Pianist Needed! New Carter Larsen Repertoire to Sample

Recently, we were given six handsomely bound volumes of piano music by Carter Larsen, along with two CD recordings of his music.  The composer claims influences by Mozart, Beethoven and Liszt, amongst others. At first glance, some pieces seem to resemble Liszt - others resemble Einaudi.  But we haven't ventured out of the library to try them out on a piano!

So, if any of our students or teachers are up for trying out a very large amount of music by a prolific but comparatively unknown contemporary composer, please come and ask to see these new donations!  They'll hit the shelves within the next couple of days.

• More about Carter Larsen: http://carterlarsen.com/

Appropriately, a Legacy Collection of Ballad History which has its own Story

Eric Cowell's Ballad Books

Part of the appeal of ballads and balladry is the nostalgic links back to the misty past.  What, then, could be more appropriate than a gift to the Whittaker Library of a collection of ballad books, with its own collection history?  Folk singer Pete Coe facilitated this donation, from the daughter of the late Eric Cowell.  Whilst you may not have heard of Eric Cowell before, he was in fact the great-nephew of one of the last great Victorian antiquarians, Frank Kidson.  In fact, Eric's wife Ray did some research into Frank Kidson's life, which you can read here: The Search for Five-Finger Frank.

We don't know much about Eric Cowell himself, but his memory will live on in the Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  Some of his books are very special indeed, and all will be made very welcome by our staff and students of English, Scottish and Border ballads.  They include Motherwell's original collection and a late Victorian reprint of the infamous Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway song by R H Cromek.

There is the sense of the wheel coming full circle when one considers that Eric might just  have discussed some of these very texts with his great-uncle Frank!

• The Collection

Israeli Composer Tsippi Fleischer presents recordings to Whittaker Library

The Whittaker Library is very pleased to accept the gift of a number of Tsippi Fleischer's recordings for addition to our stock.

To find out more about this eminent Israeli composer, visit her website:-

http://www.tsippi-fleischer.com/

To explore Tsippi's recorded repertoire, check the Whittaker Library catalogue, here.

String Chamber Music Gift

The Whittaker Library recently received a substantial gift of string ensemble music from the Borland and Irving collection.  They're being added to stock this week.

Try the New Acquisitions button on our catalogue homepage to see what's new in the Library.  It retrieves the latest 20 items added to stock.

Donations to the Library - folksy but ...

Rather quaint, this - a book of Scottish tunes with a hand-embroidered cloth cover.  Lovely, you'd think.  This folksy charm comes with dust, pong, and a dried squished spider for added garnish.

Luckily we do already have several copies of this edition!