I am delighted to have completed recording this magnificent miniature just in time for the centenary of the composer's birth. I admire the series of irresistible, rhythmic build-ups, which are interrupted without audible warning by lyrical interludes that are prefigured by the use of the same harmonies in the bars that precede them. Towards the end, just as one thinks that a grand peroration towards which we have been heading all along is upon us, the piece instead dissolves into an unexpectedly receding peal of bells, before being capped by an explosion. In other words this is not only music that makes people want to listen to it, but is underpinned by a cohesive structure.
I will spare SoundCloud listeners the details of my rant about how the once widespread advocacy of the notion that it was sinful to write music that made people want to listen to it, and that composers should instead produce stuff that resembled nothing that had been previously written, resulted in probably hundreds of composers of great merit struggling to make any headway in fields other than film music.

Prelude No. 4

Carwithen: Prelude No. 4

This depiction of the Generalife garden at the Alhambra, Granada, at dawn comes from Volume 3 "Arabesques" of Peter Seabourne's cycle "Steps". The music was inspired in particular by the composer's aunt's (Ann Seabourne) painting of the scene.

Generalife - Daybreak

Seabourne: Generalife - Daybreak

This is not yet another version of Pachelbel's most famous work, but a composition by the Japanese jazz pianist and composer Hiromi Uehara. It is immediately obvious what inspired her: she has said that she wanted to "walk the streets of Germany listening to 'Pachelbel's Canon'". Her work is such a worthy tribute to its antecedent that when Pachelbel was BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week, and Donald Macleod included in each programme a version of or work related to the "Canon", he chose to end the week with Hiromi's own recording of this piece.

Pachelbel's Canon

Hiromi: Pachelbel's Canon

Józef Krogulski lived for just 27 years, mostly in Warsaw, his lifespan being included in that of Chopin, whose span was in turn included in that of Elsner, with whom both Chopin and Krogulski studied. These examples of Krogulski's work appear on paper to be very simple, but when played spring to life beautifully.

Two mazurkas

Krogulski: Mazurkas in D minor and F minor

This piece originated as a result of my 'A' level class being set the task of writing a song in the style of Schubert. It took only a couple or so years to decide that it worked better as an instrumental piece, and thanks to help from a fellow member of Canterbury Musicians, here is that version. To hear the poem that sparked off the work, let the recording continue running after the music finishes.

Sonnet, solo and piano

Sonnet

Composer Patrick Brandon hails from Essex, but has strong family links to Ireland, where he has often visited. This piece comes from his album "An Englishman's Irish Songbook". The tempo instruction for this riotous romp reads "Like a drunken Irish dance". I am sure that is perfectly clear to anybody who has experienced such an occasion, but I swear that the metronome mark was more helpful to me ....

Leap Y'ere

Brandon: Leap Y'ere!

This piece by Ben Crosland comes from volume 3 of the series "Mosaic". The title plays on its strong Latin influence and the scales in its opening theme.

Sambamamba

Crosland: Sambamamba

Peter Breiner studied in Slovakia, and has since lived in Toronto, New York and now London. This piece comes from a cycle of sixteen (because that is the number of Slavonic Dances composed by Dvořák, who he regards as his compositional great grandfather)based on folk songs, called "Slovak Dances, Naughty and Sad". One of the "Sad", the words of the song on which it based are reputedly by an injured soldier who realises that he is destined not to see his homeland again. Recent events have of course given this song a relevance that the composer could not have foreseen.

On the King's Mountain

Breiner: On the King's Mountain

This transcription for solo piano of a movement from a popular sonata for flute and keyboard, generally believed to be by Johann Sebastian Bach and catalogued as BWV 1031, was made by the Scottish born composer Eugen d'Albert.

Siciliano

Bach: Siciliano

This piece from the British composer Heather Hammond's album "Ballads Without Words" is her homage to Erik Satie, in particular his "Gymnopedie No. 1".

Alone, for a while

Hammond: Alone, for a while

For biographical information, see web site www.pianist-kent.co.uk

Carwithen: Prelude No. 4

Ian Carmalt

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