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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. The Axe Manual |
| 2. Oockooing Bird |
| 3. Sad Song |
| 4. Berceuse de Jeanne |
| 5. Précis |
| 6. Hector's Dawn |
| 7. Ostinato with Melody |
| 8. Betty Freeman: Her Tango |
| 9. Saraband: The King's Farewell |
| 10. Harrison's Clocks |
Product Description
Album Description
About the Artist
Elliott Carter recently wrote for Hodges his concerto Dialogues, commissioned by the BBC. The premiere took place in January 2004, with the London Sinfonietta under Oliver Knussen, and was followed immediately by a recording of the work with the same artists for Bridge Records. He subsequently gave the US premiere with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim, and future performances include the French premiere with the London Sinfonietta under Martyn Brabbins, the New York premiere with the MET Chamber Ensemble under James Levine, as well as further performances with Knussen.
Hodges' career has taken him around the world, to continental European festivals such as Witten, Darmstadt, Berlin, Luzern, Paris (Festival d'Automne), Innsbruck (Klangspuren), Brussels (Ars Musica), and Zurich (Tage für Neue Musik); to all the major UK festivals; and to Scandinavia and the US, including Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center, NY) and Orchestra Hall (Chicago). His concerto engagements have included performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Basel Sinfonietta, Athelas Sinfonietta (Copenhagen) and Endymion Ensemble, under conductors such as Barenboim, Brabbins, Knussen, Masson, Nott, Rophé, Rundel, Saraste, Slatkin, Otaka and Valade. An energetic recording artist, critically acclaimed CDs have been released on col legno (Hopkins), BVHAAST (Boehmer), Dischi Ricordi (Di Bari), Metier (Connolly) and Nonesuch (Adams). He has an ongoing relationship with Metronome: discs of Gershwin and Finnissy have already been released to great acclaim, and he recently recorded Harrison Birtwistle's complete piano music for release in October 2004. Other upcoming Metronome releases will include discs of music by Schumann and Antheil.
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Customer Reviews
Both these pieces' titles are typical Birtwistle puns. The first refers to the famous horologist who created timepieces that allowed mariners to accurately fix their longitude as much as to its composer's christian name. It is a series of explorations of the kind of musical clockwork mechanisms that Birtwistle often uses to drive his material (cf. Silbury Air, Carmen Arcadiae, Pulse Sampler, large sections of Yan Tan Tethera etc.). Fiendishly difficult to play, one suspects, with their complex overlayering of rhythms, but hugely satisfying to listen to.
The Axe Manual was originally written for Emanuel Ax (hence the pun) and Evelyn Glennie. It is a thrilling piece in which the percussionist gradually works their way round a semi circle of instruments from drums through marimba to wood blocks, etc. and back again, conjuring a huge array of colours and textures as well as rhythms.
All the performances on this disc are impeccable. Nicolas Hodges is a pianist who specialises in modern music and has had many works written specifically for him. He has that rare ability with new and unfamiliar pieces not only to get his fingers round the notes (tough enough in many of these works), but also to communicate with true musicality. He makes Harrison's Clocks even more approachable and exciting than Joanne McGregor did on her pioneering recording. For the Axe Manual he is joined by the Australian percussionist, Claire Edwardes, and the two of them provide a performance every bit as mesmeric and thrilling as in their live UK premiere performance. A highly recommendable disc.
Both these pieces' titles are typical Birtwistle puns. The first refers to the famous horologist who created timepieces that allowed mariners to accurately fix their longitude as much as to its composer's christian name. It is a series of explorations of the kind of musical clockwork mechanisms that Birtwistle often uses to drive his material (cf. Silbury Air, Carmen Arcadiae, Pulse Sampler, large sections of Yan Tan Tethera etc.). Fiendishly difficult to play, one suspects, with their complex overlayering of rhythms, but hugely satisfying to listen to.
The Axe Manual was originally written for Emanuel Ax (hence the pun) and Evelyn Glennie. It is a thrilling piece in which the percussionist gradually works their way round a semi circle of instruments from drums through marimba to wood blocks, etc. and back again, conjuring a huge array of colours and textures as well as rhythms.
All the performances on this disc are impeccable. Nicolas Hodges is a pianist who specialises in modern music and has had many works written specifically for him. He has that rare ability with new and unfamiliar pieces not only to get his fingers round the notes (tough enough in many of these works), but also to communicate with true musicality. He makes Harrison's Clocks even more approachable and exciting than Joanne McGregor did on her pioneering recording. For the Axe Manual he is joined by the Australian percussionist, Claire Edwardes, and the two of them provide a performance every bit as mesmeric and thrilling as in their live UK premiere performance. A highly recommendable disc.
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