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Updated 16th January 2012

 

Signum Classics

The 2009 Sonata for trumpet and organ is to appear on the world-renowned Signum Classics label in March 2012. Graham Ashton and US organist, Christopher Jacobson, gave the premiere of this four-movement work in the National Cathedral of Washington DC in January 2009. Michael Matthes, organist of Troyes Cathedral in France, is the organist on the recording which was made using the organ of Tulle Cathedral in the French Corrèze last July.

The Sonata is published by Editions BIM.

 

Toccata for organ on CD and at La Madeleine, Paris

Michael Matthes recorded Steptoe's Toccata for organ on the organ of Tulle Cathedral in July 2011. Matthes will give the work's public premiere in La Madeleine, Paris, 12th February 2012. Included in the programme is music by Messiaen, Vierne, Langlais, Demessieux and Gigout. Steptoe's new work will be available from Editions BIM in the first part of 2012.

12th February Concert details >>

Sonnets to Delia in Leeds

British baritone, Philip Smith, and Siobhain O'Higgins, piano, include the Three Sonnets to Delia in their recital at the Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, Leeds University, on 17th February. The work is published by Stainer & Bell, London.

 

Five new Shakespeare songs in Manchester and New York

Five Shakespeare Songs for tenor and piano receive their premiere in Manchester at the end of April. The new work features in the final concert as part of the Royal Northern College of Music's Shakespeare in Song Day on 29th April and performed by Thomas Morss and pianist Kevin Thraves.

The cycle's US premiered is scheduled for late October 2012 by Gregorio Rangel and the composer as pianist in the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, Manhattan, New York. The songs will be published by Editions BIM later in the year.

 

New Clarinet Quintet for David Campbell, the Sacconi Quartet (UK) and the Quatuor Girard (France)

For the 2012 Aberystwyth MusicFest Roger Steptoe is composing his second Clarinet Quintet. British clarinettist and director of this well-known Welsh music festival and summer school, David Campbell, will be the soloist along with the Sacconi Quartet, acknowledged to be one of the finest UK string quartets of the younger generation. The quartet is Quartet in Association at the Royal College of Music and Quartet in Residence at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre.

David Campbell will give the French premiere of the work in the 2012 Festival de Musique Classique d'Uzerche with the acclaimed Quatuor Girard. The concert is supported by the Fondation d'Entreprise Banque Populaire.

Steptoe's first Clarinet Quintet dates from the early 1980's and was premiered by David Campbell and the Coull Quartet in the Aston Centre for the Performing Arts, UK, in February 1981. The London premiere took place in the Wigmore Hall in July 1982 by the Bochmann Quartet and David Campbell. The subsequent commercial recording was nominated for a Gramophone award under the category of chamber music. It is published by Stainer & Bell Ltd, London.

''I think this a splendid work; perhaps the best for the medium since the Bliss Quintet.''
Malcolm MacDonald, Gramophone, December 1982.

The second quintet is an 'hommage' to Debussy in the year that celebrates the 150th anniversary of his birth. The work will be published by Editions BIM.

 

Sonatine 6 for tuba and harp

Following the previous five in this on-going successful series of short instrumental works Roger Steptoe is to compose a 6th Sonatine for Sergio Carolino and Italian harpist, Ilária Vivan, harp solo with the Orquestra Nacional do Porto. The work will be recorded for a CD early in 2012. It will be available from Editions BIM. The other Sonatines are No. 1 for solo viola, No. 2 for cello and piano, No. 3 for organ, No. 4 for oboe and piano and No. 5 for violin and piano.

 

Three new performing editions from Editions BIM

Three new works by Steptoe are soon to appear in the Editions BIM catalogue, namely the Sonata for viola and piano, the Three Paul Verlaine Songs for mezzo-soprano, viola and piano, and the piano reduction of the Ballade for horn and chamber orchestra. These recent additions to the Editions BIM catalogue will now see 18 new Steptoe works in print and available worldwide. Contact Editions BIM for more information.

 

NEWS FROM LATE 2011

Dance Music in Portugal in December

Dance Music for symphonic brass and percussion received its Portuguese premiere at the Escola Superior de Musica, Artes e Espectaculo, Porto on December 2nd. Eminent Portuguese tubist, Sergio Carolino, directed Massive Brass Attack in a concert that also featured music by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Samuel Barber, Andreia Pinto Correia and Roland Szentpáli. This nationally-based award-winning young brass ensemble was joined by David Kutz, principal tuba with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, as guest soloist.

Dance Music is available from Editions BIM.

 

Sonatine 5 for violin and piano in Uzerche in August

For the French violonist, Elsa Grether, and Rumanian pianist, Ferenc Vizi, Roger Steptoe composed the Sonatine 5. The Sonatine received its premiere as part of a recital given by these two artists in the Festival de Musique d'Uzerche, France, on 22nd August 2011.

The 5th Sonatine follows the first for solo viola, the second for cello and piano, the third for organ (see review below) and a fourth for oboe and piano.

Elsa Grether is an award-winning artist. She has an international career with concerts throughout Europe. In 2012 she makes her debut in New York's Carnegie Weill Hall. Ferenc Vizi is a former Arthur Rubenstein Competition prize-winner and one of Europe's most distinguished pianists.

The work will be published by Editions BIM in 2012.

''Merci pour cette très belle oeuvre d'un rare souffle lyrique! Nous sommes Ferenc et moi-même chanceux d'en être les dédicataires.'' Elsa Grether

 

EARLIER NEWS FROM 2011

New York Fanfares premiered in New York in May

New York Fanfares for brass quintet received its world premiere by the New York Chamber Brass (director, Graham Ashton) at Purchase College, New York State University, on May 2nd 2011. The NYCB is Ensemble-in-Residence at this prestigious Performing Arts institution. The quintet is published by Editions BIM as part of their on-going brass chamber music series.

"New York Fanfares - what a piece! Fast, zappy and virtuosic; just what NYCB is about. This is a significant addition to the contemporary brass repertoire. Looking forward to the premier in New York on 5/2."

New York Chamber Brass
Graham Ashton & Rich Clymer trumpets
Peter Reit horn
Tim Albright trombone
Kyle Turner tuba

 

SONATINE 3 for organ reviewed in top UK magazine

'Similarly stealthy compositional devices are adopted in Steptoe’s Sonatine, although here it is a Bach chorale which is ‘uncovered’ in the course of the work. Several ‘blocks’ of music alternate during the piece; one sets an angular cantilena against repeated chords, others develop scurrying triplet figures or fanfare-like flourishes, until explicit quotations from the chorale tune which has been lurking in the wings bring the piece to a close. In less skilled hands, such an approach can lead to incoherence: but there is not a wasted or thoughtless note here, and players with an interest in serious contemporary repertoire will find the piece immensely rewarding, although it will need careful programming.'

STEPHEN FARR, Choir & Organ magazine, March/April 2011 issue

The Sonatine 3 is published by Editions BIM.

 

Stainer & Bell, London

Roger Steptoe has over 40 titles with this UK-based publisher. The Concerto for tuba and strings (recorded by James Gourlay on Naxos), instrumental music, songs and choral works are some of the more popular works. Contact details below.

Steptoe's page on the Stainer & Bell website : www.stainer.co.uk/steptoe.html

 

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All of Roger Steptoe's recent music (2003 onwards) is published exclusively by the Swiss publishing house, Editions BIM. All enquiries to order@editions-bim.com

All other works of Roger Steptoe continue to be published by the UK publishing house, Stainer & Bell, London, UK. All enquiries to Caroline Holloway. caroline@stainer.co.uk

For more information and to buy copies of the works mentioned on this website you are respectfully asked to contact the publishers concerned. Please see the works list for full details.