The piano and C20th British composers

[ahinton]

[QUOTE=Op. XXXIX;7861]John Ogdon wrote a concerto which he recorded in the '70's. Anyone have the old LP lying around? Would be curious to hear it.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/103327/John-Ogdon-Piano-Concerto-No-1

Peter Donohoe has also played this work.

[Op. XXXIX]

ahinton, thank-you for the link. The price of the set is certainly tempting, but with the exception of the Ogdon works, all of it would duplicate what I already have. When and where did Peter Donohoe play the concerto?

[Colonel Danby]

But the Suite in G major, later transcribed as the Charterhouse Suite for string orchestra is a lovely work. I maybe a old softie at heart, but this slight work by Vaughan Williams is one of my favourites.

[Colonel Danby]

I love the Tippett Concerto, even going to the Barbican to hear a one off performance by Lang Lang: recordings I have Ogdon, Tirimo and Shelley...haven't heard the Osborne or Frith, but I dare say I'll get around to it one day...

[rauschwerk]

Peter Donohoe's British Piano Concertos series for Naxos seems to have died an early death. One issue contains pieces by Rowley and Ferguson (pleasant but unmemorable), Christian Darnton (more interesting and worth an occasional hearing) and Roberto Gerhard (British by adoption) - easily the best piece on the disc, and Donohoe's playing of the first movement always has me on the edge of my seat.

[Peter Katin]

Hyperion have issued a splendid recording of the Concerto, Diversions and Young Apollo, with Steven Osborne. I can't imagine more riveting playing.

[Suffolkcoastal]

I think this thread has shown what a large number of British piano concertos there are, the vast majority of which are never broadcast on R3 or programmed in concerts. It has just got me thinking about all the wonderful Violin and Cello Concertos written by British composers which suffer the same fate.

[Dave2002]

York Bowen was reportedly (according to no less a person than Saint Saens) a very good pianist, and he wrote several piano concertos, as well as concertos for other instruments, including a viola concerto, and a horn concerto. I've only heard a small amount of his output, which I thought wasn't too memorable, but others may want to investigate further. Some distinguished current performers are discovering his work - e.g Lawrence Power, David Pyatt.

[Dave2002]

PS: There's something odd here. The word "pianist" appears twice, so I went back to try to edit it. There was only one "pianist" in the text. Looks as though the software here puts extra words in sometimes.

[Peter Katin]

Yes, he's the one! How silly of me to omit it.

[Peter Katin]

York Bowen was reportedly (according to no less a person than Saint Saens) a very good pianist

I hope I've got this quote business right! He was a fantastic pianist - I remember him way back in the 1950s and recall how one practising session would get anything right that he felt wasn't secure.