The Well-Tempered Clavier

2025 BEST CLASSICAL ARTIST (Finalist)

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Michael Houstoun has been among the most acclaimed and respected pianists for over 50 years. After working abroad for several years, he returned to New Zealand in 1981 to build an impressive career from his Manawatū home, with a repertoire that spans from J.S. Bach to the present day. He is a strong and enthusiastic advocate of contemporary New Zealand music, regularly recording and performing works by local composers.

The music of Bach is a significant cornerstone for Michael. As he says, “For a pianist like myself, someone for whom music virtually begins with Johann Sebastian Bach, he provides a series of bottom lines of incalculable value everywhere and always. For the musician who wants to learn about melody, musical pulsation, polyphony and its harmonic implications, Bach is the greatest teacher. For me, Bach’s music is of the utmost humanity, and its consolations are without limit. Even in the chromatic depths of a minor key fugue, despair is held at bay. Such indomitability is inspiring, and even learning one prelude and fugue can give us a never-to-be-forgotten taste.”

ALBUM REVIEW by Elizabeth Kerr (FIVE LINES)

Produced by Kenneth Young
Recorded by John Kim and Steve Garden at the University of Auckland Music Theatre
Mixed and mastered by Steve Garden
Design by UnkleFranc
Printed by Studio Q