Jess & Martin's First Album

We have been friends and collaborators for the past six years, sharing a love of the great outdoors in our home county of Cumbria and performing together at Wigmore Hall, St John's Smith Square, Oxford Song Festival, Leeds Lieder and The Stoller Hall. We are both excited to embark on a new adventure in our musical partnership; to record a work with which we both deeply resonate: Franz Schubert's Winterreise (Winter Journey) to texts by Wilhelm Müller.

At once crystalline and searing, these twenty four songs speak with awful simplicity to a life gone cold: relentless trudging, frozen tears, the self-alienation of self-deception, Winterreise glimmers with strange and soft glimpses of beauty and consolation within the apparent stranglehold of a complex existential web woven with destruction in mind.

We'll be recording in the extraordinary acoustics of Milton Court Concert Hall at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, of which Jess is an alumna and Martin a current professor. Following the success of our collaborations for Chandos (Shostakovich, BBC Philharmonic) & Deux-Elles (The Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas), we are delighted to be working with BBC Producer, Mike George, whose breadth of knowledge, attention to detail and generosity of spirit make him a nurturing and reassuring presence in the studio. Bobby Williams, Jess's collaborator of many years and a true artist, will be sound engineer.

We are so grateful for any support you feel able to give. Funds raised will enable us to cover recording venue, producer, engineer and post-production/editing costs.

During his illustrious career, Martin Roscoe has become one of the UK’s most loved and respected pianists. With his extensive repertoire, consummate musicianship and immediate connection with audiences, he is in great demand as a concerto soloist, chamber musician and recitalist.

Martin appears regularly at Wigmore Hall and has long-standing associations with many of the UK’s leading orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony. A prolific recording artist, Martin has a distinguished discography and is one of the most broadcast pianists on BBC radio.

Jess Dandy is an international award-winning contralto. She is a regular at BBC Proms and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Palau de la Musica Catalana, La Seine Musicale, and Tokyo Opera City. She was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2021. Her discography includes three Gramophone nominated albums.