Composer: Michael Blake
Performer: Antony Gray
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Divine Art
Catalogue: DDA21374
Release: 2023
Size: 2.51 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
01. Spotted Dikkop and Black Cuckoo
02. Linong tsa lesiba (Song of the Birds)
03. African Doves (Homage to Messiaen)
04. If I had wings I could fly
05. Walking Song (Homage to Percy Grainger)
06. Stroll to the Spaza Shop (Homage to Stanley Glasser)
07. Chorale (Homage to MMM)
08. Lyric Piece (Homage to Grieg)
09. Call and Response
10. Ntsikana’s Bell
11. John Knox Bokwe’s Plea for Africa
12. Heaven’s Bow
13. iKos’tina
14. Variations on a Flute Tune
15. Emerging Melody
16. Stickfighting Song
17. Herding Song
18. Threshing Song
19. To Comfort a Child (Lullaby)
20. You are a real rascal
21. Canon at the Octave
22. Wedding Song
23. Night Music
24. Self Delectative Song
25. Latshon’ilanga (The sun has set)
26. Song for the Evening
27. Unevensong
28. Four-note Patterns
29. Broken Line
30. Patterns in a Heptatonic Field
31. Supermoon (Homage to Henry Cowell)
CD 02
01. Dance in Seakhi Rhythm (Homage to Bártok and JP Mohapeloa)
02. Chaconne in Mbaqanga Style
03. In Goema Style
04. Tickey-draai
05. Da kom die Alibama
06. Diary of a Dung Beetle
07. Scents of Childhood 1 (Homage to Robert Schumann)
08. Scents of Childhood 2 (Homage to Robert Schumann)
09. Scents of Childhood 3 (Homage to Schumann and Puccini)
10. Interlocking Hands
11. Changing Times with Repeating Patterns
12. Five Finger Patterns
13. Weave
14. Distant Cowbells
15. Lusikisiki
16. Giyani
17. There Cried a Hippo
18. Reedpipe Dance
19. Slow Dance
20. Lebombo Bone
CD 03
01. The music flows jolly as it won’t stop forever
02. March (Homage to Stefan Wolpe)
03. Message from the Nduna (Homage to György Kurtág)
04. Ituri Rain Forest (Homage to JSB)
05. Reflection (Homage to Erik Satie)
06. Two Modes Interlocking
07. In the Hexatonic Mode
08. Major-Minor
09. Keep left, pass right
10. Geyser off! Hat on!
11. Stay on Path
12. The Seven Steps
13. Ostinato with Cross-rhythms
14. Smoke and Mirrors
15. Postcards from South Africa
16. Une Sonnerie pour G.D.
17. High Fives
18. Sefapanosaurus
19. Thirds
20. Variations on 4ths and 5ths
21. Fifths
22. Seventh Must Fall
23. Haiku
24. Freedom Day Variation
Inspired by Bartok’s’Mikrokosmos’ and by the indigenous music from various parts of Africa, South African composer Michael Blake created this magnum opus – like Bartok’s work, in varying degrees of difficulty for young players and experts alike. The recording was made in June 2021 at the Menuhin Hall, Cobham, Surrey by pianist Antony Gray, whose recent Divine Art albums of piano works by Saint-Saëns have met with great success and glowing reviews. Michael Blake is a South African-born composer and pianist based in London from 1977 and later returned to the “New South Africa.” He has been responsible for post-apartheid New Music initiatives such as joining the ISCM and setting up a new music festival and composers meeting. His musical language draws from African music, experimental film, and African weaving techniques. His works have been widely played around the world and appear on 15 CDs. He currently splits his time living in rural France and Cape Town where he is an honorary professor of experimental composition at Stellenbosch University.
Australian pianist Antony Gray was educated in Victoria, Australia, where he graduated from the Victorian College of Arts and won several awards and prizes. He received a scholarship from the Astra foundation to continue his studies in London with Joyce Rathbone and Geoffrey Parsons. Based in London now, he is regarded as one of the most interesting and communicative performers of his generation, known for his solo and chamber music performances around the world, regular recordings for CD and radio, and his championing of contemporary and neglected composers such as George Enescu, Dussek, Martinu, Malcolm Williamson and John Carmichael. He has recorded 14 discs of solo piano music for ABC Classics, and featured on other recording projects for KNS Classical and other labels.