Release Date: 10 November 2023
Label: Prima Facie
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 7141148049582
Genres: Classical Solo Instrumental
Description
"Distinguished composer (and dear friend) Gordon Crosse, passed away in November 2021, aged 84.
When I heard that Gordon was ill, I wrote to him promising to record the remainder of his works for solo piano and compile them into one, single disc. Gordon died less than a week after I emailed him. It was particularly important to me to make this promise, as Gordon's last work for solo piano - a beautiful Etude called L'Isle Heureuse (Papa Westray, Orkney) - was written as a gift for me and my parents and arrived on our doorstep, as a surprise, in 2019 - just before the birth of my second son.
Having already recorded one piano sonata, a collection of miniatures and the Trio (revised for the Lawson Trio in 2014), onto a previous disc for Prima Facie Records, two piano sonatas and the Etude remained to be recorded. I have lived with Gordon's music for nearly ten years and given the world premieres of two of the piano sonatas, along with the revised Trio, so this music is extremely close to my heart. I'm so glad to have recorded a disc comprising music which I hold in such high esteem, by such a celebrated and much-loved composer and person.
I have been fortunate enough to have received £2,500 of grants from the Ida Carroll Trust and the Vaughan Williams Foundation, as well as several thousand pounds of pledges through Kickstarter and individual donors. The outpouring of love and respect for Gordon - both as a man and as a composer - has been inspiring and moving and I'm both proud and excited to have brought this project to fruition." Annabelle Lawson
"a polished and exciting first performance. Gordon Crosse appeared to be well satisfied by the concert debut of his new sonata [Sonata no.3]. It could scarcely have been rendered with more virtuosity or emotional commitment." - Paul Conway, Musical Opinion, September 2019
Tracklisting
Xuefei Yang, Johannes Moser, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Or
Kenneth Hamilton
Kenneth Hamilton
Michael Cretu
Laura Serra
The Choir of Robinson College, Cambridge & Will Sims
Helen Cawthorne
David Daly, Duncan Honeybourne, Ondrej Vrabec, Daniel Wiesner, Graham Walker, David Trippett
Nora von Marschall
Lea Suter
Aart Bergwerff
Ran Jia
Johannes Krahl
Elke Volker
Henry Fairs
Pieter van Dijk
