Born in Manchester (1963) in the northwest of England, Sasha Johnson Manning studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music.
Upon graduation, she established a career as a professional singer and choir director and also taught.
Though she had written much for local choirs, her compositional skills were significantly encouraged through a formal association with the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus where she became its ‘Composer-in-Residence,’ creating an 8-movement ‘Requiem’ (Regent REGCD255).
In parallel with her growing reputation in the Midwest, Sasha has been applauded in the UK for her appealing and affecting music, with ‘The Manchester Carols’ (a collaboration with the poet, Carol Ann Duffy) enjoying much popularity.
Another notable commission came from the BBC, resulting in ‘The People’s Passion’, a work performed both in the UK, and far beyond, in Europe, Africa and the USA.
For those who know Sasha primarily as a choral composer, this instrumental anthology will come as a surprise, but it provides important testimony to her versatility as an artist.
Each month Third Baptist Church in Saint Louis, Missouri, features in their Sunday services solo keyboard works on a theme recognizing the religious season and time of year.
‘A Year at Third’ was commissioned to fulfill that role. Modelled on ‘The Seasons’ by Tchaikovsky, the twelve short pieces are beautiful studies, capturing the different character of the twelve months of the year in quintessentially English styles.
The recording concludes with two Christmas works for piano and String Quintet – the second an extended work in three movements – featuring rhapsodic treatments of well-known Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany carols.
All the music on the disc is recorded here for the first time.
with Chantal Incandela (track 13) and Anita Hagerman (tracks 14–16) double bass
conducted by Philip Barnes (tracks 13–16)
A Year at Third: 12 studies for Solo Piano
1 January: Melody of the cold earth, richness of kings’ gifts, new growth and promise of wholeness
2 February: The redemptive power of love
3 March: ‘Lead me to the rock that is higher than I’
4 April – Palm Sunday: An excitable crowd, perhaps not fully comprehending the true significance of what it is they are witnessing
5 May: The green hill
6 June: The Eternal Father
7 July : Be confident! Trust Jesus! God is our hope and strength!
8 August: Like as the hart
9 September: Finding God in the darkest depths
10 October: Affirmation
11 November: Awake, my soul
12 December: O come, O come, Emmanuel
13 On Christmas Day (for Piano and String Quintet)
A Christmas Rhapsody (for Piano and String Quintet)
14 I O come, O come, Emmanuel
15 II Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing?
16 III How brightly shines the morning star
https://www.regent-records.co.uk/product/sasha-johnson-manning-a-year-at-third/
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