Anthony Hedges (1931–2019)
Complete Piano Music, Volume 1
Five Preludes, Op.5 (1959)
Scherzetto, Op.14 (1963)
Four Pieces for Piano, Op.20 (1967)
Piano Sonata No.1, Op.53 (1974)
Five Concert Pieces for Young Pianists, Op.58
Six Moods, Op.93
Variants, Op.111
Five Aphorisms, Op.113 (1990)
Adam Davies (piano)
rec. 2025, Carole Nash Hall, Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, UK
Divine Art DDX 21139 [68]

Anthony Hedges was a prolific and highly accomplished British composer whose output encompassed orchestral, choral, chamber and educational music as well as a substantial body of works for piano. His music has never enjoyed the attention it deserves, and this first instalment in Adam Davies’s projected complete recording of the solo piano works is therefore particularly welcome.

Hedges was a consummate craftsman. There is an assurance about his writing which comes from an intimate understanding of instruments and of the practicalities of performance. In the piano music one repeatedly senses that he knew precisely what would work beneath the fingers and what would register effectively with an audience. This is not to suggest that everything is easy – far from it – but even at its most demanding the writing remains fundamentally pianistic.

The Five Preludes, Op.5, dating from 1959, immediately reveal a composer of considerable technical assurance. There are inevitable echoes of the mid-twentieth-century European musical world in which Hedges was working – Bartók and Hindemith are not impossibly far away – but the pieces possess an energy and individuality of their own. Their concision is an asset: Hedges rarely outstays his welcome, and rhythmic character is already a particularly strong feature. The short Scherzetto, Op.14 is an engaging example of something Hedges did exceptionally well throughout his career: writing music accessible to younger players without condescension. His educational pieces are genuine compositions rather than exercises disguised as music. Indeed, some of the most immediately attractive discoveries on this disc are to be found among the shorter works.

The Four Pieces for Piano, Op.20 represent Hedges’ relatively brief engagement with twelve-note writing. They are tougher fare and perhaps reveal a composer temporarily adopting a language that was ultimately less natural to him. Hedges himself subsequently acknowledged the limitations he felt serialism imposed upon him. Nevertheless, the pieces are tautly constructed and frequently arresting, particularly when heard in performances of this conviction.

The largest work here, the Piano Sonata No.1, Op.53, is also the most formidable. This is uncompromising music: muscular, densely argued and at times distinctly intimidating. It may not be the piece to which every listener will instinctively return most frequently, but its seriousness of purpose is undeniable. Hedges had by this point moved away from strict serialism towards a more freely tonal but still hard-edged harmonic language, and the Sonata demands considerable concentration from performer and listener alike. It is here, particularly, that Adam Davies deserves much more than routine acknowledgement. His playing throughout this recording is exceptional in its clarity and technical security. His articulation is razor-sharp, confident and formidable, and complex textures are projected with remarkable definition. There is never any suggestion that the difficulties of the writing are dictating the interpretation. Davies appears completely in command of the music, and in the First Sonata especially he gives Hedges’ uncompromising argument a conviction and inevitability which it badly needs if it is to communicate.

This is important, because unfamiliar repertoire is peculiarly dependent upon its first advocates. A tentative performance can make an unknown piece appear less convincing than it really is. Davies does precisely the opposite. He plays Hedges as though the music already belongs to the repertoire; with the technical authority and interpretative commitment one would expect in established twentieth-century classics. The rhythmic precision is particularly impressive, but so too is his ability to differentiate character and sonority without sacrificing structural momentum.

For this listener, however, Hedges is at his most immediately appealing when operating on a smaller scale. TheFive Concert Pieces for Young Pianists, Six Moods and Variants demonstrate his considerable gift for encapsulating a character or idea economically. There is imagination here as well as craftsmanship, and these pieces deserve exploration by teachers looking for worthwhile twentieth-century repertoire that offers something musically substantial without excessive technical demands.

Most impressive of all are the Five Aphorisms, Op.113. Here, brevity seems to liberate Hedges completely. The musical language is economical, colourful and characterful, with ideas that remain in the memory after the music has finished. The craftsmanship evident throughout the disc is now allied to an immediacy which makes these miniatures especially persuasive. Adam Davies responds beautifully to their changing moods. The formidable clarity heard in the Sonata remains, but it is joined by greater delicacy, flexibility and tonal imagination. His ability to move from incisive rhythmic playing to something much more atmospheric demonstrates that his advocacy of Hedges involves considerably more than technical efficiency.

There is also a personal dimension to the project. Davies grew up in the East Yorkshire town of Beverley, where Hedges lived, and heard the composer playing his own music. He rediscovered Hedges’s piano works during the Covid period and subsequently determined to record the complete repertoire. Access to scores and private recordings supplied by Hedges’s daughter Fiona has enabled him to approach the music with unusual closeness to the composer’s own intentions. That background may partly explain the sense of commitment that permeates these performances, but commitment by itself is not enough. What ultimately makes the recording persuasive is the quality of Davies’s playing. He has clearly devoted considerable thought to every aspect of this project, and his combination of formidable technique, rhythmic vitality, clarity of articulation and stylistic conviction makes him an outstanding advocate.

Not every piece in this first volume is equally approachable, and some listeners may find the First Sonata and Four Pieces more admirable than immediately lovable. But the shorter works contain numerous delights, and the Five Aphorisms in particular suggest a composer whose piano music deserves considerably wider currency.

This is consequently much more than an exercise in documenting neglected British repertoire. It is the beginning of what promises to be an important, recorded survey, undertaken by a pianist who clearly believes deeply in the music and possesses the technical resources to present it at its strongest. Adam Davies deserves considerable credit for bringing Anthony Hedges’s piano music back into circulation with such authority. This excellent release merits wide exploration, and the succeeding volumes will be awaited with considerable interest.

Murray McLachlan

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