BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH CONCERTOS
FROM THE NINETEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT

A DISCOGRAPHY OF CDS AND LPS

 

 

by MICHAEL HERMAN

UPDATED JANUARY 2013

© 2007-13 MICHAEL HERMAN

 

Plain text for smartphones and printers (index& discography list only)

Discography Listing: Index ~~ Page 1 ~~ Page 2 ~~ Page 3 ~~ Page 4

 

INTRODUCTION

One of the most popular types of classical orchestral piece is the concerto. It is a rare concert indeed that does not feature one performed by a noted or upcoming pianist, violinist, cellist or other soloist demonstrating great prowess and/or sensitivity on his or her chosen instrument. In the vast majority of instances, the concerto being performed comes from a select group of works known as the "standard repertoire" that soloists, conductors and audiences know well and are invariably crowd pleasers. There is no doubt that these works represent the cream of the concerto repertoire. However, this does not mean that nothing else worthwhile exists among the voluminous output of the past two centuries that would both illuminate the skills of performers and gratify the ears and souls of the listeners. With one notable exception the international standard concerto repertoire is devoid of representation by British and Commonwealth composers. The exception is Elgar’s Cello Concerto and even in this instance one cannot compare its frequency of performance with works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, etc. The concertos of Walton and Britten make occasional appearances as well but rarely away from their native shores. However, since the onset of the nineteenth century concertos have been produced and performed in large quantities in the British Isles and in Britain’s overseas offshoots even if most music lovers are hardly aware of the existence of these works. Fortunately, for the curious, the world of the concert hall and world of recordings are quite divergent. It is the purpose of this work to document the huge number of recordings of concertos by British and Commonwealth composers that have been issued on LPs and CDs since these media have existed beginning in the middle of the twentieth century and to serve as a reference work for further study by others. Another tangential purpose is to survey the production of concertos in the stated time frame and to show the continuity between the generations of composers as a result of their education by their predecessors.

The composers included in this discography are those born in or who came to live in the United Kingdom, The Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Geography is the only determining factor for inclusion as there is no attempt here to argue for the existence of any so-called "British" concerto style that would cover such a vast range of composers.

A chronological structure has been used in order to show the progression of concertos from the early nineteenth century up to our own time. This chronology is based on the birth year of the composer rather than the year a concerto was written. A composer index is placed first so the reader can immediately go to any particular composer.

The entry for each composer consists of two sections. First there is a compact biographical paragraph that notes some essential information such as place of birth, higher musical education (including schools and prominent teachers), subsequent musical careers in addition to composing and selective lists of other works for orchestra. Compositional styles are not discussed in these paragraphs and readers are referred to the bibliography where various reference books that cover this subject are listed.

The second part of each composer entry consists of lists of his or her concertos that have been recorded and the various recordings of each work. A concerto is very broadly defined for the purposes of this book to include any work that has the word "concerto," "concertino" or "concertante" in its title whether or not a soloist is involved. Also included is any work in which an instrumental soloist is involved whatever its title may be. For every concerto that has them, the opus number, key signature and title are noted and the year of composition (when known) is stated for all. The entries of the concertos that have had multiple recordings are listed alphabetically by soloist’s name. Each listing of a recording consists of the following components (again, if known): (1) Performers – soloist(s), conductor, orchestra), (2) Other works on the recording. (3) Label and catalogue number and year of issue and (4) If the recording is a reissue, the original LP or CD release and its year of issue.

The author has endeavored to list every recording of every concerto written by a British or Commonwealth composer that has been published since the advent of the long-playing record in 1948. However, the following points should be kept in mind. The research was limited to sources in the English-speaking world. There has been no attempt to delve into the record catalogues of France, Germany or any other country that may have possibly produced an original recording of one of the covered concertos unless it was widely distributed in the UK or USA. Also, there has been no attempt to list every reissue of every recording. Some recordings, especially those made by the so-called "major labels," have been reissued so often, first on records then on compact discs, that the author has tried to confine the listings basically to only the most current and the original releases of each recording. Likewise, there has been no attempt to indicate whether recordings are mono or stereo (or any other audio system) or to comment about availability. Furthermore, as the focus of this book is British, the catalogue numbers identify British releases in the vast majority of instances. Finally, there is a strong certainty on the author’s part that a number of recordings have been missed. With the multiple thousands of recordings that have been issued over the past sixty years and the evanescence of so many of them one cannot but help in reaching this conclusion.

Nearly all of the recordings listed in this book are commercial issues that anyone could purchase if they happened to be around at the right time. However, also included here are a number of non-commercial or private LPs that were issued by governmental broadcasting organizations or music publishers that were not available to the general public. However, these types of recordings can be found in libraries and do turn up for sale at times so their existence ought to be documented. In addition there are a number of unauthorized or "pirate" LPs and CDs found in these pages. They were widely distributed and found their way into many collections and were in many instances the only available recording of a particular work. These recordings were issued with either the actual or pseudonymous names of performers. The symbol ▼ is used here to designate this type of recording.

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The term "concerto" was first used for a musical piece in the 17th century and was initially used to describe vocal music with instrumental accompaniment. Late in that century the concerto grosso came into being and this was an orchestral work in which a small group of instruments was contrasted with the larger ensemble. This would eventually develop into the solo concerto in the 18th century as a result of the work of composers such as Vivaldi and J.S. Bach. However, it is with Mozart that the classical concerto came into being and his works established the standard that would be adhered to by the vast majority of concerto-writers who succeeded him. The concerto came to the British Isles, as did most other classical forms, in the hands of foreign composers who came to work in England. George Frederick Handel composed numerous concerti grossi and solo concertos and he was followed by other distinguished Continental musicians including Carl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach. The solo concerto was well established by the beginning of the 19th century and many British composers began writing them especially for the piano. In the 20th century the concerto grosso re-emerged and it was joined by the concerto for orchestra as a very popular form.

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It should be very clear from the pages that follow that the concerto as written by British and Commonwealth composers has been well documented on recordings. This is especially true for composers who lived or live in the United Kingdom itself. Over the years and particularly since the advent of the compact disc more and more previously unrecorded symphonies have become available. Many composers whose names and works used to exist only in reference books and footnotes are now being heard after many years of dormancy. The British record industry deserves special commendation for this situation as it has continually kept the collector well supplied with numerous novelties to explore. These pioneering recording efforts have been aided by subsidies from governmental agencies, regional arts councils, composers' trusts and societies and private companies. In the early LP era the major labels EMI and Decca led the way with their championship of Elgar and Vaughan Williams and some forays into more unknown regions. Over the last three decades, however, these types of projects have increasingly found their homes on independent British labels such as Lyrita, Chandos, Hyperion, NMC, Dutton Vocalion, Toccata Classics and ASV. Hong Kong based Naxos, now the world's biggest producer of classical CDs, has also become a major source for original recordings of unusual British repertoire on both its Marco Polo and bargain-priced Naxos labels. © Michael Herman October 2007

***** n.b. Any recording that is not designated as an LP is a CD,

As this work will be updated from time to time, the author invites anyone with corrections or information about other recordings that may have been overlooked to contact him at: mherman@mindspring.com

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people for their help in the preparation of this book: Rob Barnett and Len Mullenger at MusicWeb International, Linda Kirkpatrick at the Australian Music Centre, Christopher Ball, Hubert Culot, David F. Golightly, Allan Ho, Callum Kenmuir, Timothy Reynish and Ian Scott.

ALPHABETICAL COMPOSER INDEX
(Entries are arranged by composer’s birth date)

Abbott, Clifford Adaskin, Murray Addinsell, Richard Addison, John Adès, Thomas Albert, Eugène d’ Alwyn, William Arnell, Richard Arnold, Malcolm Ashmore, Lawrence Austin, Frederic Bache, Francis Edward Bainbridge, Simon Bainton, Edgar Baker, Michael Conway Ball, Christopher Banks, Don Bantock, Granville Bate, Stanley Bath, Hubert Bax, Arnold Beamish, Sally Beck, David Bedford, David Bell, William Henry Benedict, Julius Benjamin, Arthur Bennett, Richard Rodney Bennett, William Sterndale Berkeley, Lennox Berkeley, Michael Binge, Ronald Birtwistle, Harrison Blackburn, Maurice Blake, Christopher Blake, David Blake, Howard Blezard, William Bliss, Arthur Blower, Maurice Boughton, Rutland Bowen, York Boydell, Brian Bracanin, Philip Brian, Havergal Bridge, Frank Britten Benjamin Brott, Alexander Brumby, Colin Bryars, Gavin Buckley, John Bullard, Alan Burgon, Geoffrey Burrell, Diana Busch, William Bush, Alan Bush, Geoffrey Butterley, Nigel Butterworth, Arthur Camilleri, Charles Carmichael, John Carr, Edwin Carr, Paul Carwithen, Doreen Casken, John Chagrin, Francis Champagne, Claude Chisholm, Erik Cliffe, Frederic Coates, Douglas Coates, Eric Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel Conyngham, Barry Cooke, Arnold Cooper, Walter Thomas Gaze Corcoran, Frank Corp, Ronald Coulthard, Jean Cowen, Frederic Hymen Cowie, Edward Cramer, Johann Baptist Creith, Guirne Creswell, Lyell Crosse, Gordon Crotch, William Cruft, Adrian Darnton, Christian Davies, Peter Maxwell Davies, Victor Delius, Frederick Dickinson, Peter Docker, Robert Dodgson, Stephen Dompierre, François Dring, Madeline Dyson, George

Easton, Michael Eckhardt-Grammaté, Sophie- Carmen Edwards, Ross Elgar, Edward Ellis. David Erlanger, Frédéric d' Evans, Lindley Farnon, Robert Farquhar, David Farrar, Ernest Ferguson, Howard Fiala, George Field, John Finzi, Gerald Fogg, Eric Forsyth, Cecil Forsyth, Malcolm Foster, Grant Foulds, John Frankel, Benjamin Fribbins, Peter Fricker, Peter Racine Gál, Hans Gardner, John Gerhard, Roberto Gibbs. Cecil Armstrong Gipps, Ruth Glanville-Hicks, Peggy Goehr, Alexander Goldschmidt, Berthold Golightly, David F. Golland, John Goodman, Isador Goossens, Eugene Gowers, Patrick Gray, Steve Gregson,Edward Gross, Eric Gunning, Christopher Hamilton. Iain Hanson, Raymond Harper, Edward Harrison, Julius Hart, Fritz Harty, Hamilton Harvey, Jonathan Harvey, Richard Hayes, Morgan Headington, Christopher Healey, Derek Heath, David C. Hedges, Anthony Hely-Hutchinson, Victor Hétu, Jacques Hewitt-Jones, Tony Hill, Alfred Hoddinott, Alun Holbrooke, Joseph Holland, Theodore Holloway, Robin Holst, Gustav Hope, Peter Hopkins, Antony Horovitz, Joseph Howells, Herbert Hurd, Michael Hurlstone, William Hurst, Michael Hutchens, Frank Hyde, Miriam Ireland, John Jackson, Francis Jacob, Gordon Jeffreys, John Josephs, Wilfred Kats-Chernin, Elena Keal, Minna Kelly, Frederick S. Kenmuir, Callum Kerry, Gordon Klatzow, Peter Knussen, Oliver Koehne, Graeme Lambert, Constant Lane, Philip Langford, Gordon Leigh, Walter Leighton, Kenneth Litolff, Henry Charles Lloyd, George Lovelock, William Lucas, Leighton Lutyens, Elizabeth Lyon, David

MacDonald, Andrew Macfarren, Walter Mackenzie, Alexander Campbell MacMillan, James Maconchy, Elizabeth Martin, Philip Mathias, William Mathieu, André Matthews, Colin Matthews, David Matton, Roger Maw, Nicholas McCabe, John McCauley, William McDowell, Ceclia McEwen, John Blackwood McPhee, Colin Merrick, Frank Milford, Robin Mills, Richard Moeran, Ernest John Montgomery, Bruce Moon, Chloe Morawetz, Oskar Morgan, David R. Muldowney, Dominic Murrill, Herbert Musgrave, Thea Nyman, Michael Ogdon. John Osborne, Nigel Panufnik, Andrzej Papineau-Couture, Jean Parish-Alvars, Elias Parrott, Ian Parry, Hubert Patterson, Paul Paul, Alan Pehkonen, Elis Penberthy, James Pentland, Barbara Phillips, Montague Pitfield, Thomas Proctor-Gregg, Humphrey Rainier, Priaulx Rajna, Thomas Rawsthorne, Alan Reizenstein, Franz Ridout, Alan Ritchie, Anthony Ritchie, John Rootham, Cyril Rowley, Alex Rubbra, Edmund Sainsbury, Lionel Saxton, Robert Schultz, Andrew Schurmann, Gerard Scott, Cyril Sculthorpe, Peter Searle, Humphrey Seiber, Mátyás Sherwood, Percy Simpson, Robert Sitsky, Larry Smalley, Roger Smyth, Ethel Somers, Harry Somervell, Arthur Spratley, Philip Standford, Patric Stanford, Charles Villiers Stephenson, Allan Steptoe, Roger Stevens, Bernard Stevens, James Stevenson, Ronald Sullivan, Arthur Sutherland, Gavin Sutherland, Margaret Taylor, Matthew Tippett, Michael Torch, Sidney Tovey, Donald Francis Tunley, David Turnage. Mark-Anthony Vaughan Williams, Ralph Veale, John Vine, Carl Vinter, Gilbert Walton, William Watkins, Michael Blake Weinzweig, John Weir, Judith Wellesz, Egon Werder, Felix Westlake, Nigel Whettam, Graham Whitlock, Percy Willan, Healy Williams, Charles Williams, Grace Williamson, Malcolm Wilson, James Wilson, Thomas Wood, Haydn Wood, Hugh Woolfenden, Guy Wright, Christopher

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