Prima Facie, a label based in the North West of England, continues its promotion of Manchester-based composers. Here are premiere recordings of the piano music of Anthony Gilbert (born 1934), performed by Richard Casey and Ian Buckle.

2009 was not only Gilbert’s 75th on earth, but also his 50th in music. In the 1950s, he became a composition student of Mátyás Seiber, Anthony Milner and then Alexander Goehr, achieving prominence in the following decade through a series of virtuoso chamber works performed in Britain and abroad.

For some 40 years he has also been closely involved in the promotion of new music and in the teaching of composition: at Morley College, Goldsmiths’ College, as Head of Composition and Contemporary Music at the Royal Northern College of Music and, during 1978-9, as Senior Lecturer at the New South Wales Conservatorium.

Gilbert’s output of well over 100 compositions encompasses almost every genre. His first five song cycles were commissioned and much performed by Jane Manning. A setting of John Clare, however, is his most recently-released vocal work - part of the award winning NMC Songbook collection on CD. In 2009 he completed a Fifth String Quartet, premiered at the RNCM in January 2010 by the Heath Quartet, and a group of 20 short pieces for student pianists.