World Premier Recording Percy Hilder Miles now available!

[MikePurton]

I am delighted to announce that MPR111 Percy Hilder Miles Chamber Music Volume 1 with the wonderful Ensemble Kopernikus has today arrived safely from the factory. This is delicious music, Miles (1878-1922) had a rare gift for melody and harmony and was exceptionally imaginative as a composer - such a tragedy he has been overlooked - when you hear this you will really be pleasantly surprised. Miles was a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Rebecca Clarke was a pupil. When he was a student Miles played in a string quartet with Billy Reed and Lionel Tertis (NB Reed String Quartets are in the pipeline) and at the age of 16 he performed Beethoven's Violin Concerto. This is the first CD in a series of music by Miles and features the Cello Sonata in C, the Violin Sonata in G and the Piano Trio in B minor. Suffice it to say (in my humble opinion) that the music, the playing and the recording make this unmissable. The official release date will be February 2022 but it's available now to purchase ONLY via my website www.mikepurtonrecording.com . Email me via the website if you experience any problems, some work is yet to be done on the website for this release but purchasing it should work OK! Go to the 'listen' page and you will find some clips down below. The music will be available for high quality download in a few weeks from the Willowhayne website and doubtless it will be on Spotify etc, although please don't stream, we get almost no income from that and we would like to afford to make more recordings! If you but from my website I will usually post the CD the same day.

NB if you are buying from abroad there is a 4 GBP shipping charge but if you are purchasing from outside the UK, you need to check the box by that option. Thanks!

[Sharkkb8]

Just ordered - if I'm the first, do I get a prize?!   

[MikePurton]

HI! Do I call you Gregory or just J? Yes you are the first and as a result I have discovered that for some reason the 4GBP shipping charge has not been applied so I am trying to find out what has happened and change the settings. And as you are the first to buy, I will ship you the CD minus the shipping charge so there won't be any more to pay, I hope that is acceptable!

Best

Mike

[Martin Eastick]

Hello Mike. I have just ordered my copy of this exciting recording - I cannot wait to hear what I know will be an exciting CD indeed. I'm also pleased to note that this is labelled as "volume 1" - so presumably there are more goodies to follow in due course!

[eschiss1]

Good news, likewise Reed string quartets!

[matesic]

Hi Mike, that's good to hear - I'll be on your web site directly.
Billy Reed would certainly have been Percy's contemporary at the RAM but I didn't know they played in the same string quartet and would be interested to know your source. In 1894 at the age of 16 Percy played second violin in a group led by Hans Wessely. In about 1896 Tertis seems to have replaced him on violin and in 1898 Tertis's name occurs again playing viola in Percy's own quartet with cellist Herbert Withers.

[MikePurton]

I am seeing my source tomorrow and will report back!

[matesic]

Mike, I want to be first to congratulate you and the whole team on an excellent production, superb recording and terrific playing. And the quality of the music surprised even me! Who could possibly believe that the violin sonata was written by a 16-year-old?

I'm aiming to have the manuscripts fully transcribed by the release date and will upload them to IMSLP, with Bill Miles's permission.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Mike. Duly ordered!

[matesic]

I think I've got to the root of the confusion about Percy and Billy. Phil Hall who wrote the excellent "sleeve" notes for the CD tells me that in 1896 they combined in a performance of a string trio by Reed but has no evidence that they played quartets together.

[MikePurton]

This was on the Wikipedia entry about Percy, but you may be right. Anyway, Percy and Lionel Tertis clearly knew each other well! Glad you like the CD, let's hope others buy it so we can afford to make more recordings.

[Alan Howe]

I'm listening to the Cello Sonata as I type. It's an extremely beautiful, predominantly lyrical work which other cellists would do well to take up. It's also extremely well played here by Alice Purton and Ian Tindale - Alice's instrument exhibits a particularly lovely tone quality. The recording is superb.

Thanks, Mike.

[Alan Howe]

..and from a brief sampling of the Violin Sonata it's evident that Miles was an extremely gifted composer from an early age.

[matesic]

Ten years ago nothing was known of Percy's music apart from the four works published during his lifetime. Today I count about 50 manuscripts on my hard drive and I know there are plenty more stashed underneath Bill Miles's staircase in Calgary.

Until I heard Kasia and Ian's recording of the 1894 violin sonata I was inclined to discount the pre-1900 pieces as juvenilia but this disc has absolutely changed my mind. I still think it's true that it was during his European tour (funded by the Mendelssohn Scholarship) in 1901 that Percy started to develop a voice and style of his own, first in evidence in the F minor string quintet which I'd love to see on Mike's "to do" list. I believe there are already plans to record the clarinet quintet of 1904. I'd love to get to grips with the later violin sonatas in Eb (1910) and Ab (1918) but unfortunately I suspect they're beyond me.

Then there are the two substantial string quartets finished in 1918 and the prize-winning string sextet published by Stainer and Bell in 1920. The latter is scheduled for performance by Phil Hall and his colleagues from the BBCSO in Percy's home town of Erith on the very centenary of his death, April 18th (Easter Monday) 2022.

[MikePurton]

Thanks for all the kind comments, it really is fabulous music. We are on course to record the String Sextet and the Septet (Beethoven instrumentation) and are planning some string quartet recordings and more sonatas and trios. It is such lovely music that I hope people will buy it!

Best wishes to all

Mike