REVIEWS: Marc-Andre Hamelin: Etudes (Hyperion CDA67789) This album gives the listener a glimpse into the fertile musical mind of one of the greatest piano virtuosos of today.
Marc-Andre Hamelin’s 12 Etudes, written over a period of nearly 25 years, are at the pinnacle of the repertoire. The highly-wrought character pieces are performed with dazzling penache by their creator.
The disc is completed by the quiet and reflective Con intissimo sentimento, and the love poem Cathy’s Variations.
Compelling listening. Bach Piano Transcriptions, Vol 9: Jonathan Plowright (CDA67767) In 1931 the pianist and muse Harriet Cohen invited all her principal composer friends to make an arrangement of a work by J S Bach for inclusion in an album to be published by Oxford University Press.
Published as A Bach Book for Harriet Cohen, it is recorded here for the first time by virtuoso pianist Jonathan Plowright. A must for Bach devotees.
Jonathan Dove: Choral Music (Hyperion CDA67768) Dove’s beautiful choral works are given a magnificent airing by the Wells Cathedral Choir conducted by Matthew Owens. The Missa brevis is the most recent work to be recorded here and was commissioned by the Cathedral Organists’ Association. Music to enrich the soul.
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