British & Commonwealth Concertos

A Discography Of CDs and LPs
Prepared by Michael Herman
Maintained by Stephen Ellis

National Discographies Home Page

Last Updated: June 2024

Sir Edward ElgarRalph Vaughan WilliamsComposers A-C
Composers D-HComposers I-PComposers Q-Z

Introduction

One of the most popular types of classical orchestral piece is the concerto. It is a rare concert indeed that does not feature one performed by a noted or upcoming pianist, violinist, cellist or other soloist demonstrating great prowess and/or sensitivity on his or her chosen instrument. In the vast majority of instances, the concerto being performed comes from a select group of works known as the “standard repertoire” that soloists, conductors and audiences know well and are invariably crowd pleasers. There is no doubt that these works represent the cream of the concerto repertoire. However, this does not mean that nothing else worthwhile exists among the voluminous output of the past two centuries that would both illuminate the skills of performers and gratify the ears and souls of the listeners. With one notable exception the international standard concerto repertoire is devoid of representation by British and Commonwealth composers. The exception is Elgar’s Cello Concerto and even in this instance one cannot compare its frequency of performance with works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, etc. The concertos of Walton and Britten make occasional appearances as well but rarely away from their native shores. However, since the onset of the nineteenth century concertos have been produced and performed in large quantities in the British Isles and in Britain’s overseas offshoots even if most music lovers are hardly aware of the existence of these works. Fortunately, for the curious, the world of the concert hall and world of recordings are quite divergent. It is the purpose of this work to document the huge number of recordings of concertos by British and Commonwealth composers that have been issued on LPs and CDs since these media have existed beginning in the middle of the twentieth century and to serve as a reference work for further study by others. Another tangential purpose is to survey the production of concertos in the stated time frame and to show the continuity between the generations of composers as a result of their education by their predecessors.

The composers included in this discography are those born in or who came to live in the United Kingdom, The Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Geography is the only determining factor for inclusion as there is no attempt here to argue for the existence of any so-called “British” concerto style that would cover such a vast range of composers.

A chronological structure has been used in order to show the progression of concertos from the early nineteenth century up to our own time. This chronology is based on the birth year of the composer rather than the year a concerto was written. A composer index is placed first so the reader can immediately go to any particular composer.

The entry for each composer consists of two sections. First there is a compact biographical paragraph that notes some essential information such as place of birth, higher musical education (including schools and prominent teachers), subsequent musical careers in addition to composing and selective lists of other works for orchestra. Compositional styles are not discussed in these paragraphs and readers are referred to the bibliography where various reference books that cover this subject are listed.

The second part of each composer entry consists of lists of his or her concertos that have been recorded and the various recordings of each work. A concerto is very broadly defined for the purposes of this book to include any work that has the word “concerto,” “concertino” or “concertante” in its title whether or not a soloist is involved. Also included is any work in which an instrumental soloist is involved whatever its title may be. For every concerto that has them, the opus number, key signature and title are noted and the year of composition (when known) is stated for all. The entries of the concertos that have had multiple recordings are listed alphabetically by soloist’s name. Each listing of a recording consists of the following components (again, if known): (1) Performers – soloist(s), conductor, orchestra), (2) Other works on the recording. (3) Label and catalogue number and year of issue and (4) If the recording is a reissue, the original LP or CD release and its year of issue.

The author has endeavored to list every recording of every concerto written by a British or Commonwealth composer that has been published since the advent of the long-playing record in 1948. However, the following points should be kept in mind. The research was limited to sources in the English-speaking world. There has been no attempt to delve into the record catalogues of France, Germany or any other country that may have possibly produced an original recording of one of the covered concertos unless it was widely distributed in the UK or USA. Also, there has been no attempt to list every reissue of every recording. Some recordings, especially those made by the so-called “major labels,” have been reissued so often, first on records then on compact discs, that the author has tried to confine the listings basically to only the most current and the original releases of each recording. Likewise, there has been no attempt to indicate whether recordings are mono or stereo (or any other audio system) or to comment about availability. Furthermore, as the focus of this book is British, the catalogue numbers identify British releases in the vast majority of instances. Finally, there is a strong certainty on the author’s part that a number of recordings have been missed. With the multiple thousands of recordings that have been issued over the past sixty years and the evanescence of so many of them one cannot but help in reaching this conclusion.

Nearly all of the recordings listed in this book are commercial issues that anyone could purchase if they happened to be around at the right time. However, also included here are a number of non-commercial or private LPs that were issued by governmental broadcasting organizations or music publishers that were not available to the general public. However, these types of recordings can be found in libraries and do turn up for sale at times so their existence ought to be documented. In addition there are a number of unauthorized or “pirate” LPs and CDs found in these pages. They were widely distributed and found their way into many collections and were in many instances the only available recording of a particular work. These recordings were issued with either the actual or pseudonymous names of performers. The symbol ▼ is used here to designate this type of recording.

The term “concerto” was first used for a musical piece in the 17th century and was initially used to describe vocal music with instrumental accompaniment. Late in that century the concerto grosso came into being and this was an orchestral work in which a small group of instruments was contrasted with the larger ensemble. This would eventually develop into the solo concerto in the 18th century as a result of the work of composers such as Vivaldi and J.S. Bach. However, it is with Mozart that the classical concerto came into being and his works established the standard that would be adhered to by the vast majority of concerto-writers who succeeded him. The concerto came to the British Isles, as did most other classical forms, in the hands of foreign composers who came to work in England. George Frederick Handel composed numerous concerti grossi and solo concertos and he was followed by other distinguished Continental musicians including Carl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach. The solo concerto was well established by the beginning of the 19th century and many British composers began writing them especially for the piano. In the 20th century the concerto grosso re-emerged and it was joined by the concerto for orchestra as a very popular form.

It should be very clear from the pages that follow that the concerto as written by British and Commonwealth composers has been well documented on recordings. This is especially true for composers who lived or live in the United Kingdom itself. Over the years and particularly since the advent of the compact disc more and more previously unrecorded symphonies have become available. Many composers whose names and works used to exist only in reference books and footnotes are now being heard after many years of dormancy. The British record industry deserves special commendation for this situation as it has continually kept the collector well supplied with numerous novelties to explore. These pioneering recording efforts have been aided by subsidies from governmental agencies, regional arts councils, composers’ trusts and societies and private companies. In the early LP era the major labels EMI and Decca led the way with their championship of Elgar and Vaughan Williams and some forays into more unknown regions. Over the last three decades, however, these types of projects have increasingly found their homes on independent British labels such as Lyrita, Chandos, Hyperion, NMC, Dutton Vocalion, Toccata Classics and ASV. Hong Kong based Naxos, now the world’s biggest producer of classical CDs, has also become a major source for original recordings of unusual British repertoire on both its Marco Polo and bargain-priced Naxos labels. © Michael Herman October 2007

 Any recording that is not designated as an LP is a CD.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people for their help in the preparation of this resource: Rob Barnett and Len Mullenger at MusicWeb International, Linda Kirkpatrick at the Australian Music Centre, Christopher Ball, Hubert Culot, David F. Golightly, Allan Ho, Callum Kenmuir, Timothy Reynish and Ian Scott.

Michael Herman

Composer List

Abbott, Clifford
Adaskin, Murray
Addinsell, Richard
Addison, John
Adès, Thomas
Albert, Eugène d’
Alwyn, William
Anderson, Julian
Antill, John
Archer, Violet
Arnell, Richard
Arnold, Malcolm
Ashmore, Lawrence
Austin, Frederic
Ayres, Richard
Bache, Francis
Edward
Bailey, Judith
Bainbridge, Simon
Bainton, Edgar
Baker, Michael
Conway
Ball, Christopher
Banks, Don
Bantock, Granville
Barry, Gerald
Bate, Stanley
Bath, Hubert
Bax, Arnold
Beamish, Sally
Beck, David
Bedford, David
Beecroft, Norma
Bell, Allan Gordon
Bell, William Henry
Benedict, Julius
Benjamin, Arthur
Bennett, Richard
Rodney
Bennett, William
Sterndale
Berkeley, Lennox
Berkeley, Michael
Binge, Ronald
Birtwistle, Harrison
Blackburn, Maurice
Blackford, Richard
Blake, Christopher
Blake, David
Blake, Howard
Blezard, William
Bliss, Arthur
Blower, Maurice
Blunt, Marcus
Borenstein, Nimrod
Boughton, Rutland
Bouliane, Denys
Bowden, Mark
Bowen, York
Boydell, Brian
Boyle, George Frederick
Boyle, Ina
Bracanin, Philip
Brady, Tim
Brian, Havergal
Bridge, Frank
Britten, Benjamin
Broadstock, Brenton
Bromhead, Jerome
Brott, Alexander
Brumby, Colin
Bryars, Gavin
Buckley, John
Bullard, Alan
Burgon, Geoffrey
Burrell, Diana
Bullard, Alan
Burgon, Geoffrey
Burrell, Diana
Busch, William
Bush, Alan
Bush, Geoffrey
Butterley, Nigel
Buhr, Glenn
Butterworth, Arthur
Camilleri, Charles
Carmichael, John
Carr, Edwin
Carr, Paul
Carwithen, Doreen
Casken, John
Castro-Robinson, Eva de
Chagrin, Francis
Champagne, Claude
Chermey, Brian
Chisholm, Erik
Clarke, Nigel
Clarke, Rebecca
Cliffe, Frederic
Clyne, Anna
Coates, Douglas
Coates, Eric
Coke, Roger
Sacheverrel
Coleridge-Taylor,
Samuel
Collard, Vincent
Conyngham, Barry
Cooke, Arnold
Cooper, Walter
Thomas Gaze
Corcoran, Frank
Corp, Ronald
Coulthard, Jean
Cowen, Frederic
Hymrn
Cowie, Edward
Cramer, Johann Baptist
Creith, Guirne
Cresswell, Lyell
Crosse, Gordon
Crotch, William
Cruft, Adrian
Dale, Benjamin
Dankworth, John
Darnton, Christian
Daveluy, Raymond
Davies, Peter Maxwell
Davies, Tamsy
Davies, Victor
Davis, Oliver
Dean, Brett
Deane, Raymond
Delius, Frederick
Dickinson, Peter
Dieren, Bernard Van
Docker, Robert
Dodgson, Stephen
Dompierre, François
Doolittle, Emily
Dring, Madeline
Dyson, George
Easton, Michael
Eckhardt-Grammaté, Sophie-Carmen
Edwards, Ross
Elcock, Steve
Elgar, Edward
Ellis, David
Erlanger, Frédéric d’
Evans, Lindley
Farnon, Robert
Farquhar, David
Farrar, Ernest
Ferguson, Howard
Ferguson, Sean
Fiala, George
Field, John
Finzi, Gerald
Fogg, Eric
Fokkens, Robert
Formosa, Richard
Forsyth, Cecil
Forsyth, Malcolm
Foskett, Ben
Foster, Grant
Foulds, John
Frankel, Benjamin
Fribbins, Peter
Fricker, Peter Racine
Frost, Stephen
Gál, Hans
Gardner, John
Gerhard, Roberto
Gibbs, Cecil Armstrong
Gipps, Ruth
Glanville-Hicks, Peggy
Glick, Srul Irving
Goehr, Alexander
Goldschmidt, Berthold
Golightly, David
Golland, John
Goodman, Isador
Goossens, Eugene
Goss, Stephen
Gowers, Patrick
Gray, Steve
Greenwood, Johnny
Gregson, Edward
Griller, Arnold
Grimes, Helen
Gross, Eric
Grové, Stefans
Gunning, Christopher
Hamilton, David
Hamilton, Iain
Hanson, Raymond
Harper, Edward
Harris, Ross
Harrison, Julius
Hart, Fritz
Harty, Hamilton
Harvey, Jonathan
Harvey, Richard
Hawes, Patrick
Hayes, Morgan
Headington, Christopher
Healey, Derek
Heath, David C.
Hedges, Anthony
Hely-Hutchinson, Victor
Hétu, Jacques
Hewitt-Jones, Tony
Hill, Alfred
Hiscott, Jim
Ho, Vincent
Hoddinott, Alun
Holbrooke, Joseph
Holland, Theodore
Holloway, Robin
Holst, Gustav
Hope, Peter
Hopkins, Antony
Horovitz, Joseph
Hough, Stephen
Howell, Dorothy
Howells, Herbert
Humble, Keith
Hurd, Michael
Hurlstone, William
Hurst, Michael
Hutchens, Frank
Hyde, Miriam
Ichmouratov, Jean-Philippe
Ireland, John
Jackson, Francis
Jacob, Gordon
Jeffreys, John
Jenkins, Karl
Joachim, Otto
Johnson, Alexander
Josephs, Wilfred
Joubert, John
Kats-Chernin, Elena
Keal, Minna
Keeley, Rob
Kelly, Bryan
Kelly, Frederick
Ķeniņš, Tālivaldis
Kenmuir, Callum
Kerry, Gordon
Klatzow, Peter
Knussen, Oliver
Koehne, Graeme
Kulesha, Gary
Kuzmenko, Larysa
Lambert, Constant
Lane, Philip
Langford, Gordon
LeFanu, Nicola
Leigh, Walter
Leighton, Kenneth
Litolff, Henry Charles
Lloyd, George
Louie, Alexina
Lovelock, William
Lucas, Leighton
Lumsdaine, David
Lutyens, Elizabeth
Lyon, David
MacDonald, Andrew
Macfarren, Walter
Mackenzie, Alexander
MacRae, Stuart
Manduell, John
Martin, Philip
Mason, Benedict
Mathias, William
Mathieu, André
Matthews, Colin
Matthews, David
Matton, Roger
Maw, Nicholas
McCabe, John
McCauley, William
McCleod, John
McDonald, Malcolm
McDowell, Ceclia
McEwen, John Blackwood
McPhee, Colin
Merrick, Frank
Milford, Robin
Mills, Barry
Mills, Richard
Moeran, Ernest John
Montgomery, Bruce
Moon, Chloe
Morawetz, Oskar
Morgan, David R.
Morley, Angela
Mucha, Geraldine Thomson
Muldowney, Dominic
Murphy, Gerry
Murrill, Herbert
Musgrave, Thea
Nixon, Henry Cotter
Norris, David Owen
Nyman, Michael
Ogdon, John
Olsen, James
Osborne, Nigel
Panneton, Isabelle
Panufnik, Andrzej
Papineau-Couture, Jean
Parish-Alvars, Elias
Parker , C.S.L. (Stephen)
Parrott, Ian
Parry, Hubert
Patterson, Paul
Paul, Alan
Pehkonen, Elis
Penberthy, James
Pentland, Barbara
Phillips, Montague
Pickard, John
Pitfield, Thomas
Potter, Phillip Cipriani
Pritchard, Deborah
Proctor-Gregg, Humphrey
Puw, Guto Pryderi
Rainier, Priaulx
Rajna, Thomas
Raminish, Imant
Rands, Bernard
Rawsthorne, Alan
Reade, Paul
Reizenstein, Franz
Ridout, Alan
Ritchie, Anthony
Ritchie, John
Rootham, Cyril
Rose, Gregory
Rowley, Alec
Rubbra, Edmund
Rutter, John
Sackman, Nicholas
Sainsbury, Lionel
Sawer, David
Sawyers, Philip
Saxton, Robert
Schafer, R. Murray
Schneider, Ernst
Schultz, Andrew
Schurmann, Gerard
Scott, Cyril
Sculthorpe, Peter
Searle, Humphrey
Seiber, Mátyás
Shaw, Francis
Sherwood, Percy
Simpson, Robert
Sitsky, Larry
Smalley, Roger
Smyth, Ethel
Somers, Harry
Somervell, Arthur
Spratley, Philip
Standford, Patric
Stanford, Charles Villiers
Stanhope, Paul
Stephenson, Allan
Steptoe, Roger
Stevens, Bernard
Stevens, James
Stevenson, Ronald
Still, Robert
Sullivan, Arthur
Surdin, Morris
Sutherland, Gavin
Sutherland, Margaret
Symonds, Norman
Tabakova, Dobrinka
Tavener, John
Taylor, Matthew
Temimgh, Henk
Tippett, Michael
Todd, Will
Torch, Sidney
Tovey, Donald Francis
Tunley, David
Turnage. Mark-Anthony
Vaughan Williams, Ralph
Veale, John
Vine, Carl
Vinter, Gilbert
Volans, Kevin
Wallen, Errollyn
Walthew, Richard
Walton, William
Warner, Harry
Watkins, Huw
Watkins, Michael Blake
Weinzweig, John
Weir, Judith
Wellesz, Egon
Werder, Felix
Westlake, Nigel
Whettam, Graham
Whitley, Kate
Whitlock, Percy
Wigglesworth, Ryan
Wilby, Philip
Willan, Healy
Williams, Adrian
Williams, Charles
Williams, Grace
Williamson, Malcolm
Wilson, James
Wilson, Thomas
Wood, Haydn
Wood, Hugh
Woolfenden, Guy
Woolrich, John
Wright, Christopher
Young, Douglas