{"title":"Ronald Stevenson","description":"\u003cp\u003eRonald Stevenson (1928–2015) was a Scottish composer and pianist of extraordinary range. Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, he made his home in West Linton in the Scottish Borders, and became one of the great pianist-composers of the twentieth century in the tradition of Busoni, whose music he championed throughout his life. His monumental Passacaglia on DSCH, over an hour long and played by Stevenson himself on its first recording, is among the landmarks of postwar piano writing. As a performer he was celebrated for imaginative recital programmes that set the familiar beside the rare, and for his deep advocacy of composers such as Percy Grainger and Kaikhosru Sorabji, both of whom were personal friends.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"ronald-stevenson-cathedrals-in-sound-cd","title":"Ronald Stevenson - Cathedrals in Sound (CD)","description":"Ronald Stevenson’s celebrated 1992 recital for Altarus, built around the idea of the cathedral in sound: the bell, the chorale and the great architectural span of the fugue. Bells ring through the programme, from Liszt’s Carillon and Abendglocken (from Weihnachtsbaum) to Debussy’s La cathédrale engloutie, framing Chopin’s Prélude in C minor and Nocturne in C minor, MacDowell’s In Deep Woods, and Czesław Marek’s rarely heard Tryptique, three preludes and fugues of real grandeur. Stevenson includes his own Heroic Song for Hugh MacDiarmid alongside Sorabji’s Fantasiettina on the name of the same poet, and closes with the summit of the piano transcription repertoire, Busoni’s arrangement of Bach’s Chaconne in D minor. 12 tracks, 67 minutes.\r\n\r\nRonald Stevenson, piano.","brand":"Altarus Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54290889441573,"sku":"076958704321","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0758\/1250\/3845\/files\/AIRCD9043_cover_3000x3000_20260811-1-scaled.jpg?v=1793246011"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0758\/1250\/3845\/collections\/AIRCD9043_cover_3000x3000_20260811-1-scaled_222e4f33-c3f7-41e7-aa80-33c874d52e10.jpg?v=1793400638","url":"https:\/\/store.spinneymedia.com\/collections\/ronald-stevenson.oembed","provider":"Spinney Media","version":"1.0","type":"link"}