thème D'amour (Tristan and Isolde Love Theme) (1945)

With Pierre Boulez's 2nd Piano Sonata Idil Biret not only makes her American recording debut, but also presents the first U.S. recording of this important contemporary work. Composed in 1948, this sonata occupies a position that exerted a causative influence upon Boulez's subsequent music. It's experimental and ground-breaking nature may be better understood if one regards it as having grown out of a response to Webern's Variations (1936), the companion piece on this album. The rigid, geometric patterns of Webern's work, the classical purity of it's encompassing organization, seems to have served as a base of departure for Boulez's broadened structures that are equally rigid but incomparably more complex. It is this very complexity that conceals the strict framework of the entire composition and projects it as the product of an ardent improvisatory impetus. It demands from it's interpreter a similar approach, along with technical prowess and intellectual control of the highest order. It was only a matter of course that this work, together with influences emanating from other sources (chiefly John Cage), should lead the path not only to open-form and aleatory compositions, including Boulez's own 3rd Piano Sonata, but also, through it's new pianistic language, urge the development of a whole new generation of virtuoso pianists. (Ilhan Mimaroglu, 1973) Album Tracks 1. Piano Sonata No. 2-I. Extremement Rapide - Encore Plus Vif 2. Piano Sonata No. 2-II. Lent 3. Piano Sonata No. 2-III. Modéré, Presque Vif 4. Piano Sonata No. 2-IV. Vif - Tres Modéré... Tres Librement 5. Variations Op. 27-I. Sehr Mässig 6. Variations Op. 27-II. Sehr Schnell 7. Variations Op. 27-III. Ruhig Fliessend 8. Piano Sonata Op. 1 (Mässig Bewegt)

The series of Songs without Words that Mendelssohn wrote for piano and published from 1830 onwards serve as a very personal musical diary, purely and simply expressing it's own musical meaning without verbal connotation. In arranging some of them for violin. Album Tracks 1. Allegretto Grazioso, Op.62, No.6 2. Allegro Agitato, Op.19, No.5 3. Andante Espressivo, Op.62, No.1 4. Molto Allegro, Op.67, No.2 5. Allegretto Tranquillo, Op.30, No.6, 'Venetian Boat Song' 6. Agitato E Con Fuoco, Op.30, No.4 7. Adagio Non Troppo, Op.30, No.3 8. Con Moto, Op.38, No.1 9. Andante Tranquillo, Op.67, No.3 10. Andante, Op.67, No.1 11. Moderato, Op.67, No.5 12. Presto Agitato, Op.53, No.3 13. Allegro Con Animato, Op.62, No.4 14. Andante Maestoso, Op.62, No.3 15. Andante Con Moto, Op.38, No.6, 'Duetto' 16. Adagio, Op.53, No.4 17. Andante, Op.38, No.4 18. Allegro Non Troppo, Op.38, No.2 19. Andante Espressivo, Op.30, No.1 20. Allegro Con Fuoco, Op.53, No.5, 'Folk Song' 21. Moderato, Op.19, No.4 22. Andante Con Moto, Op.19, No.1