COMPOSERS: Lennox Berkeley
LABELS: British Music Society
WORKS: Music for Solo Piano and Piano Duet
PERFORMER: Raphael Terroni, Norman Beedie (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: BMS 416 CD DDD
There’s a deal to admire in Lennox Berkeley’s piano music. The Sonata is a substantial piece, demonstrating his ability to handle a large canvas, always inventive and purposeful – an unaccountably neglected work even among Berkeley’s output. The Adagio is taken (advisedly, I feel) a good bit faster than the composer’s metronome marking, and the whole Sonata is played most expressively. The other pieces are mostly good salon music, and none the worse for that. I cannot imagine this delightful music being better served than on this disc. Wadham Sutton
Lennox Berkeley
There’s a deal to admire in Lennox Berkeley’s piano music. The Sonata is a substantial piece, demonstrating his ability to handle a large canvas, always inventive and purposeful – an unaccountably neglected work even among Berkeley’s output. The Adagio is taken (advisedly, I feel) a good bit faster than the composer’s metronome marking, and the whole Sonata is played most expressively. The other pieces are mostly good salon music, and none the worse for that. I cannot imagine this delightful music being better served than on this disc. Wadham Sutton
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:34 pm