Kenneth Hamilton - Romantic Piano Encores (2021)

Kenneth Hamilton performs a stunning selection of Romantic Piano Encores. This album is a balm: beautifully and sensitively played, bringing a sense of peace and calm. Hamilton writes: "This is an album of pieces I've long loved to play. It's also a paradox: encores without a preceding programme; musical icing without the cake. But the tracks here were at least recorded as "encores"—played in joyful relaxation and relief towards the end of sessions largely devoted to other albums. Some of the pieces are pretty short, including the premiere recording of the elegant arrangement of Saint-Saëns' Swan by one of my teachers, the late Lawrence Glover. Three of them–Mendelssohn's quirky "Last Rose of Summer", Grainger's luscious Rosenkavalier Ramble, and Ignaz Friedman's fabulous version of Voices of Spring–are fairly substantial, and the anchors of the programme. The final track (Godowsky's Symphonic Metamorphosis on the "Artist's Life" Waltz) is even longer. It's really too long, I admit, to be an encore in a public concert, but it's undeniably a lot of fun, and makes a great close for a CD. Hopefully, listeners will be both shaken and stirred.

Described by the Moscow Kommersant as "an outstanding virtuoso – one of the finest players of his generation", by Tom Service in the Guardian as "pianist, author, lecturer and all-round virtuoso", and by Stefan Pieper in Klassik Heute as a "pianist, scholar, maverick thinker and philosopher", Kenneth Hamilton is well-known internationally as a recitalist and recording artist of originality and emotional depth. His CDs have attracted both critical acclaim and a large number of listeners worldwide.

He is a familiar artist on BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and the World Service, and a keen communicator. His recent BBC Radio 3 broadcast My Life in Music: "Now, O now, I needs must part", was described by Sir Nicholas Kenyon in The Observer as "Revelatory… touching… a personal story of loss and death that reaches out from the radio. That is what broadcasting is all about."

Hamilton's recordings for the Prima Facie label: Kenneth Hamilton Plays Ronald Stevenson Volumes 1 and 2; Back to Bach: Tributes and Transcriptions by Liszt, Rachmaninov and Busoni; Preludes to Chopin; and More Preludes to Chopin have enjoyed outstanding reviews: "played with understanding and brilliance" (Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3 Record Review); "an unmissable disk… fascinating music presented with power, passion and precision" (Colin Clarke, Fanfare); "precise control and brilliance" (Andrew Clements, The Guardian); "thrilling" (Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone); "a gorgeous recording and excellent performance" (Jack Sullivan, American Record Guide).

More Preludes to Chopin was chosen as one of Spotify's "Best Classical New Releases". Hamilton's Chopin has attracted especial attention for the originality of its performance style. For Dr Chang Tou Liang of the Singapore Straits Timesit encourages "a new way of listening to Chopin". Stefan Pieper (Klassik Heute) commented: "Hamilton's approach to Chopin ignores the pianistic fashions of today's music market, challenges the dogmas of historical performance practice, and offers an entire palette of new and intriguing experiences." James Manheim (AllMusic) wrote: "The commercial success of this release shows how strongly audiences hunger for fresh interpretations of mainstream repertory, and a fresh interpretation is exactly what you get." Ralph Locke (ArtsFuse) concluded "This is real music-making, not subservient reciting from a sacred text. Hamilton's Chopin could change your whole attitude toward the role of the performer in classical music."

Forthcoming releases include Volumes 1 and 2 of Kenneth Hamilton Plays Liszt, and the next instalments of Hamilton's Stevenson and Chopin series.

Tracklist:

01. Prelude in B Minor, BWV 923
02. Now, O Now I Needs Must Part
03. Siciliano
04. Fantasy on the Irish Air "The Last Rose of Summer"
05. Irish Tune from County Derry
06. Widmung
07. Rosenkavalier Ramble
08. Colonial Song
09. "Voices of Spring" Waltz
10. In Smyrna in G Minor
11. Le Carnaval des Animaux, R.125: XIII. The Swan
12. Nocturne in Bb Major No. 4, Op. 16
13. Lullaby No. 1, Op. 16
14. Symphonic Metamorphosis on Johann Strauss's :Artist's Life: Waltz, Op. 316