Alan Rawsthorne's second piano concerto is not the most popular music - and this record not in the best shape, as you can perhaps tell from the tattered, dirty cover. (I think I plucked it out of a "take one for free" bin outside a record store.)
But it is just great, to my ears anyway. Rawsthorne's mid-century modern music (think an English version of Prokofiev or Bartok, only not as striking) blooms when performed by the magically talented Clifford Curzon. (That's him standing on the left.)
He is also very well served by conductor Malcolm Sargent (center) and the London Symphony (leader George Stratton is hovering). If by process of elimination, you deduced that the composer is seated at the right, you are correct.
Rawsthorne wrote this piece for the 1951 Festival of Britain. Many other British composers also contributed works for that celebration.
The concerto has had, I believe, three more modern recordings. But I don't think they could be better than this one - I have one of them and know it isn't. This particular recording was made in the now-demolished Kingsway Hall, and the lovely bloom on the sound glows through the surface noise and rustle.
NEW TRANSFER
WOW my first visit, just can get over the fantastic cover photos , stunning !!
ReplyDeleteExceptional blog congrats :)
I own one of the modern recordings and thought I'd download this one for comparision purpose, but found that rapidshare no longer has the file.
ReplyDeleteI'll see if I can find the files. This is a much better version than the modern ones that I have heard - but that's just an opinion, of course.
ReplyDeleteHi Buster. Not sure about the link or how new the transfer is but the file's not found. I applaud you nonetheless for all this amazing music. Right now I am going back through your blog from bottom to top to check on dead links and to make pdfs of all your terrific writing (which I did not do on my first visits). And I promise that someday I will send you some 10-inch transfers from my collection when I can. Best regards, Dirk Bill
ReplyDeleteDirk Bill - Thanks so much for all your comments! This is another post that was succeeded by a new transfer. Here is the link to the subsequent post:
ReplyDeletehttp://big10inchrecord.blogspot.com/2013/05/curzon-plays-rawsthorne-new-transfer.html
And here is the link to the file:
http://rapidshare.com/files/3320081596/Rawsthorne%20-%20Piano%20Concerto%20No.%202.zip
Could you please re-up the Curzon Rawsthorne rip? many thanks
ReplyDeleteStu - I published the reup link at the post of the new transfer, but forgot to do so here. It is:
ReplyDeletehttps://mega.co.nz/#!zAshzCQD!wVViN64fYjaqLegIZkbO2Xe08PdLekPnlxiPykowwmc