Clarke & Busch: Complete Piano Music

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In his obituary of William Busch, the writer and broadcaster John Amis observed that "his music is distinguished by its sensibility and warmth with a strong sense of form and a fine texture, linear rather than harmonic. It is tragic that he should have died when he was writing at the height of his powers and at a time when his gifts were beginning to receive recognition. Recognition will not cease now, for his work has permanent values". Over forty year later, in a series of radio programmes entitled "Forgotten Reputations", Amis warned that "Of all the musicians of the ’30s and ’40s ... William Busch is the most likely to be forgotten". The current release preserves an important part of his creative legacy as all of his piano works are presented here, and seeks to ensure that his music lives on.

Through some of Rebecca Clarke’s most successful pieces feature the piano, such as her Viola Sonata (1919), Rhapsody for Cello (1923), and Piano Trio (1921) and her writing for the instrument in those scores is both idiomatic and inventive, she only wrote a handful of solo piano pieces, all present in this publication. Clarke’s Theme and Variations (1908) is her most extended piano work.

The piece dates from the time of her studies with Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music, and it won her a Council Exhibition, a cash prize covering half her fees for the year. Rebecca Clarke’s natural melodic gifts are already in evidence throughout this score, which is enlivened by wit and charm and graced with an inner strength and poise.

Rebecca Clarke met the composer William Busch at various musical and social events from 1927 to 1937. On 13 July 1932, he mentions in his diary trying out a piece by Clarke and receiving "good advice from Rebecca over her piece". The piece, which Busch was premiering, was a short work entitled Cortège that Clarke had written for Busch in 1930. The constantly shifting chords create a gently exotic, impressionistic atmosphere. © Lyrita