Pénélope Thwaites, Benjamin Frith, Tippett Quartet – Gardens, Fables, Prisons, Dreams (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

SOMM is delighted to announce the release of Gardens, Fables, Prisons, Dreams, eight first recordings of chamber music by composer Penelope Thwaites paying homage to “the heroes, the witty wordsmiths, the dancers, the poets and the visionaries, and two great composers” who have influenced her musical life. Thwaites is joined by fellow pianist Benjamin Frith for the exuberant six-part A Lamberth Garland, the enchanting eight-part retelling of Oscar Wilde’s fable The Selfish Giant and Thwaites’ arrangement of Delius’s In a Summer Garden, the first to be made for two pianos. She is heard with John Mills (viiolin) and Bozidar Vukotic (cello) on Vijay’s Fable, drawn from her culture-fusing score for Indian choreographer Vijaylakshmi Subramaniam, and the atmospheric Mazurka: Au Tombeau de Chopin. The Tippett Quartet contribute three memorable performances; Jan Palach’s Theme, recalling the self-immolating student protestor against the Soviet Union’s 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia; For Irina, a tribute to dissident Russian poet Irina Ratushinskaya who survived imprisonment but died of cancer in 2017; and with double bassist Laurence Ungless for To the Hills, a string quintet version of Thwaites’ earlier choral setting of Psalm 121. Since her 1974 London debut at Wigmore Hall, she has performed in more than 30 countries, and is internationally known as an acclaimed pianist and editor of The New Percy Grainger Companion, the standard reference book on performing his music.

Tracklist:
1-01. Tippett Quartet – Jan Palach’s Theme (02:45)
1-02. Pénélope Thwaites – A Lambeth Garland: I. The Lambeth Waltz (01:43)
1-03. Pénélope Thwaites – A Lambeth Garland: II. A Gardener’s Song (02:13)
1-04. Pénélope Thwaites – A Lambeth Garland: III. Song of a Scotsman (02:22)
1-05. Pénélope Thwaites – A Lambeth Garland: IV. An English Rose (01:42)
1-06. Pénélope Thwaites – A Lambeth Garland: V. The Wildlife Garden (01:14)
1-07. Pénélope Thwaites – A Lambeth Garland: VI. Reprise: The Lambeth Waltz (01:44)
1-08. Pénélope Thwaites – Vijay’s Fable (04:16)
1-09. Pénélope Thwaites – Mazurka: Au Tombeau de Chopin (06:04)
1-10. Pénélope Thwaites – In a Summer Garden: (Arr. for Two Pianos by Penelope Thwaites) (11:29)
1-11. Tippett Quartet – For Irina (07:46)
1-12. Tippett Quartet – To the Hills (03:16)
1-13. Pénélope Thwaites – The Selfish Giant: I. Overture (01:44)
1-14. Pénélope Thwaites – The Selfish Giant: II. Children’s Dance and Games (02:08)
1-15. Pénélope Thwaites – The Selfish Giant: III. The Chase (00:41)
1-16. Pénélope Thwaites – The Selfish Giant: IV. Giant’s Dance (02:00)
1-17. Pénélope Thwaites – The Selfish Giant: V. Frost, Wind and Snow (02:45)
1-18. Pénélope Thwaites – The Selfish Giant: VI. Spring and the Little Boy (02:50)
1-19. Pénélope Thwaites – The Selfish Giant: VII. Celebration Dance (01:45)
1-20. Pénélope Thwaites – The Selfish Giant: VIII. Evening Dance (04:35)