Pianist Kenneth Hamilton has championed the music of his teacher, composer Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015), and his first release of Stevenson's music (Kenneth Hamilton Plays Ronald Stevenson, Vol. 1) gained widespread attention in Germany and North America as well as in Britain. Stevenson's music uses stylistic elements from the past, and his music fell into disfavor with the modernist claque. In Hamilton's hands, however, it's clear that there's not a bit of nostalgia or neo-Romanticism in Stevenson's music. Yes, he refers ...
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Pianist Kenneth Hamilton has championed the music of his teacher, composer Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015), and his first release of Stevenson's music (Kenneth Hamilton Plays Ronald Stevenson, Vol. 1) gained widespread attention in Germany and North America as well as in Britain. Stevenson's music uses stylistic elements from the past, and his music fell into disfavor with the modernist claque. In Hamilton's hands, however, it's clear that there's not a bit of nostalgia or neo-Romanticism in Stevenson's music. Yes, he refers to composers of the past, from Purcell to Shostakovich, but that range itself should show you that Stevenson has not simply found a comfortable niche and inhabited it. He's been called the Liszt of Scotland, but Busoni, or even Bartók, would be a closer comparison. The latter name is relevant to the program here, which involves various uses of Scottish folk music. Sample the fascinating little Barra Flyting Toccata (a "flyting" is a rhyming competition, in this case, one held in...
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