Posted: 14 September 2002
The CD Alan Bush Chamber Music – Volume 1 has been released. The CD features the Summerhayes Piano Trio - Adam Summerhayes (violin/viola), Catherine Summerhayes (piano) and Joseph Spooner (cello).
This exciting CD, issued by Meridian Records in August 2002, comprises chamber works spanning 50 years of Bush's career as a composer, only one of which has previously been recorded. The most striking to me is Joseph Spooner's masterly performance of Concert Piece, Bush's brooding piece written in 1936 in response to the rise of fascism, ably supported by Catherine Summerhayes on the piano. All the music is beautiful – I would single out particularly the lyrical simplicity of Bush's late work, Summer Valley - and very well performed by these three talented young artists.
You can hear tracks from the CD on the Listen section of the website.
The works on the CD are:
Three Concert Studies for Piano, Violin and Cello Op.31 (1947)
Two Easy Pieces for Cello and Piano (1951)
Two Melodies for Viola with Piano accompaniment Op. 47 (1957)
Sonatina for Viola and Piano Op.88 (1978)
Concert Piece for Cello and Piano Op.17 (1936)
Summer Valley for Cello and Piano Op.125 (1988)
The CD (Catalogue No. CDE 84458) can be ordered direct from the distributors, Priory Records, 3 Eden Way, Leighton Buzzard, Beds, LU7 4FY, UK, price £13 including p&p (UK).
A companion CD, Alan Bush Chamber Music – Volume 2, has been recorded by the same artists and will be issued in early 2003.
