Tag Archives: Paul Spicer

On Record – Matthew Schellhorn – Odd Sympathies (First Hand Records)

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Matthew Schellhorn (piano)

Thurlow The Will of the Tones (2004)
Bussey Floreat Coll. Reg. (2021)
Burrell Pentecost (2017)
Homage to Haydn (2009) by Tim Watts, Colin Riley, Cecilia McDowall, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Michael Zev Gordon and Jeremy Thurlow
Riley Joplin Jigsaws (2018)
Percy Chop and Change (2018)
Spicer Two Pieces for James (2010)
Briggs Willows and Jitterbug (2014)

First Hand Records FHR181 [83’03”]
Producer Simon Weir Engineer Ben Connellan

Recorded 2-4 December 2022 at Menuhin Hall, Stoke d’Abernon, Surrey

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

First Hand Records issues this latest recital from Matthew Schellhorn, a collection of pieces by present-day composers with whom he has collaborated (often extensively) that amounts to an inclusive overview of his musical preoccupations and sympathies – odd or otherwise.

What’s the music like?

This album opens at the beginning with Schellhorn’s first-ever commission – a scintillating while demanding workout by Jeremy Thurlow that wrests musical cohesion out of pianistic fragmentation prior to its subtly conclusive coda. By contrast, Martin Bussey contributes a brace of pieces drawing repose from a tribute to author Philip Radcliffe and a lively coranto with that to conductor Philip Ledger. Diana Burrell’s work is the most substantial, utilizing the plainchant Veni Sancte Spiritus as cantus firmus for this three-movement sequence – the opening one a little too discursive in its unfolding, but the central panel distilling meditative calm then the finale building to a powerful apotheosis before subsiding into limpid serenity. Very different in every sense, those pieces – intended to be played in the order here – written to commemorate the bicentenary of Haydn’s death seem no less revealing of the personas of their respective writers; an anthology saying much about how this totemic figure is regarded by a representative sextet of British composers with notably different idioms and aesthetics.

One of these pieces being by Colin Riley duly leads into his own commission – six brief yet resourceful pieces taking their cue from four distinct rags by Scott Joplin: suffice to add that these latter can feel more oblique in their allusions than their anagrams. The work by Robert Percy started out very differently from that heard here – Schellhorn and its composer having refashioned it into a sequence of mobiles (eight out of a potential 10 included) fastidious of texture and elusive in content: there being evidently more than 40,000 possible permutations at least means it need never sound the same way twice. There could be nothing less arbitrary than birthday-tributes to the Reverend James Potts by Paul Spicer, a lively jaunt followed by a pensive pavane that underlines the love of both composer and recipient for the clavichord miniatures by Herbert Howells. Finally to Roger Briggs, American composer whose are the only pieces not commissioned by Schellhorn, but whose harmonic eloquence then rhythmic energy are gratefully seized on for what is a wholly apposite conclusion to this programme.

Does it all work?

Pretty much throughout. Listeners will inevitably prefer one or other composer to another, but there is no doubting the respect in which they hold Schellhorn, nor of the conviction which he brings to all this music. It helps that his instrument (not specified in the booklet) has been so faithfully captured, its tonal definition enhanced with the spacious surround-sound mix made possible by Dolby Atmos. All these pieces being first recordings, or at least first commercial recordings, means that a substantial amount of new piano repertoire is made available herein.

Is it recommended?

Indeed it is. Schellhorn contributes detailed and highly personable annotations, and one looks forward to more such anthologies from this source. No doubt he includes many of these pieces in his recitals, though there is no reason why other enterprising pianists should not follow suit.

Listen / Buy

You can explore purchase options at the First Hand Records website. Click on the name to read more about pianist Matthew Schellhorn

Published post no.2,896 – Sunday 24 May 2026

On record: Simon Callaghan: The Open Window – Sir George Dyson: Complete Music for Piano (Somm Recordings)

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Simon Callaghan (piano) *Clíodna Shanahan (piano)

Dyson
Concerto Leggiero (1951)*
The Open Window (1919)
Primrose Mount (1928)
Bach’s Birthday (1929)
Untitled Piano Piece (1890)
Six Lyrics (1920)
My Birthday (1924)
Twelve Easy Pieces (1952)
Prelude and Ballet (1925)
Epigrams (1920)
Three Wartime Epigrams (1920)
Four Twilight Preludes (1920)

Somm Recordings SOMMCD0622-2 [101’58”]
Producer Siva Oke
Engineer Paul Arden-Taylor

Recorded 17-18 January 2020 The Menuhin Hall, Stoke d’Abernon, UK

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

As the cover suggests, this double album gives us the complete music for piano of Sir George Dyson, including five world premiere recordings ranging from the first piece the composer wrote at the age of seven to a two-piano version of Concerto Leggero, a substantial three-movement work for piano and orchestra completed in 1951.

Paul Spicer, the composer’s biographer, contributes a wonderful booklet note telling the story of Dyson’s life and highlighting the importance of the house piano, brought by Dyson’s parents to encourage his obvious gift for musical in the midst of an impoverished upbringing. It is rather moving to read of the composer’s progression through these years, the piano by his side at every turn.

What’s the music like?

The album is beautifully programmed, taking the biggest piece first. The Concerto Leggiero has many harmonic sleights and twists and turns, especially through its first movement, to which Simon Callaghan and Clíodna Shanahan are alive. This is in complete contrast to the early Dyson piano pieces, which are little nuggets you might expect to encounter in early piano learning – but which have an emotional substance ensuring they last well beyond that sphere.

The Open Window itself is charming, with a softly undulating Field and Wood the first of its eight short movements. Dyson’s descriptions are often little picture postcards, such as the restless description of Swallows, but they frequently have an emotive core, found most poignantly in the closing Evensong. In the same way this short suite was written for young pianists to develop their prowess, the Six Lyrics offer the same opportunity through their melodic cells.

Dyson’s very first Untitled Piano Piece is also included, the seven-year old composer offering a bold attempt lasting just under a minute. At the other end of the scale the Epigrams are slightly shady but intense pockets of emotion, each one somehow finding the uncertainty of post-First World War Britain. The Four Twilight Preludes are disarmingly simple, too, elusive portraits that hang in the air and on occasion call Debussy’s music for children to mind. These small but meaningful pieces show the composer’s ability to bring emotion from what on the outside appears to be simple material.

Bach’s Birthday, meanwhile, shows the composer’s skill at working tight compositional procedures into his music. He uses fugues here in music of remarkable density and expression.

Does it all work?

Yes – because Simon Callaghan proves a very sympathetic interpreter, and the programming gives exactly the right balance of light and shade. Given with affection, it is a charming set of music that works as a pleasant background but is more substantial when listened to closely. Dyson is a composer who, in these piano pieces, packs a lot of meaning into short duration. The experience becomes even more rewarding when enjoyed with Paul Spicer’s commentary.

Is it recommended?

Yes. The Open Window fills a notable gap in the British piano music archive, and its support from the Sir George Dyson Trust has secured the completion of an important release. It tells us much more about a composer revered primarily for his choral and orchestral music, illustrating the intimacy he could find in his work. It also serves as a timely reminder of the rich tradition of keyboard music on these shores throughout the 20th century.

For further information on this release, visit the Somm Recordings website