Lucy Lennox Taming Teddy

With their flair and brilliance, the Six Preludes justifiably became regarded as among Lennox Berkeley’s finest piano works. They originated in a BBC commission for short pieces that could be performed as interludes between programmes (the BBC later dropped this idea). Berkeley intended the pieces to be playable by skilled amateurs and while two proved more difficult than he had envisaged, none requires a virtuoso pianist.
Berkeley’s natural adroitness at developing thematic material is nowhere demonstrated better than in the Sonata, his most significant …

A rare example in the modern world of father and son composers of similar distinction, both Lennox and Michael Berkeley have in turn reached a position of prominence and influence in British musical life. They are represented on this disc by works showing their craftsmanship in tailoring works to particular performers and occasions, without compromising their individual language and vision. Lennox Berkeley’s two-piano concerto, written in one of the most fertile periods of his career, is a highly effective showpiece for its soloists, which nevertheless avoids the obvious in terms of form and treatment. Lennox Berkeley wrote his Concerto for Two Pianos in 1948 in response to a commission from …………