Composers at the Savile Club Alexander Karpeyev

• Julian Anderson (b. 1967):
• 1 Fanfare (SC-GH) 02:08
• Hubert Parry (1848 - 1918):
• 2 Hands Across the Centuries: I. Prelude 02:13
• Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953):
• 3 2 Impressions, Op. 19: No. 1, In a Gondola 03:14
• Herbert Howells (1892 - 1983):
• 4 Procession, Op. 36 (Arr. for Piano) 03:56
• Francis Chagrin (1905 - 1972): Suite roumaine:
• 5 Suite roumaine: I. Allegro con spirito 01:05
• 6 Suite roumaine: II. Moderato 02:16
• 7 Suite roumaine: III. Allegro 01:21
• Malcolm Arnold (1921 - 2006):
• 8 Variations on a Ukrainian Folk Song, Op. 9 14:52
• Arthur Benjamin (1893 - 1960):
• 9 Scherzino in G Minor 02:21
• William Alwyn (1905 - 1985):
• 10 Night Thoughts 04:51
• Virgil Thomson (1896 - 1989): 19 Portraits for Piano (Version for Solo Piano) [Excerpts]:
• 11 19 Portraits for Piano (Version for Solo Piano) [Excerpts]: No. 15, Dominique Nabokov [Round and Round] 00:53
• 12 19 Portraits for Piano (Version for Solo Piano) [Excerpts]: No. 9, Christopher Cox [Singing a Song] 01:10
• 13 19 Portraits for Piano (Version for Solo Piano) [Excerpts]: No. 1, Bill Katz [Wide Awake] 00:58
• William Walton (1902 - 1983): Façade Suite No. 2, C12e:
• 14 Façade Suite No. 2, C12e: V. Popular Song (Arr. R. Douglas for Piano) 02:27
• Henry Balfour Gardiner (1877 - 1950):
• 15 Shepherd Fennel's Dance (Arr. for Piano) 05:08
• Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934):
• 16 In Smyrna 04:28
• 17 Serenade in G Major 02:14
• Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 - 1924): 4 Irish Dances, Op. 89 (Excerpts Arr. P. Grainger):
• 18 4 Irish Dances, Op. 89 (Excerpts Arr. P. Grainger): No. 4, Reel 04:44
• 19 4 Irish Dances, Op. 89 (Excerpts Arr. P. Grainger): No. 3, The Leprechaun's Dance 03:40
• Malcolm Arnold:
• 20 Savile Centenary Fanfare 01:15
• Total Runtime 01:05:14

Info for Composers at the Savile Club

SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce the first commercial release of Composers at the Savile Club, pianist Alexander Karpeyev’s vivid and varied recital celebrating the 150th anniversary of the venerable London club.

Devised by Karpeyev and Jeremy Barlow (who will celebrate his 60th year as a Savile member in 2020 and also provides informative booklet notes) the recital includes music for solo piano by 11 leading Savile members to chart the development of British music from late romanticism to modernism – and back again.

Sam Pierce and Bradley Jones perform the two celebratory trumpet fanfares, by former Savilian Malcolm Arnold – his Savile Centenary Fanfare – and current Savile member, Julian Anderson – Fanfare: SC–GH composed for the sesquicentennial anniversary – that frame Karpeyev’s recital.

Among British luminaries featured are the composer-knights Edward Elgar (the lyrically atmospheric In Smyrna), William Walton (Façade’s delightful, dancing ‘Popular Song’), Malcolm Arnold (Variations on a Ukrainian Folk Song his most substantial work for solo piano) and Hubert Parry (the delicately antique Hands Across the Centuries Prelude).

Other notable names include Roger Quilter, Herbert Howells, Arthur Benjamin, William Alwyn and Henry Balfour Gardiner.

Two Irish dances by Dubliner Charles Villiers Stanford, the Romanian-born Francis Chagrin’s Suite Roumaine and three Musical Portraits by American Virgil Thomson complete a fascinating portrait of the Savile Club’s rich musical heritage.

Located in London’s Mayfair, the Savile Club was founded in 1868, its motto – “Sodalitas Convivium” – translating as “good fellowship and conviviality”. The Savile’s informality has attracted a host of distinguished names from the arts and sciences, including composers not featured on this recording Sir Arthur Bliss, William Lloyd Webber and Bernard Hermann and 17 Nobel Prize winners, among them poets Rudyard Kipling and WB Yeats, and physicists Ernest Rutherford and John Cockcroft.

Alexander Karpeyev, piano
Sam Pierce, trumpet
Bradley Jones, trumpet

Russian-born pianist Alexander Karpeyev has been a major prizewinner in international competitions, including first prizes at the 2007 Dudley International Piano Competition, the Norah Sande Award 2008 and Oxford Music Festivals recital competition. He is a graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and City University of London, where his doctoral thesis was on Medtner's performance practice. Alexander has given recitals in major UK venues and abroad. Dr. Karpeyev originally performed this programme at Kings Place, London, on February 13, 2017 to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution. He is grateful to all those who encouraged him to make this subsequent recording.

"...it was in epic scores by Medtner...and Stravinsky...that Karpeyev really triumphed, playing them with virtuosity and more: the deep, internalized musicianship of a master." (Michael White, The Catholic Herald)

Alexander Karpeyev, piano

Booklet for Composers at the Savile Club