William Howard

SKEMPTON: Piano Works William Howard

William Howard performs the solo piano music of Howard Skempton in a collection that includes Skempton's 24 Preludes and Fugues, inspired by J. S. Bach's example but in a contemporary style. Skempton's piano miniatures are concise, crystalline gems: clear, colourful and bright. There is a neoclassical quality to Skempton's Preludes and

Fugues, which exude a serene, almost otherworldly atmosphere, tempered with a sense of intimacy and refinement. Each Prelude consists of a spare, canonic piece, and each Fugue is woven into an intricate but delicate texture of interlacing lines. Skempton's Three Nocturnes are richer and more fluid, at times darkerhued and enigmatic, with the use of jazz inflections but with a similar clarity of texture to that heard in the Preludes and Fugues.