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Archival
Sound
Recordings |
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Piers with the musicians at the end of this year's festival. |
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| A Message from Piers to the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Townsville, Qld.,. on 10 May 3017 |
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A Message from Piers Lane
It’s a joy to be writing this at my own desk in Putney in London. I’m getting an inordinate thrill out of domesticities like ironing and having friends over for dinner at the moment! So far this year, I’ve been in St. Petersburg, New York, Brisbane twice, Sydney, Bermagui, Melbourne twice, Spokane, Seattle, Sitka, Tucson, Townsville, Corfu, London and other places in England – a heady whirlwind of travel and concertising, with its attendant jetlag and deadlines. I’ve just played Chopin at Wigmore Hall and Tasmin Little and I have started concerts with repertoire we’ll record in June.
I’m penning this before shooting up to St. Luke's to hear Kathy Stott give a lunchtime concert with cellist Christian Poltera. We’ll have lunch afterwards and then tonight she flies off for a tour with the New Zealand String Quartet. No doubt Townsville and the AFCM will be much in our conversation this lunchtime. She’s in the throes of planning next year’s Festival and I’m still receiving requests and suggestions from artists and agents from all over, who are not yet aware that 2017 will be my final one. It’s lovely to be handing the baton to a close friend and to know that the Festival will be in the best possible hands.
I was so happy that Cyclone Debbie, though she blew away arrangements for the AGM and 2017 Program Launch, didn’t stop me giving a Chopin program at St. James’ at the end of March, as a sort of ‘farewell’ to the Townsville AFCM audience itself. It was a treat to see so many friends and to sense how soon the 2017 Festival will be upon us. It’s going to be quite a party judging from early ticket sales - be there or be square!
Warm regards,
PPiers Lane AO |
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BBC Radio 3 "In Tune" - Monday 24 April at around 4.35pm
Piers and Tasmin Little will be interviewed and play 3 pieces live:
Brahms - Sonatensatz from FAE
Szymanowski - Sonata 2nd movement
Franck - Sonata 4th movement
The programme will be broadcast live on Radio 3,
simultaneously streamed on the BBC iPlayer
and BBC Radio 3 website, and available for catch-up
listening on BBC iPlayer for 30 days following the broadcast.
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A lovely 5 STAR review was published on 20th April of Piers' Chopin recital
on Wednesday 19th April at the Wigmore Hall. Read it on the Reviews Page.
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| Further Future Performances in October and November |
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| QSO and Piers Lane celebrate 40 years / Maestro Series |
In October Piers will be playing the Moszkovski Piano Concerto with the Queensland Symphony
under Enrique Diemecke on the 13th and 14th October. Click below to buy tickets. |
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Piers plays Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3 with the Sydney Symphony under Brett Dean at the Opera House in October.
Please click below for Booking Link. |
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Piers plays Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 with the Auckland Philharmonic under Brett Dean on November 2nd. |
Click below for further information and Box Office. |
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THREE recent CD Releases: |
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Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)
Piano Quintet & String Quartet No 2
Goldner String Quartet, Piers Lane (piano)
CDA68166 (HYPERION)
Released: March 2017
Hyperion - Digital Booklet (PDF) |
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Tasmin Little Plays Franck, Faure & Szymanowski
Franck: Sonata, M 8 (1886)
Faure: Romance, Op.28 (1877)
Szymanowski: Sonata, Op.9 (1904)
CHAN 10940 (CHANDOS)
Released: March 2017
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CDA68135 |
Hyperion Records - released: November 2016
The Romantic Piano Concerto
Hill & Boyle: Piano Concertos
Piers Lane (piano), Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Fritzsch (conductor)
Alfred Hill and George Boyle enjoyed distinguished careers in their native Australia and abroad—Boyle’s students in New York included Copland and Barber—though both are all-too-little known today. The piano concerto and sonata by Hill—the ‘grand old man’ of Australian musical life at the time—are effectively the same work, the one an orchestral expansion of the other. (click CD cover to learn more from the Hyperion website)
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Piers is now at the Australian Chamber Music Festival, Townsville, Qld. - AFCM posted a lovely photo, view it here:
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Watch the trailer for the forthcoming Sydney International Piano Competition, where Piers is Artistic Director. |
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On Saturday, 7th May at 12.05 pm (Australian Time) Mairie NIcolson had an interview with Piers on ABC Classic FM.
Click ABC 40 logo to learn more, incl. Progamme information. |
AVAILABLE NOW
on ABC LISTEN AGAIN
(now expired)
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We have updated Piers' Concert Schedule to August 2016 Link here |
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The second volume of BRITISH VIOLIN SONATAS
by Frank Bridge, John Ireland, Sir Arthur Bliss,
Ralph Vaughan Williams, and William Lloyd Webber
is out now.
Artists: Tasmin Little (violin) and Piers Lane (piano).
buy from Amazon |
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Bruch - Piano Quintet in G minor, String Quaret No.1
and Swedish Dances Op.63 were published by
Hyperion Records wa released in April 2016.
Artists: Goldner String Quartet and Piers Lane (piano).
buy from Amazon
download from i-tunes
Classical Source review |
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| The Australian Festival of Chamber Music has today released its Schedule .... click link logo to view .... |
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| Concert Schedule Page is also updated |
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Here is a link to the AFCM Booking Form
(Prioriy Booking Form for Members)
Mail to TicketShop PO Box 5181 Townsville QLD 4810 or scan and email to: ticketshop@townsville.qld.gov.au. |
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LIMELIGHT - Australia's Music Magazine - carries
an article about the Festival Programme Launch.
Read it here by clicking the LIMELIGHT LOGO. |
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NEW Release from Dutton Epoch
Walter Braunfels VOL.3
BBC Concert Orchetra
conducted by Johannes Wildner
Piers Lane piano
Out Now
Click image for more information from
Dutton Epoch and Purchase Link
Order CD from AMAZON
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A lovely review for Tasmin Little and Piers appeared on December 3rd in the Birmingham Post.
They gave a lunchtime recital at Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire on December 1st.
followed by a masterclass with students from the Conservatoire.
Read the review on Piers' REVIEWS page. |
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We received the AFCM Newsletter for October electronically today. (13/10/2015)
Full of interesting information, and details of next year's festival. To read it, please click on the Festival E-Note logo.
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An Honorary Doctorate for Piers in Australia
Piers was presented with an Honorary Doctorate by James Cook University, Townsville, Qld.
on Wednesday 18th March at 15:00. |
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NEW CHANDOS RELEASE (March 30th 2015)
SCHUBERT Chamber Works.
Tasmin Little (violin), Tim Hugh (cello), Piers Lane (piano). Chandos 2cds
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Fantasie in C major, Op. post. 159, D 934
Sonatas, Op. post. 137 Nos 1 – 3, D 384, D 385, D 408
Sonata in A major, Op. post. 162, D 574
Adagio in E flat, Op. post. 148, D 897
Rondeau brillant, Op. 70, D 895
Sonata in A minor, D 821
‘Arpeggione’ |
The Daily Telegraph - 25 April 2015 - Review ****
Schubert's genial personality comes through on the first disc of this two-CD set. In four violin sonatas written while he was still in his teens there are none of the troubles and inner searchings that were to be enshrined in the later "Death and the Maiden" string quartet or the last piano sonatas.
Exuberance is the keyword here, and that is precisely what Tasmin Little and Piers Lane bring to them in delightfully positive performances, bristling with vigour and with tenderness and tonal subtlety that make the music spring to life. Taste goes hand in hand in those pieces with healthy spirit in as it does in “Rondo brillant" that opens the second disc. But here the Classical profile of the earlier works has given way to a seam of more dramatic, Romantic sensibility that Little and Lane top with verve, ardour and spark. supplemented by an intensity and sensitivity of expression in the late C major Fantasy. The cellist Tim Hugh gives, with Lane, a poised, eloquently turned performance of the Arpeggione Sonata, and all three performers come together for the late "Notturno", a sublime performance. GN
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(webstreaming) |
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Monday, 24th July after 09:00 - Mornings woth Martin Buzacott |
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Ireland, John
Piano Concerto in E flat major
Ulster Orchestra, Piers Lane (piano), David Lloyd-Jones (conductor)
The Romantic Piano Concerto - 39: Delius & Ireland (Hyperion CDA67296)
ABC page link |
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Piers and the Goldner Quartet received the
Diapason d’Dor for their latest Hyperion CD. |
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Part Translation: |
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"This highly evocative and emotional reading [of Pierné’s Quintet] owes much to Piers Lane’s range of nuances and his use of pedalling: His subtlety, his fortissimo which is never forceful, and most of all the interaction he establishes not only with the quartet as a group, but with each individual member, make for a perfect interpretation of the work."
Diapason d’Or. (JULY 2014 edition) |
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1st August 2014
Piers Lane: "Townsville is in my blood"
From concert crawls to on-stage conversations, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music is as intimate as its setting, says longstanding artistic director
Read the Guardian Australia Culture Blog by clicking the Logo.
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Piers at the CHEFS of the NORTH Dinner last night.
The photo shows violinist Tasmin Little (left), Piers
and Maggie Beer, famous Australian chef (right) co-host at the dinner at Jupiters.
Photo by Evan Morgan/Townsvillebulletin.com.au |
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Piers at the end of the AFCM Festival with Tasmin Little (left) and composer Elena Kats-Chernin (right)
at Sandra's and Michael's party 07/08/14.
Tasmin had just been created an Honorary Australian Citizen by Michael and wears her Aussi Flag hat with pride. |
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Article in THE AGE, Melbourne, June 5th 2014
Pianist returns to pay tribute to prodigious teacher
Piers Lane finds resonance in the work of Beethoven that reminds him of teacher Nancy Weir.
To read the article, please click THE AGE logo |
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ADMISSION ONE SHILLING TOUR of AUSTRALIA has now finished. |
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Hyperion, £12.99 |
NEW CD out now
LOUIS VIERNE | String Quartet in D minor Op 12
GABRIEL PIERNÉ | Piano Quintet in E minor Op 41
Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet,
"Perceptive pitching and a warmth of spirit colour this record by Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet, says Geoffrey Norris" **** (Daily Telegraph)
Read the Telegraph review here.
AMAZON buying Link
A favourable review also appears in the May edition of THE STRAD magazine. Read it here.
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Two excellent reviews have appeared: Music Web International and Classical Source.com |
RECORDING OF THE MONTH (Music Web International)
Malcolm Williamson (1931-2003) The Complete Piano Concertos
Piers Lane (piano) Howard Shelley (piano) (Concerto for Two Pianos)
Yoram Levy (trumpet), Mark Bain (trumpet), Martin Phillipson (trumpet) (Sinfonia concertante) Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra/Howard Shelley
Piano Concerto No. 1 in A major (1958)
Concerto for two pianos and string orchestra in A minor (1971)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F sharp minor (1960)
Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat major (1962)
Sinfonia concertante in F sharp major (1958-62)
Piano Concerto No. 4 in D major (1993)
HYPERION CDA68011/2
Read them here: Music Web International | www,classicalsource.com |
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| Piers' AFCM 2014 Programme Launch Video |
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AUSTRALIAN LIMELIGHT Magazine has a review this month of the Arensky-Taneyev CD.
Read it Here. |
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Piers Lane Goes to Town
has been in the Top Ten recently
(next week it is
CD of the Week on Essential Classics! ( BBC Radio 3)
Arensky/Taneyev CD and the above received IRR recommendations
both were in the toprated discs section in the October issue of International Record Review? |
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Gramophone Magazine featured this CD in December 2013. "Critic's Choice" |
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And Australian Limelight Magazine has a Review of Piers’ disc here |
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New Recordings are out |
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LISZT, F.: Berlioz - Harold en Italie / Romance oubliee / ROGER, K.: Viola Sonata (P. Dukes, P. Lane)
Hector Berlioz’s Harold en Italie draws both on Byron’s Childe Harold and the composer’s own experiences in Italy as winner of the Prix de Rome. Franz Liszt’s rarely heard transcription admirably encapsulates this work’s narrative dramas and landscapes, while his meditative Romance oubliée derives from an earlier song, Oh pourquoi donc. Austrian-born Kurt Roger studied with Schoenberg, retaining his teacher’s contrapuntal tendencies while rejecting serial techniques for the lyricism which can be found in his Viola Sonata.
NAXOS 8.573011
Buy from AMAZON |
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New Release from the ABC shop
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, KV482
Piers Lane, piano
Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Fritzsch conductor
PLU 348182 - Barcode 0028948102488
Buy from ABC Classic FM (Aus$ 9.99) |
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New Release from the ABC shop
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, KV491
Piers Lane, piano
Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Fritzsch conductor
PLU 348190 - Barcode 0028948102495
Buy from ABC Classic FM (Aus$ 9.99) |
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Published on 8 Sep 2013
Australian concert pianist Piers Lane met Melanie Spanswick at Steinway Hall in London last week,
to talk about his highly successful career. |
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August 31st 2013 - Classic FM - Piers Lane goes to Town (Album of the weekend)
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Join Jamie Crick for the perfect music for your Saturday afternoon. Saturday 31 August
Jamie Crick has the perfect music for your Saturday afternoon, including another track from the Album of the Weekend, Piers Lane Goes to Town, a delightful journey through the 20th century filled with encores and party pieces.
Click CD cover to find out more |
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BBC RADIO 3 IN TUNE, Yesterday, Wednesday 28th August, after 16:30
Pianist Piers Lane gives a taster of his new recording of encores,
party pieces and pianophile rarities.
NOW AVAILABLE on LISTEN AGAIN - IN TUNE - BBC Radio 3
Slide scroll bar forward to 02:00:30 hrs to listento until 4th September.. (sadly, UK ;listeners only) |
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Click for more details
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LISTEN AGAIN
on ABC Classic FM
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Hyperion October 2013 release
Piers Lane and the Goldner Quartet
Arensky & Taneyev: Piano Quintets
Two chamber masterpieces from nineteenth-century Russia, performed by Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet. Taneyev has been known as the ‘Russian Brahms’ and this epithet is particularly apposite when considering his Piano Quintet in G minor, especially as regards both its instrumental writing and its intellectual passion. Composed in 1911, this massive work bids fair for the accolade of the greatest work in the Russian piano-chamber repertoire before Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet of 1940. Only the extravagance of its technical demands can explain its failure to establish itself in the standard repertoire. Arensky’s Piano Quintet of 1900 is less monumental and less flamboyant, though not exactly short of fireworks, especially in the piano writing. It is a deeply attractive and enjoyable work—and equally little-known on the concert platform.
Order from Presto (click logo)
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Hyperion September 2013 release
Piers Lane goes to town
Composer Listing on Hyperion site here
Piers Lane gambols delightfully through the twentieth century in this album of encores, party pieces and a few pianophile rarities, ranging from Dame Myra Hess’s unforgettable arrangement of Bach’s Jesu, joy of man’s desiring to Dudley Moore’s equally unforgettable Beethoven pastiche.
This album includes first recordings of, among others, John Ireland’s Ballerina and Mark Saya’s Offenbach/Chopin conflation Barcarolles. A number of these pieces are by Australian composers who wrote for Piers himself. His unbounded virtuosity and joy in the music is clearly an inspiration, and is evident throughout the recording.
Order from Presto (click logo) |
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NAXOS July 2013 release
LISZT, F.: Berlioz - Harold en Italie / Romance oubliee / ROGER, K.: Viola Sonata
(Philip Dukes, viola, Piers Lane, piano)
Hector Berlioz’s Harold en Italie draws both on Byron’s Childe Harold and the composer’s own experiences in Italy as winner of the Prix de Rome. Franz Liszt’s rarely heard transcription admirably encapsulates this work’s narrative dramas and landscapes, while his meditative Romance oubliée derives from an earlier song, Oh pourquoi donc. Austrian-born Kurt Roger studied with Schoenberg, retaining his teacher’s contrapuntal tendencies while rejecting serial techniques for the lyricism which can be found in his Viola Sonata. Further chamber music by Kurt Roger can be heard on Naxos 8.572238
Order from Presto (click logo) . |
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Piers playing in Alaska last week.
View a photo from Sitka, Alaska, showing Piers playing in from of a stunning backgound.
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 - British Violin Sonatas No.1 - played by Tasmin Little and Piers Lane
Available Now. (click thumbnail)
The new Violin Sonatas CD with Sonatas by Walton, Ferguson and Britten has just become available.
Learn more from the CHANDOS website here. (audio sample 2 min) |
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Piers and tenor Markus Schäfer gave a wonderful recital of Schubert Songs at the Wigmore Hall
yesterday, Sunday 17th. View a photo of the two from the Green Room here. |
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A lovely review of Piers and cellist Zuill Bailey playing at the Wimbledon Festival recently
was published in the February edition of STRAD magazine. Read it here. |
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Media Release - December 2012
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM) is thrilled to have won the 2012 Limelight Award for Best Event/Festival.
This is the third Limelight Award for this ten-day Festival, which sees local and international performers take over sunny Townsville every July and August. |
For more information visit
the AFCM website (click logo)
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recent CD Release
CHANDOS released a new CD of Violin Sonatas by Strauss and Respighi
played by Tasmin Little and Piers Lane.
CHANDOS writes:
"Respighi is best known for his orchestral music, and Richard Strauss for both his orchestral music and operas, and therefore their chamber music has tended to take a back seat, however unfairly. On this disc we explore a few such neglected works, all of which display the full range of emotion, drama, harmonic exploration, and technical brilliance that characterised romanticism at its height."
Order from AMAZON or PRESTO.
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Review
February 2013 |
Both sonatas are played here with complete understanding and spontaneity, and bring moments of true musical virtuosity. Piers Lane is a first-class pianist and forms a fine partnership with Tasmin Little, whose tone is caught with great beauty, for the Chandos recording is completely real and naturally balanced. Ivan March |
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 Hyperion CDA67927 - Release Date: April 30th 2012 |
Goldner String Quartet with Piers Lane
SIR HAMILTON HARTY |
String Quartet No.1 in F major Op 1
and No. 2 in A minor Op 5
Piano Quintet in F major Op.12
Acclaimed pianist Piers Lane and his fellow Australians, the Goldner String Quartet, reprise their highly successful partnership in these world-premiere recordings of the two String Quartets and Piano Quintet of Irish composer Hamilton Harty.
A first review has appeared in the Guardian. Read it here. |
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1st March - 5th March - 23:00 |
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On BBC Radio 3, Piers Lane presented a series of essays looking at five aspects of Chopin’s life and music to celebrate two hundred years since the composer’s birth.
Piers Lane looks at five aspects of Frederic Chopin's life and music to celebrate 200 years since the composer's birth.
Drawing on extracts from Chopin's own writing, and those who have written about him over the past two centuries, Piers looks at the myths, interpretations and veneration surrounding one of the most universally adored pianist/composers.
Chopin's name is synonymous with ideas of romance and melancholy. In this first programme, Piers explores how, despite being labelled as the archetypal Romantic pianist, Chopin resisted much of what is now associated with 19th-century Romantic piano music – the overt scene painting and descriptive title of his contemporaries such as Liszt, Berlioz or Schumann.
Later in the week, Piers looks at how the composer innovated form and style on the piano, the instrument on which he focused so exclusively; Chopin's often overlooked role as one of the most sought-after teachers in Paris; his composing process and interpretations of his music; and the veneration from audiences and other composers that has always surrounded him.
Listen Again to the fifth episode this week here: |
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The British Library in London has made well over 1000 fine recordings
prior to 1956 available, for visitors to listen to.
Each week we'll provide a link to their piano catalogue for you to listen to while you browse.
Enjoy this wonderful facility.
This week we have Vladimir Horowitz playing
BRAHMS: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, no. 2. op. 83, B flat major
recorded: n/d - Just click the BL logo!
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