Steven Devine and Kate Semmens stood in at short notice for indisposed colleagues and presented their programme of music from the Anna Magdalena Bach notebooks.
” a delightful afternoon of fine music, beautifully presented. “
Another review for WTC1
ClassicalEar has written a great review for Steven’s new release on the Resonus label.
” Thoughtful and measured, poetic and precise, Steven Devine takes a measured but crisply fluid approach that imbues this much recorded music with a pleasing immediacy. ”
Steven makes BBCNOW debut
Stepping in at very short notice, Steven will make his BBC National Orchestra of Wales debut at the Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff on Thursday 18 April at 7.30pm. He will conduct Bach’s Easter Oratorio with soloists Anna Dennis, William Towers, Nick Pritchard and William Dazeley, alongside the BBC National Chorus of Wales.
This concert will be recorded for transmission on BBC Radio 3 on Monday 22nd April.
First review for Bach
Planet Hugill has reviewed Steven’s new recording of Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier very favourably:
The harpsichord is beautifully captured, with a fine resonance and good core sound to the note and none of the pecking which can beset harpsichord recordings. He clearly revels in the various keys and allows them to colour his performances, and the result is engaging and engrossing. I certainly look forward to the second volume.
The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1 released
Steven’s latest release on the Resonus Classics label is available for pre-order from Amazon etc. Release date is 29 March 2019 and will be physical CDs (2 disc set) and download.
From the release: ” Following on from his acclaimed recording of Jean-Philippe Rameaus complete solo keyboard works (RES10214), harpsichordist Steven Devine returns to Resonus to record one of the great pinnacles of the Baroque keyboard repertoire, Johann Sebastian Bachs Das wohltemperierte Klavier. For this first of two volumes, Devine uses an exquisite instrument built by Colin Booth after an instrument by the eighteenth century maker Johann Christof Fleischer. “
New Concert on Sunday!
Steven and Kate are stepping in for ill colleagues at the Weymouth Music Club on Sunday 10 March. The programme will be based on The Notebooks of Anna Magdalena Bach (with the addition of the Italian Concerto as a personal request!) at starts at the Weymouth Bay Methodist Church at 3pm.
Do come and join us – we’d love to say hello.
P.S. A lot of this repertoire is available on our CD at DevineMusic
Abendempfindung (K.523) – Mozart
“the expressivity of which the harpsichord is capable when handled by a true master of its sounds”
A lovely review on the Voix des Arts blog for the Mozartists’ latest release of “Mozart in London“.
The extremely detailed review focuses on all the music and performances of the many wonderful musicians and singers on these discs and has thsi to say:
” The Mozartists’ keyboardist Steven Devine finds much to stimulate but nothing to overextend his abilities in Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in D major (Op. 1, No. 6). He dispatches Bach’s spirited writing in the outer Allegro assai and Allegro moderato movements with abundant virtuosity, but it is his playing of the central Andante that dazzles, the nobility of his phrasing reminding the listener of the expressivity of which the harpsichord is capable when handled by a true master of its sounds. “
Available direct from the Classical Opera/Mozartists website.
4* review for OAE Christmas Oratorio
The Guardian newspaper has printed a great review of the recent performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (parts 1, 2, 3 & 6) given by the OAE, directed by Steven, in St George’s, Bristol.
New release: Delicatessen II with Kate Semmens
Now available directly from this site! Post free in UK.
After the preparation, recording and success of Delicatessen (DMCD001), Steven and Kate Semmens were keen to delve further into the English song repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries, again driven by composers who set texts so beautifully. They have been careful to stay true to songs written specifically for the combination of voice and keyboard (rather than arrangements of orchestral accompaniments) thereby presenting a programme which becomes domestic in nature. In the previous recording, it was the cantata of John Stanley, usually known for his keyboard works, which provided one of the high points: in the present recording, two further cantatas feature, showing Stanley to be as witty as he is sensitive to the text. Thomas Arne and William Boyce again feature with presentations of lesser-known work. A new discovery for the performers has been the work of William Jackson of Exeter and two songs for voice and obbligato keyboard are presented here. Many of the items are obscure but all are charming and present an interesting glimpse into another social world.