The Asc

Mike Westbrook - Fields And Forms (2008) {Musica Jazz MJCD 1203}
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© 2008 Musica Jazz | MJCD 1203
Jazz / Modern Big Band / Contemporary Jazz / Progressive Jazz

Mike Westbrook formed his first band while studying painting at Plymouth Art School in 1958. He moved to London in 1962. His compositions range from large-scale works for jazz and classical ensembles, to music for radio, TV, theatre, opera, dance and cinema. He was awarded the OBE in 1988.

The Pasture & Storm Project brings together the composer Sadie Harrison, three pianists in Nicholas McCarthy, Sophia Benton and Tomáš Klement, the singer Peyee Chen, flautist Stephanie Gilbert, violinist Roger Huckle, and the Bristol Ensemble, conducted by John Pickard. The CD includes 8 new works written to celebrate the unique talents of the left-hand-only pianist.

There has been an upsurge of interest over recent years in Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's life and work, prompted both by her bicentenary in 2005 and a more general impulse to re-examine undervalued and neglected female artists. Those who have been exposed to even a fraction of her work may need no further encouragement to explore this new recording of a generous selection of her shorter piano works. But if this is unfamiliar territory, or if the music has been assumed to be sentimental and pretty drawing-room stuff, it might prove to be a rather surprising and exceptionally satisfying discovery.