Description
Delius, Frederick: Six Piano Pieces
Ref
H514
Categories
Instrumental Music
,
Latest Titles
,
Piano & Early Keyboard
,
Piano Solo
By
Frederick Delius
Supplement to Volume 33 of the Delius Collected Edition
Edited by Daniel M. Grimley
Never-before-heard Delius, the
Six Piano Pieces
are a unique late flowering of the composer’s art, set down in draft in the 1920s by his wife Jelka and young amanuensis Eric Fenby, and now published for the first time in Daniel M. Grimley’s authoritative edition. These six keyboard gems display a remarkable breadth of suggestion. In the textures and harmonies of the first piece – a profound complete thought in 27 bars – there is a rare flavour of Skryabin; and in the sonorous sustained chords of the second, hints of the calm majesty of Delius’s
Songs of Farewell
and other testaments of high romanticism. The drowsy arabesques of the fourth are the work of Delius the master-poet of twilight reverie, while the third and fifth pieces foreground lighter styles. The concluding movement anticipates the
Caprice
for cello and chamber orchestra, first performed in 1930, and is itself of possibly earlier provenance than its companions.
A compelling document of scholarly reconstruction, Professor Grimley’s edition melds a collection of tantalising manuscript sources, originally in the possession of Sir Thomas Beecham, into an outstanding new opus. Pleasing to all lovers of English music, these six discoveries will prove an especial delight to pianists, both as fresh repertoire and as a permanent addition to the canon of British keyboard works.
CONTENTS
Six Piano Pieces
I [Largo]
II [Maestoso]
III [Andante]
IV [Adagio]
V [Allegretto]
VI [Andante]
