GREAT PIANISTS: SOLOMON

 

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3

BLISS Piano Concerto

 

Solomon (Cutner);

BBC Symphony Orchestra;

Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra;

Adrian Boult

 

 

Solomon was considered one of England’s finest musicians, giving concerts and recitals throughout the world, broadcasting and recording frequently. Sadly in 1956 he suffered a crippling stroke that brought his career as a pianist to a premature close.

 

This CD brings together on one disc for the first time supreme examples of Solomon’s art in both the romantic and contemporary (twentieth century) piano concerto. Solomon played the Third Concerto of Beethoven throughout his career. During his years as a boy prodigy he had played it at the Queen’s Hall with Henry Wood in 1912 when the same programme included Liszt’s Hungarian Fantasy.

 

Bliss composed a work thoroughly in the grand romantic tradition, with a solo part that is technically highly demanding. The Concerto is one of Bliss’s most rewarding works, and here receives a ‘creator’ performance well worthy of it.

 

Naxos Historical 8110682