BENJAMIN DALE (1885-1943): Piano Sonata in D Minor, Prunella, Night Fancies, YORK BOWEN (1884-1961): Miniature Suite in C, Op. 14.
Catalogue Number: 06M065
Label: Hyperion
Reference: CDA 67827
Format: CD
Price: $18.98
Description: The first recording of this huge sonata since Peter Jacobs in 1992 for Continuum (which was the first ever). Lasting 42 minutes, it has a level of intricacy (as opposed to showy virtuosity) which makes severe demands on stamina and concentration and which implies a kind of Straussian orchestration transcribed for piano. The influences on the 17-year-old composer are many and varied (Schumann, Wagner, Elgar, Saint-Saƫns and more) but, by the time he finished it in 1905. The massive second movement, which combines slow movement and scherzo within a theme-and-variations before becoming the finale, goes beyond Liszt's pioneering sonata form which was its initial model. Danny Driver (piano).