Lyrita releases British Piano Concertos Volume 2 with Simon Callaghan and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (SRCD.416) on 1 September 2023, with three world première recordings of works by John Addison, Gordon Jacob and Edmund Rubbra. The album is conducted by Stephen Bell and George Vass.
Gordon Jacob’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-flat was completed in 1957 and premièred on 11 July of that year at Bournemouth's Winter Gardens with soloist Edith Vogel. A Proms performance took place at London's Royal Albert Hall on 9 August 1957 with the same soloist. A review in The Times of the Proms performance declared that ‘the composer’s masterly understanding of the orchestra enables him to express each idea economically and in the most clean and attractive colours’, while The Sunday Times’s critic wrote that ‘having taught the craft of orchestration to a whole generation of composers, Dr. Jacob is himself a past master at clear and effective scoring’.
The Variations for Piano and Orchestra by John Addison, a pupil of Jacob's at the Royal College of Music, was written in 1948 and revised the following year. According to Alan Poulton’s Dictionary-Catalog of Modern British Composers, It was first performed in a BBC broadcast in 1960 by Margaret Kitchin. The work for a small orchestra, comprising double woodwinds, four horns, a pair each of trumpets and trombones, bass trombone, timpani, modest percussion and strings, and combines passages of lyrical charm with brilliantly effective soloistic writing.
Though the piano had played a prominent role in an earlier student piece by Rubbra, his Piano Concerto Op. 30 (1932) is the composer’s first fully-fledged, large-scale work for soloist and orchestra. The score features an elaborate solo part and requires substantial orchestral forces.
For publisher details, click below:
Jacob, Piano Concerto No. 2 (OUP)
Addison, Variations (Stainer & Bell)
Rubbra, Piano Concerto (ed. Simon Callaghan: Nimbus Music Publishing)
The Variations for Piano and Orchestra by John Addison, a pupil of Jacob's at the Royal College of Music, was written in 1948 and revised the following year. According to Alan Poulton’s Dictionary-Catalog of Modern British Composers, It was first performed in a BBC broadcast in 1960 by Margaret Kitchin. The work for a small orchestra, comprising double woodwinds, four horns, a pair each of trumpets and trombones, bass trombone, timpani, modest percussion and strings, and combines passages of lyrical charm with brilliantly effective soloistic writing.
Though the piano had played a prominent role in an earlier student piece by Rubbra, his Piano Concerto Op. 30 (1932) is the composer’s first fully-fledged, large-scale work for soloist and orchestra. The score features an elaborate solo part and requires substantial orchestral forces.
For publisher details, click below:
Jacob, Piano Concerto No. 2 (OUP)
Addison, Variations (Stainer & Bell)
Rubbra, Piano Concerto (ed. Simon Callaghan: Nimbus Music Publishing)
Buy CD: Europadisc Classical
'Simon Callaghan is winning a deserved reputation as a formidable advocate of forgotten British scores like these and has found a natural home with the ever-adventurous Lyrita label.'
Jeremy Nicholas, The Gramophone, October 2023
'Gute und engagierte Interpretationen machen aus diesen drei Ersteinspielungen ein hörenswertes Programm.' Remy Franck, Pizzicato, 5 September 2023
'Marvellously enterprising and revelatory ... These wonderfully idiomatic performances and the recording are outstanding, and Simon Callaghan plays reflectively when needed but also with great power and agility. Snap it up.' Gary Higginson, British Music Society, 18 August 2023
'Stephen Bell ... i George Vass, director artístic ... dirigeixen l’Orquestra Nacional de la BBC de Gal·les —amb el seu so perfectament equilibrat—i fan un retrat vívid d’aquestes tres obres poc conegudes.' Núria Serra, Sonogramo, 29 August 2023
'Simon Callaghan’s discography continues to grow and he is proving to be an excellent guide especially in the field of British music. This new CD builds upon that reputation with intelligent and nuanced performances alertly accompanied by the BBC NOW recorded with Lyrita’s usual sophisticated engineering.' Nick Barnard, Music Web International, 4 September 2023
'The keen-edged and eager performances convince you that Callaghan, the BBC NOW and the two conductors [Stephen Bell and George Vass] are everything you might cherish for such a project.'
Rob Barnett, Music Web International, 2 August 2023
'Simon Callaghan radiates delight in reviving these neglected items, and his pungent and precise fingering is matched by the spirited attack of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and their two conductors.' Geoff Brown, BBC Music Magazine, 3 October 2023
'A valuable and absolutely delightful release that rightfully appeared on classical best-seller charts in the late summer of 2023.'James Manheim, AllMusic, October 2023
Simon Callaghan, George Vass and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Full press kit including listening links available from Ulysses Arts.