Harty: Piano Concerto

Description

Hamilton Harty (1879-1941)Piano Concerto A Comedy Overture Fantasy ScenesHamilton Harty was born in 1879 in the small town ofHillsborough, in Northern Ireland, about twelve milessouth of Belfast. His first teacher was his father, organistat the parish church, and a versatile musician, and themusic that he heard in his youth, whether it was Handelor the folk-music of the local people, was of seminalimportance in the formation of his musical personality.Harty's first musical appointments were as organistat churches in Northern Ireland. When he was aboutsixteen he moved to Dublin, where he met the Italiancomposer, pianist and pedagogue, Michele Esposito.The influence and encouragement of Esposito were ofgreat importance to him, a fact acknowledged in thededication of two of the works recorded here, A ComedyOverture and the Piano Concerto, to his friend andmentor.At the end of the nineteenth century, however,Ireland did not have the musical infra-structure tosupport a professional career at the highest level. In1900 Harty moved to London, where he made his namefirst as a piano accompanist, and then as a conductor,with the London Symphony Orchestra and later inManchester with the Halle Orchestra. He was principalconductor of the Halle from 1920 to 1933, and thespecial relationship that he formed with that orchestracan still be appreciated in their many recordings. Hechampioned the music of Berlioz at a time when thatcomposer was still generally unappreciated, and heintroduced new works to the British public, includingMahler's Ninth Symphony in 1930 and Shostakovich'sFirst in 1932. After leaving the Halle he worked mainlywith London orchestras: important occasions includedthe first performances of Walton's First Symphony(1934) and Bax's Sixth (1935). He received aknighthood in 1925 and the gold medal of the RoyalPhilharmonic Society in 1934. He died in 1941.The years 1900-1920 were Harty's most fertileperiod as a composer. As he achieved success as aconductor he had less time for composition. His earlyworks consisted mainly of songs and chamber music,but he ventured increasingly into the orchestral sphere asopportunities for performance grew. Many of his worksare overtly celtic in character, with titles andprogrammes that proclaim their Irishness, such as AnIrish Symphony (1904), With the Wild Geese (1910),Variations on a Dublin Air (1912), and The Children ofLir (1938), but even in the works that are not explicitlyIrish, such as A Comedy Overture and the PianoConcerto, the influence of Irish folk-music is apparent inturns of phrase, modal harmonies, and dance rhythms.Harty's creative spirit was essentially a Romantic one,and shades of mainstream European composers likeBrahms, Dvofiak and Tchaikowsky are present in hismusic. The influence of Tchaikowsky, and Harty's idolBerlioz, are to be heard in the colourful and imaginativewriting for the orchestra..A Comedy Overture, composed in 1906 and firstperformed at a Queen's Hall Promenade Concert in1907,