I am looking forward to giving the first performance of a stunning new piece by Martin Butler: Hymnal Mosaic at the Chapel Royal in Brighton on the 2nd of September.
A concert in Long Melford on August 6th will continue my investigations into playing the music of the French Baroque on the modern piano.
In July, I led a course in piano and wind chamber music at Jackdaws where we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Debussy’s great friend André Caplet with his Suite Persane for wind octet and the Quintet for piano and wind.
In April I was honoured to act again as one of the judges on the Sarah Leonard Song Writing Competition, the AESS Competition she instituted, now renamed in honour of Sarah and her contribution to contemporary music.
In March, I gave a special course at Benslow to mark the 100th anniversary of another great friend of Debussy, Erik Satie, and gave a celebratory piano recital of my favourite pieces there.
I hugely enjoyed tutoring for the first time with the violinist Hilary Sturt on a new course Sonatas with piano at Benslow Music. We performed a recital together at the start of the course in February.
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Recent projects and recitals
Toccata Classics TOCC0052 (BBC Music Magazine 5 stars, MusicWeb International CD of the month)
Volume 3 contains the magnificent Nouvelles Suites. There are also some rarities on the disc. These include the fleeting Les petits marteaux, now thought to be by Rameau, and the 5th Concert from the Pieces de clavecin en concerts. The Concert includes one of Rameau’s most beautiful pieces La Cupis. A transcription of a giga from the Acte de ballet Pigmalion gets its first recording. It was found in manuscript in the Bibliotheque Nationale by the distinguished Rameau expert Graham Sadler who has again written the liner notes for this volume.
Some reviews of Volume 3:
Scott Noriega in Fanfare:
‘After playing this disc over and over again this month, I’ll be sure to run – not walk! – to my nearest shop to obtain the two releases I’ve missed out on thus far… the pianist’s sense of exploration, his wide tonal palette, and his rhythmic freedom can all be heard to good advantage, along with his intimate and scholarly knowledge of these works … Gutman proves a guide of the first order … there is hardly a movement in the entire recital that will not charm and delight the most judgmental of listeners’
BBC Music Magazine Michael Church
‘Gutman’s responsive touch brings out the dance rhythms underlying many of the pieces … When virtuosity is required … he delivers it effortlessly, and he does rustic charm in spades.’
Toccata Classics TOCC0051
Volume 2 was released in October 2012. The CD contains the astonishing Les Cyclopes, one of the very few of his pieces to have been taken up by pianists. There are also many rarities and new discoveries on the disc. These include 24 numbers from the opéra-ballet Les Indes Galantes, in their original 1735/6 keyboard versions, and my solo version of the 4th Concert from the Pieces de clavecin en concerts. The Concert finishes with Rameau’s self-portrait La Rameau. A transcription of an eloquent gavotte from the tragédie-lyrique Dardanus gets its first recording. The distinguished Rameau expert Graham Sadler has again written the liner notes for this volume.
A review of Volume 2:
Brian Wilson in MusicWeb International:
‘Stephen Gutman … shares with a very small number of pianists the ability to make modern piano performances of the music of this period sound as enjoyable to me as those on the harpsichord; in effect, I forget which instrument is being employed. That small group includes Angela Hewitt, who has recorded [Rameau] for Hyperion (CDA67597) and in Bach Glenn Gould … and Murray Perahia … Roll on the third and final volume.’
Some of the reviews of Volume 1:
Fanfare Barry Brenesal
‘Gutman has the technical resources to play this music … There is none of the sense of speed for virtuosity’s sake … Gutman’s album is a welcome addition to the field, as much for his distinct point of view as for the promise of so much Rameau.
BBC Music Magazine Nicholas Anderson
Gutman’s playing is engaging for its ornamental delicacy and communicative lyricism … I look forward to the remaining volumes
Gramophone Lindsay Kemp
The Pieces en concerts transfer joyously to the piano, at least in the no-nonsense performance they get from Gutman … performances well worth investigating