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Goossens - Phantasy Concerto, Symphony No.1 | Chandos CHSA5068

Goossens - Phantasy Concerto, Symphony No.1

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Label: Chandos

Cat No: CHSA5068

Barcode: 0095115506820

Format: Hybrid SACD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Orchestral

Release Date: 2nd February 2009

Contents

Artists

Howard Shelley (piano)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Richard Hickox

Works

Goossens, Eugene

Phantasy Concerto for piano and orchestra, op.60
Symphony no.1, op.58

Artists

Howard Shelley (piano)
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Conductor

Richard Hickox

About

This was the final recording made by Richard Hickox and had been intended as the first in a cycle of orchestral works by Eugene Goossens. This disc offers the premiere recording of Phantasy Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and the rarely recorded Symphony No.1, and serves as a tribute to Hickox and his fantastic legacy of recordings on Chandos.

Though principally remembered as a conductor, during the 1920s, British composer Eugene Goossens was a prolific composer, regarded as one of the foremost British composers alongside Bax, Bridge and Walton. Sadly, his music has been all but forgotten for the colourful, expressive nature of his music fell out of fashion on the 1950s and 1960s. His music is suggestive of fellow composers of the era, namely Holst and Bliss.

The rewarding Phantasy Concerto, Op.60 for Piano and Orchestra was written for the celebrated Spanish pianist José Iturbi, who gave its first performance in 1944. ‘The work, particularly the slow movement, was influenced by my re-reading at that time of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Devil in the Belfry, and might be said to reflect something of the fantastic and sinister character of that story, though in no way being a literal depiction of it’, wrote Goossens. The concerto was the outcome of a discussion between Iturbi and the composer over the lack of new piano concertos, especially on a smaller scale. The result is a four movement piano concerto in compressed sonata form. The solo part is more of a concertante than a display concerto, with a tendency to make the solo part an integral part of the orchestral texture. Goossens used the word ‘conversational’ to describe this relationship between soloist and orchestra.

This premiere recording is coupled with the melodic and imaginative Symphony No.1.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is regarded as Goossens specialists and here perform with soloist Howard Shelley.

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