Aubade
Anthony Goldstone & Caroline Clemmow, pianos
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Aubade was composed during the summer of 1971. It is a fantasy and each section can be played separately or without a break. It is a substantial work lasting almost 40 minutes. About Eventide George Lloyd writes: "The little tune in this piece has a long history. When I was about ten years old I wrote it as a setting of a carol by my father. In 1950 my father used this poem in his libretto for our opera John Socman; at some point he told me that I had already had a tune for it and he thereupon produced a copy of my manuscript that he had made all those years ago. In 1989 I thought that Aubade might one day be recorded and that something complimentary might be needed, so I took the carol tune and worked it up into its present form. I also arranged it for brass band."
About The Road Through Samarkand Mr. Lloyd writes: "This work was originally written in 1972 as a solo piece for John Ogdon. Recently I arranged it as a duo for Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow. I think it sounds better for two pianos."
For those of you who are familiar with George Lloyd's music, you will need no introduction. For those of you who are not, suffice it to say here we have a disc of big, tuneful, Romantic piano music.
Reviews:
Here is an enticing collection of eclectic, always tuneful works, most attractively laid out for two pianos. The dream like Aubade, a suite of eight movements, is reminiscent of twentieth - century French music in its elegance and bursts of pianistic exuberance and is evocative and entertaining too. The boisterous Road through Samarkand written as a bravura solo piece for John Ogden and brilliantly expanded for the present performers, is a splashy and highly inventive toccata. In melodic terms, most memorable of all is Eventide, a youthful inspiration (originally intended as a carol) that has an engaging theme with variations ... that haunts the memory.
