Classic and Romantic (Music for Horn and Piano)

Johns, Terry / Booth, Barry: Soft Core Corn

Grossmith, G.: A Society Clown

Sullivan, A.: Cox and Box

Concept of the album

‘(ré)inventions à deux pianos’ is a complete recomposition for two pianos of J.S. Bach's 15 two-part inventions by Luxembourgish pianist Chiahu ‘Chia-Chia’ Lee, arranged for her duo with Yulia Vershinina-Mukhopadhyay. It's a personal rewriting of Bach's work from the original score in the style of classical music fused with pop, minimalism and smooth jazz. The name of the album is derived from the French title of Bach’s work ‘inventions à deux voix’. Rediscover Bach’s famous work through the lens of this crossover composition which can appeal to connoisseurs and amateurs alike.

About the artists

The piano duo Vershinina/Lee (Yulia Vershinina-Mukhopadhyay & Chiahu ‘Chia-Chia’ Lee) began their collaboration with Rheinberger’s arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for two pianos, which they have performed in various concert halls in the UK and Luxembourg, including the Philharmonie in 2019, cementing their mutual fascination with Bach’s music.

The pianists met during their studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and their enduring friendship has set the ground for an exciting musical partnership. The idea of ‘variation’ has since been a red thread throughout their projects and led both women to constantly seek inspiration outside the conventional repertoire for two pianos. In fact, the duo has made it their aspiration to spread the word about lesser-known music and even write and arrange their own music.

In their recent Actart Concert at Luxembourg Conservatoire Yulia and Chia-Chia focused on works composed in the last 20 years by contemporary women composers.

James Cook was born in Wales in 1963. He composed three major symphonies in his twenties and after a brief spell studying composition at Oxford in 1994 turned to the writing of sacred vocal and choral music, much of which has been recorded for Divine Art/Diversions. In 2000 he began to concentrate on organ music and competed a cycle of nine organ symphonies. Looking to expand his horizons further he turned to opera in 2010; his first, “Dorothy”, was premiered in London in 2015. Since then he has produced several more including a cycle of four on Biblical themes. The Liebestod Symphony is a cycle of five songs originally scored for soprano and orchestra, here in piano arrangement. The first four songs are settings of poetry on the subject of Richard Wagner and the fifth a reference to the ‘Liebestod’ from Tristan und Isolde , a subject of great interest to the composer. The texts are by Cosima Wagner, A. C. Swinburne, Gabriele d’Annunzio, Sidney Lanier and John Janeway.

This is a mid-price ‘mini-album’ which follows the release in January 2022 of ‘Davids Liebestod’ – extracts from two operas by James Cook. Helen Lacey is a lyric soprano who recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music where she was a member of the prestigious Academy Song Circle. Paul McKenzie is a specialist Repetiteur for several opera companies, and performs as orchestral pianist, accompanist and jazz pianist.

REVIEWS:

“This is a delightful idea for a recording... The non-musical items in the programme are done splendidly by the soprano Margarette Ashton... The performers are excellent. With original instruments joining a soprano voice that is small but admirably suited to the repertoire... The well-recorded programme really does create images of the scene that we are intended to imagine. A recommendation then for an imaginative and enterprising CD.” – Classical Music on the Web

Originally made in 2006 on limited release, this fantastic album is now available once more. Each composer represented here was an important innovator in different ways- one need only think of how The Rite of Spring shocked the world- they are also linked by a deep interest in folk music. The two major works with percussion are worthy of close comparison, with the Bartok piece being more austere and 'early-modernist' than Camilleri's rich and neo-Romantic work that appeared 70 years later. The percussive score of The Rite of Spring makes it ideal in a two-piano form, and Stravinsky himself made this transcription. The four performers are high achievers in the UK as both soloists and chamber/orchestral players, as well as in academia. Murray McLachlan, a tireless champion of new music, is now one of the most popular and prolific recording pianists if our day.

Includes work(s) by Charles Camilleri. Ensemble: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Brian Schembri. Soloists: Glen Inanga, Jennifer Micallef.

The four works on this release exemplify the two sides of Bach’s compositional journey – a continual experimentation, aggregation and integration of different European styles, and the evolution of an entirely personal synthesis. Little more need be said here about Johann Sebastian Bach or his music! Jill Crossland is from West Yorkshire and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, and later in Vienna with Paul Badura-Skoda and Sally Sargent. She now pursues an active concert and recording career. Jill has played regularly on the South Bank and at the Wigmore Hall in London and at the Sage Gateshead; her appearances have also included Bridgewater Hall, St George’s Bristol, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus, Cadogan and Fairfield Halls and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. She has been a member of the Arts Council England Musicians in Residence scheme, and she has appeared on radio and TV, including live and recorded broadcasts on BBC Radios 3 and 4 and has featured in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. Jill’s recordings include works by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Mozart and Beethoven for the Divine Art and Diversions labels, as well as the Bach Goldberg Variations on Warner Classics and works by Rameau and the complete Bach “Well-tempered Clavier” for Signum Classics. Her recordings have received high critical praise on both sides of the Atlantic. Among many critical plaudits, her Bach Well-tempered Clavier has been described as “among the most satisfying recent releases of [his] keyboard music” (Rob Cowan BBC Radio 3) and her Beethoven as “magnetic” and “delightful” by American Record Guide.

James Cook was born in Wales in 1969. He composed three major symphonies in his twenties and after a brief spell studying composition at Oxford in 1994 turned to the writing of sacred vocal and choral music, much of which has been recorded for Divine Art/Diversions. In 2000 he began to concentrate on organ music and competed a cycle of nine organ symphonies. Looking to expand his horizons further he turned to opera in 2010; his first, “Dorothy”, was premiered in London in 2015. Since then he has produced several more including a cycle of four on Biblical themes. This mid-price mini-album includes three items, in voice/piano arrangements, from one of those Biblical operas, Abishag about the woman hired to be companion to King David, and two from Jane the Quene, which deals with the tragic story of Lady Jane Grey, the ‘nine days Queen’ of England in the 16th century. The performers are established and sought-after on the British opera circuit and have appeared with Royal Opera, English National, and other major companies in the UK and Europe. They and the composer have begun work on recordings of pieces from his major opera Mary Magdalene.