Composer: George Frideric Handel, Robin Holloway, Leslie Howard, Robert Matthew-Walker, Humphrey Searle
Performer: John Lill, Leslie Howard, Mark Bebbington, Julian Jacobson
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8571354
Release: 2014
Size: 428 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Holloway: Grand Heroical March
02. Howard: Ruddigore, Op. 40
Matthew-Walker: Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 34
03. Fantasy Sonata. Hamlet
Handel: L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
04. Come, but Keep Thy Wonted State
05. Searle: Piano Sonata, Op. 21
This unique recording owes its existence to Malcolm Smith (1932-2011), who was a leading and popular figure in London’s musical life. He was a stalwart of numerous organisations and festivals, a friend of the greatest composers and a tireless advocate of British music. A Vice President of the British Music Society, Smith bequeathed a sum of money to facilitate this recording, which includes Robin Holloway’s six-handed Grand Heroical March, Leslie Howard’s Sullivan-inspired Ruddigore Fantasy, and Humphrey Searle’s Sonata, described by The Times in 1951 as ‘suffused with darkling, elegiac poetry and commanding thought’.