G.Bush Piano Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Geoffrey Bush
Label: JMS
Magazine Review Date: 9/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: JMSCD3
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Epigrams |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| Novelette |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| Nocturne and Toccata |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| Sonatina No. 1 |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| Sonatina No. 2 |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| Whydah Variations on a theme of Balfour Gardiner |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| Matthew's Tunes |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| Rudi's Blues |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| (4) Pieces for Piano, Set 2 |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
| Suite champêtre |
Geoffrey Bush, Composer
Eric Parkin, Piano Geoffrey Bush, Composer |
Author: Michael Oliver
Counting variations and the Mikrokosmos-like Epigrams there are 37 individual pieces in this collection, which makes it sound as though Geoffrey Bush is a miniaturist. So he is, when it pleases him, but despite their brevity and the diminutive ina there is nothing slight about his Sonatinas. Economical, yes: Bush is very good at demonstrating that as much can be said in three minutes as in six, or in spare two-part counterpoint as in ampler textures, and in the middle movement of the Second Sonatina he proves that even a theme of no more than four notes can be resourcefully built into an impressively varied and satisfying structure. The Whydah Variations for two pianos (variations both on Balfour Gardiner’s sea-shanty-like melody and the narrative elements of Masefield’s poem News from Whydah) are bigger still: bold, dramatic and at times flamboyantly pianistic.
In all three of these pieces Bartok and Prokofiev are audible as influences, alongside Bush’s own gift for long, sometimes ornate melodic lines. They are all from the 1960s; in the early and more recent piano music in this collection his French affinities are much more audible. The lilting early Novelette sounds rather like Faure; an elegant, Poulenc-like lyricism seems to be Bush’s current manner, at least in short piano pieces. Some are miniatures, but delightful ones (the Prelude from the Suite champetre is currently my favourite piece of cheering-up music, ideal when builders say “I don’t want to worry you, but …” or when impatient demands printed in red ink arrive). Others, even those that skirt the very brink of pastiche, are multum in parvo: a passacaglia in the same suite has a greater depth and breadth than you would expect in a mere three minutes. What saves Bush from derivativeness, however accomplished, is again his economy and, often enough, a characteristic genial wit. Another thing he is good at is the far from easy art of ending pieces well, sometimes with a wry shrug, sometimes (as in both the Sonatinas and the Whydah Variations) with a gesture that shows the whole piece in a new light and makes you want to hear it again, immediately.
Eric Parkin is the ideal pianist for this music, and he sounds as though he enjoyed the sessions a great deal. The recording is a little bright but very pleasing.'
In all three of these pieces Bartok and Prokofiev are audible as influences, alongside Bush’s own gift for long, sometimes ornate melodic lines. They are all from the 1960s; in the early and more recent piano music in this collection his French affinities are much more audible. The lilting early Novelette sounds rather like Faure; an elegant, Poulenc-like lyricism seems to be Bush’s current manner, at least in short piano pieces. Some are miniatures, but delightful ones (the Prelude from the Suite champetre is currently my favourite piece of cheering-up music, ideal when builders say “I don’t want to worry you, but …” or when impatient demands printed in red ink arrive). Others, even those that skirt the very brink of pastiche, are multum in parvo: a passacaglia in the same suite has a greater depth and breadth than you would expect in a mere three minutes. What saves Bush from derivativeness, however accomplished, is again his economy and, often enough, a characteristic genial wit. Another thing he is good at is the far from easy art of ending pieces well, sometimes with a wry shrug, sometimes (as in both the Sonatinas and the Whydah Variations) with a gesture that shows the whole piece in a new light and makes you want to hear it again, immediately.
Eric Parkin is the ideal pianist for this music, and he sounds as though he enjoyed the sessions a great deal. The recording is a little bright but very pleasing.'
G.Bush Piano Works
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