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Classically Minded album cover

Album guide

Classically Minded

David Rees-Williams Trio

Released
2001
Label
Self-released
Forces
Piano, Trio
Personnel
David Rees-Williams piano, Neil Francis electric bass, Phil Laslett drums

The David Rees-Williams Trio recorded Classically Minded before it had a national audience. That changed when Sean Rafferty played the group’s arrangement of Purcell’s “When I Am Laid in Earth” on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune in 2001. The volume of enquiries prompted the BBC to invite the trio to make a commercial recording for its new Late Junction label.

Purcell’s lament shows why the group’s approach holds together so well. Its repeating ground bass remains part of the structure as Rees-Williams moves away from the score, allowing the improvisation to develop without losing its connection to Dido and Aeneas.

Hear both

The classical side contains only the source pieces used on the album, in album order. The jazz side presents the complete album whenever a dependable copy can be embedded.

The originalsPurcell, J.S. Bach, Fauré, Paradisi, C.P.E. Bach, Grieg, Handel · classical source works

The classical player contains fourteen videos for twelve tracks because positions 2 and 6 each join a prelude to its fugue: Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D major, BWV 850, and Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847.

Jazzed upDavid Rees-Williams Trio · 2001
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You can still browse the complete track listing below.

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Source works

The album’s complete track listing, with each classical source identified and original compositions marked plainly.

  1. Music For A WhilePurcell: Music for a While, Z. 583/2, from Oedipus
  2. Prelude And Fugue In D MajorJ.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude and Fugue No. 5 in D major, BWV 850
  3. Libera MeFauré: Requiem, Op. 48: VI. Libera me
  4. Toccata In AParadisi: Keyboard Sonata No. 6 in A major: II. Allegro (Toccata)
  5. Nun Komm: Der Heiden HeilandJ.S. Bach: Chorale Prelude ‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland’, BWV 659
  6. Prelude And Fugue In C MinorJ.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I: Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847
  7. Largo In A MinorJ.S. Bach: Organ Trio Sonata No. 5 in C major, BWV 529: II. Largo
  8. Little ‘Walking’ PreludeJ.S. Bach: Little Prelude in D major, BWV 936, from the Six Little Preludes
  9. When I Am Laid In EarthPurcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act 3: When I am laid in earth (Dido’s Lament)
  10. SolfegiettoC.P.E. Bach: Solfeggietto in C minor, Wq. 117/2 (H. 220)
  11. NotturnoGrieg: Lyric Pieces, Book V, Op. 54: No. 4, Notturno
  12. Handel LeavesHandel: Keyboard Suite No. 7 in G minor, HWV 432: VI. Passacaglia. The track also plays Kosma’s Autumn Leaves, which is non-classical.