John Casken: Stolen Airs

The performers are some of the cream of the younger generation, and as such it is difficult to imagine finer performances than these...This is a terrific, well-filled disc, and one that should... — Fanfare, September/October 2020 More…

Release Date: 8th Nov 2019
Catalogue No: PFCD115
Label: Prima Facie
Length: 79 minutes

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Casken: Shadowed Pieces

Work length15:46

Benjamin Frith, Lucy Gould

I. Shadowed by the Blackened Tree

Track length1:48

II. ...By a Far-Away Song

Track length2:15

III. ...By Shadows Past

Track length3:52

IV. ...By a Quickening Moon

Track length2:12

V. ...By Forgotten Voices

Track length3:02

VI. ...By the Harrowed Land

Track length2:37

Casken: Stolen Airs

Work length16:22

Alasdair Beatson, Philip Higham

Casken: Six Wooded Pieces

Work length15:33

Kenneth Hamilton

I. Haunting Bough (I.)

Track length1:39

II. Swinging Bough

Track length2:00

III. Shaded Bough

Track length4:48

IV. Weathered Bough

Track length1:44

V. Silvered Bough

Track length2:36

VI. Haunting Bough (II.)

Track length2:46

Casken: Serpents Of Wisdom

Work length11:08

Alasdair Beatson, Alec Frank-Gemmill

Casken: Piano Trio

Work length20:32

Gould Trio

I. Shadows

Track length2:54

II. Striding the Line

Track length2:10

III. Dreams

Track length4:10

IV. Dancing the Line

Track length3:21

V. Memories

Track length7:57

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About

Stolen Airs' is a collection of chamber works featuring piano works by the eminent British composer John Casken, performed by various artists including the Gould Trio and Kenneth Hamiton. This is a release with strong Mancunian connections as John was professor of music at the university for many years.

The idea of creating a CD of his chamber music in which the piano features in every piece (although a piece for solo piano is hardly chamber music) was the composers initial thought, and the range of pieces from 2002 (Piano Trio) to 2008 (Shadowed Pieces), to three more recent pieces featuring cello and then horn, as well as solo piano, created not only a nice sequence but also an interesting variety. The recordings took place in Cardiff University School of Music and at The University of Manchester in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, in which John Casken played a major role in creating nearly 20 years ago.

Reviews

September/October 2020

The performers are some of the cream of the younger generation, and as such it is difficult to imagine finer performances than these...This is a terrific, well-filled disc, and one that should bring Casken more into the spotlight; he deserves to be there.

10th November 2019

Stolen Airs, for cello (Philip Higham) and piano (Alasdair Beatson), makes a superb, haunting single-movement sonata. Serpents of Wisdom is an impressive invention for horn (Alec Frank-Gemmill) and piano; and Casken’s Piano Trio is a powerful paraphrase of his Tolstoyan opera, God’s Liar.

John Casken: Stolen Airs

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