William Sterndale Bennett: Piano Concertos on Lyrita

Readers will doubtless disagree, but since first hearing the opening movement of William Sterndale Bennett’s Piano Concerto No.4 in F minor, op.19, I have regarded it as one of the highlights of the genre written by any Englishman. This was on a recording released in 1990 featuring Malcolm Binns, piano and the Milton Keynes Chamber Orchestra conducted by Hilary Davan Wetton. (UKCD 2032).

Poor Sterndale Bennett has had a chequered career. In his youth he was lionised by both Mendelssohn and Schumann. His early music was seen as fine examples of classical craftmanship that nodded towards Mozart rather than Liszt or Wagner who were soon to dominate the Romantic era. Indeed, there was always a school of thought that suggested he served up reheated Mendelssohn, especially with the cantata The Women of Samaria. His later works were deemed to be stylistically conservative. By the beginning of the 20^th century, as the English Music Renaissance gathered steam, Sterndale Bennett was dismissed as “an uninspired pedant.” There followed decades of neglect. In the 1960’s there began a reappraisal of his early works, especially the piano concerti and the chamber music. Some critics regarded these as a bridge between Beethoven and Brahms. Indeed, there have been several recordings of his work for piano solo, the piano concertos, and the symphonic music, led by Marco Polo, Lyrita and Hyperion.

Sterndale Bennett composed six piano concertos, as well as a single movement Caprice for piano and orchestra. All have now been recorded. The Piano Concerto No. 4 in F minor, op. 19, is usually regarded as his masterpiece. It was premiered in 1839 with the composer as soloist and Mendelssohn conducting and was dedicated to the Bohemian composer, and regular resident in London, Ignaz Moscheles. The Concerto can be characterised as presenting a “refined virtuosity” and “elegant lyricism.”

Robert Schumann, reviewed the score in 1840, and noted that “nothing in the entire concerto is calculated for bravura display and applause, he only cares to display the composition itself.” Nevertheless, as Elizabeth French (Liner Notes Hyperion CDA67595) explains the “first and third movements provide ample opportunity for the composer-pianist to show off his technique, with flowering passagework and some brilliant figuration.” The middle movement is a cool Barcarole: Andante cantabile e con moto, which replaced an earlier discarded movement.

I am indebted to the liner notes for details of the Piano Concerto No.6 in A minor, WO.48 (1848).

William Sterndale Bennett’s final piano concerto faced delays and revisions, before it was premiered in its present form. Originally titled a 'Concert-Stück,' it was heard at a Philharmonic Concert in London on 5 June 1843. Originally planned in two movements, WSB added the central Serenade at the last minute.

Unsatisfied with the orchestration, he revised the first and third movements and changed the title to “Concerto.” The Serenade was replaced with the slow movement from his First Concerto. This version featured substantial changes to the first movement, including extensive rescoring and a thicker orchestral texture. This edition was premiered on 15 June 1848 at the Hanover Square Rooms.

Rosemary Firman, née Williamson, in her remarkable William Sterndale Bennett: A Descriptive Thematic Catalogue (Oxford, 1996) explains that he never felt confident enough to publish the A minor Concerto, and the lapse in time caused it to become stylistically dated. Rediscovered by Firman in 1992, it is characterized by a broadly classical style, and with its refined, delicate orchestration, standing apart from the prevalent large-scale romantic concertos of the period.

The present conductor Martin Yates edited and completed the score for the Piano Concerto No. 6. In the liner notes he explains that the existing manuscript had "three clearly laid out movements," though the piano part was often "more of a sketch than a finished article." He notes that "it was fairly clear where the missing music was" and "reasonably clear as to how these gaps could have potentially been filled in." The missing sections varied: "Sometimes the piano part petered out altogether," or "the right hand was written out whilst the left hand was missing," or "there was the start of an accompanying figure in the left hand which stopped after just a few notes."

Yates acknowledges that his edition was "…partly guesswork based on my knowledge of Sterndale Bennett's style, the music of the period and also the music that was already completed on the manuscript." He concludes, "Unless a more complete score of this concerto materialises, I feel I have done what is possible in helping this concerto come back to life and in doing so hopefully contributing to the remarkable legacy of Sterndale Bennett; a considerable composer of stature and invention."

This concerto, which is stylistically closest to Mozart and Mendelssohn, has echoes of Hummel and Moscheles. It blends classical clarity with Romantic lyricism, avoiding Lisztian bravura in favour of refined craftsmanship. It is a valuable discovery.

The third and final piece on this disc is the eccentric Concerto for Two Pianos in C major, WO.29 (1835), which is, I believe, a premiere recording. The oddness has nothing to do with its sound and progress – it is in the history of its composition. The liner notes explain that this single movement concerto was completed in 1835 as a joint effort between Sterndale Bennett and fellow student at the Royal Academy of Music, George Alexander Macfrarren. The methodology was that “The two men began by taking turns: Bennett wrote the first thirty-seven bars, Macfarren the next fifty, and so on, with the last 125 bars or so apparently a collaboration.”  There is a suggestion that it may have been the first movement of a full-scale concerto that was never completed. Hearing this Concerto, with its “youthful exuberance” and “joie de vivre” it is hard to see this as being a purely academic exercise. Clearly the young men devised this for sheer enjoyment. The Concerto is a little unbalanced. Opening with an impressive tutti, with the conventional exposition of the first subject, the orchestra soon steps back. From that point to the end, the pianos predominate with many technical devices including cascading scales and arpeggios. Simon Callagahan is partnered here by Hiroaki Takenouchi in this Concerto.

Of particular interest to listeners is that Geoffrey Bush, a champion of Sterndale Bennett, arranged the work for two pianos as a Sonata. This version was broadcast on BBC Radio Three in 1969.

Simon Callaghan is a British pianist celebrated for his adventurous repertoire and international performances. He champions neglected composers alongside Romantic classics, recording for Hyperion, Nimbus, and Lyrita. A chamber musician and concerto soloist, he collaborates widely and promotes British music with many important premieres and recordings.

The recording is outstanding, as expected from Lyrita.

As noted, the liner notes by Rosemary Firman are detailed and informative. They include a Daguerreotype of William Sterndale Bennett, and the cover painting is the haunting Yacht Approaching the Coast by W.J. Turner. Web page addresses are given for the performers.

This imaginative Lyrita disc is a crucial continuation of the restoration of Sterndale Bennett’s neglected concertos. It perfectly balances historical curiosity with compelling artistry. Callaghan, Takenouchi, Yates, and the Royal Northern Sinfonia illuminate these forgotten treasures, asserting Sterndale Bennett’s stature and offering listeners a richly rewarding rediscovery of English Romantic piano music.

Track Listing:
William Sterndale Bennett (1816-75)
Piano Concerto No.4 in F minor, op.19 (1838)
Piano Concerto No.6 in A minor, WO.48 (1848) (completed Martin Yates, b.1958)
William Sterndale Bennett/George Alexander Macfarren (1813-87)
Concerto for Two Pianos in C major, WO.29 (1835)
Simon Callaghan (piano), Hiroaki Takenouchi (piano)
Royal Northen Sinfonia/Martin Yates
rec. 20-21 January 2025, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead, UK
Lyrita SRCD 448

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published. 

William Sterndale Bennett: Piano Concerto No.4 (1838)

For far too long it has been the lazy person’s view to assume that all early nineteenth century British music was influenced solely by Handel and Mendelssohn, important to the national musical life as these composers were. Whenever a piece of British music from this era is heard, people shake their heads and smile wryly. Of course we do not expect to find the towering giants to match the Liszts, the Chopins and the Wagners of the Continent but to categorise all Early Victorian English music as being either derivative or a pastiche of the above mentioned exemplars, is wrong-headed and does not do justice to the facts. A more nuanced view reveals that there were allegiances to Rossini, Spohr, Gounod, Brahms, Wagner, and Dussek as well as the two named above. Furthermore, a lot of British music of this period owed much to the London Piano School which included Cramer, Clementi, and Moscheles. And lastly, some of these British composers had a few jolly promising ideas of their own!

In a cynical yet perceptive commentary from 1964, Geoffrey Bush offered five reasons - each tinged with irony - for the neglect of William Sterndale Bennett’s music in modern times. First, Bush noted the unfortunate fact of Bennett’s nationality: he was English, and thus subject to the longstanding ambivalence with which English composers were often regarded. Second, he was a Victorian, a label that in musical circles frequently carried the weight of stylistic conservatism and cultural unfashionability. Third, Bennett had written an oratorio titled The Woman of Samaria, a work that, by its very subject and form, seemed to embody the earnest religiosity and moral didacticism of its era. Fourth, he held the post of Professor of Music at Cambridge - an academic distinction that, paradoxically, may have contributed to perceptions of his music as dry or overly institutional. And finally, Bush suggested that Bennett was, at best, a second-rate imitator of Mendelssohn, lacking the originality or brilliance to transcend his influences. Amusing though these observations may be, they reflect a broader unease with Bennett’s place in the canon - a composer caught between national pride and stylistic dismissal.

It is not my intention to demolish these reasons one by one – although I guess he could not help being born English! But Bush clearly shows the sheer unthinking prejudice that has surrounded Sterndale Bennett and by implication any who were associated with him. For many decades it was intellectual suicide to say that you liked a piece of music written by this ‘pedant’ who did not have an original note in his head.

Sterndale Bennett wrote at least five piano concertos, and it is with these that he established his reputation in both London and Germany. However, to most musicologists and reviewers - that will admit it - the Fourth is his magnum opus.

I have known Sterndale Bennett's Fourth Piano Concerto since I heard the version by Malcolm Binns with the Milton Keynes Chamber Orchestra (Unicorn-Kanchana UKCD 2032, 1990). This concerto has been a favourite of mine since then: if I am honest, I rate it higher than many examples of the genre written on the continent at that time – including at least one of those by Mendelssohn!

In October 1838 Sterndale Bennett returned to Leipzig, taking with him the new Concerto in F minor. The first and the last movements were newly devised, but the middle one was a rehash of an earlier Pastorale. Mendelssohn did not like this arrangement and prevailed on the composer to substitute another piece. Sterndale Bennett provided the present Barcarolle which suitably impressed the German. The change was made, and the complete Concerto was performed on 17 January 1838 in Leipzig with Mendelssohn conducting.

There is no doubt that this is a splendid work. Most people, justifiably, regard the middle movement Barcarolle as the highlight; it is exquisite. Yet, it would be wrong to cherry-pick this part of the piece. The first movement is full of striking ideas and in places, sheer poetry, and beauty. And the ‘presto agitato’ bristles with interesting music that impresses from the first note to the last. It is a splendid and often moving work that ought to be popular if concertgoers were given the chance to hear it.

Listen to Howard Shelley playing William Sterndale Bennett’s Piano Concerto No.4 on YouTube. I: Allegro con maesta, II: Barcarole. Andante cantabile e con moto and III: Presto. Agitato. The BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by the soloist. It was released on Hyperion CDA67595 (2007)

An edited version of a review published on MusicWeb International, 7 November 2007.

William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875) - a short profile

A short profile I wrote for last year’s (2016) bi-centenary of William Sterndale Bennett's birth, which was not used at the time.

William Sterndale Bennett was an important all-round musician: he was the missing link between Purcell and the English Musical Renaissance which burst into life with Parry and Stanford in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and continues to this day. In recent years his achievement as a composer has been re-evaluated, and it has been discovered that he was much more significant than musical historians had allowed. Sterndale Bennett was influenced by Mozart rather than Liszt and Chopin: his music invariably retained a classical poise. However, he was the most prominent romantic English composer of his day. It is this restraint, coupled with a lively and poetic imagination, well-constructed melodies and satisfying formal structures that listeners can appreciate and enjoy today.

Sterndale Bennett’s music was long regarded as derivative.  He has been described as the ‘English Mendelssohn’, which meant he became obscured behind the German’s genius.  Moreover, his musical style did not develop to any great extent during his composing career. There was a lull in his output after 1842 when he was much in demand as a teacher, conductor and musicologist.  George Bernard Shaw notes that Sterndale Bennett was ‘extinguished as a composer by having to teach five-finger exercises to fashionable young ladies…’ Not altogether accurate, but we get the point. In his later years, Sterndale Bennett began to recapture something of his youthful passion for composition, resulting in the oratorio The Women of Samara, op.44 (1867) and a wonderful Second Symphony in G minor, op.43 (1863-4).

William Sterndale Bennett was born in Sheffield on 13 April 1816. Aged only eight years old, he was admitted as a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge.  He began to attend the Royal Academy of Music, just before his tenth birthday. His teachers included William Crotch, William Henry Holmes and Cipriani Potter.  Whilst at the RAM he composed his Piano Concerto in D minor, op.1, which, in 1833 brought him to the attention of Felix Mendelssohn.  In 1836 Sterndale Bennett travelled to Dusseldorf and Leipzig where he became friends with Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. He continued with his travels until 1842.

On return to English musical life, Sterndale Bennett began to make a career from teaching and recital work. From 1856-1866 he was the Principal Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  Other appointments included Professor of Music at Cambridge University and from 1866 he was Principal at his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music.

One his most important achievements was the founding of the Bach Society in 1849. Sterndale Bennett introduced the St Matthew Passion to the United Kingdom.  He edited music by Bach and Handel for publication.

In 1871 Sterndale Bennett was knighted for services to music.

Much of Sterndale Bennett’s music has fallen by the wayside. Once-standard works included the pastoral cantata The May Queen, op.39 which was first heard at the 1858 Leeds Festival. The oratorio The Women of Samaria, op.44 was premiered at the Birmingham Festival in 1867 and retained its popularity into the twentieth century.  In 2016 Sterndale Bennett is chiefly recalled for his five piano concertos (there is a sixth, yet unrecorded) and selected orchestral works, including some overtures and the fine Symphony in G minor. The small number of piano and chamber works that have been recorded allow listeners to hear a different side of his achievement. A few hymns, anthems and songs just manage to cling on in the repertoire.

William Sterndale Bennett died in London on 1 February 1875. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

A quarter of William Sterndale Bennet’s published compositions have been recorded. The listener is able to make a worthwhile estimate at this composer’s achievement.

Some works to listen to:

Overture: Naiades, op.15 (1836) (Lyrita SRCD.206)

Overture: The Wood Nymphs, op.20 (1838) (Lyrita SRCD.206)

Piano Concerto No.4 in F minor, op.19 (1838) (Hyperion CDA67595)

Symphony in G minor, op.43 (1863-4) (Lyrita SRCD.206)

Sextet piano, two violins, viola, cello and contrabass (or second cello), op.8 (1835) (Marco Polo, 8.223304) N.B. This recording has been deleted, but can be downloaded digitally)

If the listener can only hear a single work, I would recommend the Piano Concerto No.4 in F minor, op.43. It has been said that with his piano concertos, William Sterndale Bennett provided the musical link between those of Beethoven and Brahms. 

William Sterndale Bennett: a portrait by George Alexander Macfarren

Born in Sheffield, April 13, 1810, where his father, Robert Bennett, was organist. He is conspicuous in the musical history of the present period, as having, by his unswerving fidelity to the loftiest principles of his art, and still more by his natural and highly refined ability to embody these in his works, been effectively instrumental in raising the standard of music in this country, and in gaining consideration for the earnest pretensions of English music abroad. We may suppose that the occupation of his father tended to the immediate development of his organization; but, becoming an orphan at three years old, he derived nothing from his parent's musical pursuits, save the inestimable advantage of this early impression. At his father's death, he was removed to the care of his grandfather at Cambridge, where in 1824 he entered the choir of King's College Chapel. Already he gave proof of an uncommon aptitude for music; so strong, that two years afterwards he was taken from this institution to be placed in the Royal Academy of Music in London. Passing through the classes of Mr Lucas and Dr. Crotch for composition, and of Mr W. H. Holmes for the pianoforte, he became the pupil of Mr Potter in both these departments, whose entire merit it is to have fully developed the remarkable talent they had prepared for his care,—fully developed, because it was while yet under his direction, that Bennett produced some of the works which most honour his name, no less admirable for maturity of style than freshness of invention; and while yet under his direction, he attained the excellence as a pianist which won him the esteem he still maintains. Among his academical productions which have not appeared in print, an overture to the Tempest and two symphonies must be named as possessing great interest. Prior even to these he wrote his Concerto in D minor, in 1832, the rare merit of which attracted general attention to the young composer. He played it at the prize concert of the academy at midsummer, 1833, when Mendelssohn was present, who, quick to appreciate the indications in the music and its performance of approaching excellence, gave Bennett such warm encouragement as true genius only can extend.

The academy committee paid the cost of publishing this first concerto for the author's advantage, and thus conferred an equal benefit on their institution in the credit the scholar reflected on the school. The Concerto in E flat, a production of the ensuing autumn, shows no longer the immediate effect upon the composer's mind of the classic masterpieces which, with him as with every genuine artist, were the seeds of his originality ; but the decided style manifest in this work shows the now indirect influence of the great models, from a perfect knowledge of which alone can result a mastery of the principles of construction which have been unfolded through successive generations, and a freedom in the employment of resources, which, being accumulated from all, are common to all that have the power to appropriate them.

His overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor, still unpublished, is a work of charming freshness,  which preceded the composition in 1834 of that to Parisina ; the depth of feeling, the flow of ideas, and their skilful arrangement that distinguished this last named, associate it with the highest productions of its class.

The Concerto in C minor, another fruit of this fertile year, has all the characteristics of classicality; the stately breadth of the first movement, the dreamy mystery of the andante, and the fire of the finale, are throughout entirely individual to the author; but the merit of the whole is common to this and to the best extant works of its kind. At one of the early concerts of the then promising society of British musicians in this same year, Bennett played his second concerto, and he thus gained such general acknowledgment, that the Philharmonic directors engaged him to repeat the performance at the first concert of their following season, when his success was most triumphant. The next year was occupied with productions of less importance, though, perhaps, of more extensive popularity; but in 1836 an unprinted concerto in F minor, and the fanciful and graceful overture, The Naiades (the work of his which is most played in public), brought him again before the highest musical tribunals. It was now at the suggestion of Mr Attwood that the munificent firm of Broadwood, who  have done more for the advancement of music through the encouragement of musicians in this country, than any other individual or institution has effected, offered to defray Bennett's expenses for a year's residence in Leipzig, where, by constant intercourse with Mendelssohn, by constant opportunity of enlarging his experience, and by constant occasion for exercising his powers, he might improve himself and extend his reputation. He accordingly quitted the academy of which he was still an inmate, and went to establish his and his country's character in the city which then, from a combination of circumstances, possessed more advantages for a musician than at this time any place in the world affords.

Returning in the autumn of 1837, he left a name of which, perhaps, the highest acknowledgment is the attempt on the part of some shallow critics to traduce it. Repeated successes as a pianist, and the production of some of his best chamber works, fill up his history till 1840. He then wrote another concerto in F minor (that which is published), and so created such a rival to its predecessor in C minor, as few writers could have produced. He now spent another twelvemonth in Leipzig, confirming the impression of his former visit. Here he wrote his Caprice in E for pianoforte and orchestra, and his overture The Wood Nymphs which fully sustain the high character of his best productions.

In 1843 be gave his first series of chamber concerts, which were continued annually till 1856, and brought his merit as a player periodically under public notice. In 1844, he competed for the musical professorship in the University of Edinburgh against several candidates, of whom Mr Hugh Pierson  was elected. In 1849, Bennett founded the Bach Society, for the study and performance of the music of the master after whom it is named, and is still the chairman and conductor of this institution. Nothing that may be cited within the present limits marks the career of this musician until 1856, when he was engaged as permanent conductor of the concerts of the Philharmonic Society. In this same year he was elected by an overwhelming majority to the musical chair in the University of Cambridge, to which locality his early associations, and his fulfilment of the highest hopes that can have been entertained of him, strongly endear him: subsequently to that, he was created doctor of music by this seminary of learning.

As an executant, Bennett is characterized by beautiful mechanism, exquisite grace, and that singing style, which is the strongest link of sympathy between a player and his audience. As a composer, it is fashionable with some to accuse him of imitating Mendelssohn, by which they prove their utter ignorance of his music. He has fancy, he has feeling, he has fire, and, most of all, he has a peculiar grace which distinguishes no less his phraseology than the turning of his ornamental passages, and all these are manifested in a manner as individual to himself, as is that of any artist possessing the traits which constitute a style. This individuality is as obvious in his ‘Fountain’, in his ‘Genevieve’, in his rondo ‘Piacevole’, in his song, ‘To Chloe in sickness’, as in any of his larger works; it consists, first, in his original train of thought ; second, in his command of resources, which enables him to mould his ideas at will. They who appreciate him the highest blame him the most, that during the last  fifteen years be has almost entirely ceased to compose ; and candour must admit the scanty productions of this long period want the merit, when they even have the pretensions, of those admirable earlier works, of which he and his country have just reason to be proud. The lesser interest of these later productions may, perhaps, be ascribed to his having lost the spontaneous vigour of youthful impulse, without replacing it with the fluency which results from habit and the intensity that is given by concentration; and his deficiency in both these is extenuatingly referred to his excessive occupation in teaching.

George Alexander Macfarren THE IMPERIAL DICTIONARY OF UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY: A SERIES OF ORIGINAL MEMOIRS [minor edits]