GEMINI
Gemini virtuosic and thrilling as ever...'
Gramophone
Gramophone magazine wrote (2006):
'Philip Grange ... one of the most distinctive minds of his generation ... this is music whose creative instincts are undeniably personal ... Finely prepared performances from Gemini and Ian Mitchell ... Further discs of his music would be welcome.'
Well, a further disc is indeed in the offing some 12 years later. Indeed it is released this month (Sept. 2019) on Metier
Gemini and Grange
Gemini and Grange have worked together for nearly 30 years, broadcasting, touring, giving 30 performances, recording 2 previous CDs of his music, both chosen as a Critic's Choice for Disc of the Year in Gramophone magazine.
The ensemble wishes to share a major development in his compositional approach used in a large-scale chamber work - Shifting Thresholds - written for them to premiere for his 60th birthday.
The disc
The disc's title is 'Homage': the 30-minute sextet Shifting Thresholds is a homage to Samuel Beckett; Tiers of Time for piano quartet is Grange's tribute to his friend and colleague the composer John Casken to mark his retirement from Manchester University; Homage to Chagall is for piano trio and Elegy for solo cello is a homage to the poet Edward Thomas.
The disc will complement important large-scale forthcoming premieres of Grange's music - a violin concerto for Carolin Widmann and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2019, and an opera with libretto by the poet Fiona Sampson scheduled for 2020.
The CD is available to purchase via our RECORDINGS page and via divineartrecords.com as well as all usual outlets
