• Tracks

SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce the release of Gardens, Fables, Prisons, Dreams, eight first recordings of music by 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 Lambeth 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 (violin) 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 (Boydell Press, 2010), the standard reference book on performing his music. Thwaites' previous SOMM releases include the concert version of her musical co-written with Alan Thornhill, Ride! Ride! (SOMMCD 017), featuring Keith Michell as the 18th-century religious and social reformer John Wesley, lauded by Gramophone as "a compelling aural drama". Choral Music and Songs (SOMMCD 0612) with Ex Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore and soloists Carolyn Sampson, James Gilchrist and William Dazeley, was enthusiastically reviewed, Classical Music declaring "the variety is remarkable", The Classic Review hailing it "intriguing and original".