Daniel Rieppel, a native of Minnesota of Austro-Hungarian descent, performs Mozart’s Fantasy and Sonata in C minor, the Piano Variations of Aaron Copland and Symphonic Etudes by Robert Schumann. Dr. Rieppel performs widely in North and South America and Europe (most recently in Iceland) and has been Professor of Music at Southwest Minnesota State University for over a quarter century. He has international recognition for his research into Schubert’s incomplete sonatas, finishing several that will be the subject of his next recording.

Featuring world premiere recordings of trios by Sally Beamish and Hugh Wood bookended by seldom heard works by Moeran and Finzi, showcases the sheer wealth of string trio repertoire by British composers. Although diverse in style and substance, the four works are bound together by the common strands of vivid storytelling and a shared musical language. Finzi’s Prelude and Fugue – the composers only piece of chamber music for strings alone - was composed in 1938 and conceived as a tribute to the renowned teacher R.O. Morris, with whom Finzi studied 16th century counterpoint. It is recorded here by the Eblana String Trio for only the second time, following its premiere LP recording in 1983. Ithaka by Hugh Wood is described by the composer himself as ‘a sort of mini-symphonic poem’. This one-movement work takes its inspiration from Cavafy’s meditation on Ulysses’ homeward voyage, and vibrantly depicts the adventures, discoveries, and dangers encountered along the way. Sally Beamish’s The King’s Alchemist is similarly programmatic music, reflecting aspects of the extraordinary story of John Damian, a European alchemist who resided at the court of King James IV in the early 16th century. The CD concludes with Moeran’s String Trio, written in 1931 and deservedly counted amongst his finest works.

Julius Burger was a gifted Viennese musician, conductor, repetiteur, and composer poised to make his mark on early 20th Century music, that is, until the rise of antisemitism and the Nazi party forever altered his life and took him on a journey in exile, across continents and cultures, and would come to reflect the very themes of Romanticism which he cherished. Burger’s varied career took him from Berlin Radio and the Kroll Opera house to the burgeoning BBC and later working with Columbia Records as well as a long tenure at the Metropolitan Opera where he coached some of the greatest voices of the 20th Century. But it wouldn’t be until he was in his 90s that he would finally fulfill a lifelong dream of hearing his own compositions performed. This album represents the first ever recordings of Julius Burger’s lieder, spanning from 1915 to his final piece in 1988. These lieder show a master of his craft and a legacy from a world which was thought to have been lost. A life in exile is a heavy burden to bear and, where many lose their artistic purpose, Burger persevered. According to those who knew him, Julius Burger considered his works to be his children, having no offspring of his own. It is our hope that with this album, his children will finally step off the faded manuscript pages and into the world.

Although these two masterpieces are of differing styles - the Schubert (1828) being a 4 movement sonata in the Viennese classical tradition and the Mussorgsky (1874) a sequence of 15 short sections in a deliberately Russian idiom that rejects western European influence, there are parallels between them. Neither was published until after their composer’s death, the sonata in 1838 and Pictures in 1931, though an edited version by Rimsky-Korsakov had appeared in 1886. Neither work received real appreciation and understanding until the 20th century. Daniel Hill comments: “My criteria for selecting repertoire to record was twofold: firstly, that I would be playing music for which I held a deep respect, passion and conviction; and secondly, that they were pieces for which I felt I may be able to do some justice. “Both works, though largely disparate in nature, represent a kind of journey: in the vivid experience of Mussorgsky’s Pictures, this is somewhat overtly so; Schubert, on the other hand, takes us into a profoundly intimate and, at times, transcendental realm. “My hope in making this disc is that I may have found some of that elusive and precious connection between interpreter and composition.”

In his second album for Willowhayne Records, virtuoso pianist Dominic John presents 24+1, a truly ground-breaking recording based on the ‘circle of fifths.’ From the power of Eduard Abramyan’s Prelude in F sharp minor to the poetry of John Ireland’s The Holy Boy, 25 composers extending across 2 centuries of music are represented in this unique musical journey that is sure to delight the listener. Dominic’s pianism has won him several prizes, including First Prize in the 22nd Brant International Piano Competition, British Music Society Awards, RCM Chappell Gold Medal, a Director’s Golden Jubilee Award at the RCM, and a laureate of the Corpus Christi, USA International Competition for Piano and Strings. He has performed in the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and abroad in France, Holland, Poland, Ameica, Korea, and Japan. He studied at Chethams School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music where he held the RCM Society Junior Fellowship from 2004-2006. A versatile musician, Dominic is in demand as a soloist, member of various chamber ensembles and accompanist to a wide variety of singers and instrumentalists.