Philip Grange: Homage

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Grange knows exactly how Gemini ‘sound’ and they are completely on top of the music. They play these challenging works with confidence, with belief in the music and, under the composer’s supervision, authority. One is immediately plunged into an enigmatic world but one so clearly realized and in which every detail is heard. Metier is doing a terrific job… and here delivery a nicely balanced recording. This is sometimes tough music but the disc comes with a highly recommended stamp from me. Philip Grange ... one of the most distinctive minds of his generation ... this is music whose creative instincts are undeniably personal ... Finely prepared performances from Gemini and Ian Mitchell ... Further discs of his music would be welcome.' Gramophone magazine (2006) Gemini and Grange T his is important music by two master composers beautifully performed by their frequent collaborators. Following the success and critical acclaim of recent recordings, the British chamber ensemble Gemini is busy finalising a new collection of chamber works by Philip Grange which will be released by Métier in the summer. T he central work on the disc is Australian David Lumsdaine’s Mandala 3 (1978) for chamber ensemble, which

He was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge (1985–7), and Northern Arts Fellow in Composition at Durham University (1988–9) before joining the music department at Exeter University as lecturer (1989), reader (1995) and professor (1999) in composition. [2] In 2000 he moved to the University of Manchester, where he is Professor of Music. [3] Works [ edit ] Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Goss makes references to Messiaen’s harmonies and textures.sometimes less so. This is a piece that responds to repeated listening. It is a tribute to Goss’s skill and the

the mid-1970s – Ave Maris Stella and Psalm 124, Star-Folded and Economies of Scale date from 2000 and

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As the warm introductory note from musical director Ian Mitchell suggests, this disc stems from friendships the work weaves bold new lines around transcribed excerpts of Bach’s score to create an affecting and Fiercely difficult to play though the music is – and it is meant to be unconducted, like true chamber music – it I have not heard North Country composer John Casken’s (b. 1949) Piano Quartet. Philip Grange explains that he garnered material for his Tiers of Time (2007) from that work’s final bars. The stimulation of Grange’s ‘landscape inspired’ piano quartet was found in ‘the desolate, gloomy moorlands and the breath-taking vistas often illuminated by powerful sunlight’ prevalent in the English Peak District. The title itself is derived from geological strata apparent in those hills. This work is not a ‘cow and gate’ depiction of the countryside: it is hard-edged, more mill-stone grit that anything else. It is not a difficult musical language, but one that is not immediately approachable. I had to listen to it twice before the gentler, more lyrical passages revealed themselves, especially in the deeply moving conclusion. It is an impressive piece of writing for the ensemble. Whilst still in the North Country, I would love to hear Grange’s Lowry Dreamscape for brass band! Contrasts between stream of consciousness episodes and stories told by the protagonist, reflected in the alternation between sections of linear writing making extensive use of klangfarbenmelodie and episodes that unfold in different ways;

to your seat. In every perfectly imagined body gesture, facial expression and manipulation of her soprano, Wellsshowed a virtuoso understanding of Miss Donnithorne, her Reel, her Rant and her r ecitatives. She ran skill of the players that the results sound natural and obvious, never overly contrived. This is chamber music crystalline,transparent music is a marvel: lucidly conceived, its textures brilliantly coloured, thework is in a This work was premiered by Gemini in Manchester in December 2016; the submitted recording is from their CD of Grange’s music, Homage, part-funded by the RVW Trust. It is published by Edition Peters.

This is music whose creative instincts are undeniably personal. Finely prepared performances, heard in a commendably natural ambience and with Grange contributing the informative booklet note. The performers are Gemini, who have given over 30 performances of Grange’s compositions, working closely with him for more than 25 years, and recorded two previous discs of his music, both chosen as a Critic’s Choice for Disc of the Year in Gramophone magazine, Thus, the performances on this new CD are informed by a well-established working relationship, exemplified by the previous Metier album ‘ Darkness Visible’ (MSVCD 92083). (More recently, Grange’s ‘ Ghosts of Great Violence’ was recorded for Metier by Quatuor Danel ( MSV 28546). HOMAGE Prior to arriving at Manchester, Prof Grange held the posts of Professor of Compositionc at Exeter University (1989-2000), Fellow in the Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge (1985-87) and Northern Arts Composer Fellow at Durham University (1988-89). His principal composition teachers were Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (with whom he studied both privately and at the Dartington Summer School between 1975 and 1981) and Professor David Blake (with whom he studied at York University between 1976 and 1983).