Description
In 2022, Prima Facie Records started a major project to record all the Chamber and Instrumental music of the internationally-renowned British composer, Richard Pantcheff. The first two volumes (PFCD225, and PFCD237, released in 2023 and 2024 respectively) have featured largely this composer's works for stringed instruments; comprising duets, solo sonatas, suites, and works for solo violin and Narrator (using texts from Rainer Maria Rilke, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, amongst others). This third volume brings together all of Richard Pantcheff's works for woodwind instruments, together with the very early Sonata for Violoncello and Piano, and a later work for piano solo (written for Duncan Honeybourne, who performs it here). The disc also completes the recording of all six of the pieces the composer wrote under the title Nocturnus, each of which is scored for a different instrument or ensemble. The series is here completed with the inclusion of Nocturnus III for Woodwind Trio (Flute, Oboe, Bassoon), and Nocturnus V for solo pianoforte. Each of these works were written while the composer was resident in South Africa. Nocturnus III is a response to the sounds of the South African veldt at night; and Nocturnus V is a sea-scape inspired by the Atlantic ocean off Cape Town. The Sonata for Bassoon and Piano and the Nocturne for Solo Contrabassoon and Piano were written in response to requests for two substantial works from two of South Africa's leading virtuosi on these instruments, and were premiered by them in Johannesburg. "...the space immense of the azure sky..." was written in response to a request from John Turner at the time of the invasion of Ukraine, and was originally scored for solo Recorder and Piano. It is performed here in the version for solo Oboe and Piano. The most substantial work on the disc is the very recent Terzetto, scored for Flute, French Horn, and Piano. It is a three-movement work which explores the way that music resonates over time, and how it creates memories in the performer and the listener. Each of its three movements has a title in Latin, reflecting the idea of music as transcending time.
