Frederick Hodges - For Two Pianos - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Not often does a recording change the public perception of a piece of music and it's composer, but it happened when the 18-year-old Yehudi Menuhin set down this recording of Paganini's First Concerto in Paris in May 1934.

A young ensemble of instrumentalists and singers revives the precious historical practice of singers accompanying themselves, thus producing a wholly new sound in music usually assigned to unaccompanied voices. With Concerto di Margherita, self-accompanied singing becomes 'collective' for the first time in our era, and is amplified in a shared gesture in which all the members of the group - playing and singing together with extraordinary coordination - produce a sonority unprecedented in this repertory. Created at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, the group (which is named after the Duchess of Ferrara, Margherita Gonzaga) performs as a consort of five voices, theorbo, harp, viola da gamba, guitar and lutes, inspired by the Concerto delle dame of Ferrara. The recording debut of Concerto di Margherita presents arrangements of a wide range of instrumental and vocal works (madrigals, villanellas and canzonas), drawing on music by de Wert, Gastoldi, Monteverdi and the 'blind man's buff' scene from Giovan Battista Guarini's Il pastor fido (1580).

The early 20th century witnessed the flowering of an exciting new style of piano composition that fused European classical music traditions with the popular music styles of the New World. George Gershwin's music is highly representative of this tradition, but with this recording, pianist Frederick Hodges and Rivermont present a sampling of some of the lesser known gems of piano writing that emerged during the era. Includes works by Dana Suesse, Billy Mayerl, Rube Bloom, Louis Alter, George L. Cobb, and others, masterfully performed in Hodges's signature crisp, scintillating style. The deluxe 24-page color illustrated booklet features detailed liner notes by the artist. 22 tracks, 78 minutes.