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Toccata

Bingham: Piano Music / Jones

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Details

Composer: BINGHAM, JUDITH
Artist: David Jones
Format: CD
Label: Toccata
Released: May 28, 2013
Catalog #: TOCC0181
UPC: 5060113441812

About

Bingham’s (b. Nottingham, 1952) music for chorus and organ has been previously released on CD, but this is the 1st recording of her piano music. She used to live near Westminster Cathedral, the inspiration for the opening work, The Moon over Westminster Cathedral. Bingham spent several years as a member of the BBC Singers, which may help explain the lyricism of her music.

REVIEW:

No fewer than five first recordings feature in this very special disc. Judith Bingham is a highly imaginative composer who, on the evidence of the booklet notes of the current release, writes eloquently on her own music. The recording (made at The Venue, Leeds, October 2009) is wonderfully present.

Byron, Violent Progress is a set of 13 variations on the song She Walks in Beauty in the Night by Bingham herself. The two-minute theme is rather dark and brims with promise for variation. Jones gives it out with a sort of restrained care, as if handling a precious object. Bingham segments the score so that it is in three movements. The ruminative first variation sets out the sense of space evoked here. Bingham refers to the opening of the second movement (variation 5) as a “bright Alpine landscape” and, with its upwardly-bound phrases and glinting, glacial gestures, it is easy to hear why. A change of texture to a skeletal counterpoint marks the onset of the third movement.

Jones plays with the perfect amount of concentration for Christmas Past, Christmas Present (1989), intended as adult reminiscences of Christmases past, delicate nostalgia weighs heavily here, while Chopin is an evocation of the spirit of that composer as opposed to any sort of pastiche. Annunication II, part of a sequence of works for various instruments that address a different aspect of the annunciation, is distinctly Lisztian in its holy aura as well as its use of tremolo. Jones gives a masterly account. The end hangs beautifully in the air.

Finally, Pictured Within (1981) a portrait of six people (one of whom is fictional) within four movements. It is a walk on the dark side of Bingham’s psyche (her booklet notes are quite open about the time of the work’s composition being a difficult one for her). One can hear the concentration of language throughout.

-- Fanfare

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Tracklist 26 tracks

1 The Moon Over Westminster Cathedral 06:14

Track
1

Title
The Moon Over Westminster Cathedral
Duration
06:14
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
2 Limehouse Nocturne 06:03

Track
2

Title
Limehouse Nocturne
Duration
06:03
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
3 I. Theme: quarter note = 93 02:15

Track
3

Title
I. Theme: quarter note = 93
Duration
02:15
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
4 I. Variation 1 01:44

Track
4

Title
I. Variation 1
Duration
01:44
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
5 I. Variation 2 02:22

Track
5

Title
I. Variation 2
Duration
02:22
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
6 I. Variation 3 00:52

Track
6

Title
I. Variation 3
Duration
00:52
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
7 I. Variation 4 01:37

Track
7

Title
I. Variation 4
Duration
01:37
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
8 II. Variation 5 02:58

Track
8

Title
II. Variation 5
Duration
02:58
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
9 II. Variation 6 00:52

Track
9

Title
II. Variation 6
Duration
00:52
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
10 II. Variation 7 00:41

Track
10

Title
II. Variation 7
Duration
00:41
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
11 II. Variation 8 01:51

Track
11

Title
II. Variation 8
Duration
01:51
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
12 III. Variation 9 00:59

Track
12

Title
III. Variation 9
Duration
00:59
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
13 III. Variation 10 01:26

Track
13

Title
III. Variation 10
Duration
01:26
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
14 III. Variation 11 00:58

Track
14

Title
III. Variation 11
Duration
00:58
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
15 III. Variation 12 00:41

Track
15

Title
III. Variation 12
Duration
00:41
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
16 III. Variation 13 00:39

Track
16

Title
III. Variation 13
Duration
00:39
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
17 I. The Christmas Tree 02:20

Track
17

Title
I. The Christmas Tree
Duration
02:20
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
18 II. Christmas Eve 02:21

Track
18

Title
II. Christmas Eve
Duration
02:21
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
19 III. Giving 03:10

Track
19

Title
III. Giving
Duration
03:10
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
20 IV. Christmas Past 02:13

Track
20

Title
IV. Christmas Past
Duration
02:13
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
21 Chopin 09:58

Track
21

Title
Chopin
Duration
09:58
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
22 Annunciation II 04:19

Track
22

Title
Annunciation II
Duration
04:19
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
23 I. 2011; with tremendous energy 03:52

Track
23

Title
I. 2011; with tremendous energy
Duration
03:52
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
24 II. 77:98; with a dreamy melancholy 07:18

Track
24

Title
II. 77:98; with a dreamy melancholy
Duration
07:18
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
25 III. 06: MDC; very sombre and plain 03:45

Track
25

Title
III. 06: MDC; very sombre and plain
Duration
03:45
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones
26 IV. 92 03:24

Track
26

Title
IV. 92
Duration
03:24
Composer
Judith Bingham
Performer
David Jones