[Cover graphic]

Compact Disc CDA67296

£13.99


Hyperion’s record of the month for January presents, for the first time, the original version of Delius’s Piano Concerto. Two years after completing this work in 1904, Delius recast it, rejecting the third movement and reorganizing other material. Perhaps thinking that the solo part wasn’t sufficiently pianistic, Delius also consulted a friend, the Busoni pupil Theodor Szántó, who rewrote the piano part in virtuoso style (with Delius’s ultimate approval). It is the Szántó version that has, until now, always been performed. With Delius’s original, characteristically refined orchestration also restored (from the orchestral parts that survive from the first performance in 1904), we can now hear this work as the composer envisaged before the involvement of another hand. The result is closer to what we think of as quintessential Delius. Piers Lane and David Lloyd-Jones form an ideal partnership, and the result is a revelation.

John Ireland’s Piano Concerto, written in 1930, was seen at the time as a British response to Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, and it has additional resonances of Ravel and Gershwin. The work was an immediate success and became the pre-eminent British piano concerto, performed by Clifford Curzon, Moura Lympany, Eileen Joyce, Gina Bachauer and Artur Rubinstein. Encouraged by its success Ireland planned to write a second concerto, but he only completed one movement, the Legend, in 1933. Once more Piers Lane and the Ulster musicians bring an engaging energy and flair to this exciting music.


Recorded in Ulster Hall, Belfast, on 8 and 9 March 2005
Recording Engineer
SIMON EADON
Recording Producer
ANDREW KEENER
Piano
STEINWAY & SONS
Booklet Editor
TIM PARRY
Executive Producer
SIMON PERRY
MICHAEL SPRING
© Hyperion Records Ltd, London, MMVI

Duration: 64'24
DDD

PIERS LANE piano
ULSTER ORCHESTRA
DAVID LLOYD-JONES conductor


Contents:

    Frederick Delius (1862–1934)

    Piano Concerto in C minor original version, 1904 [28'41]

  1. Allegro ma non troppo [10'58]
  2. Largo [6'05]
  3. Maestoso con moto moderato [11'32]

     
    John Ireland (1879–1962)

  4. Legend 1933 [11'38]
    Lento — Poco piů mosso — Broad

    Piano Concerto in E flat major 1930 [23'52]

  5. In tempo moderato [8'45]
  6. Lento espressivo — Allegro — cadenza — [7'12]
  7. Allegretto giocoso [7'51]
Sleeve Notes


ORCHESTRAL CHOICE - BBC Music Magazine
CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK - Sunday Times


'Robert Threlfall's notes make a good case for regarding the three-movement original as having a greater validity, and this splendid first recording bears him out … Piers Lane, an eloquent advocate' (BBC Music Magazine)

'This Hyperion newcomer possesses many virtues. Piers Lane responds with nimble sensitivity, David Lloyd-Jones secures a tidy response from the Ulster Orchestra and the performance as a whole has a sparkle, eagerness and snap that are most refreshing' (Gramophone)

'Those who are familiar with (and those who have dismissed) Delius's Piano Concerto in the 1907 revision should make the acquaintance of the original version without more ado' (International Record Review)

'Lane makes a convincing case for the piece, and his performance is paired with an equally sparky one of John Ireland's concerto. His punchy abrasiveness undercuts the work's more fey moments, and gives it an almost neoclassical edge' (The Guardian)

'this first recording of the original version from 1904 reveals a work stamped with far more rhapsodic gusto and genuine heartache than the composer's misguided revisions suggest. Lane's performance is very enjoyable; the recording does the players proud' (The Times)

'Delius's Piano Concerto gets strong advocacy from Lane, Lloyd-Jones and the Ulster Orchestra. The two Ireland works, Legend and the Piano Concerto, make ideal companions on this highly attractive, collectable disc' (Sunday Times)

'it is interesting to hear Delius in a robust frame of mind, and the performance itself is one of great allure and power' (The Daily Telegraph)

'Lane gives engagingly virtuoso, extrovert and affectionate performances throughout' (Classic FM Magazine)

'Throughout, Piers Lane is sympathetic, sensitive and a virtuoso, and the support from David Lloyd-Jones and the Ulster Orchestra is exact. The vivid recording presents an exemplary balance between piano and orchestra' (Fanfare, USA)


See also:
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 1 - Moszkowski and Paderewski
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 2 - Medtner
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 3 - Mendelssohn Double Concertos
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 4 - Arensky and Bortkiewiez
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 5 - Balakirev and Rimsky-Korsakov
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 6 - Dohnányi
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 7 - Alkan and Henselt
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 8 - Medtner
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 9 - Eugen d'Albert
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 10 - Weber
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 11 - Scharwenka and Sauer
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 12 - Parry and Stanford
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 13 - Glazunov and Goedicke
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 14 - Litolff
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 15 - Hahn and Massenet
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 16 - Huss and Schelling
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 17 - Mendelssohn
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 18 - Korngold and Marx
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 19 - Tovey and Mackenzie
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 20 - Brüll
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 21 - Kullak and Dreyschock
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 22 - Busoni
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 23 - Holbrooke and Wood
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 24 - Vianna da Motta
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 25 - Edward MacDowell
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 26 - Litolff
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 27 - Saint-Saëns
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 28 - Stojowski
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 29 - Moscheles
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 30 - Lyapunov
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 31 - Fuchs and Kiel
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 32 - Moscheles
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 33 - Scharwenka
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 34 - Pierné
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 35 - Herz
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 36 - Moscheles
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 37 - Nápravník & Blumenfeld
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 38 - Rubinstein & Scharwenka
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 40 - Henri Herz
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 41 - Friedrich Kalkbrenner
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 42 - Alnćs & Sinding
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 43 - Sterndale Bennett & Bache
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 44 - Melcer
The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol 45 - Hiller

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