George Rowley - Gurney, Ivor (1890-1937) Piano Works: George Rowley - Import CD

Credits:

George Rowley

Description:

This is a rare collection of piano music by Ivor Gurney, known to those interested in English song as the composer of the "Five Elizabethan Songs". Gurney showed musical talent from boyhood, studying organ while serving as a choirboy at Gloucester Cathedral, and then enrolling at the Royal College of Music, where he learned composition from Stanford. He was wounded while serving in World War I and died at the age of 47, suffering from the aftereffects of his injuries. Today, he is highly regarded not only as a composer but also as a poet. The piano pieces heard here were written by Gurney in his 20s, during the period between the World Wars. The program begins with the lyrical "Five Preludes," reminiscent of Schumann and early Scriabin, followed by the piano sonata No. 1, with its gentle atmosphere, and the Brahms-like introspective sonata No. 3, with the quiet and lyrical "Autumn" as an encore. The program ends quietly with the only completed movement from the Sonata No. 2, which was conceived as a three-movement work but was difficult to compose. George Lowry, who will be performing, studied under Mark Bebbington at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory of Music and has won numerous competitions.She is a veteran player who currently teaches in the piano department at Cheltenham Ladies College. Naxos Japan