(1843-1907) in A minor, Op. 16 Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor Premiere Recordings SOMMCD 269 sketches arranged and orchestrated by Robert Matthew-Walker GRIEG sketches arranged for solo piano by Robert Matthew-Walker DDD Piano Concerto (1862-1934) , Op. 16 Piano Concerto in C minor (1907) · Three Preludes for piano (1921) in A minor On hearing the first cuckoo in Spring (1913) (transcribed for piano duet by Peter Warlock) DELIUS Mark Bebbington, piano Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Piano Concerto

Jan Latham-Koenig, conductor

in C minor (1907) GRIEG – Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 (32:53)

:Ben Connellan 1 I. Allegro molto moderato 14:21 2 II. Adagio 7:15 GRIEG 3 III. Allegro moderato molto e marcato 11:17 4 DELIUS – Piano Concerto in C minor (1907) 24:21 sketches for 5 GRIEG – Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor – sketches 3:48 Piano Concerto No. 2 : Paul Arden-Taylor (piano and orchestra) 6 GRIEG – Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor – sketches 3:58 in B minor – premiere (solo piano) DELIUS – Three Preludes 7 I. Scherzando 2:09 8 II. Quick 1:12 9 III. Con Moto 1:25 Mark Bebbington bl

piano and orchestra/solo piano, arr. Matthew-Walker arr. piano, orchestra/solo and piano DELIUS – On hearing the first cuckoo in Spring 5:11 : St John’s Smith Square, August 1-2, 2017 August Smith Square, : at John’s St Recorded : Wyastone Concert Hall, October Concert Hall, 22, 2017 Wyastone : at Recorded (Mark Bebbington, Irene Loh) Royal Philharmonic 6 Orchestra - 6 - bl & Total duration 74:59 : Siva Producer Oke Engineer Recording Recording Recording Producer and Engineer Producer Recording 1 7 5 : Andrew Giles Booklet: Michael: Andrew Design Editor Quinn : Mark © Jack Liebeck Bebbington, Front-cover photograph Jan Latham-Koenig © &  2018 SOMM RECORDINGS · THAMES DITTON · SURREY · ENGLAND Made in the EU arly in 1868, the 24-year-old in A minor, his Opus 16, one of the and outstandingly well written for the viral meningitis in the month following Edvard Grieg could face the masterpieces of Scandinavian art and instrument; the orchestration is, in its the premiere, the shock of the child’s future with confidence. He one of the finest and most enduringly own way, masterly – and throughout, death also causing Nina to lose the Ehad married his younger cousin Nina popular piano concertos ever written. the Concerto is, in a phrase, an inspired second baby she was carrying. They had Hagerup the previous June and, now work. Although some commentators no further children. pregnant, on April 10, she gave birth However, other commitments appear anxious to claim Schumann’s to a daughter, christened Alexandra. prevented Grieg from completely Concerto as the model for Grieg’s – he During the decade following the Nina’s confinement and Edvard’s finishing the score. It was not until April had heard Clara Schumann play her Concerto’s premiere and eventual first workload as the newly-appointed 1869 in that the Concerto husband’s work during his studies at the publication in 1870, Grieg’s reputation conductor of the Christiana (now Oslo) was heard for the first time, played Leipzig Conservatoire – they overlook grew until, in 1881, at the age of 38, Philharmonic Society, demanded they by Neupert, the work’s dedicatee. the originality and formal innovations he entered into an exclusive contract both take a holiday. They spent some In the audience was the legendary of Grieg’s Concerto, not least its with Max Abraham, director of Edition time in , Grieg needing not Anton Rubinstein, then on a concert concluding double coups de théâtre: Peters in Leipzig. Abraham was pleased relaxation but peace and solitude in tour of Denmark, sitting alongside the alteration – by a semitone – of the to have secured Grieg’s music as he had which to work, whilst Nina was keen to royalty and other notable musicians. G sharp in the finale’s second theme originally turned down the A minor show her parents in Copenhagen her But the audience did not include the (which so excited Liszt) is, literally, Concerto, then becoming one of the new daughter. composer, pressure of work at home astonishing. But the work exhibits one most frequently-played concertos of obliging him to miss hearing and unique formal device which is never the day. Grieg remained in Zealand, where witnessing what was, by all accounts, an mentioned: it is the first piano concerto ideas for a larger work than any he had outstanding premiere. ever written to end slowly. That same year, Abraham wrote to attempted recently began to coalesce Grieg, asking him to consider writing in his mind. He was with two friends, The never-waning popularity of Despite the Concerto’s success at several new works, including a new one of whom was ’s leading Grieg’s Concerto in A minor is due to its first performances, Grieg did not piano concerto and chamber music, pianist, Edmund Neupert. During those a number of factors: the themes are immediately find a publisher for it. He mentioning a piano trio. Grieg replied few weeks in the summer of 1868, Grieg distinctive and beautifully wrought; and Nina were soon visited by deep broadly in the affirmative, but this was began composing the Piano Concerto the solo part is dramatic and poetical tragedy when Alexandra succumbed to a fractious time for the composer, his

2 3 muse distracted by personal worries in such a manner that they can be music, which I have left alone, as Grieg One hopes the result is a means which were, eventually, resolved. The heard as close to his sound-world as wrote ‘Solo’ before one begins; in such through which we can hear, by way Concerto remained in fragmentary we can get. When placed together in instances I thought it better to obey his of a commercial recording, as near form, with just one movement of the sequence the sketches make a broadly instructions rather than attempting to as possible what was in Grieg’s mind Trio, Andante con moto, completed. coherent movement, although Grieg add something of my own. when he began to fulfil Max Abraham’s undoubtedly intended a full-scale, request over 130 years ago. The tempo So Grieg’s Second Piano Concerto three-movement work. However, There is one other point: very early on, in indications are mine, dictated by the remained unfinished, its thematic and in hearing those sketches one after the B major first Allegro non troppo (my nature of the music. On this disc, Mark harmonic fragments – amounting to another, the listener is able to hear what tempo indication) section, Grieg writes Bebbington additionally plays the around 150 bars – largely unknown was in Grieg’s mind at the time. a connecting bar with the memo: ‘Ork, sketches as a solo movement. until being published towards the end E-Dür’, implying an orchestral repetition of the 20th century. Since then, several Several sketches are quite extensive and of that theme in E major (he also writes In the years following Alexandra’s death, composers have written full-scale works not solely for keyboard. Occasionally, a the first four notes in that key). Such Edvard and Nina Grieg’s marriage did based upon Grieg’s material, with some third or fourth stave indicates orchestral repetition is so often encountered in not always run smoothly, but their new performed and recorded, although parts alongside the piano, often with his works that it seemed perverse not to home ‘’, built just outside none is a ‘completion’ of the Concerto in orchestration indicated. obey it. Grieg’s writing for the orchestra to their own requirements in the sense of Deryck Cooke’s performing was always functional, and I have 1884-85, brought stability. By 1887 version of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony or In realising Grieg’s sketches for his attempted to recreate the orchestral they would travel together frequently Anthony Payne’s elaboration of what Second Piano Concerto, I have added no parts in a manner suited to his personal for the increasing number of foreign Elgar left of his Third Symphony. more than two or three bars to make a and invariably practical approach. engagements Grieg’s growing beginning (acknowledging the A minor reputation now demanded. As Grieg’s Second Concerto is un- Concerto) and a final bar alongside So, what we have here is everything performable as he left it, it seemed several passages of accompaniment to Grieg left of his Second Concerto. At the end of that year they were in to me that rather than let the music the solo part, in addition to where Grieg His ideas are heard in sequence with Leipzig, initially for the premiere of remain on the printed page, it should indicated orchestration. There are two the absolute minimum of additional Grieg’s C minor Violin Sonata and a be possible to present his sketches longer passages of unaccompanied solo music to ensure a seamless exposition. performance of the Concerto, where

4 5 they met up with their friend, the friendship between the established imagined writing a similar work. But it sought the advice of the Hungarian composer Christian Sinding. Leipzig Norwegian master, his wife, and the was not until 10 years later, in 1897, that pianist Theodor Szántó (himself a pupil held mixed memories for Grieg: his years young Englishman, cemented almost he completed a one-movement Fantasy of Busoni) regarding the effectiveness (1858-62) at the city’s Conservatoire at once by their nightly dining together for piano and orchestra, in C minor. This and detail of the solo part; it was this of Music were not without difficulties. throughout the Griegs’ stay. Delius was work remained unheard in its original final version that was premiered on But 20 years later, with such memories to become the closest of all Grieg’s form, although we know Delius played October 22, 1907, by Szántó and Henry behind him, Edvard and Nina English friends, and later wrote: “I was it through with Busoni (who had been a Wood, since when the work was taken could contemplate a stay in Leipzig of very proud of having made [Grieg’s] fellow-pupil in Leipzig) on two pianos. up by several notable pianists and six months. acquaintance, for since I was a little boy I It was doubtless this play-through conductors of the day – notably in the had loved his music… when I first heard which immediately led Delius to recast latter instance by Sir Thomas Beecham, In 1886, a 24-year-old Englishman, Grieg it was as if a breath of mountain the material as a three-movement who first conducted it in 1910 and Frederick Delius (Bradford-born to air had come to me”. Concerto, first performed in Germany whose edition of the score, published in German parents) had enrolled at at Elberfeld by Julius Buths. Busoni 1951, is used in this recording. the Leipzig Conservatoire, having Their friendship was broken only by apparently wished to premiere the persuaded his father, after several Grieg’s death in Bergen on September new version in Berlin in 1902, but that As with Grieg’s Concerto, the most years travelling across Europe and 4, 1907 – seven weeks before Delius’s performance did not take place. original aspects of Delius’s Concerto Scandinavia in the family wool business Piano Concerto was to receive its usually go unremarked. It is in one (during which trips Delius learned fluent first performance in a Henry Wood However, Delius was still not satisfied, movement, in three parts, unified by the Norwegian), and managing an orange Promenade Concert in London’s Queen’s and in 1906, following several reprise of the initial material in the third plantation in Florida, that it was music Hall – the programme including two apparently successful performances part and made more inherently organic to which he should devote his life. In works by Grieg in memoriam. of the three-movement version, he by the tonality of the central section – Leipzig, Delius befriended Sinding, who substantially recast the Concerto, D-flat major, the flat supertonic of C introduced him to the Griegs. Within days of their first meeting, Grieg replacing the finale with a reprise of the minor. Thus, we have a fully tonal entity had presented Delius with a score of his first movement’s material and restoring making Delius’s the largest, truly single- The meeting proved a turning point in piano concerto. It is surely not fanciful to the 1897 structure of a single, large- movement piano concerto written up Delius’s life, the beginning of a lifelong feel that, on receiving the music, Delius scale composition in three parts. Delius to that time.

6 7 If Delius’s art is considered best they could rely and Europe’s opera Tonkünstlerfest in Zürich in 1910, “so beautiful transcription of On hearing the revealed through his vocal, orchestral houses were under severe financial great was its success that in that year first cuckoo… for piano duet, capturing and chamber music, Szántó’s revision pressure. If full performances of works alone it was played by thirty-six different through the medium of the keyboard of the Concerto’s solo part implies that by those composers whose reputations orchestras in Germany”. Delius’s two the essence of this unique tone-poem the composer was less certain in piano were established before the war were pieces for small orchestra On hearing the in a manner that earned the composer’s music. Delius may have been, but he was fewer, their music could still be heard first cuckoo in Spring and Summer Night profound gratitude. certainly a competent pianist who knew through the accepted medium of on the River were premiered by Arthur the keyboard well enough. He wrote transcriptions – often for single piano Nikisch in Leipzig in 1913. That same Robert Matthew-Walker little for solo piano, the most significant to be played by one or two amateur year, the 19-year-old Warlock made his © 2018 being three Preludes, composed in 1921 pianists at home. and published two years later. Relatively short in length they may be, but – again Delius’s music, prior to 1914, had – their original aspect stares us in the enjoyed a remarkably wide appeal: his MARK BEBBINGTON is fast gaining face: none of them is slow in tempo. It reputation was then at its highest, his a reputation as one of today’s most is as though Delius presents us with his music admired by younger musicians, strikingly individual British pianists. His aphoristic thoughts, the opposite pole one of whom – Peter Warlock (the 30 discs of British music for SOMM have from his large-scale choral-orchestral pen-name of Philip Heseltine) – was to met with international acclaim and masterpieces. Each is a gem, probably contribute much to the continuance notably, his recent cycles of Frank Bridge, John Ireland and Vaughan Williams have capable of larger development, which of Delius’s reputation in the decade Jack Liebeck Photograph: attracted nine consecutive five-star he did not countenance. following the Armistice. reviews in BBC Music magazine.

The post-First World War years found Warlock had first met Delius before the Over recent seasons, Mark has toured composers of earlier generations, whose war, and in 1923 published the first book extensively throughout Central and Philharmonic, Philharmonia and Royal art had been refined and accepted on the composer, in which he states Northern Europe, the Far East and Philharmonic Orchestras, and with the before 1914, at a disadvantage. Fewer that, following the first continental North America. He has also performed London Mozart Players. As a recitalist, he were the large orchestras upon which performance of Delius’s Brigg Fair at the at major UK venues with the London makes regular appearances at major UK

8 9 and international festivals. Recently, Mark Philharmonic and London Philharmonic Isolde in 2014. In 2017, he conducted made his highly successful Carnegie Orchestras, with the Flanders, Buffalo and the Moscow premiere of Mieczysław Hall debut with Leon Botstein and the San Antonio Symphony Orchestras in the Weinberg’s The Passenger and the world American Symphony Orchestra in the US US, and tours with the Czech National premiere of Konstantin Boyarsky’s premiere of Richard Strauss’s Parergon Orchestra and Israel Camerata. Pushkin. This season, he will conduct and he will return to New York for his Lucia di Lammermoor, Faust and Salome, recital debut at Alice Tully Hall. “Truly a remarkable pianist” The Times take Prince Igor to Shanghai, Pushkin to Grange Park Opera and conduct La Mark’s engagements during 2018/19 bohème in Dublin. include performances with the Royal www.markbebbington.co.uk Previous Music Director positions sees debuts with the Royal Orchestra of include the Orquesta Filarmónica de Seville, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra la UNAM, Mexico City, Teatro Massimo and New York’s Orchestra Now. di Palermo, Orchestre Philharmonique IRENE LOH is one of a new generation de Strasbourg and Opéra national du With a discography of over 40 CDs, he is a of highly talented young Malaysian Rhin. Founder and Artistic Director of renowned interpreter of Poulenc’s music, pianists. Having completed her piano the Young Janáček Philharmonic, he has his first album with the Filarmonica del studies at SEGi College in Kuala Lumpur, been Principal Guest Conductor at Teatro Teatro Regio voted Record of the Month she is currently a piano scholar at dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio di Torino by BBC Music. His DVD recording of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Permanent Guest Conductor of the Dialogues des Carmelites (Opéra national Photograph: Candian Li Candian Photograph: completing her BMus Performance Wiener Staatsoper. du Rhin) won a Diapason d’Or in 2001. degree with Mark Bebbington. Recent guest conductor appearances From French, Danish, Polish and include the New Japan Philharmonic Mauritian origins, Jan Latham-Koenig and Beijing Symphony Orchestra. was born in England and studied at the JAN LATHAM-KOENIG is Music Director The first British-born conductor to hold a He has conducted the Orchestre Royal College of Music before winning of Moscow’s Novaya Opera and Chief Music Directorship with a Russian opera Philharmonique de Radio France, a coveted Gulbenkian Fellowship and Conductor of the Flanders Symphony company, he received Russia’s Golden Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and founding his own group, the Koenig Orchestra in Bruges, Belgium. Mask conductor’s award for Tristan und the Dresden Philharmonic. This season Ensemble, in 1976.

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