The piano music of British composer Anthony Hedges will be recorded in 2025 by the young English pianist Adam Davies (pictured) after he was signed by Divine Art.
The Complete Piano Music of Anthony Hedges, Vol. 1 will be the first of two albums to present the entirety of this prolific composer’s concert music for two hands. It will be Adam’s debut album and will be released in early 2026.
Starting with the earliest of the published piano pieces, the Five Preludes of 1959, fresh with youthful energy and verve, and ending with the Five Aphorisms of 1990, this album documents a 30-year maturation showcasing the full breadth of Hedges’ creative output.
From the playful children’s concert pieces to the gritty foray into serialism and the terse intensity of the First Sonata, this music is colourful, rich in its allusions, and expertly crafted. Many of these works are being recorded for the first time.
Hedges (1931-2019) was born in the town of Bicester and educated at Oxford. He taught at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire in Glasgow, and later at Hull University, where he became a Reader and earned his Honorary Doctorate, settling in the East Riding town of Beverley. His expansive output includes popular and frequently-broadcast lighter works for brass band and orchestra.
Pianist Adam Davies was born in Manchester and raised in Beverley, East Yorkshire, where he had the opportunity to hear Anthony Hedges at the piano several times.
He was educated at the Royal Northern College of Music, where his teachers were John Gough and Dr. Murray McLachlan. Adam performs throughout the UK as a recital and concerto soloist, and teaches at Chetham’s School of Music.
Photography credit: Adam Davies/Divine Art