VIDEO PODCAST: Slava Ukraini! - recorded on 24 February 2022, the day the world woke up to the news that Vladimir Putin's Russian forces had invaded Ukraine. A fifty minute video which also features Caitríona O'Leary and Eric Fraad discussing their new film Island of Saints, and pays tribute to Joseph Horovitz, Malcolm Troup and Maria Nockin.
PROVOCATIVE THOUGHTS:
The late Patric Standford may have written these short pieces deliberately to provoke our feedback. If so, his success is reflected in the rich range of readers' comments appearing at the foot of most of the pages.
English pianist Eric Parkin was born in Stevenage on 24 March 1924, Parkin studied in London at Trinity College of Music.
He had a long career in radio, during which he met composer John Ireland and gave the first performance of Ireland's Piano Concerto at the London Proms with Malcolm Sargent and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Parkin's repertoire was wide, encompassing J S Bach, classical and Romantic repertoire. He loved French and American music, and gave a series of first performances of music by British composers, including Geoffrey Bush, Peter Dickinson, David Gow, Kenneth Leighton and Richard Stoker.
Eric Parkin died on 3 February 2020, aged ninety-five. (This sad news did not become widely known until the end of October 2020.)
Record Box. Gentle and Meditative - Music by Peter Dickinson, reviewed by Patric Standford
CD Spotlight. A Curious Recital - Paul Calistus-Ashley plays Poulenc, Schubert and Dett, reviewed by Howard Smith. '... verve and sensitivity.'