Watching the rise and rise of Isata KannehMason has been one of the great joys in my line of work over recent years. As, of course, has been the rise and rise of her siblings Sheku, Braimah and Jeneba – and in a family of seven gifted siblings, they are probably not the last who will become musicians. But Isata, 26, is the eldest and in many ways the one who set the family pattern.
Isata arrives at the Universal Classics office in a warm winter jumper and jeans, with her hair woven into multiple braids, the perfect combination of charisma and unpretentiousness. Much the same could be said of her playing. She generally chooses not to flaunt her own considerable virtuoso capabilities, instead absorbing her sense of flair into a many-volumed library of musical gifts. Some might feel there is something touchingly old-fashioned about her dedicated attitude to her art, in the best sense, and it is showing its worth.
Her latest release for Decca is devoted to music on the theme of childhood, involving works by Dohnányi, Mozart, Schumann and Debussy. She is no stranger to the recording studio: her Clara Schumann debut album was an impressive hit, followed by Summertime offering Coleridge-Taylor, Beach, Barber and Gershwin and, with her celebrated cellist brother Sheku, a collection of Barber and Rachmaninov entitled Muse.
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Discovering Donizetti - Thanks to a two-year lockdown project, nearly 200 previously lost Donizetti songs will now see the light of day
Thanks to a two-year lockdown project, nearly 200 previously lost Donizetti songs will now see the light of day. For most people, undertaking a lockdown project meant learning to bake sourdough bread, getting fit with Joe Wicks, or taking up a language. But Professor Roger Parker, the eminent historian of Italian opera and emeritus professor at King's College London, had something far more ambitious in mind. He set about unearthing songs by Gaetano Donizetti - many of which had been lost since the composer's lifetime - and the enterprise turned into a two-year labour of love.
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