PHILIP GATES: A Garland for Gatsby; Piano Quintet; The Lake Isle – Philip Gates, piano/ Carducci Quartet Andrew Knights, oboe – Melodist

by | Nov 26, 2008 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

PHILIP GATES: A Garland for Gatsby; Piano Quintet; The Lake Isle – Philip Gates, piano/ Carducci Quartet Andrew Knights, oboe – Melodist 3130CD, 56:51 ****:

This appears to be an artist-released CD by Mr. Gates, who is based in London draws inspiration for his works from many different genres including folk music and jazz. His career consists of teaching, conducting, performing piano recitals, composing and working as a freelance musician.

A Garland for Gatsby, written last year for piano solo, follows the broad outline of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby. It strives to capture the Jazz Age of the 1920s and the hero’s obsession with Daisy Buchanan. There are sections among the 18 separate tracks capturing the spirit of the wild parties, while others portray Gatsby’s money source in bootlegging and his relationships with the various men and women in his world.  The Piano Quintet is a nearly 17-minute work in three movements, with the first in sonata form. An urgent feeling pervades most of the work.  The Lake Isle is a rhapsody for oboe and piano which was inspired by a Yeats poem.  Sonics are fine, and I find Garland for Gatsby the hit of this CD – a sort of solo piano soundtrack for an imagined movie.

 – John Sunier

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