ASHLEY FRIPP, PIANO
KUR – KAMMERORCHESTER DER UNIVERSITÄT REGENSBURG
GRAHAM BUCKLAND
Ashley Fripp, an outstanding young British pianist, offers up strong and virtuosic performances of Frédéric Chopin‘s two piano concertos. Together with the University of Regensburg Chamber Orchestra under Graham Buckland, Fripp brings a beguiling tonal clarity to these much-loved works.
Piano concerto no. 2 in f Minor, op. 21
4 Maestoso
5 Larghetto
6 Vivace
Recording: 06/2012 – Audimax der Universität Regensburg
Piano: Steinway D
Producer: Andreas Bertram
Recording Producer: Andreas Bertram
Layout: Felix Dreher
®+© 2013 Spektral 15543
Ord. No.: SRL4 – 13115
GTIN (EAN): 4260130381158
All rights reserved.
British pianist Ashley Fripp has given solo, chamber music and concerto performances in many of the most prestigious venues throughout the UK, such as the Royal Festival, Queen Elizabeth, Birmingham Symphony, Barbican and Wigmore Halls. Recent international invitations have taken him throughout Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, China, Japan, Australia and the USA, to such halls as the Carnegie Hall (New York) and the Audimax of the University of Regensburg. He has won prizes at more than a dozen national and international competitions, including the coveted Gold Medal from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Diploma of Outstanding Merit at the 8th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, First Prize at the Brant International Piano Competition and the Award for Keyboard at the Royal Over-Seas League Competition. He has also made appearances on BBC television and radio. Ashley Fripp studied at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music Junior Department with Emily Jeffrey. He is currently undertaking postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music &Drama with Ronan O’Hora.
Graham Buckland studied in Cambridge, London, Brno and Prague before becoming a repetiteur and musical assistant at the National Theatre in Prague in 1975. He spent a further 20 years as opera conductor in Ústí-nad-Labem, Nuremberg, Hanover and Oldenburg, becoming principal conductor in Hildesheim and Brno. He has appeared as guest conductor in several European countries and in the USA and was a regular guest with the Prague Symphony and Siegerland Orchestras as well as in the State Operas of Prague and Hanover. He is still a guest conductor in his former theatre in Hildesheim. In 1995 Buckland took over Regensburg University Orchestra, where he enlarged the repertoire and the concert activity quite considerably. Guest appearances followed in neighbouring cities as well as abroad. In 2004 he founded the University Chamber Orchestra, which made its first recording of the String Serenades of Suk and Dvořák in 2006. In 2003 he was nominated University Music Director and in 2006 he was awarded the cultural prize Pro Arte of the university’s cultural foundation. Buckland is also a composer and arranger. Two masses have been performed in Kallmünz and Regensburg; the chamber opera Prometheus was performed in Český Krumlov and Regensburg, Graham’s Anatomy in Kallmünz, Contrariety in Regensburg and excerpts from Don Gil in Hildesheim. Christmas a cappella, Christmas for Female Voices, Spirituals a cappella and Halleluja have been published by Bärenreiter, songs and piano music for children by Bosse.
Regensburg University Chamber Orchestra (KUR), founded in 2004, consists of advanced students and professional musiciansfrom Bavaria and the Czech Republic. The leaders (concertmasters) are SándorGalgóczi of the Philharmonic Orchestra Regensburg and David Peterhoff from the university. The orchestra aims to perform at a professional niveau, combining youthful enthusiasm with a high technical standard. The concert in Berlin’s Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt was praised for its “incredible precision”. Since then there have also been guest appearances in Prague and Pécs. In 2006 the University Chamber orchestra published its first CD on SPEKTRAL with the string serenades of Suk and Dvořák (SRL4-06001).
