Echoes of Land & Sea

There are such rarities as Benjamin Britten’s brilliant early suite ‘Holiday Diary’, the great composer in lighter mood, and the magnificent virtuoso set of Six Studies for Piano by Kenneth Leighton, alongside a rare collection of Impressionist pieces by Gustav Holst – showing him to be as much a master of the keyboard as his ‘Planets’ suite is of the orchestra. John Ireland (Britten’s teacher) is represented by his haunting Ballade of London Nights, and we have a significant premiere recording of Ireland’s most famous song – Sea Fever – arranged for solo piano by Roderick Williams, best-known as one of the finest of all living British singers, now appearing on disc in a new light. Both the world premiere Goodwood-by-the-Sea and the piano arrangement of Sea Fever were written by Roderick Williams especially for Maria Marchant and dedicated to her. Ronald Stevenson’s ‘Peter Grimes Fantasy’ takes us back to Benjamin Britten – a wonderful homage from one major British composer to another. Also included here, is another valuable first recording, Vally Lasker’s arrangement of Holst’s delightful Brook Green Suite. Lasker taught music at St Paul’s Girls’ School, Hammersmith as assistant to Holst, who was also head of music. She has arranged several of Holst’s as well as Vaughan Williams’s works for piano.