STEPHEN DODGSON (1924-2013): 24 Inventions for Harpsichord.

Description: Dodgson was a prolific composer who produced a large body of chamber and instrumental music for a variety of forces. He had a great interest in the music of the Baroque, married a harpsichordist, and counted many players of the harpsichord and guitar among his friends and colleagues, so it is unsurprising that he wrote a good number of highly accomplished and idiomatic works for both instruments. His idiom was tonal, though sometimes with a taste for unpredictability and ambiguity which is a refreshing personal touch to his otherwise fairly conservative vocabulary. The Inventions are appealing short works, in some cases more obviously derived from Baroque forms and harmonic language than others. His pieces often involve the development of small thematic cells, a device he inherited from Janáček, a composer he greatly admired, and this, combined with the repeating patterns of Baroque accompanimental figuration lends the works their distinctive lively blend of traditional and modern. Ekaterina Likhina (harpsichord).