Anthony Goldstone - piano

Performed on Parry's Hagspiel grand piano in the Prior's Chamber, Shulbrede Priory.

* First Recording

The present decade has seen the rehabilitation of Parry's novel and generous art, which must have surprised many who thought modern English music began with Elgar. Even these early piano pieces, which show affiliations with Schumann and Brahms, reveal an individual and prophetically English vein, and there is already an impressive compositional mastery. Most outstanding, perhaps, are the tautly structured Variations and the memorable Second Sonata, both splendidly served by GoldstoneÕs vivacious playing on Parry's old piano. Anthony Payne. March 1995 BBC Music Magazine

Admirers of Anthony Goldstone should have no regrets if they add this CD to their libraries. His performance is exemplary throughout. Indeed Parry himself is now acknowledged to be a nineteenth-century English composer of significant historical and artistic importance. Only the Theme and Nineteen Variations have previously been recorded and this entire collection, new to me, is a revelation. The piano used in these recordings was made in Dresden (c. 1869) by Gustav Hagspiel & Co. It seems that Parry bought the instrument whilst still an undergraduate at Oxford. The piano still resides at Shulbrede Priory, Sussex, Parry's home, which is where the recordings were made. The programme notes provided by Anthony Goldstone are excellent and give clear information about the origins of the music. The Sonata in F major (1877) was dedicated to George Frove, for instance, and I hadnÕt realised that Parry was so indebted to Edward Dannreuther with whom he studied for some years. It takes only a few moments to adjust to the sound of ParryÕs mature Hagspiel grand. It is true that the musical fingerprints of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, and others are obvious from time to time but it would be unusual if this were not the case. The wonder is that works of this stature were actually being composed in 'Das Land ohne Musik' during the second half of the nineteenth century. Warmly recommended.Ronald Reah.