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JANSMUSIC RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Lennox Berkeley: Music for solo piano and piano duet
Raphael Terroni, with Norman Beedle
British Music Society BMS416CD

6 preludes, Op.23 / Sonata Op.20 / 5 Short pieces, Op.4 / Sonatina for 4 hands, Op.39 /
Theme and Variations for 4 hands, Op.73 / Palm Court Waltz for 4 hands, Op.81 no.2

I was quite pleasantly surprised to discover this recording.  What strikes me first is the quality of the recording and performance.  The sound is clear and the piano has a warm tone, which really brings out the melodic qualities of the music.

Berkeley was himself a pianist so this writing came naturally.  His tunes are lilting and fresh, his faster passages are whimsical and full of energy, and his homophonic passages have a jazzy flavour.  The 6 preludes are all very short - each with a different character (no.5 - Allegro is delightful!).  

The sonata Op.20 is a more serious large-scale work; the 5 short pieces are again delightful miniatures, written some 10 years earlier than the preludes, quite simple. They remind me of the Schumann and Debussy children's pieces.

The 4-hand works on this recording date from much later than the solo material. The Sonatina is again a more serious work, and is more harmonically adventurous than the earlier works; and the Theme and Variations, dating from 1968 reflects more accurately the developments in the musical world of the time in both its rhythmic and harmonic language.  The Palm Court Waltz is not supposed to be a parody, but it might as well have been. It is fun - and the notes tell us that it was dedicated to a "dinner party duet partner" - that says just as much about the music as I could.  This CD is just lovely and this work is the most perfect ending.