Howard Shelley … gives us an air-spun brilliance and stylistic elegance very much his own. Most refined of virtuosos, he has been admirably presented and recorded’ (Gramophone)
“Sterndale Bennett's Fourth Piano Concerto of 1838… Written at 22…it is by no means all Mendelssohian in its style, having a sombre, rather Schumannesque first movement, an expressive Barcarolle for slow movement and a scintillating finale thrown off with patent enjoyment by Howard Shelley in this excellent recording. The short-lived Francis Edwards Bache, a star pupil of Bennett's died aged 24... the E major Piano Concerto of 1856... has a nonchalant vigour and bravura, formal shapeliness and a bright, attractive personality of its own.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 *****
Penguin Guide
Gramophone Magazine
