CD Reviews

Dunelm Records (01457 855313) / jim@dunelm-recotrds.co.uk) have issued two CDs featuring Murray McLachlan in the music of Erik Chisholm (1904-1965). The first CD (DRD0222) celebrates Chisholm’s Scottish nationality and the influence native music had on his compositions. Of most interest to piano teachers are the Scottish Airs for Children, miniature character pieces based on Highland tunes, which are tuneful, fun and pedagogically useful as various elements of style and technique are introduced through the set. Little gems – some less than a minute long – a Scottish (and very accessible) Microcosmos. As well as getting the CD, you can buy the music from the Scottish Music Centre (www.scottishmusiccentre.com ) for £17.90.

Chisholm’s mammoth Sonata in A, An Riobain Dearg, arrives on this CD in an abridged version, but the 40-minute original can be heard on DRD0219, accompanied by Sorabji’s Fantasiettina sul nome…Hugh MacDiarmid, Busoni’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica and Ronald Stevenson’s delightful Threepenny Sonatina. McLachlan, known for his championing of lesser-known repertoire, both in writing and in performance, reproduces here some of his memorable Wigmore Hall recital last January.
Both CDs are £10.95 and acted as tributes to Chisholm in the centenary year of his birth.

Pamela Lidiard.

This review is printed in Piano Professional January 2005, page 34.
[Piano Professional is the magazine for the teaching pianist published by the European Piano Teachers Association (UK) Ltd.]