Beach, Chaminade & Howell: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 70)

Featuring

Danny Driver
Rebecca Miller
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Dorothy Gertrude Howell
Amy Beach
Cécile Chaminade

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Composer Biography

Amy Beach, one of the composers on this album, was largely self-taught as a composer, apart from one year of study during her teens.

Compositional Technique

Cécile Chaminade's Concertstück for piano and orchestra shows an unmistakable kinship with Wagner's Flying Dutchman and influence from Liszt.

Critical Reception

Dorothy Howell's Piano Concerto, premiered in 1923, received lukewarm reviews, suggesting she had not fulfilled the promise of her earlier symphonic poem Lamia.

Composition History

Amy Beach's Piano Concerto in C sharp minor, Op 45, was intended not only as a major composition but also as a way for her to return to the concert platform.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Amy Beach once wrote that a composition could be 'a veritable autobiography,' and her Piano Concerto contains elements that can be considered in this way.

Composer Biography

Cécile Chaminade, another composer on this album, was forbidden by her father from studying at the Paris Conservatoire despite her obvious musical gifts.