Howard Ferguson: Piano Concerto, op.12 (1951)

There are two things to say about Howard Ferguson. Firstly, he wrote too little! It is always a great disappointment to me that Ferguson gave up composing in the early 1950s; he reckoned that he had said all he wanted to say! The listener’s loss is the student and performer’s gain as most of the rest of his life was spent in editing early music and teaching material. The second thing is that every piece that Ferguson wrote is near perfect and commands our attention. There is nothing that does not deserve to be permanently in the repertoire.

The Piano Concerto is a case in point. I have no doubt that if this work was by a Polish or German composer it would be in the public domain. As it stands, I imagine that it is well known only to a handful of British music enthusiasts. Yet, what a great and wonderful work it is. It is not really necessary to try making comparisons. I do not agree with Andrew Burn’s liner notes (Naxos 8.557290) that it nods to Mozart. What we have is a beautifully composed piece that throws introspection and an extrovert, almost ‘puckish’ feel, into contrast, yet manages to give a satisfying sense of completeness. The heart of the work is the reflective ‘Theme and Variations’ – this movement is quite bitter-sweet and stays in the mind long after the last note plays. The last movement, an ‘allegro giovale,’ is a tour de force. However, there are some quieter, more introverted moments and there is a reprise of the slow movement ‘tune’ towards the end. But this is positive, uplifting music that is a joy and pleasure and a privilege to listen to.

Listen to Howard Ferguson’s Piano Concerto  in a live performance Howard Shelley, piano and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Charles Grove on YouTube, here.

Discography
Ferguson, Howard, Concerto for piano and strings with Amore langueo, Howard Shelley, piano, Martyn Hill, tenor, London Symphony Chorus and the City of London Sinfonia/Richard Hickox EMI 0777 7 64738 2 6 (1986)
Ferguson, Howard, Concerto for piano and strings with concertos by Christopher Darnton, Alec Rowley and Roberto Gerhard, Northern Sinfonia, Peter Donohoe, piano/conductor, Naxos 8.557290 (2005)
Ferguson, Howard, Concerto for piano and strings with with concerted works by Finzi, Austin and Rawsthorne SOMMCD241, 2009