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ANDREW WILSON-DICKSON - Organ & Harpsichord
Andrew Wilson-Dickson is active
as a performer on harpsichord, organ and piano, so he
could be useful if you are looking for an artist capable
of offering a combination of these in one concert. For
instance, a solo recital called 'Toccata' would cover
the history of this exciting genre by starting with
Frescobaldi on the harpsichord, moving on to organ Toccatas
from 17th- and 18th-century Germany, and then migrating
to the piano for19th- and 20th-century toccatas by,
say, Schumann, Debussy or Ravel. Andrew is well
used to introducing such a programme informally to an
audience.
However, not many venues have
the organ and piano necessary for such a programme,
and Andrew Wilson-Dickson can offer recitals on any
of these three instruments (or mix harpsichord and piano
as he can bring his own harpsichord).
His piano repertoire include major
sonatas by Classical composers, a selection of Romantic
works (particularly Chopin) and a wealth of twentieth-century
music, including Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Schoenberg
and Bartok. He has a particular interest in the music
of Bax. A recent recital consisted of Debussy Etudes,
Bartok's Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (from Mikrokosmos
book 6) and Bax's Third Sonata. He also plays a programme
of piano treios in March '99 by Shostakovich (no1),
Ravel and Wilson-Dickson (no2). As he is potential
jazz player and busker, he has a good harmonic understanding
of the music he plays and can improvise convincingly
in various styles. He has a weakness for the music
of Billy Mayerl. He has recorded duet and two-piano
reperoire several times for Radio 3 with the pianist
James Walker.
Andrew also has a broad knowledge
and experience of chamber music, having accompanied
many artists in duo, trio and quartet formations. Thus
the major items of duo repertoire (such as Mozart and
Beethoven violin sonatas, Beethoven cello sonatas, various
Schumann, Mendelssohn trios, all the Brahms sonatas
for violin and cello as well as trios and quartets and
the quintet, Debussy sonatas for cello and violin, Ravel
violin sonata and trio, many of the Hindemith sonatas,
Martinu, Frank Martin, Berg, etc. He plays regularly
in PM, a professional group specialising in contemporary
music.
On the harpsichord Andrew has
instruments suitable for playing early Italian music,
and English and French music of the earlier 18th century.
He has also played the major concertos of JS Bach
(D minor, and Brandenburg Concerto no5). He has
wide experience of playing continuo, a subject which
he has studied thoroughly. The Passions of JS
Bach are a speciality, as well as many operas (French,
English, Italian) and oratorios. He is equally
at home with the needs of modern and early instrumentalists,
but is particularly happy with period instrument bands.
He is able to tune harpsichords to a variety of
temperaments, according to need. He has played
with distinguished groups (such as European Chamber
Orchestra) and musicians (Catherine Mackintosh, Alison
Bury, Andrew Manze, Crispian Steele-Perkins and others).
Andrew has long experience of
organ continuo playing too, having been a church and
cathedral organist for many years. He also has
a broad repertoire of solo organ repertoire too, which
includes the major works of JS Bach and the music of
a number of other German composers (Buxtehude, Pachelbel,
Tunder), and a broad cross-section of 20th-century music,
especially French (Tournemire, Jolivet, Alain, lots
of Messiaen including Livre d'Orgue) and some striking
pieces of his own. In February 99 he played the
Poulenc organ concerto with Orchestra da Camera, and
has recorded the Haydn concerto in F for violin and
organ with the same orchestra (Meridian CDE 84375).
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