Composer: Frank Bridge, John Casken, Emily Howard, John McCabe, Maurice Ravel, Franz Peter Schubert
Performer: John McCabe
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0139
Release: 2011
Size: 212 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 14 in A minor, D784
01. I. Allegro giusto
02. II. Andante
03. III. Allegro vivace
04. Howard: Sky and Water
05. Casken: The Haunting Bough
Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
06. I. Modere, tres franc
07. II. Assez lent, avec une expression intense
08. III. Modere
09. IV. Assez anime
10. V. Presque lent, dans un sentiment intime
11. VI. Vif
12. VII. Moins vif
13. VIII. Epilogue: Lent
14. McCabe: Tenebrae
Bridge: Three Lyrics
15. No. 1. Heart’s Ease: Andante tranquillo – Lento
John McCabe has had one of the most distinguished and diverse careers in British music, as a pianist, composer, writer and educator. His unusually wide sympathies as a performer cover music from the Elizabethan era to the present day, with landmark recordings of Haydn (the complete piano sonatas) and Nielsen. The works presented on this CD, carefully chosen by McCabe for his last public recital, given at the Presteigne Festival last August, include music by Schubert and Ravel as well as a work of his own and two pieces by younger contemporaries. The two new works – by John Casken and Emily Howard – are first recordings. The CD also contains the first recording of the substantial Tenebrae by the composer himself. This CD is being launched during this year’s Presteigne Festival and will be released nationally shortly afterwards. John McCabe was born in Liverpool on 21 April 1939 to a family of Irish-Scottish and German-Finnish descent, although his outlook has always remained decidedly English. His output includes nine symphonies and a substantial body of music for his own instrument, the piano.