Composer: Ronald Stevenson, Bernard van Dieren, Henry Purcell
Performer: Christopher Guild
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Release: 2021
Size: 1.22 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Purcell: Toccata in A Major (Transcr. R. Stevenson for Piano) [Attrib. J.S. Bach as BWV Anh. 178]
02. Stevenson: Hornpipe (after Purcell)
Stevenson: 3 Grounds (After Purcell)
03. No. 1 in C Minor
04. No. 2 in E-Flat Minor
05. No. 3 in D Minor
Stevenson: The Young Pianist’s Delius
06. No. 1, Dance
07. No. 2, Tune from “Brigg Fair”
08. No. 3, La Calinda
09. No. 4, Serenade
10. No. 5, The Cuckoo
11. No. 6, Late Swallows
12. No. 7, Intermezzo
13. No. 8, Tune from “String Quartet”
14. No. 9, Tune from “Violin Sonata No. 2”
15. No. 10, Themes from “Song of the High Hills”
16. Stevenson: Little Jazz Variations on Purcell’s “New Scotch Tune”
Dieren: String Quartet No. 5 (Transcr. R. Stevenson for Piano)
17. I. Con moto ben sostenuto
18. II. Molto tranquillo
19. III. Impetuosamente
20. IV. Con spirito
21. V. Adagio cantando
22. VI. Finale. Allegro con grazia
23. Dieren: Weep You No More, Sad Fountains (Transcr. R. Stevenson for Piano)
24. Dieren: Spring Song of the Birds (Transcr. R. Stevenson for Piano)
25. Purcell: The Queen’s Dolour, Z. 670 “A Farewell” (Transcr. R. Stevenson for Piano)
The personal generosity that made the Scottish composer Ronald Stevenson (1928–2015) such a warm and vibrant character extended also to his writing-desk: around a quarter of his enormous output is given over to transcriptions, mostly for piano, of music by other composers. Here he pays homage to three earlier colleagues whose music he particularly esteemed: Purcell, Delius and van Dieren. Stevenson described his version of Van Dieren’s String Quartet No. 5 (1931) as ‘transcribed as a piano sonata (which B. v. D. never composed)’ – and thus it became the piano sonata which Stevenson himself never composed. The album ends with Stevenson’s brief but achingly beautiful harmonisation of Purcell’s The Queen’s Dolour – as exquisite an example of the transcriber’s art as anyone could wish.