ABOUT
Following the success of Ashley's 2024 solo album, Black and White, which streamed over a million times within the first few weeks of its release and received glowing reviews, he returned to the studio for a follow-up recording in 2025. The new album repeats the formula that made Black and White so successful - a contemplative programme of popular tracks that have played a key role in Ashley's life - but features music for violin and piano. It is called Meditations, and brings together Ashley and his wife, Doriane Gable, on record for the first time.
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Ashley and Doriane are now touring Meditations in concert. Featuring tracks from their album alongside larger-scale complementary works and solo piano pieces from Black and White, this moving recital touches upon the power that music has to bring hope and healing to our societies, and explores the notion that music serves as a soundtrack to our lives, an ever-present, transformative presence through our most formative moments.
Programme
Bach
Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846
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Gluck
Melodie from Orfeo and Euridice (arr Kreisler)
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Saint-Saens
The Swan (version for violin and piano)
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Handel
Ombra mai fu 'Largo' (arr. Doriane Gable and Ashley Wass)
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Mompou
Musica callada I: No. 1, Angelico
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Lauridsen
O magnum mysterium
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Williams
Theme from 'Schindler's List'
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Satie
Gnossienne No. 1
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Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending
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INTERVAL
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Chopin
Nocturne in C sharp minor
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Massenet
Meditation from Thais
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Chausson
Poeme
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Debussy
Clair de lune
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Faure
Berceuse
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Schumann
Traumerei
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Faure
Apres un reve (arr. Grainger)
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Debussy
Beau soir
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Doriane Gable
Doriane is one of France's most popular and versatile violinists. Since being appointed as solo violin of the Paris Opera at just 23 years old, she has established herself as a frequent guest leader at all of France's major orchestras and numerous other famous ensembles across Europe and the UK, including the Halle, the BBC Philharmonic, Aurora, the BBC Symphony, the CBSO and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
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Alongside her orchestral work, Doriane is a regular recitalist and chamber musician, and has performed alongside countless world-class artists at major venues and festivals around the world.
Reviews for Black and White
"The album closes with what is surely Debussy’s most famous piano piece, Clair de lune, from the Suite Bergamasque, which beguiles and shimmers in Wass’s skilled hands. It’s the perfect conclusion to this wonderful selection.
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Listening to this lovely album you can almost picture the young Ashley Wass sitting at the piano exploring all this glorious music and revelling in its melodies, harmonies, individual characters and idiosyncrasies. Each piece is played with warmth and affection; these are clearly pieces which mean a great deal to Wass. Let us hope that budding pianists are equally inspired by this beautiful playing."
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Artmuse London
"There were many great new release albums to choose from, this week, for my first "new release album" feature. In the end, however, I opted for Black and White from Ashley Wass.
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This, I found, is a haunting, reflective and melancholic album from Mr Wass, characterised throughout by a stunning sense of spacing and incredible, quite incredible musicality. It makes me think of a piano (and a pianist), alone, performing in the middle of a vast empty space, such as a desert, or within the walls of a cathedral. Loneliness and nostalgia, somehow soaring through it all. A journey through stunning classical pieces, into traditional works, then back to classical for the last two pieces of the album. Balm for the soul. Enjoy."
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More Than Just Notes
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