York Bowen (1884-1961): Piano Music on Lyrita

I discovered York Bowen by way of the original vinyl release of this album back in the late nineteen-seventies. Banks Music Shop in York was still able to order this LP, although it must have been nearly 20 years old. And it is still in my ‘small but select’ residual LP collection. Despite a few rumblings, a slightly distant feel to the piano and the monaural recording, this album still deserves to be taken out the cupboard and put on the turntable. It has subsequently been reissued on CD.

York Bowen’s Ten Preludes are a selection from the superb set of Twenty-Four Preludes in all the major and minor keys. Bowen has chosen what he regards as the most appropriate numbers to make up a recital set. And with this he is entirely successful. Although I am an enthusiast of the entire work, it is a long haul to listen to all of them at a sitting, no matter how good they are. This present selection acts as a fine introduction and will hopefully encourage listeners who do not know this work to find and listen to the complete edition.  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’? Yet it is a delicious piece that is full of colour and downright ‘heart on sleeve’ romance. When one considers how ‘late’ these Preludes were written, if not published, it is perhaps not surprising that some critics regard them as derivative and old fashioned.

The Partita is a another case in point – being written in 1960. Once again it would be easy to see this work as being ‘retro’ – certainly compared to some of the ‘long haired’ music that was appearing on the scene at that time. However, from the first note to the last, this is a happy and fortuitous composition. Despite the title suggesting that it is inspired by baroque music, there is nothing of the pastiche about this piece. In fact, the mood is romantic in almost every detail. There are some moments in this work, for example the ‘minuet’ and the ‘gigue,’ that have a suggestion of the ‘sâlon’ about them. Yet, the artistry and the technique is well beyond that required by the ephemeral pieces of that genre.

The attractive Berceuse, which was composed in 1928, nods to Chopin, yet this is not a parody as such. Nevertheless, the shifting harmonies (Billy Mayerl sprang to mind!) situate this work in the twentieth century rather than the nineteenth or earlier. It is a lovely piece.

The ‘Moto Perpetuo’ from the Suite Mignonne is a showstopper. Rob Barnett, On MusicWeb International (8 September 2008) rightly states that it ‘sweepingly doffs its cap to Sergei’. This is a complex piece of music that, as the sleeve notes state, ‘requires the lightest and most delicate playing…’ This piece was written during the First World War in 1915 - it seems a million miles away from Ypres and the Western Front.

The last work on this album, a Toccata, was composed some 42 years after the Moto perpetuo – yet it is similar in that it is virtuosic and requires a huge piano technique. It would make a fine encore to a recital of York Bowen’s or anyone else’s piano music for that matter.

Track Listing:

York BOWEN (1884-1961)
Ten Preludes from Twenty-Four Preludes op. 102 (1938, publ.1950) (No.1 in C major: Moderato appassionato; No. 2 in C major: Andante tranquillo; No. 15 in G major: Allegretto grazioso; No. 16 in G minor: Moderato semplice; No. 10 in E minor: Moderato, a capriccio; No. 24 in B minor: Moderato serioso e tragico; No. 7 in E-flat major: Andante amabile; No. 8 in E-flat minor: Poco lento, serioso; No. 19 in A major: Andantino con moto; No. 20 in A minor: Allegro con fuoco)
Partita op. 156 (1960)
Berceuse op. 83 (1928)
Moto Perpetuo (III from Suite Mignonne op. 39) (1915)
Toccata in A minor Op. 155 (1957)
York Bowen (piano)

Rec.  May 1960 (mono)

LYRITA RCS 17 (Reissued on REAM 2105, 2008)