Leigh: Concertino for Harpsichord & Works for Orchestra Trevor Pinnock, London Philharmonic Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra & Nicholas Braithwaite

• Walter Leigh (1905 - 1942):
• 1 Agincourt "Jubilee Overture" 11:46
• Concertino for Harpsichord:
• 2 Concertino for Harpsichord: I. Allegro 03:25
• 3 Concertino for Harpsichord: II. Andante 04:03
• 4 Concertino for Harpsichord: III. Allegro vivace 02:05
• Music for String Orchestra:
• 5 Music for String Orchestra: I. Adagio 02:21
• 6 Music for String Orchestra: II. Vivo 00:50
• 7 Music for String Orchestra: III. Lento 02:24
• 8 Music for String Orchestra: IV. Allegro 00:54
• A Midsummer Night's Dream:
• 9 A Midsummer Night's Dream: I. Overture 03:59
• 10 A Midsummer Night's Dream: II. Entry of the Mechanicals 00:58
• 11 A Midsummer Night's Dream: III. Introduction to Act II 00:47
• 12 A Midsummer Night's Dream: IV. Intermezzo 02:03
• 13 A Midsummer Night's Dream: V. Introduction to Act III 01:42
• 14 A Midsummer Night's Dream: VI. Wedding March 01:31
• 15 A Midsummer Night's Dream: VII. Bergomask 00:57
• 16 A Midsummer Night's Dream: VIII. Fairies' Dance 01:25
• 17 A Midsummer Night's Dream: IX. Finale 01:04
• The Frogs of Aristophanes:
• 18 The Frogs of Aristophanes: I. Overture 03:43
• 19 The Frogs of Aristophanes: II. Dance 01:52
• Jolly Roger:
• 20 Jolly Roger: Overture 03:38
• Total Runtime 51:27

Info for Leigh: Concertino for Harpsichord & Works for Orchestra

Walter Leigh, born in 1905 and killed in action near Tobruk in 1942, was a craftsman-composer of a sort commoner in the 18th than in the 20th century. Almost all his music was written for immediate use. Like Haydn, he would not have dreamed of fulfilling a commission without ascertaining the probable capabilities of his performers. He could plug in to any number of different idioms according to the needs of the occasion. He seems to have been little concerned with self-expression, or the desire to write his own biography in music. His own character emerges by the way as we listen to the music, though his versatility and powers of adaptation were so great that it is not easy to guess who the real Walter Leigh was, or where, but for his tragically early death, his remarkable talents might have taken him.

"This Lyrita reissue makes poignant listening… because it inevitably makes you wonder what London-born Walter Leigh might have achieved had he not been killed in action near Tobruk in 1942… Leigh emerges here as essentially miniaturist, writing to commission, in short, pithy movements deftly orchestrated and sharply crafted." (BBC Music Magazine)

"Walter Leigh was a craftsman composer of the finest kind, one who aimed to make his music useful, hence his frequent essays in incidental music...Pinnock's sensitive performance is among the finest using harpsichord." (Penguin Guide)

"The Harpsichord Concertino is short and succinct – a pellucid model of clarity in structure and orchestration. Yet here is no bleached neo-classicism. The first two movements of the work always strikes me as an approximation of Rachmaninov for harpsichord and orchestra. There is a most beautifully weighted central andante before the Holstian Allegro Vivace redolent of Holst’s Brook Green and St Paul’s suites and the Concerto for two Violins. Music for String Orchestra has a short adagio including passing tributes to the Tallis Fantasia with a bouncing Holstian Vivo and a sincere and melancholy Lento. The Brook Green euphoria returns for the Allegro. The suite of music for A Midsummer Night's Dream was written for an open air schools performance at Weimar. The scoring is for flute, clarinet, trumpet, strings (a large body in this case) and harpsichord. The writing across the nine miniature movements ranges from pastiche Handelian to the much more original and romantic Introduction to Act II to the bracing Holstery of the Bergomask – itself reminiscent of Bridge’s Sir Roger de Coverley miniature. There is more of Mendelssohnian faerie in the Finale than in any other part of the score: innocent charm and fun in equal measure. That same year – 1936 – Leigh supplied the music for a Cambridge production of The Frogs. This came out with a deep emotional reach contrasted with the usual helping of rustic Englishry freshly twisted and flighted." (Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International)

Trevor Pinnock, harpsichord
London Philharmonic Orchestra
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Nicholas Braithwaite, conductor

Trevor Pinnock
pioneered performance on historical instruments with his orchestra The English Concert, which he founded in 1972. Since 2003 he has divided his time between conducting, solo, chamber music and educational projects.

He regularly works with the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, the Deutsche Kammerphiharmonie Bremen and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. Frequent chamber music partners include flautist Emmanuel Pahud, viola da gamba player Jonathan Manson and violinists Sophie Gent and Matthew Truscott.

In 2019 he will direct Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Royal Academy and also at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, where he was formerly music director, and in Scotland with the Dunedin Consort. At the Sanssouci Palace, Potsdam, he conducts Frederic Wake-Walker’s production of La Clemenza di Tito will tour Messiah with Freiburger Barockorchester.

Recent recordings include two solo recordings, Louis Couperin harpsichord works and a recital ‘Journey - 200 years of harpsichord music’; CPE Bach Flute Concertos with Emmanuel Pahud and the Kammerakademie Potsdam; Mozart’s Gran Partita for winds and Haydn Notturno with the Royal Academy of Music Soloists.

In 2006 Pinnock founded the European Brandenburg Ensemble to celebrate his 60th birthday. Their recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos on the Avie label was awarded a 2008 Gramophone prize.

Trevor Pinnock is President of the Faversham Music Club in Kent, which puts on a number of popular concerts and social events each year.

Honorary doctorates: University of Ottawa (D. University) in 1993, University of Kent (DMus) in 1995, University of Sheffield (DMus) in 2005 and University of London (DMus honoris causa) in 2016.

He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1992 and an Officier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998.

Booklet for Leigh: Concertino for Harpsichord & Works for Orchestra