Sonoro sings with precision and produces a vibrant and sumptuous sound. Singers from the choir are well equipped to take solo parts. Dodgson's choice of texts is keen. His compositional style seems to resist categorization. This is a very well performed and recorded album.
A first-rate volume, carefully crafted to appeal to both the average music-lover and the professional seeking more detailed information, this immediately becomes the definitive handbook on its subject. For a volume of this size and extremely modest price, there is an especially generous provision of colour plates – all excellently reproduced – together with other illustrations, photographs and music examples. This is an essential purchase and should win the composer many friends.
Stephen Dodgson's was always elegantly crafted and often quietly memorable, too, usually in a broadly tonal language but always sounding fresh. Such is assuredly the case with a generously fill disc of Dodgson’s piano works. Osman Tack is a thoughtful pianist and he allows Dodgson’s music to unfold naturally, giving it time to breathe and never forcing the pace – exemplary performances and very well recorded.
A very accomplished and enjoyable album. Dodgson's deft, beautiful scores stand the test of time. Sonoro are on marvellously pliant and virtuosic form. Performed with real commitment throughout, this is altogether a commendable selection that shines a welcome light on Dodgson’s appealing and engaging music.
Eight Fanciful Pieces are quite charming, with an air of impressionism about them. In Three Impromptus, we discover a more original and challenging mind at work. The Allegro is dramatic and quirky, one might say. The Andante semplice in 6/8 time is unpredictable, so it readily holds one’s attention. The ‘staccato-like dance’ of the Allegretto finale has touches of bi-tonality, wit and humour. Osman Tack brings it out wonderfully. Dodgson composed the Six Bagatelles when he was in his early 80s. This is a fascinating, mature and confident language. A very well filled disc.
It has been a pleasure to encounter this third issue of his music from the confident and enterprising chamber choir, Sonoro. Dodgson’s scores are assured and individual, while being somewhat akin to Leighton (especially in the writing for organ) or late Howells, and the superb settings of Coleridge and Herrick undoubtedly deserve far greater dissemination.
Pianist Osman Tack finds plenty of character in the charming ‘Eight Fanciful Preludes’ (1956), I enjoyed the zany ‘Crazy Kate’ and the limping off-kilter ‘Il Zoppo’ (‘The Cripple’). The ‘Four Moods of the Wind Suite’ (1968) is impressionistic, while the ‘Six Bagatelles’ Set 2 (1998-2005) are occasionally dark and disturbing. The ‘Three Impromptus’ (1962, revised 1985) and Piano Sonata No.7 (2003) exhibit Dodgson’s quirky tonal style, the type once called “wrong-note romanticism”. The recording, made at Potton Hall, is clear, spacious and impressively life-like.
We're delighted to announce the release today of new recording Canticle of the Sun on the SOMM label. The performances are given by the chamber choir Sonoro, one of the UK’s foremost vocal ensembles. The selection of works, all of them first recordings, reveals in Dodgson a genuine composer for voices – one of abundant gifts, and special among them a sensitive approach to word-setting.
Stephen Dodgson was an accomplished and highly professional composer. The demands of his solo music for piano make it clear that he had a complete understanding of the instrument’s potential. And he unfailingly maintains the listener’s interest. Robert Matthew-Walker’s excellent notes guide the listener through this wide selection and Osman Tack is the very accomplished pianist who has complete mastery of the formidable technical difficulties, and the challenging emotional landscape, occupied by this music.
The Outcry Ensemble, English Voices and Pegasus choir perform Stephen Dodgson’s full-scale Te Deum alongside Copland’s Music for a Great City, Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast in a truly memorable and epic concert at St John’s Smith Square. Directed by James Henshaw and comprised of young, exceptionally skilled professionals poised to become the next generation of global orchestral leaders, The Outcry Ensemble brings together vibrant energy and captivating performances. Their repertoire programming strikes a balance between cherished classical works and new compositions commissioned from emerging composers. Programme Britten – A Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra[...]
Baritone Jon Stainsby, clarinettist Jernej Albreht and string orchestra Concordium present Stephen Dodgson’s vividly autumnal and darkly quirky cantata Last of the Leaves alongside Gerald Finzi’s clarinet concerto and Leoš Janáček’ Suite for Strings, under the baton of Lucy Goddard. Last of the Leaves sets four poems by Austin Dobson, Ernest Rhys, G.K. Chesterton and Harold Monro with prevailing themes of mortality intertwined with or depicted by nature and country life. Programme Janáček – Suite for Strings Dodgson – Last of the Leaves – Cantata for Bass, Clarinet & Strings The Rose and the Gardener (Austin Dobson) The Leaf Burners (Ernest Rhys) The Donkey (G.K. Chesterton) At a Country Dance in Provence[...]
The Magnard Ensemble and a cast of soloists perform Stephen Dodgson’s short chamber opera Cadilly alongside his Sonata for Wind Quintet at Conway Hall. Cadilly, based on one of the Tales from the Fens by W. H. Barrett, tells the story of a beautiful woman and ‘willing maid’ who is loved by the scholars, their tutors and the townsmen alike but jailed for ‘immoral behaviour’! A vibrant and comic piece. Programme Dodgson – Sonata Gipps – The Lady of the Lambs Vaughan Williams – Ten Blake Songs for Soprano and Oboe Arnold – Three Shanties Dodgson – Cadilly Pre-concert talk – 5.30pm Concert – 6.30pm Tickets will be available via[...]
The Outcry Ensemble and English Voices perform Stephen Dodgson’s full-scale upper-voice Hymn Harmony at St John’s Smith Square alongside other works by Gibbons, Vaughan Williams and Coleridge-Taylor. The evening constitutes the final concert of their ‘Music for a Great City’ series, which explores the essence of a city as portrayed through its music, its history, its people and their perpetual sense of spirit through a rich variety of pieces. Directed by James Henshaw and comprised of young, exceptionally skilled professionals poised to become the next generation of global orchestral leaders, The Outcry Ensemble brings together vibrant energy and captivating performances. Their repertoire programming[...]
The much admired wind group the Magnard Ensemble return to Luton with a programme particularly featuring Stephen Dodgson’s Promenade No.2. Richard Sisson (Chair of Luton Music): ‘Stephen was for many years associated with Luton Music, generously giving his time to serve as a Vice-president. 2024 is the centenary of his birth and it is an honour to programme this fine piece in his memory.’ Programme Sergei Rachmaninov (arr. McDermid) – Prelude in E flat Major Op 23 No.6 Martin Butler – Down-Hollow Winds Stephen Dodgson – Promenade No.2 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (arr. Shiner) – Rondo in A minor K511 Samuel Barber – Summer[...]