Introducing York Bowen

Edwin York Bowen (1884-1961) was an accomplished English composer and pianist. This ‘English Rachmaninov’ as he was lazily dubbed, was once widely feted by the musical establishment. He was particularly lauded by Camille Saint-Saëns and impressed the enigmatic Kaikhosru Sorabji. His music was widely performed and at the height of his career he would have been tipped as an up-and-coming master of British music. His musical achievement spanned five decades, during which he crafted an impressive catalogue of more than 160 compositions. Beyond his roles as a pianist and composer, Bowen also excelled as an organist, violist, and horn player.

Despite achieving considerable acclaim during his lifetime, many of Bowen’s works remained hidden from the public eye until after his passing in 1961. He had a problem which was his downfall: his music is approachable and does not challenge the listener with stylistic extremes. He was not a radical composer: he did not experiment with popular and ‘essential’ new fashions such as serialism. Bowen’s music is romantic and was gradually perceived to be out-of-date and passé. His reputation as a composer was gone by the time of his death in 1961. His compositional style is firmly rooted in the Romantic tradition, and his pieces are distinguished by their opulent harmonic language. Notably, Bowen’s contributions to piano music established him as one of the most prominent English composers of his era.

Brief Biography

• Edwin Yorke [York] Bowen in Crouch Hill, London on 22 February 1884
• Studied at the North Metropolitan College of Music and at the Blackheath Conservatoire under Alfred Izzard.
• Aged fourteen, he won the Erard Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.
• Studied piano there under Tobias Matthay and composition with Frederic Corder.
• Was influenced by the Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, and the Russian Nationalists
• First Promenade Concert Novelty The Lament of Tasso premiered on 1 September 1903.
• Toured United Kingdom performing wide variety of romantic music, including his own works.
• Gave many performances at the Royal Albert Hall and the Queen’s Hall.
• In 1905 he left the R.A.M. and began to teach at the Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School.
• Was appointed Professor of Music at R.A.M. in 1909
• Married actress (Dorothy) Sylvia Beatrice Dalton (1888-1967) on 23 April 1912.
• Served in the Band of the Scots Guards during the First World War.
• Much of his career was spent as an examiner and teacher.
• Authored two pedagogical books, Pedalling the Modern Piano Forte (London, 1936) and The Simplicity of Piano Technique (London, 1961)
• Aged seventy-five he retired from the R.A.M.
• York Bowen died in Hampstead on 23 November 1961

Twelve Selected Works

York Bowen produced a large catalogue of music, including three symphonies, four piano concertos, and individual concertos for violin, horn, and viola. He was adept at writing chamber music, with a special emphasis on the flute. As a superlative pianist it is not surprising that there is much piano music, with six sonatas, a multitude of character pieces and several works designed to improve technique.

All the pieces listed below are available on CD, download or streaming.

1. Symphonic Fantasia - a tone poem, op.16 (1905)
2. Viola Concerto in C minor, op.25, (1907)
3. Symphony No.2 in E minor, op.31 (1909-11)
4. Piano Sonata No.5 in F minor, op.72 (1923)
5. The Way to Polden (An Ambling Tune), op. 76 (1925)
6. Piano Concerto No.4 in A minor, op.88 (1929)
7. 24 Preludes, op. 102: A collection of preludes for piano (1938, pub.1950)
8. Violin Sonata in E minor op.112 (1945)
9. Fantasy Overture on "Tom Bowling", op.115 (1945)
10. Sonata for Flute and Piano, op. 120 (1946)
11. Sonatina, op. 144 (1954)
12. Partita, op.156 (1960) 

Further Reading

There is little information about York Bowen in libraries or online. The most significant text is Monica Watson’s, York Bowen: a centenary tribute (1984) and printed by Thames Publishing. It is currently out of print but will be available to borrow from libraries. It is not a formal biography or technical analysis of Bowen’s music, but an “affectionate account of Bowen's life, written by a close friend and former pupil to mark the centenary of his birth.” (Stuart R Craggs, Musical Times, November 1984, p.657.) The volume does include a comprehensive list of works, arranged by genre.

There are several theses dealing with aspects of Bowen’s music. These include Chia-ling Hsieh’s An Analytical Study of York Bowen’s Twenty-four Preludes in All Major and Minor Keys, Op. 102 (2010), and William Kenton Lanier’s The Viola Music of York Bowen: Lionel Tertis, York Bowen, and the Rise of the Viola in Early Twentieth-Century England (2009).

The interested listener will rely on the entries in Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the Oxford National Biography and Wikipedia. Many reviews appear in contemporary newspapers and musical journals.

There is a York Bowen webpage which was begun in 2006, however this does not appear to have been updated since 2012. In 2008, a York Bowen Society was mooted, but this has not come to fruition.

If you can only hear one CD…

This is a tricky question. As Bowen’s main contribution was to the solo piano music repertoire, it would seem best to suggest an album dedicated to these pieces. On the other hand, his orchestral music is important too. So, as a compromise I suggest the Dutton Epoch CD (CDLX 7187) which includes the Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, as well as the wonderfully romantic Symphonic Fantasia - a long tone poem, op.16 (1905). This allows the listener to get to grips with Bowen’s pianism, albeit accompanied by an orchestra. The American Record Review reported that “This is high-Victorian musical rhetoric, full of good breeding and good taste: the Lisztian piano writing sparkles, the orchestration is transparent. The BBC Concert Orchestra plays as if it believes in this stuff…” On listening to this album, it is hard to understand why these works are not in the concert schedules.

If solo piano music is desired, then Stephen Hough’s remarkable survey on Hyperion (CDA66838) is a great investment. It includes a broad selection from Bowen’s masterpiece, the 24 Preludes, op. 102, as well as the Piano Sonata No.5 in F minor, op.72 (1923) and a number of smaller pieces.

Finally, if you can only listen to one work…

It must be the 24 Preludes, op. 102. This cycle of miniature pieces covers all the major and minor keys. They are largely ‘romantic’ in ethos and are full of Bowen’s characteristic pianism complementing a rich harmonic language.

Kaikhosru Sorabji described these preludes as "the finest English piano music written in our time.” Some may regard this as a little over the top, but we get the drift.

My personal favourite of the set is No. 7 in Eb major. Surely, this is one piece that justifies Bowen’s nickname as the ‘English Rachmaninov’? It is a delicious piece that is full of colour and downright ‘heart on sleeve’ romance. When one considers how late these pieces were written, it is not surprising that some critics regard them as derivative and old-fashioned. Yet there is magic and beauty in these Preludes that defies analysis.