2. News
  3. CLARE HAMMOND BLOG ON SAXTON TOCCATA CD

CLARE HAMMOND BLOG ON SAXTON TOCCATA CD

A CD of Robert Saxton’s piano music, recorded by pianist Clare Hammond, will be released by Toccata Classics in March 2018, and will include Hortus Musicae, Book 1 (2013) and Hortus Musicae,  Book 2 (2016), published by UYMP. Both works are dedicated to Hammond and she has written a fascinating introductory blog to the album.  As well as describing the works on the recording in more detail, Hammond speaks of a most successful and harmonious professional collaboration with Robert Saxton since she first met him, when playing his Chacony for left hand, six years ago.  During these years Hammond has given the premieres, besides a number of further performances, of the Hortus Musicae cycles.   

Hortus Musicae, Book 1, commissioned by Ian Ritchie and the City of London Festival with support from the John S Cohen Foundation, was first performed by Hammond at the Church of St Mary le Bow in June 2013.  The Presteigne Festival of August 2016, at which Saxton was composer-in-residence, featured Hammond premiering Hortus Musicae, Book 2, thanks to support from the RVW Trust.  Following the premiere of Book 2, in a touching gesture, Saxton wrote a Lullaby for Hammond’s daughter.   Hammond concludes: ‘The warmth, affection and generosity of this music makes it a fitting postlude to a disc that documents a very special creative collaboration, and one that I hope will continue for many years.’

(26 Jan 2018)

Recent news

  • Tinoco is honoured with the DSCH – Shostakovich Ensemble’s new prize for composers

    UYMP is proud to announce that house composer Luis Tinoco has been awarded the DSCH - Shostakovich Ensemble 2019 Prize for Composers and thereby recognised nationally and internationally as one of the most relevant Portuguese composers of today. This is the award’s first year and it is the only award in Portugal which honours the career of a composer. The prize includes the commission of a piece for the ensemble and Luis has chosen to write a work for clarinet, violin and piano entitled ‘Aleppo’, which will be premiered by clarinettist Pascal Moraguès, violinist Corey Cerovsek and pianist and artistic director of the DSCH – Shostakovich Ensemble Filipe Pinto-Ribeiro on 28th November, at the Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, in a concert entitled 'CROSSINGS: Classical, Folk and Jazz'.

  • Thomas Simaku’s CD on Portuguese National Radio

    Portuguese National Radio has dedicated an hour-long programme to the latest CD by Thomas Simaku - Professor of Composition at York University.

    Broadcast on Sunday 10 November, the programme included pieces such as the BASCA Award winning work Soliloquy V – Flauto Acerbo performed by Chris Orton; Signals and Deux Esquisses performed by the York alumnus Joseph Houston, and ENgREnage and Sound Tree performed by Peter Sheppard Skaerved and Roderick Chadwick. The programme, Geografia dos Sons, is available on the RTP website.

     

  • BMS journal praise for Robert Saxton's 'SUITE'

    Robert Saxton’s ‘SUITE’ for violin and piano, premiered by Madeleine Mitchell (violinist and dedicatee), with Clare Hammond (piano) at the Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester, on 29th July, 2019, at St Catharine’s Church, has received praise from Philip L. Scowcroft in a review of the festival in the British Music Society Journal/News, dated 1.11.19.  Scowcroft writes: 

    ‘I attended the first two days of the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival this summer. Most memorable for me was … a violin and piano recital by Madeleine Mitchell (violin) and Clare Hammond (piano) which was devoted to British music of the past century.'  Scowcroft describes the finale, entitled Quest, as the ‘most memorable movement’ and the second movement Horizon as ‘almost equally exploratory’.

     

  • Upcoming Release of Luís Tinoco's new CD Archipelago

    UYMP is delighted to announce that Luís Tinoco's new CD Archipelagowill be released on 29th December, 2019. Archipelago marks Luís Tinoco's return to Odradek on an album entirely filled with percussion works, most of them world-premiere recordings. These works are all performed by Drumming Grupo de Percussão which makes its debut on Odradek Records in the year the group celebrates its 20th anniversary.

  • Ivors Awards nominate Paredes, Weeks and Sergeant

    UYMP is delighted that UYMP House composers Hilda Paredes and James Weeks have been shortlisted for the Ivors Composer Awards (formerly BASCA) 2019. Hilda Paredes' opera ‘Harriet’ (‘Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman’) for soprano, mezzo-soprano, percussion, violin, guitar and electronics is one of the three nominated works in the ‘Stage Works’ category. James Weeks’ ‘Leafleoht’ for string quartet has been selected for nomination in the ‘Small Chamber’ category. In addition, Associate composer Matthew Sergeant’s work ‘Meeting the Universe Halfway’ has been shortlisted in the ‘Small Chamber’ section.  The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on December 4th 2019, at the British Museum, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. We wish all three composers the very best of luck!