McCabe's Grieg

The Grieg Society of Great Britain has announced that the Society's Record of the Year 2016 has been awarded to SOMM Recordings for their release of the widely-acclaimed recording of the composer's two late masterpieces - the Norwegian Peasant Dances (Slåtter) Op 72 and Moods (Stimmungen) Op 73 for solo piano played by John McCabe - a recording made in 1978 and originally issued on LP by RCA Records.

John McCabe CBE, who died last year aged seventy-six, was one of the UK's finest composers, a pianist of international acclaim and a noted writer on music. The analogue recording was originally engineered by Robert Auger, and has been digitally remastered by Paul Arden-Taylor. The booklet notes are by John McCabe himself, providing a valuable background to the music by the performer.

The Grieg Society of Great Britain was founded in 1992 and will celebrate its Silver Jubilee in 2017. The Society's Record of the Year Award was launched in 1995, and previous winners have included Leif Ove Andsnes, Raphael Wallfisch, Bodil Arnesen, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, as well as historic reissues of performances by Sir John Barbirolli, Kirsten Flagstad and the Budapest String Quartet. A special occasion was the Society's Award to the Bergen Symphony Orchestra for their integral recording of Grieg's complete orchestral music - a project which was first mooted by the Society.

Speaking of her late husband's award, which will be presented to her at a reception to be held at the London residence of the Norwegian Ambassador on 20 October 2016, Monica McCabe said: 'I am deeply touched that this mark of recognition has been given to John, who was so ardent in his love of music in general, and especially Nordic music. He was single-minded in his desire to record the Slåtter, and struggled to buy the music (at that time unavailable here), being rewarded in the end by a chance finding of a tattered copy in a second-hand bookshop, from which he made this recording.'

Beryl Foster, Chairman of The Grieg Society of Great Britain and Immediate Past President of the International Grieg Society, added: 'This Award will acknowledge the important contribution the late John McCabe made to the greater perception of Grieg's music. We are delighted that SOMM Recordings has made such an outstanding job of remastering these memorable performances and making them available again through world-wide distribution. SOMM is to be warmly congratulated on its enterprise.'

Siva Oke, founder and Managing Director of SOMM Recordings, said 'We are honoured to have been awarded the Society's Record of the Year, following in the footsteps of previous winners such as Kirsten Flagstad and Sir John Barbirolli. The reception given to John McCabe's playing fully justifies our decision to remaster and reissue these wonderful performances by this greatly missed and dearly-loved artist.'

Information: www.johnmccabe.com

Posted: 10 September 2016

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