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Mountains

The 'lost' Australian Recording

John McCabe (piano)

Mountains
Touted as a lost John McCabe recording, this disc acts as a reminder of McCabe’s greatness as a pianist. Recorded in Sydney in 1985, Mountains appears here in a new restoration. McCabe finds...

Mountains

The 'lost' Australian Recording

John McCabe (piano)

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44.1 kHz, 16 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

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This release includes a digital booklet

Stream now lossless, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit
Touted as a lost John McCabe recording, this disc acts as a reminder of McCabe’s greatness as a pianist. Recorded in Sydney in 1985, Mountains appears here in a new restoration. McCabe finds...

About

John McCabe (1939-2015) was renowned as both a pianist (a Haydn specialist and supporter of many contemporary composers) and as a composer of very fine music in several genres. In 1985 he visited EMI Studios in Sydney Australia to make this album of music by Australian and American composers. However for several reasons it was put to one side and when the studio closed it was believed that all copies were lost. Last year a cassette copy was found, transferred and remastered. It is a wonderful collection of works, performed with McCabe’s usual dazzling virtuosity and deep musicality. The album comprises works of differing styles best summarized as ‘post-modernist’ – individual, inspired, contemporary but not unfriendly to audiences; some are impressionist such as the title track by Peter Sculthorpe; jazz-inspired (Rochberg’s Carnival Music) and all are fine additions to McCabe’s recorded legacy.

Contents and tracklist

I. Fanfares & March
Track length4:05
II. Blues
Track length4:57
III. Largo doloroso
Track length5:33
IV. Sfumato
Track length5:52
V. Toccata-rag
Track length5:05

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

March 2019

Touted as a lost John McCabe recording, this disc acts as a reminder of McCabe’s greatness as a pianist. Recorded in Sydney in 1985, Mountains appears here in a new restoration. McCabe finds huge beauty in Daniel Maslanka’s Piano Song; the modernity of Don Banks’ Pezzo dramatico similarly finds balm in Koehne’s Impressionist-inspired Twilight Rain.
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