Kenneth Aveger

Prima Facie presents Salon and Stage, the second volume of Kenneth Hamilton's internationally acclaimed Liszt series. In contrast to the first album, Death and Transfiguration, this recording offers a life-enhancing selection of virtuoso transcriptions from song and opera. But it happily shares with its predecessor Hamilton's passion for these pieces. He has sought out Liszt's oft-ignored recommendations on their interpretation and studied the reminiscences and recordings of his students. He has, in effect, tried to think like a Liszt pupil, and to immerse himself in a performance tradition that goes well beyond the printed text.

Kenneth Gilbert's vital rhythmic sense and love of refinement are qualities which can be strongly felt throughout this set.

Although not quite at the level of profundity of his teacher Gustav Leonhardt's recording, Kenneth Gilbert's 1983 recording of Book 1 of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier does have a style and polish that Leonhardt's too often lacked. Thus, while Leonhardt goes further into some of the minor-key fugues to find intellectual and spiritual depths that Gilbert does not plumb, Gilbert's playing is so much more elegant and graceful than Leonhardt's that it is difficult to choose between them. For listeners who approach The Well-Tempered Clavier as a volume of virtuoso works whose success depends on the effortless refinement of the player, the Gilbert, with its superbly remastered sound, will be the one to get. For listeners who approach The Well-Tempered Clavier as a volume of prayers written as preludes and fugues, the Leonhardt will be preferable. Both are superb and both belong in any Bach collection.

Cui, a member of the original Russian 'Five', was a dedicated encourager of the other members of the group (and indeed of all living Russian composers) to aim at less imitation of the West; and instead to write, without inhibition, more obviously independent Russian-style music. Nevertheless, he seemed to exempt himself from the encouragement, tending to write his own music in a pretty well accepted western European mould.

This is a superb recording of the Two-Part and Sinfonias (Three-Part Inventions) of Johann Sebastian Bach. Kenneth Gilbert is a wonderful interpreter of Bach's keyboard music and in this recording plays an instrument made in 1671 by Jan Couchet that was subsequently enlarged in 1778. The Two-Part Inventions and Sinfonias consist of 15 parts; they were written as technical exercises and as composition demonstration pieces originally for his son Wilhelm Friedemann. The various pieces were probably written separately and were gathered together by Bach in major/minor key sequence and published in 1723. The recording is clear and well balanced. Kenneth Gilbert plays beautifully; the music is lively without being ostentatious.

The Art of Fugue or 'complete practical fugal work', as C. P. E. Bach described his father's giant contrapuntal achievement, is well represented in the current recording catalogue. The approaches to it vary considerably with performances on solo keyboard—harpsichord and organ—and mixed ensembles with markedly different shades of instrument colour. Varied too, is the sequence in which the performers play the fugal parts which comprise the whole. Some complete the final fugue, some do not; some find a place for all the pieces included in the posthumous original edition of 1751, others have given reasons for omitting those which seem not to play a directly relevant part in Bach's scheme. Kenneth Gilbert leads us down another fascinating path his performance on a solo harpsichord follows not the 1751 printed edition but Bach's own autograph material differing from the other both in content and layout.

Although familiar with the Art of Fugue for much of my life, I did not set about learning it in its entirety until 2020. When Covid-19 put all concert life on hold, like my fellow musicians, I was left homebound with an ever increasing calendar of cancellations; my first Art of Fugue recital was the one I mourned the most. I took advantage of the time of seclusion to immerse myself in the work. Day after day, I turned to it for comfort, for inspiration and for connection in an unsure world. To be in constant awe at Bach’s limitless imagination and skill while challenging myself to hear - really hear - all that was going on, elevated my mood and gave me great joy. It was an act of devotion. I cherish the memory of it.

From 1990 to 1993 Kenneth Weiss was Musical Assistant to William Christie at Les Arts Florissants. He has since focused on harpsichord recitals and Baroque chamber music performing in numerous festivals and concert halls around the world. Kenneth Weiss performs as a soloist with Europa Galante, direction Fabio Biondi, and the Collegium Vocal Gent directed by Philippe Herreweghe, and since 2005 has been giving Bach recitals with Fabio Biondi, including concerts at the Aix en Provence Festival and the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris.

“Movement” is a work based on various piano sketches by Kenneth Kirschner, which Orphax edited, added synthesizer and organ, and mixed. The title “Movement” for this work comes with the idea that the music is continuously moving and never really stands still. It is also a reference to classical music, where a composition can be built up from different movements. This work has something similar, and consists of 5 different movements coming from multiple piano sketches (often combined).