International Piano Magazine
Voted joint runner-up in International Piano Magazine's Best New Piano Recording 2007
Album Description
Following the first performance of his Cello Concerto in May 1998, David Earl wrote this sonata in the late summer of that year. Conceived in a traditional sonata-form mould, and on a large scale, the energy and volitional drive of the first two movements is tempered by pensive, questioning cadenzas for the cello. These reappear at intervals, and lead inexorably to the heart of the piece - an understated but deeply powerful elegy whose implacable resignation is foretold from the composition's opening bars. The first performance was given by George Corbett and James Sherlock in the Holywell Music Room, Oxford, on 18th January 2006.
Mandala is a Sanskrit word, meaning 'circle' or 'ring'. In the Buddhist tradition, mandalas are devotional images consisting of symmetrical patterns, often with an icon of a Buddha or Bodhisattva at their centre. Such symbols, as well as depicting Buddhist figures, are also said to exist for the benefit of sentient beings - informing, protecting, enlightening. This piano suite was commissioned by The Maidenhead Music Society, on the occasion of its 60th anniversary 1996/97, and first performed there by the composer on 27th April 1997.
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