Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Today's Birthday - Arnold Cooke (b. November 5, 1906, d. 2005) - Three String Sonatas

Born in 1906 in West Yorkshire in England, Arnold Cooke read history at Cambridge, though he was then already aspiring to a career in music. His subsequent study with Paul Hindemith in Berlin proved to be a critical influence, as evident in the striking similarities between Hindemith’s Clarinet Sonata in B (1938) and Cooke’s Sonata, written in 1959. I first discovered the music of Cooke on a ultra-rare cd on Titanic Records called "Something Old, Something New" which i bought for a Hovhaness work, indeed perhaps the rarest Hovhaness piece that's been recorded- The "Sextet for Recorder, String Quartet, and Harpsichord". The Cooke work on the disc is wonderful, his "Concerto for Recorder & String Orchestra". It really impressed me and soon I was hungry to find every Arnold Cooke recording that I could. I will post it tonight when I have the time.



Arnold Cooke's studies with Paul Hindemith are evident in many of his compositions (although more lyrical usually than Hindemith) which for me is a real plus. He is, needless to say, an original voice and deserves much more recognition (although he is here presented on Naxos...a very good sign). As I bought this digitally rather recently and haven't played it enough, perhaps twice-I have impressions, all very positive however I do not like to talk about compositions until I have more of a true feeling for them.. 


Tonight I will be posting (at least) Cooke's Recorder Concerto and his Clarinet Concerto. Enjoy..


Arnold_Cooke_Three_String_Sonatas_Tz.zip

http://www32.zippyshare.com/v/40163551/file.html

1 comment:

esperverany said...

Please, can you re-upload the link? Thanks so much!