Cellist Guy Johnston and pianist Tom Poster met at a competition in the year 2000 and have frequently performed together, becoming favorites enough to propel this release to top chart levels. The title Themes and Variations is to be taken in a general way: a few of the pieces are indeed themes and variations, but mostly the "themes" are those that the pair have explored as performers, and the album has the flavor of a set of favorites regarded nostalgically. The result is an album of short pieces that would have been, in ...
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Cellist Guy Johnston and pianist Tom Poster met at a competition in the year 2000 and have frequently performed together, becoming favorites enough to propel this release to top chart levels. The title Themes and Variations is to be taken in a general way: a few of the pieces are indeed themes and variations, but mostly the "themes" are those that the pair have explored as performers, and the album has the flavor of a set of favorites regarded nostalgically. The result is an album of short pieces that would have been, in its basic nature, familiar as a recital program a hundred years ago, although there are a couple of more contemporary pieces. Sample the transcription for cello and piano of James MacMillan's wonderfully lyrical Kiss on Wood, which the performers note marks the end of the program proper. The well-worn Vocalise in C sharp minor, Op. 34, No. 14, of Rachmaninov, and the still more familiar The Swan from Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals are encores of a sort. Prior to that, the program...
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