This unique recording owes its existence to Malcolm Smith (1932-2011), who was a leading and popular figure in London’s musical life. He was a stalwart of numerous organisations and festivals, a friend of the greatest composers and a tireless advocate of British music. A Vice President of the British Music Society, Smith bequeathed a sum of money to facilitate this recording, which includes Robin Holloway’s six-handed Grand Heroical March, Leslie Howard’s Sullivan-inspired Ruddigore Fantasy, and Humphrey Searle’s Sonata, described by The Times in 1951 as ‘suffused with darkling, elegiac poetry and commanding thought’.
Holloway's stately six-hand Grand Heroical March...is riddled with quotation from pieces [Smith] admired...Julian Jacobson puts [Searle's] taxing but impressively rhetorical piece through its paces brilliantly...and Mark Bebbington's taut performance draws attention to a neglected and prolific composer - Smith would have liked that too.
If ever London’s classical music public had a “character” in its midst, it was the lavishly mustachioed Smith (1932-2011), long linked to Boosey & Hawkes, the London Symphony Orchestra’s Friends and British-music-promoting organisations of every kidney. He left funds for this amiable disc
Works Holloway, D: Grand Heroical March Howard, L: Ruddigore, Op. 40 Matthew Walker: Piano Sonata No. 3, op. 34, 'Fantasy Sonata: Hamlet' Searle: Piano Sonata, Op. 21st Groups & Artists Bebbington, Mark Howard, Leslie Lill, John
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