Customer Reviews

Bowen: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm confining this review to the Concerto No. 4.

This is the confident and mature work of a master composer, orchestrator and pianist in full flower. That this composer is not more widely performed is astonishing. The palette, vocabulary and power of the writing is never less than engaging and accessible, and as such is a prime example of the pinnacle of romantic expression. The scope of the piece, while grand to be sure, is consistently focused. One has the sense that Bowen uses every tool at his disposal, and yet nothing is superfluous.

Young composers would do very well to study this piece as a masterful example of just what a piano and orchestra can do together.

Driver's performance, by the way, serves the piece extremely well. He plays with beautiful clarity, and fully understands the broad gestures and subtle colors that are called for. Whatever piano he's playing has one of the best-recorded bass registers ever!

The orchestra sounds great. That may sound trite, but there's no better way to state it! The writing calls for a great variety of techniques from every section of the orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony does NOT disappoint! This performance works like a true team effort between soloist and orchestra. BRAVO!

beautifully engineered with a wide soundstage...from an unknown composer to the larger audience. Nicely performed by all forces. A+

After hearing a Bowen piece on the radio I decided to look into some of his music. Although once called the "English Rachmaninoff", these pieces have little of the lush, brooding, melancholy of Rachmaninoff.

The fourth has an obvious affinity to the Rach 3 in terms of architecture and sweep. But it never achieves a similar level of drama, melodic momentum, nor imagination as the Rachmaninoff piece. There aren't a lot of very end of the romantic period concerti available, so if that era really interests you this piece is worth hearing.

The third concerto starts strong, both in the piano presentation and the melodic line, but fails to maintain it to the end. This piece is available in another recording coupled with the second concerto.* Listening to the two back to back I think that version is slightly better recorded, but this one is a bit better played, and overall better. But the piece is too slight for it to make that much difference.

* York Bowen: Piano Concerto No. 2; Piano Concerto No. 3; Symphonic Fantasia, Op. 16

Having the same last name as the Composer made it necessary to have this CD. He was no Mozart or Beethoven, but not bad for 20th cetury Composer.