Heritage presents a 2-CD set of the piano music of Charles Hubert Parry including both piano sonatas of 1876, the Charakterbilder of 1872 and a rarity, his Five Miniatures which were published posthumously in 1926. Remarkably, the sonatas have only been recorded once before and on Parry’s original piano (long deleted) so Richard Deering’s brand new performances present an opportunity to hear these works performed on a modern Steinway Model D for the very first time.

Recognised as an authority on British music through  his lectures, concerts, broadcasts, recordings and writings, Richard Deering has been entrusted with many first performances by leading composers – Malcolm Arnold, Malcolm Williamson, Thomas Wilson, Charles Camilleri, Edward Gregson, Edward McGuire and Brian Chapple – while many composers have written especially for him. He has commissioned several new works and enjoyed close working relationships with Alan Rawsthorne, Elisabeth Lutyens, Gerard Victory, Bernard Stevens, James Wilson, and William Alwyn. In 1981 he was elected a member of the Royal Philharmonic Society for ‘distinguished services to British music’.