Review of Pieces for Pianists Volume Two from Fanfare
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by ericcravencomposer
2y ago
It is six months since “Pieces for Pianists Volume Two ” was released by Divine Art under the Metier Label. And unusually, inexplicably, there has been an absence of reviews both in the USA and in the UK. Until now. The Author is Ken Meltzer who writes reviews for Fanfare magazine which is a bimonthly publication based in New Jersey. Its main purpose is to review recorded classical music. Mr. Meltzer also wrote a most generous review for Pieces for Pianists Volume One which you can read by scrolling through to my more recent blog entries. He kindly states that Pieces for Pianists Volume Two “o ..read more
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Review: Records International
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by Peter
3y ago
Pieces For Pianists Vol. 1 Reviewed by Records International – February 2021 Catalogue “…an attractive set of short pieces…” Knowing nothing of the background to these works, the listener would hear them as an attractive set of short pieces with something of the character of studies, not by any means approaching transcendental levels of virtuosity in the manner of innumerable cycles of concert Études since Chopin, broadly tonal in harmony but not following any sequence of key centres. Their apparent simplicity puts them somewhat in the general area of Howard Skempton. As a prospective purchase ..read more
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Review: “Lovely Piano Miniatures”
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by ericcravencomposer
3y ago
Pieces For Pianists Vol. 1 4.0 out of 5 stars Ken Meltzer (Program Annotator at Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2021 Eric Craven’s lovely piano miniatures, beautifully performed by Mary Dullea This is the third release on the Métier label of piano music by the English composer Eric Craven to be reviewed in Fanfare. A recording of Craven’s Piano Sonatas Nos. 7-9 were reviewed by Peter Burwasser, Carson Cooman, and Maria Nockin in Issue 38:3 (Jan/Feb 2015). Peter J. Rabinowitz reviewed the composer’s Entangled States in 42:2 (Nov/Dec 2018). The pianist for ..read more
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Review: “A Great Discovery!”
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by Peter
3y ago
Pieces For Pianists Vol. 1 5.0 out of 5 stars John Pitt (New Classics) Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2021 A great discovery! For most of his life Eric Craven has kept a very low profile, concentrating on his teaching career and quietly developing his ‘non-prescriptive’ composing method, a sort of aleatory style but which allows the performer varying degrees of freedom. His earlier cycle of short pieces, ‘SET FOR PIANO”, was recorded after Craven was persuaded by leading pianists to make his work available. Highly praised, that technique is shown again to great effect in the ‘Pi ..read more
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A Brief Candle
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by ericcravencomposer
3y ago
This is probably the shortest review ever devised by woman. It is written by Stephanie Boyd from American Record Guide, which is America’s oldest classical music review magazine founded in 1935. It says of itself “Independence is a guiding principle: in an industry dominated by advertising, ARG remains free of advertiser influence which results in few ads and no puff pieces for record labels or artists” It is so short that, unusually, I am including it in its entirety in this blog post. MSV 28610 Pieces for Pianists, 1 Quirky and upbeat, these mesmerizing works by composer Eric Craven are tona ..read more
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Gapplegate Classical – Modern Music Review
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by ericcravencomposer
3y ago
Praise indeed for Pieces, plaudits for the pianist. This review is by Grego Applegate Edwards who describes himself as a writer, musician, composer and editor. For many years he wrote articles for Cadence which is a periodical covering jazz and impro. He runs three blogs which together appear to cover most genres and styles of music from the Late Romantic to the Post Modern music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He states that his combined blogs and reviews number over 3,000. Unusually, refreshingly, he selects music that he likes and as a result there is non of the “music from hell” repor ..read more
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First Review of Pieces for Pianists Vol. 1
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by ericcravencomposer
3y ago
New Classics is a busy and dynamic organisation. Its areas of activity are many and include reviews of CDs, books, DVDs and Blue-Ray film releases. The music they review ranges from country and rock to jazz, blues, opera and classical. DVDs on review include television, music and films from Box Office movie hits to film noir and classics. I am impressed with that eclectic diversity of genres. Their latest reviews include Pieces of Pianists Vol. 1. Much of the review has been mined from the CD booklet but John Pitt, the author, has to get his information from somewhere. Where better to go? This ..read more
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The Release of Pieces for Pianists. Vol. 1
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by ericcravencomposer
3y ago
Pieces for Pianists Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 was recorded at the Menuhin Hall, Surrey in December 2019. The backdrop to the recording was heavy incessant rain, fields becoming lakes and roads and motorways closed because of flooding. The world was swathed in a blanket of thick, grey, lowering cloud, the landscape rendered colourless. Going anywhere was difficult yet Mary Dullea, Adaq Khan and myself somehow managed to convene and over two days of intense work record 50 pieces, 25 for each volume. If you visit my blogsite and go to “The Making of Pieces for Pianists” you will read in detail about the ..read more
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The Making of Pieces for Pianists.
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by ericcravencomposer
4y ago
Despite the fearsome Covid-19 viral strain having such a catastrophic effect upon the fabric of normalcy, this dystopian nightmare having such appalling consequences, my fabulously talented team are making good progress in regard to this complex project. I have the most gifted, talented group of people who are contributing, using their own fields of expertise, towards the completion of two CDs and their associated printed music. Allow me to make some introductions: Adaq Khan is a London based sound engineer and producer. He is rapidly making for himself a reputation as one of the oountry’s lea ..read more
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Music for Pianists (Vols 1 and 2) 2016 – 19
Eric Craven | Music Composer's Blog
by ericcravencomposer
4y ago
Manchester Grammar School 2017. Anthony Goldstone’s alma mata. A wonderful, celebratory concert dedicated to the memory and sad loss of this supremely talented, forever modest pianist. His repertoire could only be described as eclectic. He once hand copied for me a simple beautiful piece by Manos Hadjidakis, “Conversations for a Little White Sea Shell”. I still play that piece from his manuscript and am always beguiled by its melodic appeal, simplicity and cultural nuance. Go on to include composers such as Messiaen, Mussorgsky, Mozart inter alia and you begin to understand just how diverse hi ..read more
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