Lloyd and the Piano

 

Apparently, it was not his instrument.

It doesn't really matter, though, since British pianist John Ogden was Lloyd's muse at the keyboard.

Ogden was a lion of the piano, and one can tell Lloyd was writing for the pianist in these works, for they are large, in-your-face musical portraits.

This quartet of Piano Concertos were written between 1963 and 1970, showing how the composer seemed to have phases of composition in certain genres.

Overall, I find Piano Concertos 1 & 2 surly beasts. Violent stabs of music, contrasted with dark atmosphere, rarely let in even a single ray of sunshine. All of his orchestral colors are here, but the moods are heavy and severe, while the piano bustles right along with them, often adding some dissonance into the mix.

I am more at home in his last two piano concertos. Piano Concerto no. 3 has stronger motivic material, often militaristic in nature, and are ones which allow the listener to imagine something possibly lighter at hand. Piano Concerto no. 4 has a Rachmaninov-ian air about it, and it is here where Lloyd's sunniest, clearest melody comes out in the concluding movement of his last concerto.

If I don't like every concerto in this set of four, this package offers a look at a different side of George Lloyd's compositional path, something I rather enjoy experiencing. And if the composer is finally coming to terms with his wartime experiences through his music, who am I to complain?

Certainly pianists Martin Roscoe and Kathryn Scott enjoy Lloyd's big pianist motions, and they never underplay his music, which for me is important. I wonder what stars aligned for Lloyd and Stott to be able to perform alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, where most of the composer's recordings were set down with the BBC Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, and the Albany Symphony Orchestra? Either way, these British ensembles do not seems put off by the composer, and indeed, he leads as strongly as in his symphonies and choral works.

 

 Listen on YouTube

 

 

 

Works
Piano Concerto 1 'Scapegoat' (25.20)
Piano Concerto 2 (32.50)
Piano Concerto 3 (48.08)
Piano Concerto 4 (37.27)


Soloists
Martin Roscoe, piano
Kathryn Stott, piano

Performers
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
    George Lloyd, conductor

Label: Albany & Lyrita
Year: 1988-92; 2024
Timing: 2.23.45

 

 

 

While I don't care for the grouchier piano concertos, his last statements in the genre are very fine indeed.

Add to that the composer at the helm with some on-board pianists and orchestras, and you have yourself one fine set of piano concertos from George Lloyd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Lloyd recordings HERE!