Kate Loder: Piano Music
Kate Loder (1825–1904) – a child-prodigy pianist from a family of musicians in Bath, in south-west England – was one of the first students at the Royal Academy of Music in London and one of Britain’s brightest young virtuosi. But Victorian prejudice thwarted a promising career: her well-to-do husband would not allow her to perform in public and so, as Lady Thomson, she became an important teacher and society hostess – and she continued to compose, including two sets of virtuoso studies that sit downstream from Chopin and Schubert.
Ian Hobson, piano
Listen To This Recording:
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Twelve Studies, Book 1 (publ. 1852)
- No. 1 in C major
- No. 2 in G major
- No. 3 in D major
- No. 4 in B flat major
- No. 5 in E minor
- No. 6 in A major
- No. 7 in E flat major
- No. 8 in G major
- No. 9 in D minor
- No. 10 in F major
- No. 11 in C minor
- No. 12 in E major
- No. 1 in C major
- No. 2 in E major
- No. 3 in E minor
- No. 4 in A major
- No. 5 in A minor
- No. 6 in F major
- No. 7 in B flat minor
- No. 8 in E flat major
- No. 9 in G major
- No. 10 in G minor
- No. 11 in D major
- No. 12 in F sharp minor
- No. 2 in A flat
- Pensée Fugitive in A flat (1858)
- Voyage Joyeux in A major (c. 1868)
- Mazurka in A minor (1895)
- Mazurka in B minor (1899)
Twelve Studies, Book 2 (c. 1853)
Three Romances (1853)
Guardian :
‘Kate Loder (1825-1904), a child prodigy pianist from a distinguished musical family, entered the Royal Academy of Music at 13 and became a celebrated soloist – only to bow to the pressure of the time to give up public appearances after she married. She concentrated instead on composing and teaching, producing two books of virtuosic studies and several miniatures, all recorded here for the first time. Mendelssohn and Chopin’s influence is evident and Ian Hobson, who has also championed the music of Kate’s cousin Edward Loder, has total command of it all.’
&mdashStephen Pritchard, The Guardian
BBC Music Magazine :
‘The decorative modesty of this output is genuinely charming, especially in British pianist Ian Hobson’s sparkling performances, further enhanced by the blessedly clear and friendly recording. Little delights continue in the character pieces, spiked with the unexpected A minor Mazurka of 1895. Pungent and brusque, it’s as if a casement window has been forced open, suddenly revealing a wider world.’
—Geoff Brown, BBC Music Magazine, June 2017
MusicWeb International :
“Ian Hobson plays with great assurance, neither seeking to inflate the rhetoric nor to downplay the clear influences on her of her eminent contemporaries. A finely judged recording balance completes a disc that shines renewed and welcome light on one of Britain’s unjustly overlooked musical families.”
—Jonathan Woolf, Music Web International
Fanfare Magazine :
‘In fact, it is fair to say that this music plays to all of Hobson’s strengths as a pianist, which include legerdemain, an ability to give his all to music that might otherwise be considered slight, and a terrific underlying technique. … Certainly, there is music here very much of its time: The gently swaying No. 8 [Book 1] could only have come from this period and indeed this geographical location. Yet the Romance that forms the final étude of the first set is a real outpouring. Loder was clearly a talented melodist. … The recording is absolutely first-class.’
—Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine