Duncan Honeybourne Piano recital showcasing the works of Jessy Reason

We were delighted to kickstart 2024 by welcoming back professional concert pianist Duncan Honeybourne to share the music of a little known English composer Jessy Reason whose works he will be releasing on a new recording in early 2024. This was yet another free recital hosted at Forsyth's!
Programme
Asterisks: Three Pieces for Piano
(music suggested by an unfinished poem of Rupert Brooke)
1. Oh, lovers parted
Oh all you lonely over all the world
You that look out on morning empty hearted
Or you, all night, turning uncomforted….
2. Would God, would God you could be comforted…
3. Eyes that weep
And a long time for love; and after - sleep. Piano Sonata (1916) Five Landscapes for solo piano (1917)
1. The Road across the Hills;
2. Forest Shades;
3. Dewdrops;
4. The Solitary Place;
5. The Sunlit Stream
This recital of Jessy Reason’s solo piano music presents her complete output for the instrument, comprising a range of pieces demonstrating her distinctive impressionistic style: richly romantic; passionately lyrical; densely chromatic; intensely perfumed. They are the product of a sophisticated musical brain and a cultured intellect. Reason, clearly, was a highly gifted woman: long forgotten, whose mysterious tale presents us with more questions than answers but whose music speaks to us across the decades with an irresistible fervour and sincerity.
A disc of Reason’s solo piano and chamber music, is to be released by Prima Facie in the spring of 2024 with support from the Francis Routh Trust.