Unrecorded British Piano Concertos

[albion]

Couplings totally inappropriate, however.

From a purely personal viewpoint I disagree, as both composers are of great interest to me, and it's no worse than putting York Bowen, Alan Bush and Havergal Brian together, or (despite the viola link) putting McEwen's Concerto with Vaughan Williams' Flos Campi. It's a good chance to expand repertoire and challenge pre-conceptions.

From a marketing viewpoint I think it is pretty astute, designed to interest those who a) are fans of early twentieth-century British music, b) would automatically have to own a world-premiere recording of a substantial hitherto-virtually-unknown Vaughan Williams piece, c) those who are fans of mid-twentieth century British music, d) those who are specifically interested in Welsh music and/or William Mathias in particular, e) those who are interested in Piano Concertos, British or otherwise ...

Well worth a punt, I'd  say.

That'll be several more sales for Somm, then.

[Martin Eastick]

Much as I am looking forward to hearing the Vaughan Williams early Fantasy, I had rather hoped that Mark Bebbington would have got around to recording the Cecil Coles piano concerto, which he performed a few years ago now on at least three occasions. Unfortunately I was unable to attend any of the performances but there was some rumour circulating at the time that Somm may be considering a recording but nothing seems to have come of this. This would have been an ideal opportunity and IMHO a more interesting coupling for the VW, although I appreciate that Mathias fans would probably disagree!

Mike Spring (Hyperion) gave the impression that he thought the Coles' concerto would be of questionable quality bearing in mind the composer's age when written, but this opinion was apparently based on assumption as he was also uanble to be present at any of the performances. Hyperion now, though, may be the best option for a future recording as this present potential opportunity has been sadly missed (once again, my apologies to those whose interest extends to later 20th century fare as represented by William Mathias!)

[Alan Howe]

Stylistically, to put the VW together with the two Mathias PCs is, for me, somewhat incongruous, although no more so than with some other issues. It's just that I'll be spending money to buy some toothsome early VW and getting two much later PCs that I don't really want. All a matter of taste, of course, but for me it's a missed opportunity...

[Dundonnell]

That is the same feeling I had (initially) in getting Hans Gal's 2nd Symphony coupled with Schubert's Great C major

[Mark Thomas]

I'm with Alan on this and my normal solution would be to download the VW track(s) and leave the others, but unfortunately Dutton doesn't seem to have discovered the download market yet.

[Dundonnell]

I should say that the Mathias Piano Concertos are not the last word in rebarbative modernity

(although, of course, I take your point and understand that we all have different tastes

[JimL]

Just what is the idiom of the Mathias PCs?

[Dundonnell]

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Oct11/mathias_PCs_sommcd246.htm

Prokofiev.  Late Bartok(ie Piano Concerto No.3/Concerto for Orchestra).

[albion]

Good, I like Prokofiev, especially the concertos (although not so taken with Bartok). I've also really enjoyed making the acquaintance of Mathias' Symphony No.1 (1966) -



- so the Concerto No.2 (1961) is something I'm looking forward to hearing.

[Alan Howe]

Not for me, I'm afraid. I'm with Mark, who's with me, who's....

[albion]

Ultimately we should, of course, be grateful that the Vaughan Williams has been recorded at all - and all without having to put our own hand into our own pockets to make this happen!

[eschiss1]

Has Arthur Hinton's piano concerto op.24 (premiered  1905) been recorded? I'm guessing the parts survive or did recently, since it was revived in 2002 by forum member/conductor Christopher Fifield with pianist Dan Franklin Smith, Lambeth Orchestra (http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2002/Apr02/Hinton.htm) (and the 2-piano score is at a number of libraries). May have been mentioned awhile back...

[Alan Howe]

No recording yet, as far as I know. But interest in it is well and truly alive...

[britishcomposer]

Gerald Finzi worked at a piano concerto which he gave up for his Grand Fantasia and Toccata.
However, the original second movement has been published and recorded as Eclogue op. 10.
In 1994 Jonathan Cook reconstructed the Finale, a lightweight rondo according to Stephen Banfield's Finzi book.
Banfield is convinced that the material is good enough to justify that reconstruction - or should one better say 'realisation'?
He singles out the ending as particularly successful, the head-motif of the Eclogue is being reworked.
There are obviously many sketches for a first movement but according to Banfield it is hardly possible to organise them.

Anyway, I would love to hear this third movement! I don't know if it has been performed and/or if a recording of that performance exists.

[albion]

In 1994 Jonathan Cook reconstructed the Finale, a lightweight rondo according to Stephen Banfield's Finzi book.

Anyway, I would love to hear this third movement! I don't know if it has been performed and/or if a recording of that performance exists.

Jonathan Cook's Towards a Performing Version of the Finzi Piano Concerto was his BA (Hons) dissertation at Oxford - I don't think that there has been any performance of his realisation.