Alwyn: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Alwyn (whose centenary year fell in 2005) is a composer of strong communicative gifts and the best of his music exhibits a disarming emotional candour, generous lyricism, powerful sense of argument... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 27th Jun 2005
Catalogue No: 8557590
Label: Naxos
Series: British Piano Concertos
Length: 59 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

September 2005

Editor's Choice

This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched.

British Music - up to 25% off

Special offer ends: 08/05/2024

Alwyn: Piano Concerto No. 1 (1930)

Work length14:41

$4.00

$5.20

Peter Donohoe
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
James Judd

I. Allegro deciso

Track length5:02

$1.00

$1.30

II. Adagio e tranquillo

Track length3:09

$1.00

$1.30

III. Tempo primo

Track length3:21

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Adagio molto e tranquillo

Track length3:09

$1.00

$1.30

Alwyn: Derby Day Overture

Work length6:09

$1.00

$1.30

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
James Judd

Alwyn: Piano Concerto No. 2 (1960)

Work length28:39

$7.00

$9.05

Peter Donohoe
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
James Judd

I. Allegro

Track length9:14

$2.00

$2.60

II. Andante

Track length7:55

$2.00

$2.60

III. Allegro con fuoco

Track length11:30

$3.00

$3.85

Alwyn: Sonata alla toccata

Work length10:00

$3.00

$3.90

Peter Donohoe

I. Maestoso. Allegro ritmico e jubilante

Track length3:17

$1.00

$1.30

II. Andante con moto e semplice

Track length2:55

$1.00

$1.30

III. Molto vivace

Track length3:48

$1.00

$1.30

Reviews
Explore

Reviews

2010

Alwyn (whose centenary year fell in 2005) is a composer of strong communicative gifts and the best of his music exhibits a disarming emotional candour, generous lyricism, powerful sense of argument and superior craftsmanship.
If not as tautly constructed as, say, the Second, Third or Fifth Symphonies, the Second Piano Concerto undoubtedly makes pleasurable listening.
It was commissioned for the 1960 Proms, where its big-boned theatricality and unabashed ardour would surely have gone down a treat had the dedicatee, the Dutch virtuoso Cor de Groot, not been struck down by sudden paralysis of his right arm. As a consequence, the work remained unheard until Howard Shelley's passionate 1993 Chandos recording with Hickox and the LSO. If anything, Peter Donohoe proves an even more dashing soloist and he is supported to the hilt by James Judd and an audibly fired-up Bournemouth SO. An airy, tastefully balanced production, too.
Similarly, these accomplished newcomers set out a most persuasive case for the much earlier, single- movement First Concerto, a likeable offering with echoes of Ireland and Walton, written in 1930 for Alwyn's fellow RAM graduate and good friend, Clifford Curzon.
Canny programming allows us to hear the bustling 1960 overture Derby Day that Alwyn fashioned as a replacement for the ill-starred Second Concerto. Judd's spry performance is in every way the equal of both its fine predecessors, and the disc concludes with the exuberant Sonata alla toccata. This was composed in 1945- 46 for Denis Matthews and Donohoe dispatches it with purposeful aplomb and dazzling technical prowess. Yet another Naxos winner.

Offer,Alwyn: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue