Trio Chamber Concert

Daniel Grimwood, piano
Peter Cigleris, clarinet
Gemma Rosefield, cello

Programme:

Weber - Grand Duo Concertant, Op. 48, for Clarinet and Piano
Mendelssohn - Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in D major, Op 58
Brahms - Clarinet Trio Op. 114

Daniel Grimwood, pianist

Website: www.danielgrimwood.eu

A new label’s first release sets down important markers, and with these impressive accounts of the 13 Nocturnes of Gabriel Fauré, written between 1875 and 1921, Edition Peters establishes the highest standards. Grimwood relishes the liquid harmonic movement and rich textural elaborations of Fauré’s ruminative, often dark pieces with poise and refinement; even when things get busy, the sound colours are beautiful.

Sunday Times

Daniel Grimwood is one of the most original musicians of his generation. With a repertoire ranging from Elizabethan Virginal music to composers of the modern day, he is a pianist of rare versatility, whose exceptional talent is internationally renowned.

He enjoys a solo and chamber career, which has taken him across the globe, performing in many of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals, including the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room in London, the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Symphony Hall Birmingham, the Three Choirs Festival, the Rachmaninoff and Gnessin Halls in Moscow, the Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall in New York, as well as concert halls in Germany, Austria, Italy, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Estonia, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Lebanon. He gave the American premiere of the Chamber Version of Henselt’s F minor Piano Concerto in Florida.

His musical interest started as a 3 year old playing next door’s piano and from the age of 7 he was performing in front of audiences. His training continued with Graham Fitch at the Purcell School, where he also studied violin, viola and composition, giving him a broad appreciation of classical music, and later Vladimir Ovchinnikov and Peter Feuchtwanger.

Although primarily a pianist, he is frequently to be found performing on harpsichord, organ, viola or composing at his desk. Grimwood is a passionate exponent of the early piano, and has given a recital of Chopin’s Etudes on the composer’s own Pleyel piano.

As a solo recording artist his growing discography ranges from Scriabin on Somm Recordings to Algernon Ashton, (a world premiere recording) on Toccata Classics. His recent discs of Liszt and Chopin, performed on an 1851 Erard piano, received a unanimous chorus of praise from the press; the Liszt album was Daily Telegraph CD of the week and Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine. He was the first artist to record on the new Edition Peters Sounds label, a complete Fauré Nocturnes had an excellent reception in The Sunday Times. He has followed with two further CDs on Edition Peters Sounds showcasing the music of Henselt and recently the British composers Alwyn and Carwithen. Performances this season take him to Germany, Austria, the United States and the UK.

Daniel Grimwood's [Wigmore Hall] piano recital was stimulating and revelatory in equal measure. He played the first two books of Liszt's musical travelogue Années de Pèlerinage, which in itself is something of an undertaking in terms of pianistic demands, and he did so on an instrument of Liszt's time, an Erard piano of 1851.
Geoffrey Norris, The Daily Telegraph

Peter Cigleris, clarinet

Website: petercigleris.com

Peter studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire from 1997 where his professors were Michael Harris and Colin Parr.

Whilst at the Conservatoire, Peter won the prestigious John Ireland Chamber music award with a performance of that composer’s Fantasy Sonata. He was also awarded a place on the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Training Scheme. At the Conservatoire Peter performed numerous concertos with the college’s ensembles, he also developed an interest in early clarinets, which led to a performance with the Conservatoire’s Baroque Capelle Orchestra with the Chalumeau Concerto by Fasch. Peter also premiered Guy Woolfenden’s arrangement of Malcolm Arnold’s Pre-Goodman Rag for wind ensemble; he later performed the complete Arnold Concerto with the Warwickshire Symphony under Guy Woolfenden as part of the composer’s eightieth birthday celebrations.

Peter went on to graduate from the Royal College of Music in 2002 where his professors were Janet Hilton, Richard Hosford, Robert Hill and Tim Lines. During the summer of that year, Peter was awarded the Prix de Fossat and was invited to France to perform for Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark at a private reception.

As soloist he has performed in many venues across the UK and Europe and premiered several new works for the instrument as well as giving performances of concertos by Mozart, Weber, Finzi and Arnold to name a few.

Peter has been involved with several major projects, most notably with the BBC as a member of the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique in the BBC docu-drama 'Eroica’. Peter was also awarded a place on the prestigious Jerwood Foundation Scholarship for Young Players in association with the Orchestra in the Age of Enlightenment. As an orchestral player he has worked with several well-known English orchestras as a session player. Peter has also held the principal clarinet seat with the Symphony Orchestra of India and while principal worked with conductors Charles Dutoit and Rafael Payare amongst others.

As a chamber musician Peter works with numerous pianists and musicians including Martin Cousin, John Lenehan and Julian Lloyd Weber. This has led Peter to perform in the Windsor and Wooburn Festivals and also various music clubs from Scotland to the South of England. Peter has also performed for the Concert Promoters Network for their 2009/10 season. Solo projects include his debut CD "English Fantasy" released on Cala Records, music of David Braid for Toccata Classics and British Serenade for Heritage Records.

Engagements further afield have included giving a recital and master class at the University of New Hampshire USA as well as working with local high school clarinetists and the Seacoast Wind Ensemble, performances in Russia and Spain for the inaugural Groba Festival and Mexico where Peter performed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and gave the Mexican premiere of Malcolm Arnold’s 2nd Clarinet Concerto. Peter has also coached chamber music for the Music for You Summer School.

Gemma Rosefield, cello

Website: www.gemma-rosefield.co.uk

Winner of the prestigious Pierre Fournier Award in 2007, Gemma Rosefield made her concerto debut at the age of sixteen when she won First Prize in the European Music for Youth Competition in Oslo, Norway, playing a televised performance of the Saint-Saens Concerto with the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Described by The Strad on her 2003 Wigmore Hall debut as ‘a mesmerising musical treasure’, by the London Evening Standard as ‘a phenomenal talent’, and featured in BBC Music Magazine as ‘one to watch’, Gemma has made her solo debut in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and in The Diligentia, The Hague, in the New Masters International Recital Series. She gave the highly successful Pierre Fournier Award recital in September 2008 at Wigmore Hall, as well as the 2008 and 2009 Jacqueline du Pré Memorial Concerts at the same venue.

Gemma plays throughout the Europe, the USA, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Kenya and New Zealand. She played Michael Ellison’s Concerto for Cello and Turkish Instruments with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, broadcast on Radio 3, performed the premiere of a new work for Cello and Choir by Cecilia McDowall at Westminster Abbey, and in August 2016 gave the UK Premiere of Concello, for Cello and Orchestra, by Maciej Zielinski at the Presteigne Festival. She was subsequently invited to perform Concello in Krakow with Sinfonietta Cracovia, and to record it in 2019. In August 2017 Gemma performed Edward Gregson’s cello concerto ‘Concerto for Chris’, as well as giving the world premiere performance of Robert Peate’s Knuckles Arches atthe Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts. Other recent engagements include the Dvořák Concerto with the Estonian National Orchestra and Vello Pähn. and the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Christopher Warren-Green.

In 2011, Hyperion released a CD of Gemma playing the Complete Works for Cello and Orchestra of Sir Charles Stanford with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Manze. BBC Music Magazine considered the Stanford Concerto to be ‘superbly played’ and Gramophone Magazine commented that

Gemma ‘plays with disarming character and freshness; her technique too is enviably sure and tone beguilingly rounded’.

Gemma gives some 50 performances a year as cellist of Ensemble 360, Royal Philharmonic Society Medal Winners, 2013, whose performances are described by the Independent as ‘brimming with body and soul, with passion, vitality and virtuosity, whose performances never cease to amaze’. As cellist of the Leonore Piano Trio with pianist Tim Horton and violinist Benjamin Nabarro, she has made several recordings for Hyperion Records.

Gemma plays on a cello made in Naples in 1704 by Alessandro Gagliano, formerly owned and played by the Prince Regent.