Kenneth Hamilton, Gould Piano Trio, Philip Higham, Richard Lester, Alec Frank-Gemmill, Benjamin Frith & Alasdair Beatson - John Casken: Stolen Airs

'Stolen Airs' is a collection of chamber works featuring piano works by the eminent British composer John Casken, performed by various artists including the Gould Trio and Kenneth Hamiton. This is a release with strong Mancunian connections as John was professor of music at the university for many years.

The idea of creating a CD of his chamber music in which the piano features in every piece (although a piece for solo piano is hardly chamber music) was the composers initial thought, and the range of pieces from 2002 (Piano Trio) to 2008 (Shadowed Pieces), to three more recent pieces featuring cello and then horn, as well as solo piano, created not only a nice sequence but also an interesting variety. The recordings took place in Cardiff University School of Music and at The University of Manchester in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, in which John Casken played a major role in creating nearly 20 years ago.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

Stolen Airs for cello and piano makes a superb, haunting single-movement sonata. Serpents of Wisdom is an impressive invention for horn and piano; and Casken's Piano Trio is a powerful paraphrase of his Tolstoyan opera, God's Liar. Paul Driver, The Sunday Times