A Tribute To Alan Spedding-Few musicians have been regarded with esteem and affection in equal measure. Dr. Alan Spedding's contribution to British musical life was whole-hearted and selfless. A number of his friends have contributed to this Organ album to honour his memory.
SKU: PR.11440558S
UPC: 680160008971.
Conce rto da Camera II is a work for six instruments which may be further grouped into three separate entities - clarinet, string quartet, piano. In this combination, chosen by the work's commissioning organizations (the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in conjunction with Mount Holyoke College), lies the work's first challenge. While pairings of any two of these three sound types abound in the concert literature, the three together form a far less common soundscape. The main difficulty appears in the necessity to reconcile the potential of both the clarinet and the piano of acting in a soloistic capacity when pitted against the string quartet. Indeed, the three movements of the Concerto deal with this problem in various ways, with the balance of power between the six instruments' potential for unity and contrast, solo and ensemble playing, continually shifting and changing. Yet another, more delicate, balance of power is at play here, namely, the relationship between the external, foreground level of the piece and a subtler background level. What, at first, appear like small, gentle melodic strands, mere echoes or residues of the main events, gradually assume an inner life of their own. Never actually taking over yet always there, a salient, if quiet, factor within the work's compositional fabric and evolving organism. Though each movement includes numerous tempo fluctuations, the overall thrust of the work clearly suggests a fast-slow-fast framework, with the last movement being a loosely structured, occasionally tempestuous Rondo.
SKU: HL.48186476
Teacher, soloist, chamber musician, conductor and composer ? flautist Eric Ledeuil, a student of Patrick Gallois and Benoit Fromanger, wears many hats. This diversity continually enriches his educational work, as can be seen by the success of his flute method La flute imaginative, published by Leduc in two volumes (AL 30 365 and 30 367). Fete a Camelot, a piece for flute and piano (or harp) for fourth-year students, reconnects with the Knights of the Round Table, an imaginary world that has long been a source of musical inspiration for Ledeuil: the key figures of the legend appear in his Les Meandres de Viviane (AL 30 495, Beginner) and Les Mysteres de Broceliande (AL 29 589, Intermediate). This work is set in King Arthur?s fortress: the great halls ring out with the sounds of joyful festivities, interspersed with echoes of Viviane?s song. A Knight?s story of his quest for the Holy Grail is followed by the furtive appearance of Morgan le Fay, but she gives way to the Lady of the Lake ? Viviane ? whose distant melody shrouds itself in melancholy tones. The work concludes with a fisel, a traditional Breton dance that whips the troubadours? enchanted instruments into a frenzy..
