Pantcheff,Richard / Mckinney,Tom / Passmore,Simon - Richard Pantcheff: Chamber Music Vol 2 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Following on from the successful of Passacaglia on a Theme of Benjamin Britten and Other Organ Works (PFCD174-5), organist Simon Passmore returns to the organ of St. Ann's Church, Manchester, for this second volume of organ music by British composer Richard Pantcheff. This new disc comprises works for organ solo, as well as works written for organ with other instruments Violin (Benedict Holland), and Flugelhorn (Neil Fulton). The programme contains highly melodic modal works, including the Sonata for Violin and Organ (Opus 74) and it's forerunner 'Agnus Dei' (Opus 41). The more contemporary Nocturnus I (Opus 90, No. 1) for Flugelhorn and Organ is complemented here by the solo organ work which completes the Nocturnus series of compositions, Nocturnus VI (Opus 90, No. 6). Both works were completed while the composer was living in South Africa. Lastly, the six Chorale Preludes (2021/No. 2) for solo organ are here recorded in full for the first time. Written during the depths of the pandemic, these sparse, elevated, works are like icons in music where time seems to stand still, and the listener is immersed in the intense spiritual dialogue presented in the music. Simon Passmore is originally from Hexham, Northumberland. He was a chorister at Hexham Abbey where he received piano lessons from the Directors of Music, John Green and Michael Haynes, and later with Newcastle University's Head of Keyboard, David Murray. He completed a BMus at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, studying with Murray McLachlan, and went on to take a Postgraduate Diploma in Repetiteur Studies, supported by a full scholarship. Simon was Director of Music at St Ann's Church between 2015-2022, and had previously been organ scholar there from 2011, studying with the late Ronald Frost. Simon currently lives in Altrincham and works full-time at Chetham's School of Music as a staff pian

In his 80s, Jean Françaix (1912-1997) supervised this 1996 Dutch album of four pieces for varied forces, writing the engaging booklet notes and performing with undimmed skill in the Divertimento which he wrote back in 1953 for the flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal. As he notes, the title is somewhat ironic for those who play it 'if it is InchdivertingInch to listen to, it is not at all so to play it and requires great virtuosity.' Le Colloque des deux Perruches (The Dialogue of Two Parakeets) is a modern classic of the repertoire for two flutes a six-movement dialogue opening with a fluttering, swooping Allegrissimo, followed by a melancholy little Larghetto. Smiles and laughter are never far away in Françaix's music and the mood brightens with a darting Scherzando. The fifth movement is another plaintive Larghetto, with the parakeets in earnest conversation. As a 22-year-old composer of already remarkable fluency, Françaix composed the String Trio for the Trio Pasquier, who went on to play it in over a thousand concerts an inimitably bustling, weightless piece in four movements enclosing a wistful Andante and rounding off with one of those Françaix tunes that turns round in the listener's head for days afterwards. The ten-minute Cantate de Méphisto sets a text by Paul Valéry according to the composer, 'This 'Méphisto' is terribly authentic, cunning, subversive and perverse.' The devil wheedles and beguiles in a lyric parlando, accompanied by a string ensemble, spiced by the irony and satire of his operas and comedies such as Le diable boiteux, his first work for the stage. Valéry's text is printed in the booklet. Françaix's music features in countless compilations here is an authoritatively performed opportunity to immerse yourself in his world for 'une heure exquise'. Album Tracks 1. Trio à cordes~I. Allegretto vivo 2. Trio à cordes~II. Scherzo 3. Trio à co

Album Tracks 1. Eco Op 186 2. Aspects Op 72 3. Sonata for Violincello Solo Op 101 4. Quartetto Mdico Op 70 5. Sextet Op 114