A concert exploring a selection of piano works written by two distinctive voices of Scotland’s classical music scene in the 20th century. Ronald Stevenson, whose 85th birthday year it is, is a recognised giant of British Music and an authority on the life and work of Ferruccio Busoni. Perhaps most renowned as a composer for his gigantic Passacaglia on DSCH, the programme will feature some of Stevenson’s smaller piano works.
Stevenson is honoured in conjunction with a composer rarely heard of even within Scotland during his own lifetime, Ronald Center, whose centenary passed this April. Ever a reclusive character, it is only recently that his music has begun to re-emerge with the first ever survey on record of his complete piano music, by Trinity Laban’s Richard Carne Junior Fellow in Performance, Christopher Guild. A classicist at heart, Center’s music, with its influences of Britten, Prokofiev and Hindemith, stands very much in contrast to much of Stevenson’s.
This FREE, unticketed concert will appeal anyone with an interest in British Music, and those with a passion for making musical discoveries.
PROGRAMME:
Ronald Stevenson: Komm, Susser Tod
Ronald Stevenson: Sonata Senerissima
Ronald Center: Giglot and Toccata
Ronald Center: Six Bagatelles
Ronald Stevenson: Wegenlied aus Alban Bergs Oper ‘Wozzeck’
Ronald Center: Piano Sonata
Performed by:
Alex Lewis, Madelaine Jones, Sally Halsey, Clare Simmonds and Christopher Guild.
Venue:
Thursday 27th June, 6.30pm, Peacock Room, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, King Charles Court, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London SE10 9JF (public transport: DLR Greenwich Cutty Sark, Riverbus Greenwich Pier)
Pianist Christopher Guild will feature in a forthcoming Meet the Artist interview.
The Cross-Eyed Pianist 
[…] Pianist Madelaine Jones, who has just completed her third year of study at Trinity-Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance will be giving a concert at my local music society at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, at lunchtime on Tuesday 25th June. Her programme features works by both Robert and Clara Schumann, and three Albumblatte by Wagner. NPL Musical Society concerts are held in the Scientific Museum, Bushy House, NPL, Teddington TW11 0LW. Ticket £3 on the door. Concerts start at 12.45pm. Madelaine is performing the same programme at St George’s Church, Beckenham, on 29th June. She is also performing alongside other students from Trinity-Laban in a concert celebrating the works of Ronald Stevenson and Ronald Center. Details here […]
I recall Ronald Stevenson coming to Bristol University to do a lecture – recital on Alkan in the late 70s – & also playing his Passacaglia. He was a phenomenal pianist.