This coupling was
predictable after SRCD
249 pairing the first two symphonies
but this disc is even more successful
than its predecessor.
The Piano Concerto
was written for Colin Horsley whose
recording of the John Ireland concerto
is on EMI Classics. The concerto
is purposeful and sufficiently romantic
to hold at bay the composer’s dangerous
tendency to frivolity or Parisian cleverness
that damages appreciation of the symphonies.
In fact Berkeley finds here the sort
of grandeur that makes his works of
the 1930s and 1940s so attractive. David
Wilde's playing was praised by the composer
and we are fortunate to be able to hear
it now. The cut-glass 1940s Rachmaninov-style
romanticism is offset by Berkeley's
lucidity of expression and orchestration.
The middle movement cools the ardour,
is hesitant, yet controlled and romantic
rising to briefly scudding grey clouds
at 5:29. The finale is gawky and angular,
recalling the Ravel G minor and Rachmaninov's
Fourth Piano Concerto. I am bound to
muse: what would Arturo Benedetti-Michelangeli
have made of this?
We switch forces for
the Two Piano Concerto and move a decade
forward in time. It was premiered in
1958 by Sellick and Smith. Angularity
is in the ascendant as is a modest dissonance
of the sort encountered in Britten's
Diversions. The work is in two
movements: the first 8:01 the second
24 minutes comprising a Theme and (11)
inventive Variations. It's just a pity
that the variations were not separately
banded. The theme shares elements of
Bobby Shaftoe and the hymn tune
Westminster Abbey.
Berkeley's two piano
concertos finely performed and recorded
- the first a serious work; the second
in the nature of a mercurial diversion.
Rob Barnett
Also Available
SRCD.226
Berkeley conducts Berkeley
SRCD.249
Berkeley Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
Lyrita
Catalogue
for details
David Wilde (piano) 
