Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, one of the foremost composers of our time, crowns our New Brandenburg commissioning project. His installment is based on Bach’s Brandenburg No. 5—a tour de force for keyboardists. The revered Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt is featured on an original Bach masterwork, the Concerto for Piano and Strings No. 1. The music of Bach and Maxwell Davies is framed by two Orpheus favorites— we’ll show off our strings on Stravinsky’s “Basel Concerto”, and everyone will leave humming the lush melodies of Dvorák’s buoyant Serenade for Strings.
About Angela Hewitt:
Angela Hewitt is a phenomenal artist who has established herself at the highest level, not least through her superb, award-winning recordings for Hyperion. Completed in 2005, her eleven-year project to record all the major keyboard works of Bach has been described as “one of the record glories of our age” (The Sunday Times) and has won her a huge following. Angela has performed throughout North America and Europe as well as in Japan, Israel, China, and the former Soviet Union. Born into a musical family, Angela was nine when she gave her first recital at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, where she later studied. The winner of numerous awards, Angela has taken top honors at the Toronto International Bach Piano Competition and was named Gramophone Artist of the Year in 2006.
About Christopher Taylor:
Among his generation of pianists, Christopher Taylor stands out as an innovative musician with a diverse array of talents and interests. During the past few years he has appeared regularly in many important concert halls and developed a loyal following throughout the United States and abroad; critics hail him as “one of the most impressive young pianists on the horizon today” (The Washington Post) and “frighteningly talented” (The New York Times). He is known for a passionate advocacy of music written in the past 100 years — Messiaen, Ligeti, and Bolcom figure prominently in his performances — but his repertoire spans four centuries and includes the complete Beethoven sonatas, the Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and a multitude of other familiar masterworks. Whatever the genre or era of the composition, Mr. Taylor brings to it an active imagination and intellect coupled with heartfelt intensity and grace.
Listen:
Purchase Angela Hewitt's recording of Bach concerti including BWV 1044, 1050, 1052 & 1058.
Purchase Orpheus' Grammy Award-winning album of Stravinsky Miniatures : Shadow Dances.
Purchase Orpheus' recording of Dvorak's Serenades for Strings and Winds.