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Danny Driver - York Bowen: The Piano Sonatas (2009) 2CDs

Posted By: Designol
Danny Driver - York Bowen: The Piano Sonatas (2009) 2CDs

Danny Driver - York Bowen: The Piano Sonatas (2009) 2CDs
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 328 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 274 Mb | Artwork included
Genre: Classical | Label: Hyperion | # CDA67751/2 | Time: 01:58:39

The recent revival of York Bowen’s music, very much spearheaded by Hyperion, has spawned a plethora of new recordings of his compositions, and won him many new admirers. Among the new releases, this disc of Bowen’s piano sonatas is a uniquely important collection. It contains three premiere recordings, including two recordings of previously unpublished sonatas performed (with special permisson) from the manuscripts. It is thus the first ever recording of the complete sonatas – an unmissable opportunity for piano enthusiasts. Hyperion is delighted to welcome back the young virtuoso Danny Driver who was enthusiastically acclaimed for his masterly, stylish and technically dazzling performances of Bowen’s Third and Fourth Piano Concertos, and described as an ideal performer of these works.

Danny Driver - York Bowen: The Piano Sonatas (2009) 2CDs

No better example of Hyperion’s founding principles could be imagined than this disc of three premiere recordings contributing to the first survey of the complete sonatas by an unjustly neglected composer. There really is no longer any excuse for pianists to ignore the music of York Bowen (1884-1961) or for concert promoters to reject it as obscure music by a minor composer.

Francis Pott provides a superb and perceptive overview of the six works in his accompanying booklet, noting the development of (and various influences on) Bowen. One catches glimpses in the early Sonatas Nos 1 and 2 (c1901) and No 3 (1912) of Chopin, Mendelssohn and most notably MacDowell (the slow movement of the B minor Sonata is reminiscent of “AD MDCXX”, one of the Sea Pieces). Sonata No 4 appears to be lost. The Short Sonata, Op 35 No 1 (1922) has hints of Delius. In Nos 5 (1923) and 6 (1961) one at last finds some justification in Bowen being labelled the “English Rachmaninov”.

Danny Driver, whose debut on Hyperion was an acclaimed recording of Bowen’s Third and Fourth piano concertos, is the ideal advocate for this glorious music, playing with razor-sharp articulation and a rich, organ-like sonority (well captured by Simon Eadon and Andrew Keener) while characterising Bowen’s ruminative slow movements with tender introspection and an improvisatory air, a particular pleasure of these two discs. Driver is an artist who is able to transcend the sterile surrounds of the studio and give “real” performances, an early Award nominee for next year. Who knows, with a composer whose name begins with “B” he might stand a chance of winning.

Review by Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone


York Bowen’s music has slowly gained attention on disc, principally through a superb 1995 recital by Stephen Hough for Hyperion and several releases on Chandos featuring Joop Celis. A hard-to-find release on the 3D Classics label with Marie-Catherine Girod is worth seeking out, along with a Lyrita reissue with the composer at the piano, late in his long life but still strong and frisky.

To follow up Danny Driver’s highly acclaimed Hyperion recording of Bowen’s Third and Fourth piano concertos, the label has recruited the young pianist to set down the composer’s six piano sonatas, all substantial works whose richly textured, harmonically lush, and utterly idiomatic keyboard writing evokes Rachmaninov and Medtner by way of Delius, Bax, Ireland, and Scott, with a few Impressionist finishing touches and, arguably, a little Gershwin.

The playing is terrific. More than in Joop Celis’ pioneering recording of the Sixth sonata, Driver’s energy and intelligent sense of direction give palpable shape and dramatic contrast to the Finale alla toccata. If he doesn’t quite dispatch the Fifth sonata first movement’s rapid chords with Stephen Hough’s impeccable accentuation and poise, his fluent lyricism fits the central movement’s Andante semplice directive like a glove. However, the first three, previously unrecorded sonatas allow us to trace Bowen’s stylistic development.

As the booklet notes astutely point out, the First sonata’s opening movement bears traces of Grieg’s own early Op. 7 sonata and a few patterns that seem awkwardly modeled after Chopin’s B minor sonata first movement, while the second movement’s short-breathed main thematic statement wouldn’t be out of place within MacDowell’s Woodland Sketches. Bowen is still finding his way in the Second sonata, although he’s already leaning toward the fuller textures characterizing the mature, more harmonically complex style that begins to assert itself in the Third sonata.

No doubt that Driver’s rock-solid technique and natural sympathy for Bowen’s coruscating idiom is what the good folks at Hyperion had in mind for this fascinating and valuable release. While listeners new to Bowen first should investigate Hough’s disc, with its balanced mix of larger and smaller works, this release surely will attract collectors who like to travel Romantic piano music’s unjustly obscure byways.

Review by Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com


English pianist/composer York Bowen is finally getting his due as a composer with the re-publication of much of his music, and thus, new recordings appearing in the decades on either side of the turn of the 21st century, some 40 years after his death. This Hyperion double-disc set is the first recording to bring together all of his known sonatas for solo piano, including first recordings of Piano Sonatas No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, performed by Danny Driver. One would expect this type of collection to give an idea of the composer's stylistic development through his career, but with Bowen, there isn't too much different between the first sonatas, written when he was in his late teens/early twenties at the turn of the 20th century, and the last sonata, believed to be Bowen's last completed composition, from 1961. There is a great deal of technical compositional maturity in the early sonatas. They demonstrate that Bowen fully grasped the ideas and traditional structures of the sonata form, as well as an understanding of the Romantic tradition of grand, sweeping expression shaped by a degree of pianistic virtuosity. Individual moments bring to mind Beethoven's, Chopin's, and Rachmaninov's piano writing, but rather than being a hodgepodge of imitative gestures, each of Bowen's movements and each sonata in itself both hang together very well. The Short Sonata and Sonata No. 5 date from the 1920s, and show that Bowen had developed a slightly more adventurous harmonic language – still very much tonal, but with even more chromatic harmonic movement than before – and a slightly more free-flowing approach to form. The final Sonata No. 6, although almost 40 years older than No. 5, isn't that much different and was surely old-fashioned-sounding compared to contemporary works. Yet, none of this is to say that Bowen's sonatas are not worth getting to know, and Driver makes an excellent case for them. He has the technical skills to ably handle these sonatas and doesn't indulge in the dramatics of them. He nicely balances out the pensive moods, the wistfulness, and the passion with the balletic athleticism and the formality of the sonatas. His performance is an introduction to Bowen's music, not only for fans of post-Romantic piano music, but to other pianists, as well, who might be looking for alternatives to Rachmaninov, Grieg, and Medtner.

Review by Patsy Morita, Allmusic.com


Danny Driver - York Bowen: The Piano Sonatas (2009) 2CDs



Danny Driver - York Bowen: The Piano Sonatas (2009) 2CDs



Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, on 10–11 July and 16–17 August 2008

Tracklist:

York Bowen (1884-1961)

CD1 (01:08:46)

Piano Sonata No.1 in B minor, Op.6
01. 1. Allegro con fuoco (8:10)
02. 2. Larghetto (5:31)
03. 3. Tempo di Minuetto (2:07)
04. 4. Allegro con brio (con bravura) (9:43)

Piano Sonata No.2 in C sharp minor, Op.9
05. 1. Allegro (10:01)
06. 2. Andante sostenuto (5:33)
07. 3. Allegro molto (7:31)

Piano Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.12
08. 1. Allegro ma non troppo (6:00)
09. 2. Andante cantabile (8:14)
10. 3. Allegro molto con fuoco (5:56)


CD2 (00:49:53)

Short Sonata in C sharp minor, Op.35 No.1
01. 1. Andante con moto (4:55)
02. 2. Lento espressivo (4:34)
03. 3. Presto scherzando (3:52)

Piano Sonata No.5 in F minor, Op.72
04. 1. Moderato (8:12)
05. 2. Andante semplice (4:38)
06. 3. Allegro con fuoco - Più lento – Più mosso e con fuoco (9:00)

Piano Sonata No.6 in B flat minor, Op.160
07. 1. Moderato & serioso - Allegro risoluto e con fuoco (7:47)
08. 2. Intermezzo: Poco lento e tranquillo (3:49)
09. 3. Finale alla toccata: Allegro molto e con spirito (3:04)


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Analyzed: Danny Driver / Bowen - The Piano Sonatas - CD1
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR16 0.00 dB -20.35 dB 8:10 01-Piano Sonata No.1 in B minor, Op.6 - 1. Allegro con fuoco
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DR13 -2.09 dB -20.60 dB 10:01 05-Piano Sonata No.2 in C sharp minor, Op.9 - 1. Allegro
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DR15 -0.26 dB -20.22 dB 7:31 07-Piano Sonata No.2 in C sharp minor, Op.9 - 3. Allegro molto
DR14 -2.13 dB -20.79 dB 6:00 08-Piano Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.12 - 1. Allegro ma non troppo
DR16 -5.63 dB -28.40 dB 8:14 09-Piano Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.12 - 2. Andante cantabile
DR14 -1.83 dB -19.26 dB 5:56 10-Piano Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op.12 - 3. Allegro molto con fuoco
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 384 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================


Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

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Danny Driver / Bowen - The Piano Sonatas - CD2

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Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
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Analyzed: Danny Driver / Bowen - The Piano Sonatas - CD2
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR14 -3.28 dB -24.59 dB 4:55 01-Short Sonata in C sharp minor, Op.35 No.1 - 1. Andante con moto
DR15 -6.37 dB -28.05 dB 4:34 02-Short Sonata in C sharp minor, Op.35 No.1 - 2. Lento espressivo
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––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 9
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 383 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

Danny Driver - York Bowen: The Piano Sonatas (2009) 2CDs

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