Output details

"Somervell Highland Concerto: Cowen Concertstück" Recording of music by Somervell and Cowen

The aim of the research was to present to the public the first recordings of three piano works by the almost forgotten English composers Somervell and Cowen. This intention was reasonable for both composers present interestingly distinct national voices, but voices well aware of contemporary continental pianistic and compositional practices.

The research process involved tracking their compositional styles back to their common composition teacher, the Berlin-based Friedrich Kiel. The researcher’s earlier recording of Kiel’s first piano concerto provided him with a structural starting point important for these English works with little or no performing tradition.

A second clue to the effective performance of Cowen’s work was its clear indebtedness to the piano writing of Liszt. Here the researcher’s many performances of the Hungarian’s piano music provided a way into the aesthetic intentions of Cowan’s Concertstück and an understanding of the technical means through which they could be expressed.

Somervell’s "Highland Concerto" posed the researcher an even greater initial challenge: it had never been published. This therefore led to a performing edition having to be prepared before detailed work could start. This transcription from manuscript was carried out in collaboration with Hyperion, the company responsible for the series of CD’s of which the current submission forms a part.

From a stylistic and interpretive point of view Somervell’s works asked somewhat easier research questions than did those of Cowen. Somervell’s music is still occasionally performed, his vocal works displaying an easily approachable melodic style which is frequently also seen in the keyboard works presented here.

The recording was released in September 2011.