CBSO Piano Concerto
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“The always-enterprising SOMM label has placed much faith in the highly gifted young pianist Mark Bebbington, whose discography on that label seems to grow by the month. One of the most interesting of his recent releases on Somm has been four British works for piano and orchestra, which in repertoire terms go together extremely well… Mark Bebbington seemingly sails through its problems with consummate ease, brilliantly partnered by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Howard Williams…
All in all, this is a highly desirable and strongly recommended disc.”
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5***** Musical Opinion, June 2010
”Two Premiere recordings and two unfamiliar works, eloquently performed by Mark Bebbington and the CBSO, combine to make this an essential disc for anyone with a taste for mid-20th century UK repertoire, now creeping back into fashion. An unexpected and fascinating disc.”
Observer, August 2009
”…..a touching terseness emphasised in this leaner version (Rawsthorne Piano Concerto No. 1) and impressively communicated here.”
Sunday Times, Paul Driver, July 2009 ***
”Mark Bebbington is carving out his own distinctive niche as an interpreter of British piano music from the first half of the 20th century…..Finzi’s single-movement Eclogue is beautifully done by Bebbington, too…..
Guardian, Andrew Clements, July 2009 ***
”Pianist Mark Bebbington is a great champion of 20th-century British music , and on this CD revives four concertos which have all but disappeared. One of them, the Concertino by Frederic Austin , is actually a world premiere recording. Its blend of Rachmaninov-like romanticism and magical whimsy sounds like a film score – unsurprisingly, as that’s how it started life. Finzi’s Eclogue has a grave melancholy, and Alan Rawsthorne’s First Piano Concerto is attractively brilliant.”
Saturday Telegraph, Ivan Hewett, August 2009***
”Mark Bebbington continues to enhance his already glowing reputation as an interpreter of British music with an intriguing disc of four concertante works. Bebbington is adept at getting to the lyrical heart of each work…”
BBC Music Magazine, October 2009, 5*****
”These attractive works for piano and orchestra are splendidly played by Mark Bebbington and the CBSO under Howard Williams. It is good to have the original version of Rawsthorne’s First Concerto (piano, percussion and strings) of 1939, sparkling with wit and liveliness as is Ferguson’s 1951 concerto. An enterprsising and lively disc.
Michael Kennedy, Sunday Telegraph, September 2009, 4****
”Bebbington shows throughout an effortless virtuosity that takes your breath away.”
Classical Source, September 2009
”The imaginative conception of the programme is matched by its execution and is another feather in the cap of the enterprising SOMM label and pianist Mark Bebbington.”
Classic FM Magazine, October 2009, 5*****
“…..just as some black-and-white films have qualities denied to full colour, this incarnation of the Rawsthorne is worth hearing in its own right….Bebbington is the more sensitive and captures the continuous melodic flow completely.”
Gramophone, October 2009
”Mark Bebbington deserves some kind of an award for training these pieces into his fingers and delivering them with such natural sympathy and understanding.”
