More praise from Colin Clarke of Classical Explorer for The Isolation Songbook, described as a “beautiful document of our recent times: it casts quite a spell!”

High praise for all the artists and composers involved:

“I particularly love the piano's gentle invocation of the chiming of church bells, beautifully realised by pianist Alexander Soares, who offers the most sensitive of accompaniments throughout the disc…”

“Michael Craddock's voice is, like Charlston's, one to revel in… [Charlston’s] rich, expressive mezzo voice is a joy in and of itself; that it is put to the service of such an important project is magnificence indeed”

Click here to read the full review

Alexander’s second solo album with Rubicon Classics will be released on 25th June 2021.

The programme featuring the piano works of Bridge, Britten, Berg and Ravel. Stay tuned for more info!

The Isolation Songbook received high praise in The Scotsman:

★★★★ “It’s great to see such positive energy arising out of adversity”

Click here to read the full review.

The Isolation Songbook featured in an interview with Presto Music. Helen and Michael discuss the origins of the project from initial idea to recording and beyond.

“…one of the most striking recording-projects to emerge from the past year's lockdown”

Click here to read the full interview.

Alexander will collaborate once again with renowned Portuguese composer Gonçalo Gato on a new set of piano études. Following an initial workshop in 2018, supported by LSO Soundhub, the project has resumed thanks to funding by Direção-Geral Das Artes and República Portuguesa Cultura.

The Isolation Songbook has been chosen as Editor’s Choice by Presto Music.

“Witty and touching in equal measure”

To read further, click here.

Excerpts from The Isolation Songbook were broadcast on German Radio WDR3.

To listen to the show, click here.

The Isolation Songbook is out now! Released by Delphian Records, with Helen Charlston, mezzo soprano, Michael Craddock, baritone, and Alexander Soares, piano. The CD features new songs by 15 composers written in response to the 2020 lockdown.

To buy a copy, click here.

The Isolation Songbook was featured in The Guardian Observer’s Classical Home Listening column by Fiona Maddocks.

“Héloïse Werner, Elliott Park and Gerda Blok-Wilson are included in this lovely, accomplished miscellany of composers, poets and moods.”

To read the article, discussing recording projects arising from lockdown, click here.

The Isolation Songbook, the project started by Helen Charlston (mezzo soprano) and Michael Craddock (baritone), featuring Alexander on piano, with 15 new works commissioned from composers, has been featured in Gramophone Magazine.

To read the article, discussing creativity during lockdown, click here.

Alexander is delighted to announce the completion of 3 days of successful recording for his second solo disc with Rubicon Classics. The sessions took place at Wyastone Studio in December 2020 with the fantastic team of Andrew Keener (producer), Oscar Torres (engineer) and Matthew Cosgrove (Rubicon Classics director).

Stay tuned for more details in 2021 of the release date, repertoire and promo videos and images. Here is a shot from the end of the sessions by Oscar Torres.

Photos from the sessions at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh have arrived, taken by Calum McMillan photography.

★★★★
Alexander’s performance of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time received a 4-star review in The Guardian. The City Music Foundation concert, with Emily Sun (violin), Ariana Kashefi (cello) and Joseph Shiner (clarinet) was reviewed by Fiona Maddocks:

“High praise to City Music Foundation artists Emily Sun, violin, Joseph Shiner, clarinet, Ariana Kashefi, cello, and Alexander Soares, piano, who played Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time in St Paul’s Cathedral. Usually this music, searing and poetic, burns its way into our consciousness. Here, beneath the building’s giant dome, the sound multiplying and coming back to greet itself, it felt indeed timeless.”

Click here for the full review.

★★★★★
Alexander’s performance of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time received a 5-star review in The Independent. The City Music Foundation concert, with Emily Sun (violin), Ariana Kashefi (cello) and Joseph Shiner (clarinet) was reviewed by Michael Church:

“But as it progresses, the textures become ever more magical, with Ariana Kashefi’s persuasive cello underpinning the flights of Emily Sun’s violin and Alexander Soares’s piano. This work may be frequently played, but it can never have sounded as transcendental as this.”

Click here for the full review.

Alexander’s performance of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time was captured by Oliver Bowring. Stay tuned for details of the online video on 30th October.

Click the thumbnails to view full size images.

Alexander will give a live performance of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, in St Paul’s Cathedral under the iconic dome.

The concert will take place on 23rd October, and will also be live-streamed one week later.

For more information, click here.

Delphian Records have released a sneak peak of the Isolation Songbook Album Artwork.

Click the thumbnails to view full-size images.

Photos by Calum McMillan Photography

Alexander’s performance of NowState, by composer Gonçalo Gato, was broadcast on RTP Antena 2, on the renowned Geografia dos Sons, hosted by Luís Tinoco.

Click here to listen to the broadcast.

The Isolation Songbook was recorded in Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, for release on Delphian Records in March 2021. Here are a few pictures from the recording sessions.

Alexander has been selected as one of Making Music’s Selected Artists for 2020-21. To book a recital (online or live) please follow the contact link.

The Isolation Songbook was featured in The Guardian’s home listening column. Click here to read the review.

Alexander’s performance of the Isolation Songbook with Helen Charlston and Michael Craddock was reviewed in Andrew Benson-Wilson of Early Music Reviews + Click here to read the full article.

“Special mention must go to pianist Alexander Soares. Not being part of the Charlston/Craddock social bubble must have meant limited rehearsal time for him, but his musically sensitive playing and coordination with the two singers were exceptional.”

Alexander’s performance of Gonçalo Gato’s of both NowState and Derivação (released by KAIROS) were broadcast live on Portuguese radio. Click here to listen to the programme on RTP Antena 2.

NOWSTATE is out now from KAIROS: the album by talented composer Gonçalo Gato. Alexander recorded the titular NowState in Casa da Música, Porto, and Derivação in the Centro Cultural de Belém, with Hugo Romano Guimarães as engineer, and photos by Vitorino Coragem.

Alexander joins forces with mezzo soprano Helen Charlston and baritone Michael Craddock to give the performance of the Isolation Songbook - a series of new commissions undertaken during the COVID 19 lockdown.

The livestream, organised by City Music Foundation, will take place on 29th July from the iconic St Pancras Clock Tower.

Click here for more information

Alexander’s Recording of Boulez’s Notations (Rubicon Classics, RCD1016) was featured on BBC Radio 3’s The Listening Service programme “Sad songs say so much” with Tom Service. Click here to listen to the programme.

As one of Gramophone’s Editor’s Choices in May 2019, Alexander’s Notations & Sketches was featured in a special online edition on the Recordings of the Year 2019.

Click here to see the write up, or to read the full magazine, click here.

Alexander’s debut album Notations & Sketches was featured on France Musique’s Autumn Miscellany on ‘Portraits de famille’. His recording of Boulez’s Notations was broadcast in full.

Producer and pianist Philippe Cassard was full of praise for the recording released by Rubicon Classics: “A stunning album”

Click here to listen to the broadcast - Alexander features at approximately 1 hour 25 minutes into the programme.

Notations & Sketches has been reviewed in the Swiss paper 24 Heures:

“Combining pieces that have somewhat been forgotten, and which are rarely captured in recording studios is the first pleasure of this miraculous album... complementing this auspicious choice is the engaged playing, sensitivity, and irreproachable technique of the British pianist Alexander Soares in his first album; we’ll keep listening to this little jewel without getting bored.”

Alexander’s debut album has been selected as one of Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice for May 2019.

“Alexander Soares has chosen a fascinating 20th-century programme, with an instinctive grasp of the composers’ sound worlds…”

Click here to view the selection by Martin Cullingford.

Notations & Sketches has been reviewed by Richard Whitehouse in Gramophone Magazine:

“Although most of these pieces have been collated on various anthologies of French piano music, few of them can match this new release in its balanced conception or consistency of execution…Soares has their measure in abundance, resulting in what could hardly be a more auspicious debut album.”

Click here for the full review.

Four-star review in the April 2019 BBC Music Magazine for Notations & Sketches:

“A bold debut programme: Boulez, Dutilleux and Messiaen. But Soares pulls it off, with playing of sophistication, style and a clear affinity with this repertoire”

Click here to read the review by Rebecca Franks.

Notations & Sketches is reviewed in the May 2019 edition of International Piano Magazine:

“British pianist Alexander Soares is enjoying a growing reputation as an interpreter of modern French piano music; this is his debut album. He starts with Dutilleux’ phenomenal, under-rated Piano Sonata, finding Messiaen-like glowing spirituality in the harmonies of the central Lied while retaining its ominous underpinnings… Soares’s account is compelling”

“Notations finds Soares matching virtuosity and exploratory curiosity, fierce competition for Pierre-Laurent Aimard and David Fray.”

Click here to read the full review by Colin Clarke.

★★★★ in French Magazine Classica for Alexander’s debut album:

“The debut album from the talented British pianist Alexander Soares showcases several rarities… a perfectly avowed approach is a triumph in the nervy La Fauvette Passerinette”
- Jérémie Bigorie

Dutch website Opus Klassiek have given a glowing review of Notations & Sketches:

“Soares is a brave pianist with a mission. He shows this with his bold programme and excellent performance”

Click here for the full review by Siebe Riedstra.

Click here to read Alexander’s Personal Touch article in the March 2019 edition of International Piano Magazine.

He discusses the challenges of memorising Boulez, along with the release of his debut album.

Notations & Sketches featured on SWR2’s broadcast Treffpunkt Klassik - Neue CDs on 7th April 2019.

“… crystalline articulation and subtle dynamic expressions… In the album titled Notations & Sketches, British Pianist Alexander Soares makes a brilliant case for the pioneering works of new music”
- Jürgen Kesting

Click here for more details.

“An extremely beautiful interpretation of Dutilleux’s Piano Sonata by the pianist Alexander Soares”

Click here to listen to the broadcast.

Alexander’s debut album Notations & Sketches — featuring the works of Boulez, Dutilleux & Messiaen — has been released by Rubicon Classics.

Click here for more information.

RCD1016
January 25th 2019

Producer: Andrew Keener
Enginer: Oscar Torres
Artwork: Liz K. Miller

Alexander performs live on BBC Radio 3 In Tune on 20/12/18 to discuss the release of his album, and concert launch at GSMD. Music by D’Anglebert, Chopin and Messiaen.

“Absolutely wonderful … a final, mystical flourish”
- Sean Rafferty

Click here to listen to excerpts.

February 2018: Alexander launches his educational outreach project The Notations Project, inspiring young musicians to compose miniature piano pieces.

Fore more information, visit YCAT Sounding Board.

Ahead of his concert for Talented Unlimited in St James’s Piccadilly, click here to read his interview with the charity, where he talks about French music, recording his CD, memorisation and teaching.

“Commanding and compelling”

Click here to read the full review of Alexander’s July 2017 recital at Wigmore Hall, on The Cross-Eyed Pianist site:

“After the interval, Alexander played Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat, op 110, a work which, like the other two sonatas in the final triptych, seems to come from another place. Alexander gave the first movement the graceful expansiveness of a fantasy, while mainting a tempo which kept the music moving forward. The second movement was suitably rambunctious, serving as a perfect foil to the meditative Adagio which emerged, recitative-like, with a captivating intensity, before the fugue rang out. As in the previous works, Alexander’s command of the instrument, sense of pacing, and ability to create a rich palette of timbres and musical colour lent a powerful emotional impact to the work. Compared to Igor Levit’s interpretation, which I heard a few weeks ago, this version was more intimate and introspective but ultimately joyful and life-affirming, and one of the best and most compelling performances of my favourite piano sonata I have heard in a long time.”

Alexander’s Wigmore Hall recital has been reviewed in The Strad:

“… pianist Alexander Soares played works by Dutilleux and Messiaen with impressive control and radiant sound…”

★★★★★ review of Alexander’s recital at the Brighton Festival:

“Soares is a name to remember, and I’m thankful that he came to Brighton so soon after completing his doctorate, because he’s bound for international fame. Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie is grand enough to finish a programme but today it just set the scene of serious virtuoso pianism. Boulez was just 20 when he composed his complex and startling ‘Douze Notations’ in 1945. I took them on trust and simply enjoyed the effects. Liszt’s graceful ‘Sposalizio’ (Marriage of the Virgin) settled me ready for Dutilleux’s monumental Piano Sonata Op.1, half an hour of musical delight. D’Anglebert’s ‘Unmeasured Prelude’ made a charming encore.”

— Andrew Connal

Alexander’s performance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has been reviewed in The Herald Scotland.

“Alexander Soares kicked off proceedings with a fascinating rendition of Piere Boulez’s Notations, a set of 12 minatures for solo piano. He began with a clear, ringing tone before delving into a far more explosive sound world, pulling out a rich array of colour and texture. His chameleon-like qualities as a pianist were further demonstrated by his sensitive, intelligent playing of the piano reduction of Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu’s single movement viola concert A String around Autumn”

Click here to read.

Following Alexander’s Gold Medal and 1st Prize in the Royal Overseas League Competition, read his interview in International Piano:

Click here

Alexander’s solo performance of Boulez’s Notations was broadcast live in the interval of BBC Symphony Orchestra’s concert at the Barbican, and part of the Boulez at 90 Total Immersion day.

Click here to hear an excerpt.

His performance of Derive 1 with the Guildhall New Music Ensemble and David Corkhill was also broadcast later in the evening - click here for more details.

Alexander’s performance at BBC Radio 3 / BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Boulez at 90 was reviewed in The Financial Times:

“Most memorable of all was the original 1945 version of the 12 Notations
for piano, in which Alexander Soares brilliantly demonstrated just how much atmosphere
the young Boulez managed to pack into these fragments.”

Click here to read.

Alexander’s performance at BBC Radio 3 / BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Boulez at 90 was reviewed in The Sunday Times:

“The recital usefully — thrillingly — ended with Boulez’s earliest published work, the 12 Notations (1945), piano miniatures each 12 bars long and 12-note in idiom. Five have been orchestrated and expanded (1978-97) by the always revision-obsessed composer, and these sizzling late displays of colour formed the first part of the BBCSO’s concert under Thierry Fischer. But in Alexander Soares’s
brilliantly unbuttoned account, the crazed toccata of No 2 (for instance) had already sounded sufficiently orchestral.”

Click here to read the full review.

Alexander’s performance at BBC Radio 3 / BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Boulez at 90 was reviewed in The Telegraph:

“…pianist Alexander Soares gave the 12 Notations a nice jazzy flexibility and – at times – a huge intensity.”

Click here for the full review.

Alexander’s performance of Boulez Notations was also praised by The ArtsDesk:

“One other name to watch: Alexander Soares, whose performance of the piano version of Notations (from memory!) ended this concert on a high.”

Click here for the full review.

Alexander’s performances of John Tavener’s Palin and Pratirupa at the BBC Radio 3 / BBCSO Total Immersion event at Barbican has been reviewed in The Telegraph:

“The earliest piece we heard was the piano piece Palin from 1977, played in the lunchtime concert of small-scale works. It had a lingering trace of that wildness in its virtuoso cascades, and also a touch of modernism in its repeating 12-note patterns.

This and three other rarely-heard pieces were played with the requisite meditative spaciousness by students from the Guildhall School of Music.”

Click here to read the full review.

Alexander’s performances of John Tavener’s Palin and Pratirupa at the BBC Radio 3 / BBCSO Total Immersion event at Barbican has been reviewed in The Thoroughly Good Blog:

“Pratirupa for solo piano is a massive commitment for any pianist who needs both technique and stamina. Pianist Alexander Soares is someone to keep a close eye on. Effortless yet defiant… Palin from 1977 from Soares was electrifying…”

Click here for the full write-up.

Alexander’s performance of John Tavener’s solo piano music has been broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Click here to listen to some excerpts.

Alexander’s performances of Tristan Murail’s musics in the Guildhall New Music Ensemble, conducted by Pierre-Andre Valade have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. This included a U.K. premiére of Pour adoucir le corps du temps, and Treize couleurs de la soleil couchant.

Click here for more info.