Congratulations to PGR student Christopher Lewis on the release of his new CD with Naxos, of all French or French influenced music from the 20th century on a newly restored revival harpsichord from the 1930's under the Naxos label:

20th Century Harpsichord Music

'One of the pioneers of the 20th-century resurrection of interest in the harpsichord was the great virtuoso Wanda Landowska who assisted in the development of a harpsichord built by Pleyel of Paris. Performing on a 1930s Pleyel harpsichord, Christopher Lewis has chosen a programme of 20th-century works by French or French-based composers. Poulenc’s colourful Suite française is followed by Françaix’s exciting and previously unrecorded Deux Pièces. Martinů’s lyricism and intensity of expression can be heard in the Sonata and other pieces while Louis Durey’s piquant Dix Inventions is both a homage to Bach’s Two-Part Inventions and a work whose compositional technique is firmly rooted in the modern era'.

This joins a disc of harpsichord concertos released last year, and two further releases with Naxos are scheduled, one of the complete harpsichord works of American composer, Vincent Persichetti and another (linked to his PhD work here) of modern British harpsichord compositions, from a CDA-funded project sponsored by both The National Trust.

Find out more here:

http://www.naxos.com/person/Christopher_D__Lewis/196899.htm

www.christopherlewis.net

www.twitter.com/NewHarpsichord

Music Postgraduate Research Student Successes

Congratulations to Music postgraduate research student Anna Borg Cardona , whose book Musical Instruments of the Maltese Islands: History, Folkways and Traditions (Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, 2014) has been shortlisted for the National Book Prize for 2015 by the National Book Council of Malta.

Anna’s book will be featured along with other shortlisted publications at the upcoming Malta Book Festival in Valetta, November 4-8. More about the book here ; announcement of the finalist in the National Book Prize will happen in December. Congratulations Anna!

Many congratulations to Music PGR students Marcello Mazzetti and Livio Ticli for appearance of a new publication in Rivista internazionale di musica sacra 36 (2015):

Maria Chiara Di Gregorio, Marcello Mazzetti & Livio Ticli, Canto fermo, fratto e figurato in Piemonte nel XIX secolo: il Codex Musicalis Blanderatensis e l’MP.1 della collezione privata Mazzetti-Ticli