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BAGATELLES Piano Music by Bernard Hughes

Matthew Mills piano

Release date: 9th June 2023 | Divine Art Recordings (Divine Art DDX 21107)

This album presents the complete works of Bernard Hughes for solo piano, an eclectic collection covering a period of over 30 years. The oldest piece dates back to his teenage years and the most recent is a brand new suite, Partita Contrafacta, a quirky take on traditional Baroque dance forms. The rest of the music ranges from the large-scale Strettos and Striations to little occasional pieces written for the composer’s children. With such a varied range of music, there is something for everyone on this disc.

What makes this album truly special is the culmination of many years of collaboration between Hughes and Mills, who commissioned and premieres Partita Contrafacta on the disc. The two musicians have been working together for years, resulting in a deep understanding of each other’s artistic vision and an unparalleled ability to bring Hughes’ compositions to life on the piano.

Works

Song of the Walnut
Partita Contrafacta (suite in 7 movements)
Song of the Button
Bagatelles (12 movements)
Miniatures (11 movements)
Three Studies
O du Liebe meiner Liebe
Strettos and Striations
Cradle Song

Sample track:

Bernard Hughes says: “This album brings together pretty much all my music for solo piano written over the course of more than 30 years, the earliest from when I was still at school and the latest written just weeks before being recorded, in October 2022. The inspiration was my pianist and friend, Matthew Mills, who suggested the project and who has put untold hours into learning and animating the music, some of which is very straightforward, and lots of which is very much not.

And this variety is very much the point for me. As in all aspects of my compositional work, I don’t have a single piano ‘style’, but cut my cloth according to the occasion. Although there are several of techniques, textures and devices I return to over and again – as will be obvious to anyone listening straight through – there is also a huge range of approach, from music written for piano beginners up to the most virtuosic I could imagine, and from simple blink-and-you-miss-them melodies to ferocious, post-minimalist studies. In some cases, I don’t know what possessed me.”

Pianist Matthew Mills says: “I am very pleased to have done Bernard’s piano album. It’s a substantial milestone in a musical relationship that now goes back probably twenty years or so…. It really captures all facets of Bernard’s kaleidoscopic musical personality, and, having a close knowledge of the composer as well as the music, I think gives it a special resonance.

Pre-order BAGATELLES here

Bernard Hughes
Matthew Mills
Bernard Hughes’ music has been performed by ensembles including the BBC Singers and the London Mozart Players at major British venues including the Royal Albert Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral. His music has won a number of awards both in the UK and internationally and is regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in the UK. Bernard Hughes’s BBC commission Birdchant was premiered at the Proms festival in August 2021. This was the culmination of Bernard’s long relationship with the BBC Singers, which also included a major portrait concert in January 2020, leading to I Sing of Love being nominated for an Ivor Novello Composer Award. An album of Bernard Hughes’s choral music, I am the Song, performed by the BBC Singers, was released in 2016. His orchestral works for family concerts, Bernard & Isabel and The Knight Who Took All Day are frequently performed around Britain and were recorded by the Orchestra of the Swan on a release from February 2020. In 2015 he provided music for the comedy film Bill, a fantastical account of Shakespeare’s early years. A second album of choral music, Precious Things, sung by the Epiphoni Consort, was released in May 2022 and was described by Judith Weir as ‘choral music as we rarely hear it – generous, light-footed, surprising.’ Bernard lives in London where he is Composer-in-Residence at St Paul’s Girls’ School, a position he has held since 2015. He is a keen cricket fan, both as a watcher, a player and as chairman of Chiswick Cricket Club in London.

For almost three decades, Matthew Mills has enjoyed a busy and diverse freelance career as a pianist, composer, and conductor. With a repertoire encompassing music from five centuries, he has performed across the UK as a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist, in addition to establishing a reputation as a sympathetic and creative dance accompanist.

A committed supporter of young composers and contemporary music, Matthew founded and directed a contemporary music ensemble at Royal Holloway, University of London, with whom, assisted by his own conducting students, he led workshops and performed works by student composers, as well as established twentieth-century names. He has enjoyed a long collaboration with the British composer Bernard Hughes, having given the first performance of his Bagatelles for piano and participated in the first performances of his chamber opera Dumbfounded! at the Riverside Studios, London.

Matthew studied at the Universities of Oxford and London, and at Trinity College of Music, London. His teachers have included Christopher Elton (piano), Daryl Runswick, Andrew Lovett, and Simon Holt (composition), and Gregory Rose (conducting). An award from Oxford University enabled a period of specialist study of contemporary piano repertoire with Rolf Hind, and he has appeared in masterclasses in composition with Michael Finnissy and George Benjamin, and in piano with John Lill and Rosalyn Tureck.

 

For further press information, interviews and review copies, please contact Frances Wilson

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Choirs are invited to join the RSCM’s Sing for the King project

The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) announces ‘Sing for the King’, a special choral music commission from acclaimed British singer and composer Joanna Forbes L’Estrange to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III on 6 May 2023.

The Mountains shall bring peace uses words from the Psalms, including ‘Give the King they judge, O God’, ‘The mountains shall bring peace’; and ‘Sing to the Lord a new song’, and is suitable for all choirs in a range of settings. It has enough grandeur for large choirs to sing on formal occasions, while its accessible melodic sweep lends an intimacy that will be enjoyed by smaller groups and gatherings.

Following its very successful and popular Platinum Project to commemorate the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the RSCM is once again inviting choirs across the UK, the Commonwealth and beyond to join in song to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III by learning and singing The Mountains shall bring peace.

There are two versions of the music – one for SATBS choir and organ/piano and one for union voices with piano. The accompaniments are interchangeable and those choirs not wishing to learn the full five-minute piece can still join in the project by learning the broad, hymn-like melody of the closing section, making it appealing for young or less experience singers.

Choirs and choral groups are invited to share their rehearsals and performances on social media using the hashtag #singfortheking

RSCM Director Hugh Morris says: “We were delighted that in 2022 many hundreds of choirs were united in singing a piece specially written for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Now, in 2023, we hope that even more will want to learn Joanna’s The Mountains shall bring peace and join with choirs from around the world to celebrate the first Coronation in 70 years.”

Composer Joanna Forbes L’Estrange says: “I was keen to find words which reflected not only King Charles’s faith but also something of his passion for the natural world and his love of the outdoors. When I think of our former Prince of Wales, I picture him walking in the Welsh mountains or in the Scottish Highlands. I’m also all too aware that this Coronation is taking place during a very turbulent time for our country and our planet and so I was searching for words which would in some way give us all hope for the future. Central to the commission brief was a big, singable tune, the kind of memorable melody which anyone and everyone can enjoy singing at the tops of their voices.”

The Mountains shall bring peace is available from the RSCM’s webshop (www.rscmshop.com) at £24.95 (RSCM members £19.95) for the downloadable music pack (this includes ALL versions, and is licenced to the purchasing choir/institution so can be shared with all choir members) and £2.95 for printed copies (£2.21 for RSCM Members). Full learning resources, including performance backing tracks, will be available from the RSCM’s dedicated Sing for the King website, which also includes further information about the project, a social media wall, and an interactive map showing where choirs can register their performance (www.rscm.org.uk/singfortheking)

Follow the project on social media using hashtag #singfortheking

Taster of the music here

www.rscm.org.uk

For further press information / interviews, please contact Frances Wilson  frances_wilson66@live.com

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The internationally acclaimed pianist Margaret Fingerhut has collaborated with Viktoriia Levchenko, a young filmmaker from Ukraine, to create a short, powerful video called ‘Ukraine will rise again!’

It is set to a stirring piano piece by the Ukrainian composer Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952). Bortkiewicz wrote Les Rochers d’Outche-Coche in 1908 after he was inspired by the mountain scenery in Crimea. The music conjures up the awe and beauty of the landscape, and Viktoriia has matched it with a series of extraordinary images, including powerful footage of the devastation caused by the war. The result is a moving and uplifting video.

Margaret’s grandfather was born in Odesa and she has always felt a proud connection with the country. Her career has taken her all over the world and her numerous recordings have received much critical acclaim and won many accolades.

In 2019 Margaret undertook a major recital tour, devising and performing a special programme of words and music called Far from the Home I Love across the UK to raise money for refugees and asylum seekers. She was presented with a ‘Champion of Sanctuary’ award by City of Sanctuary UK in recognition of her humanitarian work.

Watch the video

Margaret is using the video to raise funds for British-Ukrainian Aid, a charity which sends over vital supplies such as ambulances, first aid kits and portable generators. It also provides assistance to the victims of the war: to orphanages, schools, the elderly and internally displaced people.

Make a donation: www.justgiving.com/Margaret-Fingerhut

Website: www.margaretfingerhut.co.uk

Facebook: @MargaretFingerhutPiano

Twitter: @mfingerhutpiano

Instagram: @margaretfingerhutpiano

(Source: press release)

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“bringing the very best classical chamber music to London audiences at affordable prices”

The innovative and now well-established London Chamber Music Society (LCMS) series returns to Kings Place with a generous and varied programme of Sunday concerts beginning on Sunday 23 January.

Old friends and new ones, including Solem Quartet, Rossetti Ensemble, and the Chamber Ensemble of London, are welcomed for this fine series of concerts with leading international artists. On 30 January, the Chilingirian Quartet, one of the cornerstones of British chamber music, celebrate their remarkable 50-year career in a concert culminating in the First String Sextet by Brahms. Other highlights include wind soloists from the Philharmonia Orchestra on 23 January, with pianist Andrew Brownell, in a programme featuring French music and the Sextet by 19th-century composer Louise Farrenc.

More in the French vein comes with violinist Philippe Graffin, who is joined by his compatriot, oboist Capucine Prin, on 15 May in a concert of oboe quartets as well as a fascinating new arrangement of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. Further highlights include Finzi’s Dies natalis on 20 March, in a concert of string orchestra works with the Northern Chords Festival Orchestra. There is more wonderful string music on 1 May, with violinist Peter Fisher and the Chamber Ensemble of London, joined by pianist Margaret Fingerhut in Finzi’s ever-popular Eclogue and also music by Vaughan Williams and Britten’s Simple Symphony. As well as the Solem and Chilingirian quartets, on 3 April the Navarra Quartet perform Dvořák’s String Quartet in G, and a new work by the American-Irish composer Jane O’Leary.

This season also celebrates the work of the remarkable Anglo-American composer Rebecca Clarke. The Fitzwilliam Quartet perform Clarke’s short quartet movement, ‘Poem’, on 8 May, in a concert that also features, with Anna Tilbrook, the mighty piano quintet by Brahms. Other trios include clarinettist Mark Simpson, cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Richard Uttley on 20 February, to include Simpson’s own Echoes & Embers, and the Barbican Trio on 24 April, in trios by Brahms and Saint-Saens.

This season’s coffee concert, on 13 March, is given by cellist Thomas Carroll and pianist Anthony Hewitt, with music by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov’s ever-popular cello sonata in G minor, with its beautiful long romantic lines. Linos Piano Trio open the LCMS 2022/23 season on 2 October.

All concerts take place in Hall 1 at Kings Place and start at the very civilised time of 6.30pm, apart from the coffee concert on 13 March, which begins at 11.30am.

For full details of this season’s concerts & to book tickets, please visit:

www.londonchambermusic.org.uk/

Chilingirian Quartet

The London Chamber Music Society boasts a proud history of Victorian music making in London with the regular Sunday Concerts that developed at South Place and then the Conway Hall from the 1920s. The LCMS continues that rich legacy at Kings Place, its home from 2008, with London Chamber Music Sundays – a diverse annual season of high-quality classical chamber music, ranging from duos and trios to chamber orchestras, coming from the UK, Europe and beyond. Many of Britain’s most celebrated ensembles have regularly appeared in the Series, from the Brosa and Amadeus string quartets of the past, to the Chilingirian and Carducci quartets today.

Artistic Director: Peter Fribbins

Header image: Solem Quartet

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The world’s oldest surviving firm of piano makers, UK’s John Broadwood & Sons, has found the instrument used by Gustav Holst to compose The Planets.

  • The Broadwood piano was bought by St Paul’s Girls’ School for Holst in 1913 and used by the composer during the time he composed The Planets.
  • The instrument will be honoured with a special performance at St Paul’s Girls’ School on 21st September 2019; the same day as Holst’s birthday. The Planets will be performed on the instrument by piano duo John and Fiona York.
  • Additional concerts will take place at Finchcocks, Kent and the Holst Birthplace Museum, Cheltenham.

On 8th November 1913 the Broadwood porters trundled a brand new, grand piano into the newly-built music wing at St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith, London. The piano was a fine example of the Broadwood Number 5 Drawing Room model, of length 7’ 6’’ (229cm). It had been ordered by the School for placement in a specially soundproofed teaching studio, recently created for their increasingly famous head of music, composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934).

Broadwood Pianos-26.jpg

The serial number of the piano in question is 51868; with casework in rosewood and a special steel ‘barless’ frame – a construction feature unique to Broadwood. Its cost to the School was 225 guineas (less a generous discount for another piano taken in part exchange!). Number 51868 is photographed, in its studio setting, opposite page 42 of Imogen Holst’s famous biography of her father, published 1938.

2217742443_7b28c47f1f_bMost of Holst’s composing inspiration took place whilst he was engrossed at his long table in the School’s soundproof studio. Although he was not a brilliant pianist (his technique was severely hindered by neuritis in his right hand), the Broadwood grand was instrumental in helping him create one of the greatest masterpieces of twentieth-century orchestral music: The Planets. Holst would regularly invite two of the School’s music staff – Nora Day and Vally Lasker – to play to him excerpts from the fledgling Planets on the Broadwood grand to hand, just to hear how the composition was progressing.

It is clear that the Broadwood in question was long regarded as the ‘flagship’ of the School’s fleet of pianos, being moved for important concerts within the School. Broadwood’s: records show that their porters were hired to trundle the grand on at least 17 occasions between 1913 and 1938 from Holst’s room to the Singing Hall or Great Hall, and back.

The fascinating provenance of the instrument was only re-discovered by chance in September 2016, when a routine search through Broadwood’s company’s records proved beyond doubt that grand piano No. 51868 was indeed the one used by Holst at the School. Thanks to the kind cooperation of the piano’s present owner, Katie Smith, the grand piano will once again be publicly seen and heard this year.

The celebrations

Broadwoods are delighted to sponsor a number of recitals to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first public performance of The Planets. The highlight will be a concert at St Paul’s Girls’ School on 21st September (Holst’s birthday), featuring the intriguing piano duet version of the suite, performed on the very same Broadwood instrument used in the piece’s creation one hundred years ago. It should be a remarkable experience to see and hear this treasured instrument as well as The Planets as Holst would have experienced it. Additional performances will take place at Finchcocks piano school, Kent, and the Holst Birthplace Museum in Cheltenham. (Full listings are below)

About Broadwoods

John Broadwood & Sons Ltd is the world’s oldest surviving piano firm, founded in 1728. The company has held a Warrant for supply and maintenance of pianos to the various Royal Households since the reign of George II and can name among its illustrious customers the composers Haydn, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Elgar, Holst and Vaughan Williams. The company continues to make, tune and repair pianos at its workshop in Lythe, near Whitby, north Yorkshire. The present-day directors of the company, which is an independent enterprise, include three members of the Laurence family, whose ancestors had worked for many generations in a technical capacity in John Broadwood & Sons’ Soho factory from 1787 until 1922.

Event Listings

Saturday, 21st September 2019, 3pm

Holst Birthday Concert

St Paul’s Girls’ School, Brook Green, London, W6 7BS

John and Fiona York will perform the piano duet version of The Planets on Holst’s piano with Heidi Pegler (soprano) And the Paulina Voices choir from the School.

With an introduction from Dr Alastair Laurence.

Exhibition of ephemera in Holst’s soundproof studio throughout the day.

Admission: £12. Students 18 and under: free entry.

Tickets: holstbirthday.eventbrite.co.uk

_______________________________

Saturday, 28th September 2019

The Vaulted Concert Room, Finchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent TN17 1HH

An evening with Gershwin and The Planets.

The Planets’ Suite will be performed in its duet version by Jong-Gyung Park and nthony Zerpa-Falcon on a 1920 vintage ‘model 5’ Broadwood grand (identical to Holst’s)

Admission: £10.

Tickets: finchcocks.com

_______________________________

Two concerts: Sunday 13th October; 2pm and 7pm

The Holst Birthplace Museum, 4 Clarence Road, Cheltenham, GL52 2AY

Greg Tassell (tenor) and Gary Branch (piano)

Inspiration from England: music by Holst, Elgar, Sullivan, Stamford, Vaughan Williams and Britten.

Admission: £20 including wine and canapés

Booking essential: 01242 524846 Or contact curator@holstmuseum.org.uk

 

Broadwood Pianos-52

 

(source: press release)

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246x0wTido Music, the innovative music learning app, has partnered with prestigious conservatoire the Royal College of Music (RCM), London. Committed to supporting music education, Tido will fund RCM student subscriptions to the app until 31st March 2020. Throughout the course of their subscriptions, students will use Tido Music to assist their studies and will be asked to give feedback on the app, contributing to its future development. The initiative will be extended to the RCM Junior Department next month.

Available as an iPad app or via desktop browser, Tido Music provides almost 10,000 piano and vocal scores from world-leading publishers, including Urtext editions from Bärenreiter and Edition Peters. Students will be able to find and access repertoire instantly and listen to professional audio recordings synced to the notation.

Piano accompaniment recordings are included with the vocal repertoire, enabling singers to practise with the piano part at any time, and innovative pitch-shift and speed-shift tools allow the accompaniments to be adjusted for individual needs. Additional audio tools such as looping will further enhance practice sessions. Tido’s proprietary technology means that the app can even listen to and follow pianists as they play, turning the pages of the score automatically.

Students will also discover rich educational materials such as video masterclasses from concert pianists and scholarly commentaries on the music. The practical and artistic insights offered in the masterclasses may help inform students’ understanding and interpretation of their repertoire.

Stephen Johns, Artistic Director of the Royal College of Music, said: ‘We are delighted to be collaborating with Tido Music, giving our students the chance to be at the cutting edge of music learning technology and benefit from the app’s many innovative features. Working with digital scores is a valuable experience in itself as the music sector becomes increasingly digitally focused. Through the Royal College of Music’s various digital development initiatives we are ensuring that our students are well equipped for 21st century music careers.’

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Brad Cohen, Founder of Tido, commented: ‘Using technology to enhance music education is at the heart of what we believe in at Tido. We’re thrilled to be partnering with such an illustrious institution as we continue to develop our product and further tailor it to the needs of music students. We look forward to working with RCM students directly throughout the course of their free subscription.’

Tido Music is a revolutionary digital subscription service for pianists and singers. Available as an iPad app or via desktop browser, the service provides sheet music, audio recordings, videos, interactive practice tools, written commentaries and images. For students, teachers, and amateur to professional performers, Tido Music offers unparalleled guidance and inspiration.

Tido was founded in 2013 when conductor and editor, Brad Cohen, collaborated with one of the world’s leading music publishers, Edition Peters. Kathryn Knight, former Publishing Director at Faber Music, joined the company as CEO in 2014. In 2015 Tido partnered with Faber Music to create the award-winning ‘Mastering the Piano with Lang Lang app’, and Tido’s flagship app Tido Music was released in late 2016.

Tido works with renowned publishers, artists, exam boards and institutions across the world including Bärenreiter, Edition Peters, Faber Music, Trinity College London and Wellington College International Shanghai.

Tido Music costs £4.99 per month after a 30-day free trial as standard.

Source: Tido Music press release