Joseph Spooner’s diverse career has taken him across the UK, from the Baltic to the Atlantic, and from the recording studio to concert platforms in Continental Europe, Russia, New York, Mexico, and New Zealand. Notable chamber music collaborators have included David Owen Norris and Madeleine Mitchell. Joseph’s delving into the repertoire has led to the recovery of unjustly neglected works: ‘Other cellists, please copy!’ (IRR); ‘all the expressive power needed’ (Gramophone); ‘superb … arresting in his commitment, his technical facility and in the rich tone he produces from his cello … could not be better’ (IRR); ‘wonderfully persuasive … full of remarkable passion and conviction’ (The Strad). Recent years have seen the release of further recordings on various labels, including Rawsthorne’s Sonata, Hesketh’s IMMH, Sea-Croon (a disc of previously unexplored 1920s English music), and Sherwood’s Double Concerto (with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Rupert Marshall-Luck). 2020 saw the release on Naxos of Francis Pott’s highly acclaimed At First Light for choir and solo cello. Joseph was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2012 and is proud to be the dedicatee of works by Alwynne Pritchard, Errollyn Wallen, and Martin Read. His instrument was made by Nicholas Vuillaume in c.1865. https://josephspooner.net/
David Owen Norris is a pianist, composer and broadcaster. He won the Prize of the City of Geneva in the Geneva Competition, and the Accompanist’s Prize at Leeds; and since his appointment to the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, has performed all across the world, with four appearances in the BBC Proms, concert tours of Europe, Australia and North America, including performances at Sydney Opera House, the Kennedy Centre, Lincoln Centre, Ravinia Festival Chicago, the South Bank Centre etc. and a discography of 60 commercial CDs including his own Piano Concerto with the BBC Concert Orchestra, and his oratorio Prayerbook. His Chord of the Week programmes on BBC2 television were a popular feature of the Proms for six years. He has contributed to programmes on Parry, Vaughan Williams, Mendelssohn & Elgar, including ninety minutes on BBC2 dedicated to Elgar’s Piano Concerto, with a full, filmed performance with the BBCSO. His many radio presentations have included the Playlist series on Radio 4, and In Tune and The Works on Radio 3, where he made his 29th appearance on Building a Library in January. Recordings recently released include Mozart on fortepiano for Hyperion, featured in the New York Times, and the complete Chamber Music of Grace Williams, which was a Guardian CD of the Week. The final discs of his complete recordings of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s songs come out on Chandos in May.
PROGRAMME
William Sterndale Bennett (1816–1875)
Sonata Duo for the Piano Forte & Violoncello Op 32 (1852)
i) Adagio sostenuto – Allegro giusto e leggierissimo
ii) Minuetto caractéristique: Andante grazioso
iii) Rondo: Allegretto piacevole
David Owen Norris (b.1953)
It Takes Two
George Walker (1922–2018)
Sonata for Cello & Piano (1957)
i) Allegro passionato
ii) Sostenuto
iii) Allegro
Live Notes is presented by Dr Bruno Bower (Imperial College London / Guildhall School of Music and Drama)
Details of Dr Bower’s public evening class courses in classical music and opera can be found here: https://imperial.ac.uk/evening-classe…
Please visit us here for further information on The Blyth’s professional lunchtime concert series
