Earl: 75th Birthday Tribute
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DAVID EARL
Earl: 75th Birthday Tribute
David Earl (piano)
[ SOMM Recordings / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 21 August 2026
Pre-order your copy NOW!
SOMM Recordings is proud to celebrate the "stylish and powerful" (The Times) South African-born pianist-composer David Earl with a 75thBirthday Tribute. The release features Oxymorons - 24 Preludes (1993) and Scenes from a South African Childhood - 9 pieces for solo piano (2013). Of interest is that the second of these childhood scenes, "Princess Rainbow," was included on the much-praised African Pianismrelease [SOMMCD 0647] by pianist Rebeca Omordia.
David Earl was born in Stellenbosch in South Africa's Western Cape in 1951. He made his professional piano debut aged 16 with the South African Broadcasting Corporation and played Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra the following year. He moved to London when he was 19 to study at the Trinity College of Music, performing the first of a number of solo piano recitals at Wigmore Hall while still a student and broadcasting live on BBC Radio 3.
Jeremy Nicholas, writing for Gramophone, has said, "For those who like their contemporary music tonal, substantial and individual … David Earl is certainly a name to add to your list." Earl gave the premiere of his Piano Suite No 1 Mosaics at Wigmore Hall in 1977. His First Piano Concerto and Chéri, a ballet commissioned for The Scottish Ballet, followed in quick succession. His extensive catalogue includes further ballet scores, operas, chamber music, choral and vocal works, film scores, a wide range of concerti for various instruments, and works for solo piano.
Tracks:
Oxymorons - 24 Preludes (48:47):
No. 1, Molto energico (1:28)
No. 2, Lento lugubre (2:54)
No. 3, Allegretto (1:29)
No. 4, Lento sostenuto (1:12)
No. 5, Presto (1:09)
No. 6, Marcia quasi funebre (2:01)
No. 7, Presto (1:15)
No. 8, Allegro risoluto (1:53)
No. 9, Molto lento (1:50)
No. 10, Andante poco lento (1:47)
No. 11, Vivace (1:40)
No. 12, Lento malinconico (2:26)
No. 13, Allegro veloce (0:57)
No. 14, Lento ruminato (1:18)
No. 15, Lento elegiaco (6:00)
No. 16, Tempo di valzer (1:18)
No. 17, Amabile (2:58)
No. 18, Allegro tempestoso (2:08)
No. 19, Languido con amore (3:14)
No. 20, Adagio (2:33)
No. 21, Allegro (1:22)
No. 22, Con moto (1:42)
No. 23, Andante maestoso (2:20)
No. 24, Andante misterioso (1:43)
Scenes from a South African Childhood (27:27):
No. 1, The gardens at Old Nectar (3:25)
No. 2, Princess Rainbow (4:09)
No. 3, At Bain's Kloof (Baboon dance) (2:53)
No. 4, The blue dressing-gown (A lullaby) (3:40)
No. 5, At Groot Drakenstein (3:51)
No. 6, At Rhodes Memorial (An elegy) (3:06)
No. 7, Bringing in the nets at Fish Hoek (2:49)
No. 8, The fig tree hammock (2:03)
No. 9, Christmas at Rose Cottage (1:26)
