SOME PEFORMANCES AND RECORDINGS

Peter Dickinson on Naxos

1. Complete Solo Organ Works - Naxos 8.572169

Jennifer Bate, organs of St John's Duncan Terrace; St. James' Muswell Hill; St Dominic's Priory, London

'Exuberant, ebullient absorption of blues and rag...The disc is a fine birthday tribute to a composer who has escaped the confines of the predictable without ever ceasing to communicate'. Arnold Whittall in the Gramophone, July 2009

2. Apocalypse – Larkin – Forgeries - Naxos 8.572287

Mass of the Apocalypse – St James' Singers/Ivor Bolton

Larkin's Jazz – Nash Ensemble/Lionel Friend

Five Forgeries for piano duet – John Flinders and Peter Dickinson

Flute pieces with Duke Dobing

3. Peter Dickinson Piano Music - Naxos 8.572654

Peter Dickinson, piano

Wild Rose Rag; Blue Rose; Paraphrase II; Concerto Rag; Quartet Rag; Vitalitas Variations; Three Satie Transformations; Bach in Blue; Hymn-Tune Rag; Patriotic Rag; Four Piano Blues; Five Diversions

'Mr Dickinson is a wonderful pianist and the recordings (some of which had appeared earlier on Conifer or Albany) sound great.' Haskins in American Record Guide, November/December 2011

Peter Dickinson on Heritage 2011/14

1. A Tribute to Ralph Holmes (violin) - Bartok solo sonata; Holmes and Dickinson in Beethoven: Spring Sonata; Bax; Sonata No. 3; and Delius: Lullaby for a Modern Baby - Heritage HTGCD 228

'Beethoven's ever-delightful Spring Sonata receives a shapely and incisive performance...a performance to treasure...Holmes' interpretation of [the Bartok] is heroic, intense and insightful...to complete a very welcome and recommendable release'. Colin Anderson in www.classicalsource.com Ltd, 3 January 2012

'In Holmes' and Dickinson's hands Beethoven's evergreen (most popular) Spring Sonata has an invigorating spontaneity and currents of burgeoning growth. It's the equal of any recording from within the ranks of the elect'. Howard Smith in Music and Vision, 28 August 2012

2. American Song with Meriel Dickinson (mezzo) Heritage HTGCD 228

Reissue of Unicorn LP American Anthology [see discography] plus Copland: nine of Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson.

'Meriel Dickinson's mezzo is in fine fettle, and she thrillingly embraces the stylistic extremes of Copland's ecstatic 'Going to Heaven' and the eccentric speech-song of Virgil Thomson's Portrait of FB..' Paul Driver in The Sunday Times Culture, 6 May 2012.

3. British Song with Meriel Dickinson (mezzo) Heritage HTGCD 240

'...it is not just out of nostalgia that these recordings can be strongly recommended: the technical invention, expressive range and abiding appeal of the music are all considerable. Moreover, the performances consistently remind you what fine advocates for living composers the Dickinsons have been down the years.' Peter Palmer in Tempo, April 2013.

4. Blue Clavichord with the Verdehr Trio, Jane Chapman (harpsichord), John Turner (recorder), Heritage HTGCD 259

Includes twentieth-century clavichord music by Alun Hoddinott, Alan Ridout, Ellington and Dickinson; works for recorder and piano by Jeremy Dale Roberts and Dickinson

'Peter Dickinson must love his clavichord and its ability to bend opitches, because the music he writesd and arranges for it is so vibrant and joyful, as are his performances throughout this release...A disc packed with unusual delights, well worth hearing.' Jed Distler in the Gramophone, January 2014.

5. The Judas Tree: a Musical Drama of Judas Iscariot [Thomas Blackburn] Heritage HTGCD 263

The Washington National Cathedral production of 1967 under Richard Dirksen

‘The most compelling and deeply considered religious work to come my way since Britten's War Requiem'  THE TIMES (LONDON)

 ‘By far the most powerful religious drama which I have seen in the Fringe since the Edinburgh Festival began’ THE SCOTSMAN

 ‘Peter Dickinson and Thomas Blackburn have made a powerful impact on the worlds of music and drama with The Judas Tree. Although the compositional techniques are diverse they…succeed in presenting a strong and unified expression of personality always in control of the moment’          MUSIC AND MUSICIANS

6. THREE CONCERTOS AND MERSEYSIDE ECHOES Heritage HTGCD 276

Peter Dickinson’s three concertos form the core of his large-scale works. The Organ Concerto came first and was written for Simon Preston: the Piano Concerto for Howard Shelley. The Violin Concerto was a BBC commission (1986) and is dedicated to the memory of the great British violinist Ralph Holmes who died prematurely in 1984. The Viennese violinist, Ernst Kovacic, gave the first performance. The concerto was recorded for the first time by Chloe Hanslip and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Clark Rundell on April 2/3 at Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff. There was a BBC Radio 3 broadcast on 22 September and the CD was released on Heritage in November to coincide with the composer’s 80th, along with the previously recorded Piano Concerto [Howard Shelley] and Organ Concerto [Jennifer Bate] with the BBC SO/Atherton. Merseyside Echoes (1988, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic commission), a light-hearted reflection of the sound world of early Beatles, was also recorded on April 3 for broadcast on 23 September and subsequent CD release. 

7. SEVEN ORCHESTRAL WORKS Heritage HTGCD 211

A Birthday Surprise (1979); Satie Transformations (1970); Five Diversions (1963/70); Bach in Blue (2004/2015);b Merseyside Echoes (1988); Suite for the Centenary of Lord Berners (1974/2015); Monologue for Strings (1959)

BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Clark Rundell, recorded at Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, September 7/8 2015

'Throughout, as in the concertos, there is an evident joy in subverting a music's original purpose through stylistic juxtapositions and Dickinson's piquant orchestration. The BBC NOW barely put a foot wrong. It's wonderful at last to have top-quality premiere recordings of these seven works that have waited far too long to appear on record.' David Threasher in Gramophone, June 2016

'This is an outstanding retrospective of Peter Dickinson's orchestral music. It is brilliantly played, finely recoded and well presented. The liner-notes by the composer make for esential reading...an essential CD for all admirers of Dickinson's eclectic style of composition, sometimes challenging but always enjoyable.' John France in Music Web International, March 2016

Selected performances

Tiananmen 1989 for double choir and tubular bells – Commotio/Matthew Berry – Merton College, Oxford;13 June 2009

American Trio for violin, clarinet and piano – Zalas Trio, Wigmore Hall; 30 November 2009

Premiere of A Celebration Trio for violin, clarinet & piano – Verdehr Trio, in Germany, France and at Trinity-Laban, London, on 18 November 2010

Three Songs from the Unicorns - Rhona McKail (soprano) and Yshani Perinpagayam (piano) at St James's Church, Piccadilly, 15 December 2010 and Purcell Room, 10 January 2011

Fanfares and Elegies for organ and brass - Christopher Bowers-Broadbent and Royal Academy of Brass Ensemble, St Peter's Church, St Albans, 22 January 2011

A Celebration Trio for violin, clarinet and piano - Verdehr Trio, Univeesitat Mozarteum, Salzburg, 2 March; Fanny Henschel-Mendelssohn-Saal, Vienna, 4 March; Phillips Art Gallery,Washington DC, 20 March; Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Jersey, 22 March; Georgia Southern University, Music Department, 24 March 2011

Three Statements for organ - Jennifer Bate, St James' Church, Muswell Hill, London, 18 June 2011

String Quartet No. 1 [premiere of revised version] - The Kreutzer Quartet, Wilton Music Rooms, London, 19 June 2011; York University, 21 June 2011

Four W. H. Auden Songs - Rhona McKail and Yshani Perinpagayam, Oxford Lieder Festival, New College, Oxford, 28 October 2011; St Martin's in the Fields, 13 December 2011; Canterbury etc.

A Dylan Thomas Song Cycle - Alistair Sutherland and Horacio, Royal Academy of Music, 14 September 2012

Carillon, Three Statements, organ - Jennifer Bate, Studio Acusticum, Pitea, Sweden, and Swedish Radio, 12 October 2013

Monologue for Strings - Louisiana Sinfonietta/Dinos Constantinides, LSU School of Music Recital Hall, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 21 October 2012

Paraphrase II, piano - Nathan Williamson, St Edmund's Church, Southwold, 9 October 2014

Bach in Blue - new arrangement with recorder (John Turner), clarinet (Linda Merrick), bassoon (Rosie Burton) & piano (Harvey Davies) [now withdrawn]; Fantasy for clarinet & piano; Sonatina for solo bassoon [premiere], Royal Northern College, Manchester, 26 October 2014

Four W. H. Auden Songs (Joanna Skillett & Melanie Jones); Vitalitas Variations (piano: Joseph Houston); Five Forgeries (David Eaton & James Young); Celebration Trio and Bach in Blue (Ensemble Matisse); Peter Dickinson 80th Birthday Concert, Park Lane Group, 22 Mansfield Street, London W1, 10 November 2014

American Trio - Trio Unisono, Parnassos Hall, Athens, January, 2015; Ionion Center of Arts, Cefalonia, May 2015

Mass of the Apocalypse (Aldeburgh Voices/2 percussion & piano from Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Alexander Chaplin), Aldeburgh Festival, Parish Church, Aldeburgh, 14 June 2015

Fanfares & Elegies, organ and brass - Edmund Aldhouse & Prime Brass/Paul Trepte, Ely Cathedral, 7 November 2015

Four W. H. Auden Songs - Joanna Skillett & David Eaton, St John 's, Smith Square, 28 June 2016

Air and Metamorphosis for flute; Lullaby for flute & piano - Duke Dobing & Carol Finlay, Aldeburgh Parish Church, 9 July 2016

Suite for the Centenary of Lord Berners - BBC Concert Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, 22 August 2016, and BBC Radio 3

A Rag for McCabe, for recorder, clarinet, viola & piano - William Alwyn Festival, Blythburgh Church, 7 October, 2016

Freda's Blues, in memory of Lady Berkeley, for piano - Peter Dickinson, Tabernacle Theatre, Bayswater, London, 11 October 2016

'God's Grandeur' (Hopkins) - Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge/Stephen Layton, 26 February 2017

All-Dickinson Concert at Michigan State University with premiere of Lochinvar for speaker, violin & piano, London Rags for brass, American Trio and songs, 10 April 2018