Robert Schumann, a German composer and influential music critic, admired William Sterndale Bennett, calling him 'a thorough Englishman, a glorious artist, and a beautiful and poetic soul'.
Composer Biography
William Sterndale Bennett, the composer, began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London at the age of ten, where Cipriani Potter was his principal teacher.
Composition History
The Adagio for piano and orchestra, featured on this album, may have been intended as an alternative slow movement for William Sterndale Bennett's 3rd concerto and was possibly played at its 1837 Leipzig premiere.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The true source of William Sterndale Bennett's artistic inspiration was Mozart, with his first piano concerto unmistakably echoing the D minor of Mozart's Don Giovanni.
Recording & Production
The finale of William Sterndale Bennett's Piano Concerto No. 5 was revised by Geoffrey Bush, the author of the booklet notes, specifically for this recording, mainly by removing superfluous passage work.
Compositional Technique
William Sterndale Bennett's keyboard style was based on the London Piano School, whose leading figures included J.B. Cramer and John Field, the inventor of the Nocturne.
Composer Biography
William Sterndale Bennett gave up composing to secure financial stability through piano teaching, but later rescued the Royal Academy of Music and reformed Cambridge University's degree requirements.
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