Archive for Guest Blog
Too Many Symphonies? – Part One: Rob Keeley
Sometime in the 1950s, when John Barbirolli famously said ‘there are too many symphonies this year, or any year’, he might have been weary after…
Reflections on Recording The Rosner ‘Requiem’
It has given me so much pleasure to read the wonderful reviews of the Rosner Requiem recording, where discerning critics have enthusiastically endorsed the great…
Recording Francis George Scott’s Piano Music
Two years after I began to record it, the first-ever album of Francis George Scott’s piano music is now available. The programme as it appears…
Reflections on the Life and Work of Friedrich Gernsheim – With Some Help from the Young People of Worms
Ever since, some years ago, I heard the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Rhineland-Palatinate performing a symphony by Friedrich Gernsheim (1839–1916), I have been seeking to…
Some Thoughts on Marcel Mihalovici’s Left-Hand ‘Passacaille’
On 2 October Toccata Classics releases the first-ever album of the piano music of the Romanian-born, Paris-based Marcel Mihalovici (1898–1985), in performances by the Berlin-based…
Prokofiev’s Violin Partnerships
At the beginning of October Toccata Classics will release a new album, by the violinist Yuri Kalnits and pianist Yulia Chaplina, of music by Prokofiev…
Elcock: From One Fifth To Another
Steve Elcock has mastered the fast introduction. A device favoured by Berlioz gets a new lease of life: both Elcock’s Third (2005–10) and this new…
Songs of Love, Sorrow and Satire (And Not Forgetting the Baboon!): Recording Hans Gál’s Music for Voices
One of the proudest, happiest and most surreal moments in my singing career to date has been uttering the final notes of a choral concert…
Some Thoughts on My First Volume of Philipp Scharwenka’s Piano Music
My contact with Philipp Scharwenka’s music came from my in-depth study of the great Portuguese pianist José Vianna da Motta (1868–1948), who, at the age…
A Selfie With Napoleon: Some Even More Modest Memories and ‘Previntable’ Mistakes on my Antheil Trail
Reading Martin Anderson’s ‘modest memories’ of André Previn brought to mind that, during my millennial research on George Antheil (bearing fruit, among other places, in…
Remembering Roger Smalley
A new Toccata Classics release restores to circulation the music of a composer who was both a cutting-edge modernist and an enthusiast for Romantic figures…
Cooking Up A Symphony: Steve Elcock Examines What Makes A Good Recipe
After I posted a recipe on one of the social networks, two composer friends suggested, jokingly, that I should come up with a recipe for…
‘A Gigantic Bear Hug’ From Scotland
The third volume of Ronald Stevenson’s piano music (TOCC 0403, released on 1 February) has been probably the most interesting album of his music I’ve…
Remembering Cedric Thorpe Davie
Cedric Thorpe Davie was born into a musical family in London in 1913. His father, Thorpe Davie, was a remarkable Scot who had a successful…
Remembering Sasha: Alexander Ivashkin Honoured in Moscow
In Moscow in early November 2018, a series of events were staged to honour the memory of Alexander Ivashkin – cellist, scholar and champion of…
Rediscovering George Antheil — Not Such a ‘Bad Boy’ After All
When Martin Anderson of Toccata Classics first suggested a project of music by the American composer George Antheil, I immediately thought of the typically avant-garde…