Wellington Suite

A light-hearted, cleverly-written and attractive work in five movements, written for two solo horns, solo piano, strings, timpani and percussion. It was commissioned by Wellington College for its centenary celebrations, 1959, and was given its first performance at the College in June of that year, conducted by the composer.

This work was included in a CD produced and recorded by Lyrita during Covid times. Can be downloaded and streamed from all platforms.

Smaller concertos for piano and modest orchestral forces were a feature of British composition in the first half of the 20th century. Often they were written for a special occasion, and typically vanished into oblivion thereafter. During the COVID period Lyrita were looking for things to record with small numbers of players, and stumbled across this treasury: short concertos written for entertainment that don’t outstay their welcome. The works on British Piano Concertos (Vol. 1) CD travel from the innocent pastiche of Geoffrey Bush’s tribute to Arne, Edmund Rubbra’s student essay, through the ‘Blues’ of Arthur Benjamin, the serial language of Humphrey Searle, the drama of Elizabeth Maconchy, and the bold humour of film composer John Addison. It is all great fun, and has never been recorded - apart from the Benjamin recorded just once, back in 1959. Simon Callaghan and Martyn Brabbins team-up to raise a smile, enjoying the lighter side of musical life.