Output details

Kenneth Leighton: Piano Works. CD recording, Margaret Fingerhut (piano)

This disc includes two premiere recordings of unpublished early works, _Winter Scenes_ (1953) and the Sonata No. 3, Op. 27 (1954). Together with one of Leighton’s most important works, the Sonata Op. 64 (1972) and the set of Five Preludes he wrote shortly before his death in 1988, the disc provides an overview of Leighton's piano writing spanning the 35 years of his career.

Aside from the practice itself, and the intellectual underpinning of the process, as clear research activity, copies of the two unpublished manuscripts were given by the Leighton Trust for Fingerhut to work from. In several passages of _Winter Scenes_ where the composer's final intentions were left unclear, Fingerhut had to bring to bear her specialist knowledge of the composer's style and language to make appropriate editorial decisions in order to bring the work to performance.

The repertoire was chosen, and is performed, so as to lead to a greater understanding of the various influences on Leighton and to reveal the transformation of his compositional style between his early and late works. Reviews of the CD have acknowledged its significance in this regard: ‘This disc is a valuable resource, perceptively filling in the gaps in the Leighton oeuvre’ (International Record Review, Sept. 2010); ‘I've found this recording informative as well as impressive’ (BBC Music Magazine, Oct. 2010). The disc received an in-depth review in the American Record Guide (Sept./Oct. 2010) which commented on the fact that Leighton's music is ‘gaining the international recognition it deserves’.

Fingerhut gave the first broadcast performance of the Five Preludes in a programme live from WFMT, Chicago in March 2010, and subsequently performed them in several cities in the USA and Canada. Extracts from the CD have also been disseminated on BBC Radio 3 and on American public radio stations.