Mark Tanner

The career of English composer and pianist (and organist, violist and horn player !) Edwin York Bowen (1884–1961) spanned more than fifty years during which time he wrote over 160 works. Despite achieving considerable success during his lifetime, many of his works remained unpublished and unperformed until after his death. Bowen’s compositional style is widely considered as “Romantic” and his works are often characterised by their lush harmonic language, molten in the crucible containing influences from Rachmaninov, Debussy, Chopin, Wagner, Liszt, Strauss, Scriabine sometimes, and an occasional dash of very early jazz.

The career of English composer and pianist (and organist, violist and horn player !) Edwin York Bowen (1884–1961) spanned more than fifty years during which time he wrote over 160 works. Despite achieving considerable success during his lifetime, many of his works remained unpublished and unperformed until after his death. Bowen’s compositional style is widely considered as “Romantic” and his works are often characterised by their lush harmonic language, molten in the crucible containing influences from Rachmaninov, Debussy, Chopin, Wagner, Liszt, Strauss, Scriabine sometimes, and an occasional dash of very early jazz.