Original Piano Music - Ogdon / Hay CD

John Ogdon was one of the great musical geniuses of the 20th century. His astonishing career on the concert platform saw him become one of the worlds most popular pianists after winning joint 1st prize in the 1962 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. Away from his life as a pianist, he was privately a very passionate composer throughout his career and despite his extremely heavy concert schedule, managed to write approximately two hundred works. Despite a small handful of works that were published during his lifetime, the rest of Ogdons manuscripts have remained almost entirely unexplored. Due to his pianistic ambitions, composition was always an unfocused pastime to John Ogdon and it is perhaps the reason why his writing style is sporadic and difficult to define. It is arguable that his best work was produced in the late 1950s and 60s before his infamous breakdown and they display a rather neo-romantic style, contrary to the avant-garde atonality written by most of his Manchester contemporaries. Despite enormous technical complexities, the piano writing is also wonderfully idiomatic and gives tremendous insight into the geographical facility of one of historys most renowned piano techniques. This recording presents the four most important solo piano works from John Ogdons early years as a composer. "I do enjoy composing, especially for the piano - I look on composing as a hobby that I enjoy. I devote myself more to playing and treat composition as a spare time thing." (John Ogdon)Additional Info: Magna Carta's second LP was dominated by the 22-minute, nine-part suite "Seasons," which took up all of side one. "Seasons" was indeed a grand conceptual work inspired by the changing of the seasons. Its laudable ambition apart, it's pretty ordinary, mild pop-influenced early-'70s British folk-rock. There's a dated preciousness as it varies the pace slightly from jolly full-band good-time folk-rock and pastoral harmonizing to twee fairytale-like narration and almost pop-like orchestration. The six standard-length songs on side two can strike an almost too-cheerful pop-folk bounce, with soft rock orchestration and harmonies that make it vaguely reminiscent of American sunshine pop at points. Simon & Garfunkel are an obvious influence, too, on songs like "Give Me No Goodbye" (overlaid with slight sitar licks), "Scarecrow," and "Elizabethan," though Magna Carta could make Simon & Garfunkel sound almost heavy in comparison. The closing "Airport Song," which was plucked from the LP as a shot for a hit single, goes furthest into pop with its bossa nova beat and easy listening arrangement, though the Simon & Garfunkel influence in the vocal harmonies is nearly overwhelming. This pretty undistinguished pop-folk-rock effort was paired with their third album, Songs from Wasties Orchard, on a 1999 single-disc CD reissue that also included historical liner notes. ~ Richie Unterberger

Specifics

  • Album: Original Piano Music
  • Artist: Ogdon / Hay
  • Label: Piano Classics
  • Genre: Classical
  • MPN: PCL10132
Tracklist

. Sonata "Dedicated To My Friend Stephen Bishop"
1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Allegro Energico
4. Ballade
. Kaleidoscope No. 1 (6 Caprices)
5. Scherzo Brillante
6. Prelude And Fugue In D Major
7. Study In Compound Intervals
8. Barcarolle
9. A Winter's Day
10. Prelude And Fugue On A Theme By Harry Birtwistle
11. Variations And Fugue

SKU CD-5029365101325
Barcode # 5029365101325
Brand Piano Classics
Shipping Weight 0.0800kg
Shipping Width 0.120m
Shipping Height 0.010m
Shipping Length 0.140m

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