Album Notes

Marcus Andrews is a British pianist with a diverse repertoire of music spanning the 18th to 21st centuries. This recording reflects his special love of the music of Nicolas Medtner, whose music he discovered through his first teacher Yvonne Dinwiddy. Yvonne studied with Medtner in London and both she and her father, the violinist Arthur Catterall, helped to introduce his works to British audiences.

The Forgotten Melodies Op. 38, completed in 1920, were the first of three sets of that name. Medtner kept notebooks containing themes that occurred to him and if a theme was noted twice, having been forgotten the first time, he considered this to be a more genuine inspiration and more promising material for development. The Sonata Reminiscenza, a one-movement sonata which begins the eight-movement work, begins with the 'Theme of Reminiscence' which unifies the whole work. This haunting melody is most memorable and this particular sonata has been recorded more frequently than the remaining seven movements, making this complete account one of the few currently available on CD.

Biography

Marcus studied privately with Yvonne Dinwiddy and then at Trinity College of Music with Simon Young, where he was awarded the Keyboard Silver Medal and won the Jaques Samuel Pianos Prize. He was then appointed Graduate Assistant Accompanist at the University of Connecticut, where he studied with Neal Larrabee, gained a Master’s Degree, was awarded the Evelyn Bonar Storrs Scholarship and made a member of the National Musicians’ Honor Society Pi Kappa Lamda. He has undertaken additional study as a bursary student at Dartington International Summer School and was invited to participate in the International Beethoven Masterclass in Positano by John O’Conor.

Marcus has given solo, chamber and concerto performances at major venues in London including the Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and St Martin in the fields, as well as at music societies and festivals across the United Kingdom. Internationally, he has performed in the USA, Bermuda, France, Germany, Italy and the Lebanon. Particular areas of interest include the music of Nicolas Medtner, chamber music and music for wind and piano.

Marcus is a founding member of the Karrilon Trio, which has commissioned new works for Flute, Oboe and Piano. He enjoys working with a number of chamber music partners including flautists Susan FitzGerald and Wissam Boustany, cellist Ruth Beedham and the soprano Maya Sapone. He won the TWIYCA accompanist prize with Susan FitzGerald and the Harold Clarke Prize with oboist Clare Welfare. Marcus is a Professor of Piano at Blackheath Conservatoire.