We are delighted to announce the imminent release (1st March) of the next Toccata Classics Stephen Dodgson recording: three quintets performed by the Tippett Quartet, Emma Abbate (piano) and Susan Monks (cello). Piano Quintet No. 1 in C (1966) String Quintet (1986) Piano Quintet No. 2 (1999) These three quintets continue the exploration of his chamber music on Toccata Classics. Dodgson’s musical language inherited something of Shostakovich’s irony, Janáček’s spiky energy and Britten’s polished clarity, occasionally reaching further into the past in passages of Purcellian dignity, all animated with a gentle harmonic warmth of Dodgson’s own. The result, in a […]
On Wednesday, an intimate audience were treated to a beautiful performance of Stephen Dodgson’s Five Occasional Pieces at Emma Abbate and Evva Mizerska’s launch concert of their Toccata Classics recording of Dodgson cello and piano works. The performance was further enhanced by the elegant architecture of the St Margaret Pattens Church, a little gem of a church tucked away in the heart of the City of London. Alongside the Dodgson, Emma and Evva also performed Janáček’s Pohadka and Algernon Ashton’s Arioso which they have also recently recorded. Toccata’s Martin Anderson explained to us that Ashton, sadly forgotten but being gradually revived, wrote music […]
On the 3rd and 4th November, Lucian Plessner and the Philharmonisches Orchester Plauen-Zwickau performed Stephen Dodgson’s Concerto No. 2 for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra, a work very close to his heart. Here he tells us more about his experience and the back story of the concerto. “I don’t remember exactly which year the CBS Masterworks record featuring Stephen Dodgson’s 2nd guitar concerto was released with John Williams and the ECO under Sir Charles Groves. I asked Sony, but they couldn’t find out either. It must have been in the late 1970s or early ’80s. I do remember very clearly though […]
We are delighted to announce a new recording on the Naxos label – the first four sets of harpsichord Inventions by Stephen Dodgson. Professor Glen Wilson, who set up the project in collaboration with the Stephen Dodgson Charitable Trust, gives us an insight into the music, the performer and the process of setting up the recording Masterpieces performed by a master harpsichordist “A major step towards a wider dissemination of Stephen’s important corpus of harpsichord music was taken this September (2016) when the first four sets of his Inventions, 24 pieces in all, were recorded in Würzburg, Germany, by a brilliant […]
2015-16 sees Toccata Classics produce five new recordings of Stephen Dodgson chamber works. Below, Stephen’s widow, the harpsichordist Jane Clark Dodgson, gives her perspective on the music and the talented artists performing it. “It is very exciting for me, as Stephen Dodgson’s widow, to report that Toccata Classics will be releasing a series of recordings of his chamber music – which at the moment looks like being five albums. Allow me to outline what you can look forward to. The first of this series, just released, is of his music for cello and piano, played by Evva Mizerska and Emma […]
We are excited to announce the release of the complete works for cello and piano by Stephen Dodgson performed by cellist Evva Mizerska and pianist Emma Abbate, for whom several of the works were written. The works present Stephen’s musical personality in a nutshell. The style is direct but rich in allusion, from Purcell to Janáček, with a lively, sometimes brittle, sense of humour adding a Shostakovichian irony, all fused together in an elegant, individual voice. And the remarkable clarity of the instrumental textures underlines a strong sense of narrative, with the cello almost as a human voice, unfolding its […]
We’re thrilled to discover that Craig Ogden will be playing two movements from Stephen’s Partita No.1 on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune this Monday (3rd October) as part of Radio 3’s residency at the South Bank. Hear it in person at the Royal Festival Hall foyer or tune your ‘sets’ in at 4.30pm! Craig also performed two of Stephen’s partitas at the last Barnes Music Festival and will be performing Stephen’s ‘Watersmeet’ for solo guitar and guitar ensemble at the same festival on 24th March next year.
We at the Stephen Dodgson Charitable Trust are delighted to announce planned release of five new commercial recordings on the Toccata Classics label of works spanning Stephen Dodgson’s lifetime. The discs will be: 1. Complete works for cello and piano (played by cellist Evva Mizerska and pianist Emma Abbate) 2. String quintet and two piano quintets (played by the Tippett Quartet, cellist Susan Monks and pianist Emma Abbate) 3. Dodgson oboe collection including music for oboe and piano, oboe and harp, songs with oboe obbligato and the Cor Anglais Sonata featuring oboist James Turnbull (oboist) Robyn Allegra Parton (soprano), Eleanor Turner (harp) and […]
Star trumpeter Imogen Whitehead will be performing a movement from Stephen Dodgson’s Trumpet Concerto as part of a concert that launches ‘Connection’, her online album of works composed especially for her by a number of celebrated, renowned composers. She performs alongside pianist Jennifer Walsh in the version for piano. (The album version is the orchestral version performed with Britten Sinfonia.) The programme will include works by Sally Beamish, Roxanna Panufnik, Stephen Dodgson, Peter Maxwell Davies, Charlotte Harding, Andy Scott and Simon Hancock, as well as conversations with some of the composers. This will be an un-ticketed event. Donations will be welcome afterwards and a share of the proceeds[...]
Violinist Harriet Mackenzie and pianist Nikolai Medvedev perform Stephen Dodgson’s Five Occasional Pieces and Violin Sonata No. 1 in a concert that explores and celebrates works by English Masters. The pair are going on to record a complete album of Stephen Dodgson works this summer. Nikolai Medvedev – ”a mesmerizing combination of technical mastery and emotive depth” – Berliner Morgenpost Harriet Mackenzie “A knock-out from start to finish” – Guardian Programme: English Masters Dowland – Flow my Tears & Now Oh now Eccles – Mad Lover’s Suite, Ground (Aire V) Dodgson – Five Occasional Pieces Elgar – Chanson de Nuit Dodgson – Sonata No.[...]
On the eve of the longest day of the year, London chamber choir Vivamus present a special programme which celebrates light in all its forms, from pale morning rays to gleaming stars at night including Stephen Dodgson’s three-song cycle Canticle of the Sun. Beginning with Macmillan’s O Radiant Dawn, they explore musical manifestations of sunlight with Ešenvalds Rivers of Light, Dodgson’s Canticle of the Sun, and organ solo Lumière by Demessieux. Via Saari’s Sunset they then journey through dusk to the lights of the night sky, including piano solos Moon over Westminster by Bingham and Clair de Lune by Debussy, alongside Time, an original[...]
Violinist Harriet Mackenzie and pianist Nikolai Medvedev perform Stephen Dodgson’s Ten Variations & Violin Sonata No. 2 in a Berlin concert which sets the works aside those of other masters, Bach, Mozart and Grieg. The duo are also going on to record a complete album of Stephen Dodgson works this summer. Nikolai Medvedev – ”a mesmerizing combination of technical mastery and emotive depth” – Berliner Morgenpost Harriet Mackenzie “A knock-out from start to finish” – Guardian Programme JS Bach – Sonata in G major BWV 1021 Stephen Dodgson – Ten Variations Mozart – Sonata in E minor , no 21, K304 Stephen Dodgson – Sonata no. 2[...]
In a second German concert, violinist Harriet Mackenzie and pianist Nikolai Medvedev perform Stephen Dodgson’s Ten Variations & Violin Sonata No. 2 in Bamberg, setting the works aside those of other masters, Bach, Mozart and Grieg. The duo are also going on to record a complete album of Stephen Dodgson works this summer. Nikolai Medvedev – ”a mesmerizing combination of technical mastery and emotive depth” – Berliner Morgenpost Harriet Mackenzie “A knock-out from start to finish” – Guardian Programme JS Bach – Sonata in G major BWV 1021 Stephen Dodgson – Ten Variations Mozart – Sonata in E minor , no 21, K304 Stephen Dodgson – Sonata no. 2[...]