Open Data Kit

Concert recording from the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth.

This “short diary (of loss)”, as drummer Sebastian Rochford calls it, is offered as “a sonic memory, created with love, out of need for comfort.” It is dedicated to Rochford’s father, Aberdeen poet Gerard Rochford, 1932-2019, and to his family. Seb, one of ten siblings, wrote most of the music shortly after Gerard’s death and delivers it here, in performances of deep feeling and hymn-like clarity, together with pianist Kit Downes. The final wistful piece, “Even Now I Think Of Her” was composed by Gerard Rochford. Sebastian explains: “It’s a tune my dad had sung into his phone and sent me. I forwarded this to Kit. He listened, and then we started.”

Bayreuth is not only the city of Richard Wagner, but also of his father-in-law Franz Liszt. Described by the New York Times as a brilliant pianist who combines musical maturity and youthful daring in his exceptional playing, Kit Armstrong performed at the famous Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, a masterpiece of Baroque theatre architecture, works by Wagner, Liszt and Mozart in a concert that was technically sophisticated - and poetically poignant. (Der Opernfreund) Alfred Brendel, who has guided Armstrong as teacher and mentor since 2005, ascribes to him an understanding of the great piano works that combines freshness and subtlety, emotion and intellect.