BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH CONCERTOS
FROM THE NINETEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT

A Discography Of CDs And LPs
Prepared by Michael Herman

This discography
Composers A-C ~ Composers D-H ~ Composers I-P ~ Composers Q-Z ~ Elgar ~ Vaughan Williams

All discographies

Most recent update: August 2020

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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

 Any recording that is not designated as an LP is a CD.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people for their help in the preparation of this resource: 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.

© 2007-17 Michael Herman

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COMPOSER LIST

Abbott, Clifford Adaskin, Murray Addinsell, Richard Addison, John Adès, Thomas Albert, Eugène d’ Alwyn, William Anderson, Julian Antill, John Archer, Violet Arnell, Richard Arnold, Malcolm Ashmore, Lawrence Austin, Frederic Ayres, Richard Bache, Francis Edward Bailey, Judith Bainbridge, Simon Bainton, Edgar Baker, Michael Conway Ball, Christopher Banks, Don Bantock, Granville Barry, Gerald Bate, Stanley Bath, Hubert Bax, Arnold Beamish, Sally Beck, David Bedford, David Beecroft, Norma Bell, Allan Gordon Bell, William Henry Benedict, Julius Benjamin, Arthur Bennett, Richard Rodney Bennett, William Sterndale Berkeley, Lennox Berkeley, Michael Binge, Ronald Birtwistle, Harrison Blackburn, Maurice Blackford, Richard Blake, Christopher Blake, David Blake, Howard Blezard, William Bliss, Arthur Blower, Maurice Blunt, Marcus Borenstein, Nimrod Boughton, Rutland Bouliane, Denys Bowden, Mark Bowen, York Boydell, Brian Boyle, George Frederick Boyle, Ina Bracanin, Philip Brady, Tim Brian, Havergal Bridge, Frank Britten, Benjamin Broadstock, Brenton Bromhead, Jerome Brott, Alexander Brumby, Colin Bryars, Gavin Buckley, John Bullard, Alan Burgon, Geoffrey Burrell, Diana Bullard, Alan Burgon, Geoffrey Burrell, Diana Busch, William Bush, Alan Bush, Geoffrey Butterley, Nigel Buhr, Glenn Butterworth, Arthur Camilleri, Charles Carmichael, John Carr, Edwin Carr, Paul Carwithen, Doreen Casken, John Castro-Robinson, Eva de Chagrin, Francis Champagne, Claude Chermey, Brian Chisholm, Erik Clarke, Nigel Clarke, Rebecca Cliffe, Frederic Clyne, Anna Coates, Douglas Coates, Eric Coke, Roger Sacheverrel Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel Collard, Vincent Conyngham, Barry Cooke, Arnold Cooper, Walter Thomas Gaze Corcoran, Frank Corp, Ronald Coulthard, Jean Cowen, Frederic Hymrn Cowie, Edward Cramer, Johann Baptist Creith, Guirne Cresswell, Lyell Crosse, Gordon Crotch, William Cruft, Adrian Dale, Benjamin Dankworth, John Darnton, Christian Daveluy, Raymond Davies, Peter Maxwell Davies, Tamsy Davies, Victor Davis, Oliver Dean, Brett Deane, Raymond Delius, Frederick Dickinson, Peter Dieren, Bernard Van Docker, Robert Dodgson, Stephen Dompierre, François Doolittle, Emily 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 Ferguson, Sean Fiala, George Field, John Finzi, Gerald Fogg, Eric Fokkens, Robert Formosa, Richard Forsyth, Cecil Forsyth, Malcolm Foskett, Ben Foster, Grant Foulds, John Frankel, Benjamin Fribbins, Peter Fricker, Peter Racine Frost, Stephen Gál, Hans Gardner, John Gerhard, Roberto Gibbs, Cecil Armstrong Gipps, Ruth Glanville-Hicks, Peggy Glick, Srul Irving Goehr, Alexander Goldschmidt, Berthold Golightly, David Golland, John Goodman, Isador Goossens, Eugene Goss, Stephen Gowers, Patrick Gray, Steve Greenwood, Johnny Gregson, Edward Griller, Arnold Grimes, Helen Gross, Eric Grové, Stefans Gunning, Christopher Hamilton, David Hamilton, Iain Hanson, Raymond Harper, Edward Harris, Ross Harrison, Julius Hart, Fritz Harty, Hamilton Harvey, Jonathan Harvey, Richard Hawes, Patrick Hayes, Morgan Headington, Christopher Healey, Derek Heath, David C. Hedges, Anthony Hely-Hutchinson, Victor Hétu, Jacques Hewitt-Jones, Tony Hill, Alfred Hiscott, Jim Ho, Vincent Hoddinott, Alun Holbrooke, Joseph Holland, Theodore Holloway, Robin Holst, Gustav Hope, Peter Hopkins, Antony Horovitz, Joseph Hough, Stephen Howell, Dorothy Howells, Herbert Humble, Keith Hurd, Michael Hurlstone, William Hurst, Michael Hutchens, Frank Hyde, Miriam Ireland, John Jackson, Francis Jacob, Gordon Jeffreys, John Jenkins, Karl Joachim, Otto Johnson, Alexander Josephs, Wilfred Joubert, John Kats-Chernin, Elena Keal, Minna Keeley, Rob Kelly, Bryan Kelly, Frederick Ķeniņš, Tālivaldis Kenmuir, Callum Kerry, Gordon Klatzow, Peter Knussen, Oliver Koehne, Graeme Kulesha, Gary Kuzmenko, Larysa Lambert, Constant Lane, Philip Langford, Gordon LeFanu, Nicola Leigh, Walter Leighton, Kenneth Litolff, Henry Charles Lloyd, George Louie, Alexina Lovelock, William Lucas, Leighton Lumsdaine, David Lutyens, Elizabeth Lyon, David MacDonald, Andrew Macfarren, Walter Mackenzie, Alexander MacRae, Stuart Manduell, John Martin, Philip Mason, Benedict Mathias, William Mathieu, André Matthews, Colin Matthews, David Matton, Roger Maw, Nicholas

McCabe, John McCauley, William McCleod, John McDonald, Malcolm McDowell, Ceclia McEwen, John Blackwood McPhee, Colin Merrick, Frank Milford, Robin Mills, Barry Mills, Richard Moeran, Ernest John Montgomery, Bruce Moon, Chloe Morawetz, Oskar Morgan, David R. Morley, Angela Mucha, Geraldine Thomson Muldowney, Dominic Murphy, Gerry Murrill, Herbert Musgrave, Thea Nixon, Henry Cotter Norris, David Owen Nyman, Michael Ogdon, John Olsen, James Osborne, Nigel Panneton, Isabelle Panufnik, Andrzej Papineau-Couture, Jean Parish-Alvars, Elias Parker , C.S.L. (Stephen) Parrott, Ian Parry, Hubert Patterson, Paul Paul, Alan Pehkonen, Elis Penberthy, James Pentland, Barbara Phillips, Montague Pickard, John Pitfield, Thomas Potter, Phillip Cipriani Pritchard, Deborah Proctor-Gregg, Humphrey Puw, Guto Pryderi Rainier, Priaulx Rajna, Thomas Rands, Bernard Rawsthorne, Alan Reade, Paul Reizenstein, Franz Ridout, Alan Ritchie, Anthony Ritchie, John Rootham, Cyril Rose, Gregory Rowley, Alec Rubbra, Edmund Rutter, John Sackman, Nicholas Sainsbury, Lionel Sawer, David Sawyers, Philip Saxton, Robert Schultz, Andrew Schurmann, Gerard Scott, Cyril Sculthorpe, Peter Searle, Humphrey Seiber, Mátyás Shafer, R. Murray Shaw, Francis Sherwood, Percy Simpson, Robert Sitsky, Larry Smalley, Roger Smyth, Ethel Somers, Harry Somervell, Arthur Spratley, Philip Standford, Patric Stanford, Charles Villiers Stanhope, Paul Stephenson, Allan Steptoe, Roger Stevens, Bernard Stevens, James Stevenson, Ronald Still, Robert Sullivan, Arthur Surdin, Morris Sutherland, Gavin Sutherland, Margaret Symonds, Norman Taylor, Matthew Temimgh, Henk Tippett, Michael Todd, Will Torch, Sidney Tovey, Donald Francis Tunley, David Turnage. Mark-Anthony Vaughan Williams, Ralph Veale, John Vine, Carl Vinter, Gilbert Volans, Kevin Wallen, Errolyn Walthew, Richard Walton, William Warner, Harry Watkins, Huw Watkins, Michael Blake Weinzweig, John Weir, Judith Wellesz, Egon Werder, Felix Westlake, Nigel Whettam, Graham Whitley, Kate Whitlock, Percy Wigglesworth, Ryan Wilby, Philip Willan, Healy Williams, Charles Williams, Grace Williamson, Malcolm Wilson, James Wilson, Thomas Wood, Haydn Wood, Hugh Woolfenden, Guy Woolrich, John Wright, Christopher Young, Douglas

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION
(1) BOOKS

Callaway, Frank and David Tunley (eds). Australian Composition in the Twentieth Century. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1978.

Catalogue of Canadian Music for Orchestra. Toronto: Canadian Music Centre, 1976.

Clough, Francis F. and C.J. Cuming. The World’s Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (including Supplements) in 3 vols. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1952-57.

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2d ed., in 29 vols., edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. New York: Grove, 2001.

Hill, Ralph (ed.) The Concerto. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1952.

Hinson, Maurice. Music for Piano and Orchestra. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981.

Howes, Frank. The English Musical Renaissance. New York: Stein and Day, 1966.

Hughes, Meiron and Robert Stradling. The English Musical Renaisance 1840-1940: Constructing a National Music, 2^nd edition. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001.

Kallmann, Helmut, Gilles Potvin and Kenneth Winters (eds). Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981.

Leach, Gerald. British Composer Profiles: A biographical dictionary and chronology of past British composers 1800-1989, 2^nd edition. Gerrards Cross, England: British Music Society, 1989.

Pirie, Peter J. The English Musical Renaissance: Twentieth century English composers & their works. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1978.

Poulton, Alan J. A Label Discography of Long-Playing Records, 3 vols. Blandford, England: The Oakwood Press, 1975.

Sadie, Julie Anne and Rhian Samuel (eds). The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1995.

Schaarwächter, Jürgen. Die britische Sinfonie 1914-1945. Cologne-Rheinkassel, Germany: Verlag Dohr, 1995.

Slonimsky, Nicolas. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8^th edition. New York: Schirmer Books, 1992.

Slonimsky, Nicolas. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (edited by Laura Kuhn). New York: Schirmer Books, 1997.

Thompson, Oscar (ed). The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, updated 11^th edition. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1985.

(2) RECORD CATALOGUES

Gramophone Classical Record Catalogue (retitled: Gramophone Classical Catalogue) (1953-1996)

Gramophone Compact Disc Catalogue (1983-1990)

Schwann Long Playing Record Catalog (retitled: Schwann 1 – Record and Tape Guide and Schwann Opus) (1949-2001)

 
(3) WEBSITES

Governmental and Academic Sites

Australian Music Centre http://www.amcoz.com.au/

Canadian Music Centre http://www.musiccentre.ca/home.cfm

Centre for New Zealand Music http://www.sounz.org.nz/index.php

Contemporary Music Centre Ireland http://www.cmc.ie/composers/index.cfm

Dictionary of African Composers http://sacomposers.up.ac.za

Music Australia http://musicaustralia.org/apps/MA

Scottish Music Centre http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/

Welsh Music Information Centre http://www.wmic.org/

 

Commercial Sites

Arkiv Music http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/main.jsp

Chandos Records http://www.chandos.net/

Crotchet http://www.crotchet.co.uk/

Dutton Vocalion Records http://www.duttonvocalion.com/

EMI/Virgin Classics http://www.emiclassics.com/

Gramophone http://www.gramophone.co.uk/

Hyperion Records http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/

Lyrita Recorded Edition http://www.lyrita.co.uk/

MDT http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/pages/home/default.asp

MusicWeb International http://www.musicweb-international.com/

Naxos Records http://www.naxos.com/

 

COMPOSER Sites

Many contemporary composers have their own websites and others can be found on the websites of their publishers. There are also websites for earlier composers that are maintained by societies that promote their music. These can be found by typing the composer’s name into any search engine.

© Michael Herman 2016