Scott: Piano Concerto, Symphony No. 4 & Early One Morning Howard Shelley, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra & Martyn Brabbins

• Cyril Scott (1879 - 1970): Piano Concerto No. 1:
• 1 Scott: Piano Concerto No. 1: I. Allegro maestoso 12:46
• 2 Scott: Piano Concerto No. 1: II. Adagio 07:54
• 3 Scott: Piano Concerto No. 1: III. Allegro poco moderato 10:05
• Symphony No. 4:
• 4 Scott: Symphony No. 4: I. Adagio 09:31
• 5 Scott: Symphony No. 4: II. Molto tranquillo 07:03
• 6 Scott: Symphony No. 4: III. Scherzo. Allegro 03:53
• 7 Scott: Symphony No. 4: IV. Rondo retrospettivo. Adagio 07:57
• Early One Morning (Revised 1962):
• 8 Scott: Early One Morning (Revised 1962) 13:52
• Total Runtime 01:13:01

Info for Scott: Piano Concerto, Symphony No. 4 & Early One Morning

Cyril Scott's music inhabits a sound-world that is very much its own, despite the inevitable comparisons to composers such as Scriabin, Sorabji, and even the French impressionists. This new recording of the First Piano Concerto -- the first one in over 30 years -- takes a fresher, lighter approach that is absolutely thrilling in the outer movements.

"Shelley makes rich adventures of Scott’s 1913 rhapsodic Piano Concert. High tension in a burning string unison precedes his majestic first entry. An animato section tempts from him a spirited skip towards a reflective strolling andante. The haunting chord that opens both the first and last movements of the Fourth Symphony lingers long enough to insinuate itself. One senses Brabbins revelling in the gamut – the mesmerising slow movement, the clownish scherzo. Shelley reappears in Early One Morning, a poetic concertino that picks over the folk song with almost psychoanalytical pedantry." (The Times)

"This second release in Chandos’ Cyril Scott series is entirely up to the technical standards of the first… beautifully recorded and equally eloquent performances by Howard Shelley… Brabbins directs sympathetic and characterful performances, skilfully delineating the strands in Scott’s orchestral web. Well worth any British music-lover’s time." (BBC Music Magazine)

Howard Shelley, piano
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins, conductor

Howard Sehelly
As pianist, conductor and recording artist Howard Shelley has enjoyed a distinguished career since his highly acclaimed London debut in 1971, performing regularly with renowned orchestras at major venues around the world. He has been closely associated with the music of Rachmaninov and has performed and recorded complete and award-winning cycles of that composer’s solo piano works, concertos and songs. In the last five years he has performed complete cycles of the piano concertos of both Mozart and Beethoven in London with the London Mozart Players. Most of his current work is in the combined role of conductor and soloist. This is reflected also in his discography which now exceeds 160 CDs, all highly praised. He has appeared in several television documentaries, including ‘Mother Goose’, a documentary on Ravel which won a Gold Medal at the New York Festivals Awards.

As conductor he has worked with all the major London orchestras and many other orchestras in the UK and abroad including the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, City of Mexico Philharmonic, Munich Symphony, St Gallen Symphony and Nuremberg Symphony. He has toured to Australia for over thirty consecutive years, and performs now as both conductor and soloist with the Melbourne Symphony, Adelaide Symphony and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra – with the latter he has recorded seventeen volumes (and rising) for Hyperion’s Romantic Piano series. His long association with the London Mozart Players has been recognised by the title of Conductor Laureate. In 1994 HRH The Prince of Wales conferred on him an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Music and in 2009 he was awarded an OBE for services to classical music.

This album contains no booklet.