Composer: Kenneth Leighton
Performer: Margaret Fingerhut
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN10601
Release: 2010
Size: 1 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Sonata, Op. 64
01. I. Lento e chiaro
02. II. Chorale with contrasts: Adagio molto e sostenuto
03. III. Toccatas and Chorale. Presto precipitoso
Préludes
04. Prelude in D Minor
05. Prelude in D Major
06. Prelude in E-Flat Minor
07. Prelude in C Major
08. Prelude in C Minor
Winter Scenes
09. I. Landscape
10. II. The Wind
11. III. Mist
12. IV. Woodsprites
13. V. By the Fireside
14. VI. Snowflakes
15. VII. Carol
Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 27
16. I. Andante, ma un poco liberamente
17. II. Lento sostenuto
18. III. Intermezzo
19. IV. Presto, molto ritmico
Kenneth Leighton was a pianist of considerable accomplishment and his activities as both a composer and a musician often centred on the piano. As a composer-pianist, he had an innate understanding of the instrument and what he described as its ‘inexhaustible possibilities’. Quite appropriately, his first published work was for the instrument, Sonatina No. 1, Op. 1a, and the last music that he wrote, before his premature death at the age of fifty-eight, was the beginning of a compendium of Preludes for piano, the partially complete result of which features in this recital. Returning to the instrument at regular intervals, Leighton often wrote through inner compulsion rather than as a consequence of a commission. The piano proved an excellent tool with which to write some of his most virtuosic and experimental music, but it also offered him a chance to compose simpler works for young players in nonetheless challenging styles.
Two of the works on this disc, recorded here for the first time, date from the years 1951 – 55, a time of self-discovery in his musical language, which included a period of study in Rome with the avant-garde composer Petrassi. Winter Scenes, a suite of seven short movements, remains unpublished and, as far as is known, was never performed in public by Leighton or any of his contemporaries. Along with the progressive Sonata No. 3, Op. 27, it demonstrates Leighton’s growing mastery of piano technique.
Margaret Fingerhut has an extensive discography on Chandos. In a recent review she was described as ‘an accomplished and stylish advocate’