CD REVIEW
– PIERS
LANE
GOES TO TOWN AGAIN
Hyperion CDA68163
[82:31]
The very last
review in the 2013 final printed
edition of the Robert Farnon
Society's magazine was 'Piers
Lane Goes To Town' [Hyperion CDA
67967], which I enthusiastically
recommended to readers. Here, a
decade later, is a follow-up of
equal merit from the London-based
Australian. While the earlier
album focussed on the 20th
century, this one ranges from the
1700s – Jean Baptiste
Loeillet's Keyboard Suite in
E Minor – to Robert
Constable's 'A slinky foxtrot
‘Nocturne' from 2019,
all with the accent on the dance.
There are 34
tracks in all, 13 of which are
devoted to Schubert's German
dances and sentimental waltzes,
although taking only a tad under
10 minutes of the generous
timing. These were chosen by the
heroine of the National Gallery's
famous WWII lunchtime concerts:
pianist Dame Myra Hess. Another
track by the composer is his
incidental Ballet music
to 'Rosamunde', arranged by
Leopold Godowsky.
Readers will also
enjoy Mark Saya's Habaneras
'An operatic paraphrase'
dedicated to the pianist, Anatol
Liadov's Humorous song 'I
danced with a mosquito',
Billy Mayerl's Railroad
Rhythm, George Botsford's Black
and white rag arranged by
Winifred Atwell, whose own
recording went gold with a
million sales in 1952 –
remember it also being the
signature tune to the BBC's
snooker programme Pot Black?
– and Julian Jacobson's
arrangement of J S Bach's Sarabande.
Other pieces,
containing some mainly performed
by Lane as encores, are provided
by T K (Timothy) Murray, Karol
Symanowski, Franz Liszt, Isaac
Albéniz, Alan Charlton, Benjamin
Godard, and Bryon Adams. Das
Butterbot ('Bread and
Butter') is attributed to W A or
maybe his father, J G L Mozart,
or even A N Other.
Lane's admirable
playing matches the varying moods
of the eclectic selection and, as
with the earlier disc, he
provides a remarkable nine pages
of super-informative booklet
notes. The habitually
high-quality Hyperion recording
was made on a Steinway instrument
at Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk
back in December 2015 and March
2022.
If there is to be
a third album it would be very
welcome, provided it doesn't take
another ten years!
©
Peter Burt, June 2023
|
