HYPERION RECORDS CATALOGUE AVAILABLE TO STREAM FOR THE FIRST TIME
by Florence Lockheart
FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2023
The label has made 200 albums available on streaming platforms, marking the first time streaming audiences will have access to the label’s catalogue in its 43-years history.
Hyperion's award-winning catalogue to become available on the likes of
Apple Music, Spotify, Qobuz and others.
Three of Piers Lanes' discs were released yesterday for streaming.
Piers Lane Goes to Town
Piers Lane Goes to Town Again
Rambles and Reflections
(Percy Grainger)
Jeonghwan Kim wins the
2023 Sydney International Piano Competition
Jeonghwan Kim wins the
2023 Sydney International Piano Competition
Piers Lane, Artistic Director of the SIPC, AKA ‘The Sydney’ said:
“The consistently high level of the 32 competitors selected from 250 applications for this year’s competition shows clearly that the top young pianists in the world value The Sydney as a master piano competition.
“The six finalists all revealed strong and different personalities and musical approaches and the results reflect the seven international judges’ majority opinion on who best combines deep and original musicianship and pianism, with the ability to communicate and to make music in both solo and ensemble situations.
“[In] Jeonghwan Kim, we have a very complete pianist and artist – quite extraordinary for a young man who turned 23 during the Competition. His virtuosity is astounding, his accuracy in the most complex passages breathtaking. But his The Poet Speaks from Schumann’s Scenes of Childhood brought tears to my eyes. He’s got it all. He will be the perfect ambassador for The Sydney”.
Piers Lane plays Grieg and Liszt in the studio ahead of his concert at Wigmore Hall, London. 28th December 2022 at 19:30
Listen to Piers playing on IN TUNE
(click image)
Scroll forward to 1:15:15
(available for another 28 days)
Sophie Galaise, Managing Director of the MSO, and Barry Conyngham, former Dean of the Fine Arts & Music Faculty (The University of Melbourne), present Piers Lane AO with the Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award 2022 plaque.
Piers Lane (AO), has been awarded the Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award at a concert with Joseph Calleja and Amelia Farrugia in Melbourne
on November 1st 2022.
The Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award medallion, crafted from an original cast for each recipient, is made by sculptor Michael Meszaros.
Our congratulations to Piers Lane on this wonderful acknowledgement
of his achievements.
Sydney International Piano Competition announces
Composing the Future competition
The Sydney is looking for a new solo piano piece by an Australian composer, with prizes worth $30,000.
by Hugh Robertson on 3 September, 2021
The Sydney International Piano Competition (The Sydney) has announced the Composing the Future competition, a new composition contest for new or unpublished works for solo piano by Australian composers.
Piers Lane, The Sydney’s Artistic Director, will lead the judging panel, which will feature a further five Australian concert pianists to be announced at a later date.
This unique retrospective chronicles more than 100 fascinating performances. They were recorded by 77 pianists during seven events over two decades (1992–2016).
Over its 14 hours, the eleven CDs in this Limited Edition encompass music by more than 55 composers from Agnew to Zaderetsky and the anthology is organised in seven categories: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Twentieth Century, Transcriptions & Encores, Australian Piano Music and Piano Concertos. Anyone who has followed The Sydney will recognise the excitement, the fever pitch as this great quadrennial festival of pianism heads towards the final rounds.
This set provides the listener then with a cornucopia of pianism. You can hear lyrical grace in so many of the Scarlatti sonatas, and particularly Rustem Khairutdinov's 1992 performance of the D minor, Kk.9. Poise and rapt stillness informs Roberto Cominati's 1996 Debussy (Images – Book II), and the clarity of voicing is carried through in his performance of Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto, where, you're swept away with the excitement, but hear all the notes!
Excitement is to be found on virtually each disc in the set, but particularly in the 'Transcriptions & Encores' volume, as well as in the Rachmaninov and Sancan performances by Olivier Cazal, Yuki Takao's Hexentanz (Macdowell), and Tatiana Kolesova's Petrushka pieces. The anthology also gives us the opportunity to experience Australian piano music as interpreted by a range of pianists from, among others, countries like Russia, Canada, China, the United States, Sweden and Japan (and, of course, Australia).
Here is a first review, published on September 7th by
Big Boxes:
Eloquence’s Illuminating Sydney International Piano Competition Collection
Review by: Jed Distler
Artistic Quality: 10
Sound Quality: 8
Between 1992 and 2016 Cyrus Meher-Homji produced compilations of live, unedited performances recorded during the Sydney International Piano Competition. From this body of work, Meher-Homji has culled 11 CDs’ worth of strong, well-contrasted, and wide ranging programs organized by style and genre. Choices are based on musical quality first and foremost, rather than on which stage a particular competitor had reached in the event. As a consequence, the level of artistry is so high that the identity of the pianists wound up not concerning me at all. Still, one must give credit where credit is due, and I’ll attempt to single out highlights in the following overview:
CD 1: Bach’s C minor Toccata and the D minor Chaconne arranged by Busoni bracket numerous contenders’ brilliant Scarlatti sonata readings. Listen, for instance, to the Jianing Kong’s dazzling scale work in the Scarlatti G major K. 454 (sound clip). Also check out Masataka Gato’s fluid and sensitive Handel Chaconne.
CD 2: Gorgeous and stylish renditions of the Mozart F major Sonata K. 533/494 (Konstantin Shamray), Haydn C major Hob XVI:48 (Roger Wright), Beethoven’s Op. 101 (Avan Yu) and Op. 53 “Waldstein” (Michele Bolia), plus Ivo Janssen playing Schubert’s Moment Musical No. 6 at a real Allegretto, rather than the lifeless Largo one often hears in the name of “profundity”.
CD 3 & 4: The Romantics, of course, are the meat and potatoes of most competitions, where contestants arguably work hardest. Future Lisztian luminaries like Alexei Volodin and Andrey Gugnin already played this composer with the utmost assurance and confidence, while Anna Malikova’s Chopin Op. 42 Waltz shows the impetuous, youthful side of an artist who would go on to significantly ripen and mature. Also note Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev’s stately Rachmaninov, plus flashy and fun performances of the Brahms Paganini Variations split between Sergei Tarasov ( Book I) and Yoon Soo Rhee (Book II).
CD 5, 6, & 7: Meher-Homji’s curatorial sensitivity and intelligence shines throughout each of these CDs devoted to 20th-century music. For example, Disc 5 begins with three Debussy Preludes, followed Poulenc’s masterful and undervalued Théme varié, capped by the composer’s glittery Presto in B-flat. Then back to Debussy, with the Images Book II, a little Sonnet by Sibelius, four more Debussy Preludes, two of Ravel’s Miroirs, another short Sibelius piece (the Impromptu in B minor), and a roof-raising conclusion in the form of Ravel’s La Valse. Again, the performances are all on the highest level: I especially enjoyed Hiroshi Arimori’s dulcet touch and shimmering transparency in the Poulenc Théme varié, and, in La Valse, David Fung’s controlled sense of abandon. And it’s nice to hear Vitali Samoschko treat Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 as music rather than an Olympic event.
CD 8: Anyone who thinks that Romantic encores are the private property of dead Romantic pianists, listen to this disc and prove yourself wrong. You rarely hear the left hand part of Rachmaninov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee transcription so tellingly sculpted as in Vera Kameneva’s hands. Moye Chen turns the thick textures of Grainger’s Ramble on Love into liquid gold. Daniel Hill’s exquisite melody/accompaniment separation in the Gluck/Sgambati Melodie justifies his leisurely tempo. Too bad that Leonid Kuzmin’s exuberant Schulz-Evler Blue Danube is shorn of its introduction, but I imagine he had to cut to the chase, so to speak, for competition purposes.
CD 9: A wonderful, intriguingly varied anthology of pieces by Australian composers, with standouts such as Elena Kats-Chernin, Carl Vine, Andrew Ford, Brett Dean, and Roger Smalley.
CDs 10 & 11: Very fine broadcast quality performances of the Paganini Rhapsody (Vitali Samoschko), Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 (Duncan Gifford), and Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 (Daniel Hill). The Rachmaninov Concerto No. 3 (Roberto Cominati) only really gets going in the Finale. Best of all is a tightly-knit Prokofiev Concerto No. 3. Here Olivier Cazal breezes through the solo part, while conductor Edvard Tchivzhel and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra handle the Finale’s intricate tempo changes like a seasoned driver navigating curvy roads in a rainstorm.
One also must mention pianist Piers Lane’s superb booklet notes where he discusses the competition’s history, and vividly recalls his own participation in the 1977 event. In all, an unexpected treasure trove for pianophiles, and one that will provide hours of pleasurable and illuminating listening.
The 2021 prize winners of the Sydney International Piano Competition are:
ALEXANDER GADJIEV Italy/Slovenia
Ernest Hutcheson First Prize
ARTEM YASYNSKYY Ukraine
Percy Grainger Second Prize
CALVIN ABDIEL Australian/Indonesia
George Frederick Boyle Third Prize
ALICE BURLA Canada
William Murdoch Fourth Prize
ÁDÁM BALOGH Hungary
Arthur Benjamin Fifth Prize
SHION OTA Japan
Noel Mewton-Wood Sixth Prize
ANNA GENIUSHENE Russia
Rex Hobcroft Best Performance of a work by Beethoven
YANGRUI CAI China
Geoffrey Tozer Most Promising Pianist not Proceeding to the Finals
KYOUNGSUN PARK South Korea
Prizes for each of the six Semi Finalists not proceeding to the Finals $1,000 each
ANTONII BARYSHEVSKYI Ukraine
Prizes for each of the six Semi Finalists not proceeding to the Finals $1,000 each
YU NITAHARA Japan
Prizes for each of the six Semi Finalists not proceeding to the Finals $1,000 each
PHILIPP LYNOV Russia
Prizes for each of the six Semi Finalists not proceeding to the Finals $1,000 each
You can view here the Final Round and previous rounds videos on the Competition website by clicking the image below.
Session #28 Including Award Ceremony
Alice Burla | Canada
Supported by Club 32 donor Mick McCormack
( please click the image below to get to the Sydney Competition page which lets you view
session ~28 incl. the Award Ceremony)
Limelight Magzine this month carries an article titled:
"Step into the digital sphere with the 2021 Sydney International Piano Competition"
readthis here by clicking the LIMELIGHT button.
15th April 2021
Tasmin Little (violin) and Piers Lane (piano) are this years winners of the CHAMBER MUSIC Category of the BBC Music Magazine Awards.
This concerts is streaming
Wednesday 9 December at 7.45pm
Programme:
BRAHMS - Sonatensatz FAE
BRAHMS - Sonata No 3 in D minor
LILI BOULANGER - Nocturne for violin and piano
FRANCK - Sonata in A Major Concerts Website
Paul Kildea’s first season as Artistic Director will feature several programs rescued from 2020, plenty of Australian artists, as well as a staged presentation of his book Chopin’s Piano.
by Angus McPherson on November 20, 2020
In another concert rescued from the 2020 season, pianist Piers Lane will join the Goldner String Quartet (this year’s tour was to have been a celebration of the quartet’s 25th anniversary) in September and October to perform music by Dvořák, Korngold, Brahms and Elgar, as well as the world premiere of a new commission by Jakub Jankowski.
Piers and Tasmin Little payed on 18th November at the Yehudi Menuhin School.
She posted a lovely photo of the event and wrote:
A complete pleasure to play with @PianoPiersLane @MenuhinSchool this evening for the whole school.
Scrumptious programme of Bach, Brahms, Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger and Franck.
Felt so good to be in a glorious acoustic again with a (super enthusiastic!) audience!
In two week's time Piers and Tasmin are playing again atYork University.
There will be a LIVE stream some time after, on December 9th, of the
concert on the University YouTube channel.
Please click icon to listen
at 19:30 tomorrow
Tomorrow, Thursday at 19:30 Radio 3 broadcasts Tasmin Little's Final Southbank Centre
Recital with her four pianist partners. Piers will take part.
Andrey Gugnin, piano Piers Lane, piano
John Lenehan, piano
Martin Roscoe, piano
Venue: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
This concert marks Tasmin’s final Southbank Centre recital and will be broadcast live on R3 (no audience). Tasmin will perform with her four pianist partners.
Programme: BRAHMS - Sonatensatz (Piers Lane)
CLARA SCHUMANN - 3 Romances (Martin Roscoe)
LILI BOULANGER - Nocturne (Piers Lane)
BRAHMS - Sonata No. 3 in D minor (Andrey Gugnin)
-interval-
ROXANNA PANUFNIK - Hora Bessarabia for solo violin COLERIDGE TAYLOR - Demande et Réponse (Piers Lane)
AMY BEACH - Romance (Martin Roscoe)
AMY BEACH - Sonata (John Lenehan
Listen to this on BBC Radio 3 (please click Radio 3 logo)
Welcome!
Wherever you are in the world, welcome to The Sydney Piano Marathon.
As humans alive to sound, colour and every emotion, music unites and inspires us all. Each of the 32 musicians performing in this marathon gives their all – presenting and celebrating with you this shared humanity and the best of what we can be. We hope you enjoy every single note.
Piers recorded several links for the marathon a fortnight ago. It's 70 hours nonstop, covering the entire 2016 Competition, along with interviews and mini documentaries about past winners and so on. It will be on YouTube afterwards. Click the icon to watch.
Throughout this well-presented/recorded issue, Piers Lane is the charismatic master of these unjustly neglected works, playing with commitment, sensitivity and commanding virtuosity; and he is nobly partnered by The Orchestra Now, an ensemble of international music students based at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, founded by Leon Botstein, who conducts with sympathy and energy. Hyperion CDA68297.
Colin Anderson
Australian pianist Piers Lane gives outstanding performances, showing pinpoint accuracy in the challenging writing of the Bliss, and adapting comfortably to the introversion of the Rubbra.
Phillip Scott
This series of “Romantic Piano Concertos” reaches its 81st volume with this pairing of the flamboyant Bliss concerto commissioned for the 1939 New York World Fair, and Rubbra’s more reflective, bucolic piece from the mid-1950s. Lane plays them both with deep musical insight and virtuoso dash, and throws in Morning Song, a short Arnold Bax piece that was a 21st birthday present for the then Princess Elizabeth. HC
This is a very worthwhile addition to Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series. Piers Lane is a sterling and imaginative advocate for both concertos while Orchestra Now give him splendid support. Thanks to Hyperion we now have the primary recommendation for the Bliss concerto and a performance which I hope, will win new friends for Rubbra’s concerto.
As I indicated in discussing the Bliss concerto, the recorded sound is very good indeed throughout the programme. Lucy Craddock’s notes are helpful. I notice that, as is their wont, Hyperion provide the documentation also in French and German. It would be great if this disc drew attention to these two very different but immensely worthwhile British piano concertos outside their native land. John Quinn
CHANDOS / Chan 20133
Released in May 2020
British Violin Sonatas, Volume 3
YORK BOWEN - Sonata, Op.112 (1945)
JOHN IRELAND - Sonata No.2 (1915-17)
JAMES FRANCIS BROWN - The Hart's Grace (2016)
WILLIAM ALWYN - Sonatina (1933)
ERIC COATES - First Meeting (1941, revised 1943)
CHANDOS RECORDS released a short video clip re: Piers' & Tasmin's
latest CD .... they write:
British Violin Sonatas Vol. 3 + The Best of Tasmin are yours to enjoy this summer!
Piers Lane and Tasmin Little talking about friendship at
Potton Hall recording studio.
Please click the thumbnail to view the 1:42 min video on You Tube.
"A message from Piers Lane" on the website of the Australian Youth Classical Music Competition
of which Piers in Patron. Please click the logo to read this.
30 April 2020
Piers just published
"A letter from London" on the Sydney International Piano Competition website.
To read this fabulous description of isolation in London, please click the image below.
Hyperion CDA68290
Released in January 2020
Bartók - Piano Quintet in C major Sz23
Korngold - Piano Quintet in E major Op 15
Goldner String Quartet, Piers Lane (piano) Hyperion CDA68290
Piers is off to Hamburg on Wednesday to select three new Steinways
over two days, a C for the Primrose Potter Salon at the Melbourne Recital
Centre, and Ds for St Leonards School in Melbourne and for the Sydney
International Piano Competition.
A Steinway Model C
A Steinway Model D
30 April 2020
Piers just published
"A letter from London" on the Sydney International Piano Competition website.
To read this fabulous description of isolation in London, please click the image below.
CHANDOS / Chan 20133
Released in May 2020
British Violin Sonatas, Volume 3
YORK BOWEN - Sonata, Op.112 (1945)
JOHN IRELAND - Sonata No.2 (1915-17)
JAMES FRANCIS BROWN - The Hart's Grace (2016)
WILLIAM ALWYN - Sonatina (1933)
ERIC COATES - First Meeting (1941, revised 1943)
We have just seen some charming photos of the last Chandos Recording session of Piers Lane with Tasmin Little, (violin)
on Twitter which we would like to share with you. Click each thumbnail to enlarge.
Dutton Epoch
Walter Braunfels Vol.4
Hebridentänze op. 70 (1950-51) Ein Divertimento nach Schottischen Themen für Klavier und Orchester
Piers Lane (piano) BBC Concert Orchestra/Johannes Wildner
plus: Orchester-Suite e-Moll für grosses Orchester op. 48 (1933-36)
Sinfonia Concertante (1947-48) EK TS TT TR
Konzert für Solo-Violine, Solo-Viola, 2 Hörner und Streichorchester op. 68
ABC CLASSIC FM is broadcasting this recital on Sunday, 28th October
at 17:00 (Sydney time). Link to the relevant page by clicking the logo.
(Scroll down to 5pm, Sunday to read about this and then click "LISTEN LIVE"
button on their page)
LimeLight Magazine writes:
"Our critics have created a shortlist of 40 outstanding musicians and ensembles –
20 Australian and 20 international artists – for our annual Limelight Artists of the Year Awards."
(Cast your vote for Piers, if you'd like to) (Click Logo)
CHANDOS released BRAHMS - The Three Violin Sonatas
by Tasmin Little with Piers Lane, 2 March 2018.
Piers and Tasmin appeared on Radio 3 - IN TUNE - talking about this release.
Please click the Chandos Logo to listen to samples from this forthcoming CD.
Piers and Tasmin Little talked about this CD release on BBC Radio 3
with Sean Rafferty and performed live in the studio.
Please click the - In Tune - logo to go to the relevant page.
Scroll slider forward to 1:34:30 to hear Tasmin and Piers.
CHANDOS RECORDS have just released a Trailer for the launch of this CD on March 2nd.
A musical adventure in Mekoryuk, Alaska.
A short video about the arrival of two renowned musicians, Zuill Bailey and Piers Lane,
on a tour of Western Alaska organized by the Sitka Summer Music Festival (8min).
(click the video image to see the video)
The full 25 minutes contribition on YOUTUBE from KTVA-TV is below. Enjoy!
A charming photo of Tasmin Little and Piers from their recital before Christmas in Dubai.
Who will be Limelight's Artists of the Year? You decide ...
The magazine writes:
"Vote here for who you'd like to see honoured in our Australian and
International Artists of the Year Awards. " (click link)
Piers is delighted that Australian Music Magazine LIMELIGHT has included
his name in the list of Australian Artists who are nominated for the
2017 Australian Artist of the Year Award.
If you'd like to vote, please click the image (left) to be taken
to the LIMELIGHT Magazine website for you can vote.
This Saturday 12:00 (Sydney Time) ABC will broadcast Mozskowski's Piano Concerto
recentlu recorded in Brisbane (clock below) This Concert is now available on LISTEN AGAIN
( link on page) >>> Scroll forward to 29min:30 sec to hear Piers play.
When accessing from the Radio3 logo, please scroll forward to 1hr: 36min to listen to Tasmin and Piers
talking and playing. (This is available for another 27days on LISTEN AGAIN)
Scroll forward to 1 hr 36 min to hear Tasmin and Piers
Limelight Magazine carried an interesting article entitled :"The End of the Piers show"
in their July 2017 edition. Read the PDF here by clicking on the Limelight Logo.
An interview with Piers will be broadcast on September 3rd
Further images have been posted ...
And finally......What a memorable,emotional evening to celebrate ...
Piers Lane and after 11 years at Townsville. Thank you for the baton ... says Kathryn Stott
from AFCM... Piers Lane and the fabulous Kirsty McCahon. Last ones to leave just for a change!
Piers with the musicians at the end of this year's festival.
A Message from Piers to the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Townsville, Qld.,. on 10 May 3017
A Message from Piers Lane
It’s a joy to be writing this at my own desk in Putney in London. I’m getting an inordinate thrill out of domesticities like ironing and having friends over for dinner at the moment! So far this year, I’ve been in St. Petersburg, New York, Brisbane twice, Sydney, Bermagui, Melbourne twice, Spokane, Seattle, Sitka, Tucson, Townsville, Corfu, London and other places in England – a heady whirlwind of travel and concertising, with its attendant jetlag and deadlines. I’ve just played Chopin at Wigmore Hall and Tasmin Little and I have started concerts with repertoire we’ll record in June.
I’m penning this before shooting up to St. Luke's to hear Kathy Stott give a lunchtime concert with cellist Christian Poltera. We’ll have lunch afterwards and then tonight she flies off for a tour with the New Zealand String Quartet. No doubt Townsville and the AFCM will be much in our conversation this lunchtime. She’s in the throes of planning next year’s Festival and I’m still receiving requests and suggestions from artists and agents from all over, who are not yet aware that 2017 will be my final one. It’s lovely to be handing the baton to a close friend and to know that the Festival will be in the best possible hands.
I was so happy that Cyclone Debbie, though she blew away arrangements for the AGM and 2017 Program Launch, didn’t stop me giving a Chopin program at St. James’ at the end of March, as a sort of ‘farewell’ to the Townsville AFCM audience itself. It was a treat to see so many friends and to sense how soon the 2017 Festival will be upon us. It’s going to be quite a party judging from early ticket sales - be there or be square!
Warm regards, PPiers Lane AO
BBC Radio 3 "In Tune" - Monday 24 April at around 4.35pm
Piers and Tasmin Little will be interviewed and play 3 pieces live:
Brahms - Sonatensatz from FAE
Szymanowski - Sonata 2nd movement
Franck - Sonata 4th movement
The programme will be broadcast live on Radio 3,
simultaneously streamed on the BBC iPlayer
and BBC Radio 3 website, and available for catch-up
listening on BBC iPlayer for 30 days following the broadcast.
A lovely 5 STAR review was published on 20th April of Piers' Chopin recital
on Wednesday 19th April at the Wigmore Hall. Read it on the Reviews Page.
Piers is playing in two further Wigmore Hall concerts this year:
1.
Schubert Lieder recital with German tenor Markus Schäfer on July 2nd at 19:30 Wigmore Hall Booking Link
Further Future Performances in October and November
QSO and Piers Lane celebrate 40 years / Maestro Series
In October Piers will be playing the Moszkovski Piano Concerto with the Queensland Symphony
under Enrique Diemecke on the 13th and 14th October. Click below to buy tickets.
Piers plays Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3 with the Sydney Symphony under Brett Dean at the Opera House in October.
Please click below for Booking Link.
Piers plays Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 with the Auckland Philharmonic under Brett Dean on November 2nd.
Click below for further information and Box Office.
THREE recent CD Releases:
Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)
Piano Quintet & String Quartet No 2
Goldner String Quartet, Piers Lane (piano)
The Romantic Piano Concerto
Hill & Boyle: Piano Concertos
Piers Lane (piano), Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Fritzsch (conductor)
Alfred Hill and George Boyle enjoyed distinguished careers in their native Australia and abroad—Boyle’s students in New York included Copland and Barber—though both are all-too-little known today. The piano concerto and sonata by Hill—the ‘grand old man’ of Australian musical life at the time—are effectively the same work, the one an orchestral expansion of the other. (click CD cover to learn more from the Hyperion website)
Piers is now at the Australian Chamber Music Festival, Townsville, Qld. - AFCM posted a lovely photo, view it here:
Watch the trailer for the forthcoming Sydney International Piano Competition, where Piers is Artistic Director.
On Saturday, 7th May at 12.05 pm (Australian Time) Mairie NIcolson had an interview with Piers on ABC Classic FM.
Click ABC 40 logo to learn more, incl. Progamme information.
We have updated Piers' Concert Schedule to August 2016 Link here
The second volume of BRITISH VIOLIN SONATAS
by Frank Bridge, John Ireland, Sir Arthur Bliss,
Ralph Vaughan Williams, and William Lloyd Webber
is out now.
Artists: Tasmin Little (violin) and Piers Lane (piano).
Here is a link to the AFCM Booking Form
(Prioriy Booking Form for Members)
Mail to TicketShop PO Box 5181 Townsville QLD 4810 or scan and email to: ticketshop@townsville.qld.gov.au.
LIMELIGHT - Australia's Music Magazine - carries
an article about the Festival Programme Launch.
Read it here by clicking the LIMELIGHT LOGO.
NEW Release from Dutton Epoch
Walter Braunfels VOL.3
BBC Concert Orchetra conducted by Johannes Wildner
Piers Lane piano
Out Now
Click image for more information from
Dutton Epoch and Purchase Link
Order CD from AMAZON
A lovely review for Tasmin Little and Piers appeared on December 3rd in the Birmingham Post.
They gave a lunchtime recital at Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire on December 1st.
followed by a masterclass with students from the Conservatoire.
We received the AFCM Newsletter for October electronically today. (13/10/2015)
Full of interesting information, and details of next year's festival. To read it, please click on the Festival E-Note logo.
An Honorary Doctorate for Piers in Australia
Piers was presented with an Honorary Doctorate by James Cook University, Townsville, Qld.
on Wednesday 18th March at 15:00.
NEW CHANDOS RELEASE (March 30th 2015)
SCHUBERT Chamber Works.
Tasmin Little (violin), Tim Hugh (cello), Piers Lane (piano). Chandos 2cds
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Fantasie in C major, Op. post. 159, D 934
Sonatas, Op. post. 137 Nos 1 – 3, D 384, D 385, D 408
Sonata in A major, Op. post. 162, D 574
Adagio in E flat, Op. post. 148, D 897
Rondeau brillant, Op. 70, D 895
Sonata in A minor, D 821
‘Arpeggione’
The Daily Telegraph - 25 April 2015 - Review ****
Schubert's genial personality comes through on the first disc of this two-CD set. In four violin sonatas written while he was still in his teens there are none of the troubles and inner searchings that were to be enshrined in the later "Death and the Maiden" string quartet or the last piano sonatas.
Exuberance is the keyword here, and that is precisely what Tasmin Little and Piers Lane bring to them in delightfully positive performances, bristling with vigour and with tenderness and tonal subtlety that make the music spring to life. Taste goes hand in hand in those pieces with healthy spirit in as it does in “Rondo brillant" that opens the second disc. But here the Classical profile of the earlier works has given way to a seam of more dramatic, Romantic sensibility that Little and Lane top with verve, ardour and spark. supplemented by an intensity and sensitivity of expression in the late C major Fantasy. The cellist Tim Hugh gives, with Lane, a poised, eloquently turned performance of the Arpeggione Sonata, and all three performers come together for the late "Notturno", a sublime performance. GN
(webstreaming)
RADIO
November 2017
Sunday, 26th November after 19:00 - Sunday Opera with Deborah Cheetham
Williamson, Malcolm -
Piano Concerto No 1 in A major
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Piers Lane (piano), Howard Shelley (conductor)
Malcolm Williamson: The Complete Piano Concertos [Disc 1] (Hyperion 680112)
Piers and the Goldner Quartet received the
Diapason d’Dor for their latest Hyperion CD.
Part Translation:
"This highly evocative and emotional reading [of Pierné’s Quintet] owes much to Piers Lane’s range of nuances and his use of pedalling: His subtlety, his fortissimo which is never forceful, and most of all the interaction he establishes not only with the quartet as a group, but with each individual member, make for a perfect interpretation of the work."
Diapason d’Or. (JULY 2014 edition)
1st August 2014 Piers Lane: "Townsville is in my blood" From concert crawls to on-stage conversations, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music is as intimate as its setting, says longstanding artistic director
Read the Guardian Australia Culture Blog by clicking the Logo.
Piers at the CHEFS of the NORTH Dinner last night.
The photo shows violinist Tasmin Little (left), Piers
and Maggie Beer, famous Australian chef (right) co-host at the dinner at Jupiters. Photo by Evan Morgan/Townsvillebulletin.com.au
Piers at the end of the AFCM Festival with Tasmin Little (left) and composer Elena Kats-Chernin (right)
at Sandra's and Michael's party 07/08/14.
Tasmin had just been created an Honorary Australian Citizen by Michael and wears her Aussi Flag hat with pride.
Article in THE AGE, Melbourne, June 5th 2014 Pianist returns to pay tribute to prodigious teacher Piers Lane finds resonance in the work of Beethoven that reminds him of teacher Nancy Weir.
To read the article, please click THE AGE logo
ADMISSION ONE SHILLING TOUR of AUSTRALIA has now finished.
On May 1st, Patricia Routledge and Piers were received by the Governor of Tasmania
at Government House in Hobart.
LOUIS VIERNE | String Quartet in D minor Op 12
GABRIEL PIERNÉ | Piano Quintet in E minor Op 41
Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet,
"Perceptive pitching and a warmth of spirit colour this record by Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet, says Geoffrey Norris" **** (Daily Telegraph)
A favourable review also appears in the May edition of THE STRAD magazine. Read it here.
Two excellent reviews have appeared: Music Web International and Classical Source.com
RECORDING OF THE MONTH (Music Web International)
Malcolm Williamson (1931-2003) The Complete Piano Concertos
Piers Lane (piano) Howard Shelley (piano) (Concerto for Two Pianos)
Yoram Levy (trumpet), Mark Bain (trumpet), Martin Phillipson (trumpet) (Sinfonia concertante) Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra/Howard Shelley
Piano Concerto No. 1 in A major (1958)
Concerto for two pianos and string orchestra in A minor (1971)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F sharp minor (1960)
Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat major (1962)
Sinfonia concertante in F sharp major (1958-62)
Piano Concerto No. 4 in D major (1993)
HYPERION CDA68011/2
Piers Lane Goes to Town
has been in the Top Ten recently
(next week it is
CD of the Week on Essential Classics! (BBC Radio 3)
Arensky/Taneyev CD and the above received IRR recommendations
both were in the toprated discs section in the October issue of International Record Review?
Gramophone Magazine featured this CD in December 2013. "Critic's Choice"
And Australian Limelight Magazine has a Review of Piers’ disc here
New Recordings are out
LISZT, F.: Berlioz - Harold en Italie / Romance oubliee / ROGER, K.: Viola Sonata (P. Dukes, P. Lane)
Hector Berlioz’s Harold en Italie draws both on Byron’s Childe Harold and the composer’s own experiences in Italy as winner of the Prix de Rome. Franz Liszt’s rarely heard transcription admirably encapsulates this work’s narrative dramas and landscapes, while his meditative Romance oubliée derives from an earlier song, Oh pourquoi donc. Austrian-born Kurt Roger studied with Schoenberg, retaining his teacher’s contrapuntal tendencies while rejecting serial techniques for the lyricism which can be found in his Viola Sonata.
Published on 8 Sep 2013
Australian concert pianist Piers Lane met Melanie Spanswick at Steinway Hall in London last week,
to talk about his highly successful career.
August 31st 2013 - Classic FM - Piers Lane goes to Town (Album of the weekend)
Join Jamie Crick for the perfect music for your Saturday afternoon. Saturday 31 August
Jamie Crick has the perfect music for your Saturday afternoon, including another track from the Album of the Weekend, Piers Lane Goes to Town, a delightful journey through the 20th century filled with encores and party pieces.
Hyperion October 2013 release Piers Lane and the Goldner Quartet
Arensky & Taneyev: Piano Quintets
Two chamber masterpieces from nineteenth-century Russia, performed by Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet. Taneyev has been known as the ‘Russian Brahms’ and this epithet is particularly apposite when considering his Piano Quintet in G minor, especially as regards both its instrumental writing and its intellectual passion. Composed in 1911, this massive work bids fair for the accolade of the greatest work in the Russian piano-chamber repertoire before Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet of 1940. Only the extravagance of its technical demands can explain its failure to establish itself in the standard repertoire. Arensky’s Piano Quintet of 1900 is less monumental and less flamboyant, though not exactly short of fireworks, especially in the piano writing. It is a deeply attractive and enjoyable work—and equally little-known on the concert platform.
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Hyperion September 2013 release Piers Lane goes to town
Piers Lane gambols delightfully through the twentieth century in this album of encores, party pieces and a few pianophile rarities, ranging from Dame Myra Hess’s unforgettable arrangement of Bach’s Jesu, joy of man’s desiring to Dudley Moore’s equally unforgettable Beethoven pastiche.
This album includes first recordings of, among others, John Ireland’s Ballerina and Mark Saya’s Offenbach/Chopin conflation Barcarolles. A number of these pieces are by Australian composers who wrote for Piers himself. His unbounded virtuosity and joy in the music is clearly an inspiration, and is evident throughout the recording.
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NAXOS July 2013 release LISZT, F.: Berlioz - Harold en Italie / Romance oubliee / ROGER, K.: Viola Sonata
(Philip Dukes, viola, Piers Lane, piano)
Hector Berlioz’s Harold en Italie draws both on Byron’s Childe Harold and the composer’s own experiences in Italy as winner of the Prix de Rome. Franz Liszt’s rarely heard transcription admirably encapsulates this work’s narrative dramas and landscapes, while his meditative Romance oubliée derives from an earlier song, Oh pourquoi donc. Austrian-born Kurt Roger studied with Schoenberg, retaining his teacher’s contrapuntal tendencies while rejecting serial techniques for the lyricism which can be found in his Viola Sonata. Further chamber music by Kurt Roger can be heard on Naxos 8.572238
Order from Presto (click logo) .
Piers playing in Alaska last week.
View a photo from Sitka, Alaska, showing Piers playing in from of a stunning backgound.
- British Violin Sonatas No.1 - played by Tasmin Little and Piers Lane
Available Now. (click thumbnail)
The new Violin Sonatas CD with Sonatas by Walton, Ferguson and Britten has just become available.
A lovely review of Piers and cellist Zuill Bailey playing at the Wimbledon Festival recently
was published in the February edition of STRAD magazine. Read it here.
Media Release - December 2012
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM) is thrilled to have won the 2012 Limelight Award for Best Event/Festival.
This is the third Limelight Award for this ten-day Festival, which sees local and international performers take over sunny Townsville every July and August.
For more information visit
the AFCM website (click logo)
recent CD Release
CHANDOS released a new CD of Violin Sonatas by Strauss and Respighi
played by Tasmin Little and Piers Lane.
CHANDOS writes:
"Respighi is best known for his orchestral music, and Richard Strauss for both his orchestral music and operas, and therefore their chamber music has tended to take a back seat, however unfairly. On this disc we explore a few such neglected works, all of which display the full range of emotion, drama, harmonic exploration, and technical brilliance that characterised romanticism at its height."
Both sonatas are played here with complete understanding and spontaneity, and bring moments of true musical virtuosity. Piers Lane is a first-class pianist and forms a fine partnership with Tasmin Little, whose tone is caught with great beauty, for the Chandos recording is completely real and naturally balanced. Ivan March
Goldner String Quartet with Piers Lane
SIR HAMILTON HARTY
String Quartet No.1 in F major Op 1
and No. 2 in A minor Op 5
Piano Quintet in F major Op.12
Acclaimed pianist Piers Lane and his fellow Australians, the Goldner String Quartet, reprise their highly successful partnership in these world-premiere recordings of the two String Quartets and Piano Quintet of Irish composer Hamilton Harty.
On BBC Radio 3, Piers Lane presented a series of essays looking at five aspects of Chopin’s life and music to celebrate two hundred years since the composer’s birth.
Piers Lane looks at five aspects of Frederic Chopin's life and music to celebrate 200 years since the composer's birth.
Drawing on extracts from Chopin's own writing, and those who have written about him over the past two centuries, Piers looks at the myths, interpretations and veneration surrounding one of the most universally adored pianist/composers.
Chopin's name is synonymous with ideas of romance and melancholy. In this first programme, Piers explores how, despite being labelled as the archetypal Romantic pianist, Chopin resisted much of what is now associated with 19th-century Romantic piano music – the overt scene painting and descriptive title of his contemporaries such as Liszt, Berlioz or Schumann.
Later in the week, Piers looks at how the composer innovated form and style on the piano, the instrument on which he focused so exclusively; Chopin's often overlooked role as one of the most sought-after teachers in Paris; his composing process and interpretations of his music; and the veneration from audiences and other composers that has always surrounded him.
Listen Again to the fifth episode this week here:
The British Library in London has made well over 1000 fine recordings
prior to 1956 available, for visitors to listen to.
Each week we'll provide a link to their piano catalogue for you to listen to while you browse.
Scroll down to: 
