The CD is available on Amazon (but only second-hand) and of course on streaming platforms, but I have brand new sealed copies available. Drop me a message via this site if you would like one, or more.
I was deeply honoured when Peter Feuchtwanger, my great teacher and mentor, asked me to record his entire oeuvre for solo piano, the first complete recording of these landmark compositions ever made. The release of the disc in 2006 marked the culmination of years of intense coaching with the composer, in the esoteric and unique idiom of his piano writing.
Here are some reviews of EAST, written by music critics and fellow musicians:
“The CD, in which Dickenson performs the works with aplomb, includes illuminating notes about the various sources of each work and the specific eastern patterns and techniques employed: its release is an event to be celebrated”. – Malcolm Miller, Music & Vision Magazine.
“I am particularly grateful to Haydn Dickenson for bringing this unfamiliar music to my attention, and for playing it with such commitment and sense of style. EAST… is thoroughly recommended”. – Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion Magazine.
“Here is a rarely unique piano recording, successfully combining advanced playing techniques with the Eastern musics which surrounded Peter Feuchtwanger during his childhood in Israel, and which he pursued in intensive studies of Arabic and Indian Music at SOAS in London. This special CD by a former Feuchtwanger pupil displays piano playing of great subtlety and whets the appetite for some of the composer’s other music, which include works for voices and instruments”. – Peter Grahame Woolf, Musical Pointers Magazine.
“This is a remarkable recording of remarkable music. The music is extremely evocative, full of the feeling of the arabesque, in both the figurative and literal meaning of the word.
The adoption and absorption of the “eastern idiom” by the composer is highly forward-looking. It is not exotic for the sake of being exotic, but has the effect of transporting one to a different world or different worlds in a wholly genuine way.
Haydn Dickenson has had the advantage of studying with the composer, the fluidity and expressivity of the playing feels completely authentic.
Composer and pianist together work an alchemy that is deeply human, and there can be no higher recommendation than this in a world that seems so intent on dehumanising whole sections of humanity.
A disk that cannot be recommended too highly for all those who seek a refreshment for the soul.” – Michael Chant, composer.
“Haydn Dickenson’s EAST was my first introduction to the piano works of Peter Feuchtwanger. I’ve returned to the CD many times since and despite knowing the answer, have always asked myself if it’s indeed just a piano and not a string instrument. There is an enormous amount of detail in the Ragas, and yet they sound remarkably improvised and fresh in the tradition of performances of Indian classical music. The combination of rhythmic drive and meditative air makes for a unique listening experience”. Salil Akundi, pianist.
Haydn Dickenson BA LRAM. Piano Tuition, Advice and Coaching. 