NEW
YORK (www.johnkersey.org) - The first thirty-five world premi�re
recordings in John Kersey's "Romantic Discoveries" project are now
available in Mp3 format. They feature composers including the reclusive
genius Charles-Valentin Alkan, now attracting wide attention from the
musical community, as well as Samuel
Sebastian Wesley, best known for
his sacred music, Chopin pupil Ignace Xavier Joseph Le�bach, and noted
pianist-composers Brinley Richards, Sydney Smith, Wilhelm Kuhe, Stephen
Heller and Edward Rimbault, to name but a few.
Kersey has
decided to issue these recordings as part of his mission to make this
music better-known, and as the outcome of his long-standing research
into this area. "These pieces are superbly melodic, entertaining and
wonderfully-written for the instrument," he says. "Their composers
wrote to provide accessible, enjoyable music for a wide audience, which
fulfils its purpose as well today as when it was first performed."
Prominent
in the series are hitherto unrecorded early works by Charles Valentin
Alkan which directly point the way to the "orchestral" piano style of
his mature years. Then there are operatic paraphrases by Ketterer,
Le�bach and others that provide a valuable context for understanding
the work in those genres by Liszt and Thalberg. "The nineteenth-century
saw an amazing flowering of virtuoso composition for the piano, and it
is right that we should now be rediscovering it," says Kersey, who has
made a specialism of performing this music in concerts and
lecture-recitals.
Kersey believes that the
Internet is now the
most immediate way to get the music he cares about to people who want
to hear it. "We've seen artists in popular music make increasing use of
the internet to release new material, and I think it's natural that a
classical artist should turn to that medium in search of a worldwide
audience. And when people find they like what they're hearing, it's
logical that they should become interested in experiencing that music
in live performance and helping to further the project in other ways."
The
last major revival of interest in this repertoire occurred in the
1970s, when pianists such as Michael Ponti and Raymond Lewenthal
recorded then-obscure works as part of the so-called "Romantic Revival"
movement. "Rediscovering this music is a labour of love," says Kersey.
"I remember the first time I listened to Michael Ponti's disc of the
Henselt Piano Concerto. The recording quality was less than wonderful,
but the interest of the repertoire and the commitment of the playing
shone through. And this was a work I would never have had the chance to
hear otherwise. I want to give others the chance to experience the same
thrill of discovery that I feel when I revive a piece of music that
perhaps hasn't been publically performed for a hundred years or more.
As feelings go, you can't beat it."
About John Kersey:
John
Kersey graduated with a First and a dozen awards as the top pianist of
his year from the Royal College of Music, London, where he was later
elected a
Junior Fellow. Since his d�but at London's Purcell Room aged
seventeen, he has performed widely as soloist and collaborative artist,
and has also been active as a music critic, lecturer and
educationalist. He was the first British winner of the Medal of Honour
for Science and Art of the Austrian Albert Schweitzer Society and the
Friedrich Silcher Medal in Bronze (Germany), and in 2003 was knighted
by the Hungarian state in recognition of his services to music and
education. He has received numerous awards from music colleges and
universities.
The "Romantic Discoveries" archive may be accessed on the
Internet at
https://www.johnkersey.org/mp3s.html
