Tim Rumsey: Transcriptions
Luminate Records

To say that listening to pianist Tim Rumsey's solo piano performances of existing transcriptions along with ones of his own is a genuine pleasure is a huge understatement. His command of the keyboard, sensitivity to pacing and articulation, and inspired curatorial choices make this hour-long debut a thoroughly satisfying collection. The comfort he demonstrates operating within multiple idioms is reflected in the work he's done as a performer. As a soloist, he's given recitals throughout the UK and regularly performs as an accompanist and jazz improviser, and Rumsey also leads a piano trio that performs his own pieces and arrangements of works by others, George Gershwin's An American in Paris included. As a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, Rumsey comes by such versatility honestly.

His interest in transcriptions originated about a decade ago when he transcribed Gershwin's piano rolls to create his own solo arrangements for concert encores (only to later discover someone had already beaten him to the punch). Gershwin led Rumsey to Earl Wild, who based his Etude No. 1 on Gershwin's “Liza” and which also figures in the programme. To make a long story short, Rumsey's journey of discovery brought him to Alexis Weissenberg's arrangement of Charles Trenet's “En avril, à Paris” and treatments of Fauré, Dowland, and J. S. Bach by the Australian composer Percy Grainger. Suitably inspired, Rumsey decided to complement existing transcriptions with ones of his own, Paul Dukas's “The Sorcerer's Apprentice,” William Walton's Orb & Sceptre, and Henry Purcell's “Dido's Lament,” and rounds them out with variations on Gershwin's “Shall We Dance?” from the 1937 film of the same name featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

One of the marches commissioned to commemorate Elizabeth II's March 1953 coronation, Orb & Sceptre inaugurates the set on a cheery and celebratory note, Rumsey's authoritative presence at the keyboard immediately evident during the ceremonial presentation. Having drawn the listener in with such an endearing and expansive treatment, the pianist moves on to Grainger's arrangements of Fauré's “Après un Rêve” and “Nell,” which might be faithful to the originals yet are no less effective for being so. The tenderness of the former resonates throughout Rumsey's expressive rendition, which is haunting, poetic, and dignified. Lighter in tone, “Nell” sparkles incandescently under the pianist's fingertips. Whereas Weissenberg's evocative treatment of Trenet's “En avril à Paris” paints an affectionate portrait of the city in four resplendent minutes, Grainger's version of Dowland's “Now, O now, I needs must part” gives exquisite voice to the lament's ache, with Rumsey's graceful ripples also doing their part to reinforce the impression. The final Grainger piece follows, a dreamily lyrical one credited to him as “Blithe Bells” and based on Bach's “Sheep May Safely Graze.”

Rumsey's adventurous and oft-boisterous set of variations on Gershwin “Shall We Dance?” pairs effectively with Wild's, yes, wildly virtuosic “Liza”-based Etude No. 1. As the recording progresses towards its close, the pianist's treatment of Purcell's baroque setting “Dido's Lament,” from Dido and Aeneas, paves the way for one of the album's most memorable pieces, Dukas's “The Sorcerer's Apprentice.” The slow and methodical introduction to the Purcell material imparts a feeling of stasis as its bass and treble parts entwine and sorrow spreads (you may well feel as if you're being laid into the ground as the music concludes). Indelibly associated for many with Disney's Fantasia, Dukas's impish piece unfolds across twelve minutes, with Rumsey making the most of the devilish original and making the ride as macabre as possible.

November 2025