Selected and reviewed by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS
British composer Rachel Portman refers to the piano as her best friend, and tells us,
“I spend all day with it, most days. I think probably I’m pianistic in my soul.”
Her superb 2020 album Ask the River, the music publication of which I reviewed here, certainly seems to confirm this. At the time I wrote,
“These consummately composed pieces offer a beautiful and evocative sound world, at once accessible, but with plenty of personality… One of 2020’s best “new classical” releases, this is not simply a soundtrack in search of a movie. In a year which has seen many of us compelled to live less frenetic, more localised lives, I suspect that many will find Portman’s latest music gives serene expression to both our outer and inner worlds.”
Certainly it was a recording I listened to on repeat for months, and a music book which several students have loved, so I was excited to see a new piano album appear from Portman a couple of months ago, the music book of which is now available.
Continue reading Rachel Portman • Beyond the Screen