Wednesday 30 May 2012

Lost British Piano Works: Part 2


The second part of the listings of British piano music on the back of a piece of piano music published by Augener’s. It is clear that many of these long forgotten pieces are for teaching purposes.  However, one or two works that I do know (or have a copy of in my library) are anything but easy.  For example, Alec Rowley is often seen as a ‘grades’ composer, however his Toccatas are no cinch. Even Eric Thiman's New Nursery Rhymes are full of places that can trip up the over confident tyro.

Robin Milford
Waltz
Thomas Baron Pitfield
Five Short Pieces: Prelude, Dance-miniature, Bagatelle, Crooning, Merry-go-round.
The Circle Suite: Bourree, Minuet, Pavan, Jig
Two Little Dances in old style: Minuet & Gavotte
Freda Pointer
Country Tunes -20 graded pieces
Leonard W. Reed
Two Pieces: Pavanne Caprice & Child Portrait
Kathleen Richards
Two Pieces:  Whither  & Frozen Landscape
Alan Richardson
Meadowlands
Alec Rowley
7 Preludes on all the intervals
Three Invocations: The Shipyard, Song for Reapers, Earth Chant
Toccata – The Two Worlds
Second Toccata
Tunes from an old music box
Felix Swinstead
Etude Arabesque
My Lady’s Minuet
Tete- a-tete
Alec Templeton
Five Portraits: In the Twilight (Vera), Valsette (Hazel) Melodie (Eileen) In thought (Ursula) & A little song (Anne)
Idyll Caprice
Toccata
Eric H. Thiman
New Nursery Rhymes (Set 2): Hey Diddle Diddle, Matthew, Mark Luke and John, Little Boy Blue & Jack & Jill
Andersen Tyrer (was he British?)
Contrasts
Etude Caprice
Reflections
Soliloquy
Three Pieces: Nymphs, The Lake & April Days
Toccata

There are no titles here that strike me as being particularly ‘camp’ or ‘of their time.’  However, there are a few that sound tempting to discover:. For example, I wonder what Kathleen Richards’ Frozen Landscape sounds like?  Or Alec Templeton’s nostalgic Five Portraits:  I wonder where the dedicatees ended up?  Finally the two ‘big names’ here are Robin Milford and Thomas Pitfield. Both of these composers are surely ready for reappraisal and re-discovery. 

2 comments:

Paul Brownsey said...

Just the composers' names have nostalgic overtones for me, John, taking me back to the 1950s when I would leaf through albums of piano music for beginners in music stores. Somehow and irrationally I have always thought of these people as something other than 'real' composers...

John France said...

Thanks for that Paul...

I guess that because I can play some of this type of music that I like these composers!!!!

John F