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Jill Kemp - Recorders

Aleksander Szram - Piano

The Brodowski Quartet

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Sonatina - Lennox Berkeley

Sonatina op. 41 - Malcolm Arnold

Suite for Recorder and String Quartet - Gordon Jacob

Solitaire - Malcolm Arnold

Sonata op. 121 - York Bowen

Meditazioni sopra 'Cœurs Désoles' op. 67 - Edmund Rubbra

Fantasy for Recorder and String Quartet - Malcolm Arnold (world première recording)

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“This is a very impressive record in many ways, not least for the inclusion of music that goes way beyond the Pavlovian assumption that recorder music cannot plumb any great depths. Rubbra’s Meditazioni sopra ‘Coeurs Desoles’ for recorder and piano is a demonstrable masterpiece, magnificently performed here, and Arnold’s very late Fantasy for recorder and string quartet plumbs depths rarely revealed in the composer’s earlier works. Likewise, this is also very finely performed. Other rarities are Bowen’s Sonata and Jacob’s Suite for recorder and string quartet, not at all ‘light’ music in comparison, and Berkeley’s Sonatina and Arnold’s similarly entitled piece are eminently worthwhile compositions. The recording quality is outstanding, as are Andrew Mayes booklet notes. An important release.”                                 Musical Opinion (RM-W)

An album of world première recordings for recorder and piano.

 

Aztec Dances - Edward Gregson

Garden of the Gods - Gregory Rose

Kemptown Races - David Bedford

Dance Suite - George King

Cycles - Daryl Runswick

 

Inspiration for the works on this CD range from 16th century Aztec ceremony in Edward Gregson's Aztec Dances (2010), to an ancient Greek concert hall in Gregory Rose's Garden of the Gods (2013) and contemporary jazz forms in George King's Dance Suite (2011). Some works invite technical innovations, such as playing two recorders at once in David Bedford's Kemptown Races (2010); others introduce compositional ones, for example making the recorder and piano interlock but not synchronise in ‘accidental counterpoints’, in Daryl Runswick's Cycles (2013). In each work, the performers' virtuosity shines through, and has stimulated a wide variety of additions to the recorder–piano repertoire.

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"This stunning collection of recent works for recorder and piano represents another substantial addition to its ever-expanding concert repertoire."

                                                                                          MusicWeb International
 

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"The works on this disc are all remarkably varied and contrasting, and are a testament to Jill Kemp's talent and her ability to inspire composers to challenge our preconceptions of what a recorder piece is."        Robert Hugill

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