Various Composers - British Piano Concertos, Vol. 1 (Simon Callaghan)

Information

• John Addison - Wellington Suite
• Arthur Benjamin - Concertino for Piano & Orchestra
• Elizabeth Maconchy - Concertino No. 2 for Piano & String Orchestra
• Humphrey Searle - Concertante for Piano, Percussion & Strings, Op. 24
• Edmund Rubbra - Nature's Song (Reconstr. S. Callaghan)
• Geoffrey Bush - A Little Concerto on Themes of Thomas Arne

Simon Callaghan, piano

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Martyn Brabbins, conductor

Date: 2022

Label: Lyrita

https://www.wyastone.co.uk/british-piano-concertos-addison-bush-maconchy-searle-rubbra-benjamin.html

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Review

The title of this album, ‘British Piano Concertos’, may be self-effacing but the contents are anything but, with five of the six works receiving their first recordings.

They span four decades and stylistically range widely. The two pieces from the 1950s, for instance, take us from the confident serialism of Webern pupil Humphrey Searle, whose Concertante –written to be performed by students – packs a punch out of all proportion to its four-minute duration, to film composer John Addison’s engaging Wellington Suite. This is scored for two horns (in fine fettle here), piano, percussion and strings, and highlights include a rumbustious third-movement scherzo, a smoochily elegant waltz and the closing celebratory dance, a fittingly upbeat end to a suite written to mark the 100th anniversary of Wellington College, where the composer had been a pupil. Simon Callaghan is alive to the different qualities demanded by each piece, bringing plenty of character, as well as an understated virtuosity.

Arthur Benjamin’s Concertino is the only work to have been previously recorded, conducted by the composer with Lamar Crowson at the keyboard (now on Everest). Its date of 1927 is significant, for it’s unabashedly influenced by Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue from three years earlier; the piano part is as much about colour as show, and there’s an opportunity for some fine sultry sax in the ‘Blues’ second movement. The Scherzo sounds a tad measured here (though less so than in the earlier recording) and in the finale, too, there are times where the triplets-against-semiquaver rhythms are overly cautious.

The real discovery for me, however, is Elizabeth Maconchy’s compact Concertino for piano and strings. Dating from 1949, it has a Tippettesque muscularity to the first movement and a gravely beautiful slow movement, with Brabbins powerfully setting the scene before the piano’s entry, the colours darkening as the harmony becomes more angular. Effective too is the finale’s brisk energy, tempered by a distinctly ambiguous playfulness reminiscent of Shostakovich.

The remaining works are both the products of 19-year-old composers. Rubbra was studying with Holst when he produced his first orchestral piece, Nature’s Song, in 1920. It was long thought lost but has been carefully reconstructed by Callaghan; and if it doesn’t leave a deep impression, there are hints in the orchestral writing of the major symphonist he was to become, not least some effective flute and oboe passages near the close.

Geoffrey Bush’s A Little Concerto on Themes of Thomas Arne, on the other hand, is a much more characterful affair and shows his ready affinity with music of the past. Callaghan makes a compelling case for it, relishing the dancing rhythms of the faster movements and revealing plenty of elegance in the Siciliana.

An important addition to the repertoire, presented in a sympathetic acoustic, and with excellent notes by Paul Conway.

-- Harriet Smith, Gramophone

More reviews:

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Apr/British-piano-SRCD407.htm

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/May/British-piano-SRCD407.htm

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Jun/British-piano-SRCD407.htm

https://www.allmusic.com/album/british-piano-concertos-addison-bush-maconchy-searle-rubbra-benjamin-mw0003680732

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Simon Callaghan’s recent concert tours have taken him throughout Europe, and to Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Canada. He has also performed at all of the UK’s major concert halls. His festival invitations have included Highgate, Whittington and Cervo Chamber Music. Simon’s interest in rarely performed works has led to invitations to perform concertos by Françaix and Tippett, while his discography includes works ranging from Brahms and Ravel to Sterndale Bennett, Delius and Parry. Callaghan is Head of Piano at the Ingenium Academy and gives regular masterclasses.
https://www.simoncallaghan.com/

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