Rubbra Piano Concerto

[jonah]

Not long before Conifer ceased operations, mention was made of a new recording of Rubbra's Piano Concerto by John Lill.
Does anyone know whether the recording was actually made and, if so, whether it may be issued.
As Dutton reissued the Conifer recording including Walton's Sinfonia Concertante, I had hoped that Dutton would take up the Rubbra as well, but no luck so far!
It is such a good work that it deserves a modern recording.

[ahinton]

Not long before Conifer ceased operations, mention was made of a new recording of Rubbra's Piano Concerto by John Lill.
Does anyone know whether the recording was actually made and, if so, whether it may be issued.
As Dutton reissued the Conifer recording including Walton's Sinfonia Concertante, I had hoped that Dutton would take up the Rubbra as well, but no luck so far!
It is such a good work that it deserves a modern recording.

I don't know, but am assuming that you refer to Rubbra's second piano concerto (the one in G)...

[Dundonnell]

Not long before Conifer ceased operations, mention was made of a new recording of Rubbra's Piano Concerto by John Lill.
Does anyone know whether the recording was actually made and, if so, whether it may be issued.
As Dutton reissued the Conifer recording including Walton's Sinfonia Concertante, I had hoped that Dutton would take up the Rubbra as well, but no luck so far!
It is such a good work that it deserves a modern recording.

I don't know, but am assuming that you refer to Rubbra's second piano concerto (the one in G)...

Alistair is quite correct to point out that the work invariably referred to as the "Piano Concerto" is in fact Rubbra's second. There is a Piano Concerto which dates from around 1930 or 1932 and was given the opus number 30. Rubbra suppressed the work however and although it, apparently, remains in manuscript I would doubt whether it will ever surface.

That is particularly likely given the absolutely shocking neglect of the Piano Concerto in G, op.85. This work was given its first performance on 21 March 1956 by Denis Matthews and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent. An LP with these performers (originally issued in 1958) was reissued on cd by EMI in 2001.  On 24 February 1976 Malcolm Binns recorded the concerto for the BBC with the London Symphony Orchestra under Vernon Handley in the presence of the composer. This recording was issued on cd by the BBC in 1997 in the short-lived BBC Radio Classics label from Carlton Classics. The self-effacing composer did not actually meet Binns during the recording and offered no advice or suggestions to Handley but was pleased by the performance.

The concerto is a wonderful work, quintessential Rubbra. It has that slow-moving, transcendent sense of spirituality which is the obverse of "showy" but which I find totally absorbing. It is a work which I love to hear late at night in darkness; it draws one into a sound world which I absolutely love.

The fact that there is no modern recording is inexplicable. It would have been so obvious for Chandos-having got Hickox to record the symphonies and the Sinfonia Concertante to add the concertos but......... There are modern recordings of the Violin and Viola Concertos and there are two modern cd versions of each-but 40 years have passed without the Piano Concerto in G being re-recorded. I am fortunate enough to possess both the Matthews and Binns recordings but since the Malcolm Binns recording will be hard to find I guess many listeners will not know the work. So very sad!

[jonah]

I did of course mean the Piano Concerto in G, op.85 - I have both recordings mentioned, but would like to live long enough to hear and buy a new recording . . .
Dutton maybe?  And whatever happened to the Naxos British PC series?

[tapiola]

Klaus Heymann of Naxos is now more interested in cost and profit margin. Info given to me by a frequent conductor for Naxos releases.  It's harder to convince him if sales aren't projected high enough and/or unless it is funded by other entitities (RAI Italian recordings are government funded for example) or outright re-issues (e..g. BMS releases).

[Gauk]

It is indeed a sad neglect of a major work. I'm rather shocked to find I have no recording at all of it. I thought I had a CD with it paired with the Ireland concerto, but that's the violin concerto. I suppose people don't want a piano concerto that is more cerebral than showy, but despite the fact that I can't have heard the piece for decades, I can hum the theme of the finale just like that.

[Jolly Roger]

Not long before Conifer ceased operations, mention was made of a new recording of Rubbra's Piano Concerto by John Lill.
Does anyone know whether the recording was actually made and, if so, whether it may be issued.
As Dutton reissued the Conifer recording including Walton's Sinfonia Concertante, I had hoped that Dutton would take up the Rubbra as well, but no luck so far!
It is such a good work that it deserves a modern recording.

I don't know, but am assuming that you refer to Rubbra's second piano concerto (the one in G)...

Alistair is quite correct to point out that the work invariably referred to as the "Piano Concerto" is in fact Rubbra's second. There is a Piano Concerto which dates from around 1930 or 1932 and was given the opus number 30. Rubbra suppressed the work however and although it, apparently, remains in manuscript I would doubt whether it will ever surface.

That is particularly likely given the absolutely shocking neglect of the Piano Concerto in G, op.85. This work was given its first performance on 21 March 1956 by Denis Matthews and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent. An LP with these performers (originally issued in 1958) was reissued on cd by EMI in 2001.  On 24 February 1976 Malcolm Binns recorded the concerto for the BBC with the London Symphony Orchestra under Vernon Handley in the presence of the composer. This recording was issued on cd by the BBC in 1997 in the short-lived BBC Radio Classics label from Carlton Classics. The self-effacing composer did not actually meet Binns during the recording and offered no advice or suggestions to Handley but was pleased by the performance.

The concerto is a wonderful work, quintessential Rubbra. It has that slow-moving, transcendent sense of spirituality which is the obverse of "showy" but which I find totally absorbing. It is a work which I love to hear late at night in darkness; it draws one into a sound world which I absolutely love.

The fact that there is no modern recording is inexplicable. It would have been so obvious for Chandos-having got Hickox to record the symphonies and the Sinfonia Concertante to add the concertos but......... There are modern recordings of the Violin and Viola Concertos and there are two modern cd versions of each-but 40 years have passed without the Piano Concerto in G being re-recorded. I am fortunate enough to possess both the Matthews and Binns recordings but since the Malcolm Binns recording will be hard to find I guess many listeners will not know the work. So very sad!

What a fine description of Rubbra's captivating music..I'm thinking perhaps it is just too slow for those who seek quicker pleasures.

[Dundonnell]

Thank you :)

I just wish that others who share our tastes-and such people DO exist-had the financial wherewithal to be able to record such music :(

[Jolly Roger]

Thank you :)

I just wish that others who share our tastes-and such people DO exist-had the financial wherewithal to be able to record such music :(

Some music is meant to be savored...like a fine wine..
Some music is meant to please a crowd, hence not much Rubbra heard at the Proms..

[ahinton]

Thank you :)

I just wish that others who share our tastes-and such people DO exist-had the financial wherewithal to be able to record such music :(

Some music is meant to be savored...like a fine wine..
Some music is meant to please a crowd, hence not much Rubbra heard at the Proms..

I don't hold with the latter part of that statement for, were it true, it would have to mean that only dead cert crowd pleasing music (and who's to decide in advance what that might be in any case?) would ever be heard in large performance spaces; some might argue that, for example, Mahler's Sixth and Ninth Symphonies, Elgar's Gerontius, Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln, Schönberg's Gurrelieder et al are to be so savoured, but they're hardly amenable to performance in small venues and, if performed in large ones before small audiences, someone's going to lose a fortune!

[Dundonnell]

One might argue that Rubbra's profound sense of spirituality in music, based partly on his own Roman Catholicism but also on his interest in other religious traditions, might work against his music today. That however does not seem to inhibit a composer like Sir James MacMillan whose music is also very much influenced by his own religious beliefs.

[ahinton]

One might argue that Rubbra's profound sense of spirituality in music, based partly on his own Roman Catholicism but also on his interest in other religious traditions, might work against his music today. That however does not seem to inhibit a composer like Sir James MacMillan whose music is also very much influenced by his own religious beliefs.

Whilst it could indeed be argued in principle, the fact that it appears to have done little to work against the music of other composers as diverse as Tallis, Victoria, Byrd, Palestrina, Bach (the Passions, B minor Mass, sacred Cantatas and so on), Beethoven (Missa Solemnis), Liszt (Christus), Schmidt (Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln), Messiaen and Tavener as well as many so many others down the ages would appear to confirm that no such thing has itself worked against the music of Rubbra; there must surely be other factors at work here.

[Dundonnell]

In his excellent study of Rubbra's music Leo Black largely exculpates his former boss, Sir William Glock, from the charge that the latter disliked Rubbra's music and kept it off the BBC during is tenure as Head of Music. The truth seems rather to have been that Glock-like many others-simply did not know the music. Rather than active discrimination against certain composers Glock was "guilty" of passive discrimination by championing the music of those composers whose music he deemed to be of importance and significance. He had no problem with the BBC commissioning music from Rubbra. There were those working in the BBC who championed Rubbra. Similarly, of course, we know of the singular achievements of Robert Simpson in regard to Havergal Brian's music. Getting Brian performed at the Proms was more difficult. Brian's 90th birthday was celebrated with a performance of the Symphony No.12 on the spurious grounds that it was Brian's shortest (at 11 minutes it exceeds by two minutes the Symphony No.22!)

As I have said so often on here it is not so much that BBC producers or orchestral managements dislike obscure composers but that their very obscurity means that these composers are unknown quantities and as such make for poor or at best risky "box office". I know people whose lives and careers have been in musical administration or as executants. It always surprises me-although by now it certainly shouldn't-how "ignorant" many of them are about so many of the composers I admire. And if I succeed in interesting a particular conductor in the music of a composer like Miloslav Kabelac (to pick a name at random) the response I get is "yes...I like this music but if I am asked to conduct orchestra 'x' and suggest programming Kabelac the reaction will be "who? not likely?". Established conductors with a sound reputation may (just) have a better chance but even they can have difficulties.

[tapiola]

Vernon Handley hendered his "career" by championing  these composers.  A great musician like Handley does not care. The music is more important than a "career" and most conductors today are careerists sadly.

[jonah]

Getting back to my original post in December, does anyone among the well informed people on this forum know whether Conifer actually recorded the Rubbra G major Piano Concerto with John Lill, as was mentioned in the musical press at that time?

If so, who might now have the rights to issue it?  If not, could Dutton/Lyrita/Chandos/Hyperion be persuaded to record it - it so deserves a modern recording.