At the turn of the 20th century, British piano music developed a distinctive style, combining French Impressionism with German musical tastes.
Historical Context
The earliest known keyboard music is an English fragment from 1325 called the Robertsbridge Codex.
Compositional Technique
Stephen Hough's two Valse Enigmatique pieces use musical notes to represent letters of words, specifically two people's names, and also weave in Hough's own initials.
Instruments
The Englishman John Broadwood invented the modern piano, patenting its damper pedal in 1783.
Composer Biography
Granville Bantock, a conductor and educator, wrote a large amount of music, much of which shows his interest in Eastern and Celtic cultures.
Performer Biography
Stephen Hough, the pianist on this album, studied the Rawsthorne Bagatelles as a teenager with his teacher Gordon Green, for whom the pieces were written.
Composer Biography
Frank Bridge, a committed pacifist, was deeply affected by World War I, which led his musical style to evolve from pastoral to a more serious and personal language.
