The Toccata Classics Blog
My Grandfather Pál Hermann: A Journey of Personal and Musical Discovery
In the film project ‘VISUALS’ Paul van Gastel, grandson of the Hungarian cellist and composer Pál Hermann, charts his personal journey of discovery of his…
My Father, Pál Hermann
Corrie Hermann offers some touching and affirmative thoughts as a postscript to the third and final recording of the complete surviving works of her father,…
Darren Craig, Colleague – And Friend
Almost every word you’ll have read on a Toccata Classics/Toccata Next release or in a Toccata Press book over the past decade or so was…
Raising Rosner’s Profile: More Music on the Way
There are now five volumes of the music of the New York-based Arnold Rosner (1945–2013) on Toccata Classics: three of orchestral music, one of chamber…
Freda Swain: A Composer Unboxed
The composer David Hackbridge Johnson reacts with surprise to the piano music of the unknown Freda Swain (1902–85) – whose music, after her death, spent…
My Father and His Music: A Voyage of Discovery
As the Bulgarian-born Viktor Valkov picks up the baton of Leo Ornstein’s piano music from Arsentiy Kharitonov with a third volume from Toccata Classics, the…
Thym for a Song
Music: A Connected Art/Die Illusion der absoluten Musik: A Festschrift for Jürgen Thym on his 80th BirthdayVerlag Valentin Koerner, Baden-Baden, 2023Reviewed by Niall Hoskin Jürgen Thym…
“The Only One Who Sang With the Singer” – A Tribute to Margaret Singer
I was much saddened to learn of the death, on 9 July 2023, of the pianist Margaret Singer. As recently as late October 2022 she…
A Narrative of Paul Creston’s Three Narratives
My introduction to Paul Creston was through his Virtuoso Technique – a book of finger exercises so demanding and so unusual that I couldn’t help…
Paul Creston’s “Three Narratives” — Recorded At Last
The release of Paul Creston’s Three Narratives for piano solo on Toccata Classics is the fulfilment of a quest I’ve carried around for more than 50…
Fanfare’s Hall of Fame features David Hackbridge Johnson
See the full article in the July/August 2023 (46:6) Issue of Fanfare or online for subscribers at fanfarearchive.com All photos by Xiao Wei
Behind the Scenes of the Brahms By Arrangement Volume Two Recording Sessions
Brahms by Arrangement, Volume Two: Orchestrations by Robin Holloway Composers who orchestrate the music of earlier colleagues often serve them best when they add something…
The Music of Alphons Diepenbrock – A Discovery for Many
Sometimes one has the impression of having been forced by fate to write a book, to start a research, to accept a commission or venture…
Why We Mustn’t Forget Gideon Klein: Music Triumphing in Adversity
The narrative seems to have all the ingredients of a tragic, if not epic, film. The young genius, his potential cruelly crushed by an evil…
Noah Max in Conversation with Martin Anderson
In March 2022 Toccata Classics released an album of music by Noah Max (b. 1998) – painter, poet and conductor as well as composer. Since…
Where Were We When…?
There are always some coincidences when the significant events of history happen. Most people can probably remember the moment when they heard the news of…