E.J. Moeran: Collected Solo Piano Music: Piano: Instrumental Album

Volume 2-The second volume of piano works by E.J. Moeran part of the Thames Centenary Edition commemorative series. Edited by John Talbot this volume features a selection of pastoral works and folk or story-based pieces all suitable for the accomplished Piano soloist.

Bank Holiday (R.36) is a short celebratory piece for Solo Piano. It was composed in 1925 and dedicated to Gordon Bryan. Around the same time the composer starting living a carefree life with Peter Warlock inthe countryside and the piece reflects the freedom and happiness he was obviously feeling. There are also hints of Percy Grainger and John Ireland which the astute listener may spot.Ernest J Moeran (1894-1950)was an English composer who followed the tradition of R. Vaughan Williams and John Ireland by collecting preserving and using many folk songs mainly from Norfolk Suffolk and Ireland.

Volume 4-Including some of Ernest John Moeran’s most attractive and characteristic pieces this is the fourth collection in the Centenary Edition series of solo songs by the great Anglo-Celtic composer. The pieces in this collection are all written for Baritone voice with Piano. Moeran wrote sixty original songs for solo voice and piano and Volume four features 16 glorious pieces including the settings of texts by James Joyce Robert Bridges Shakespeare and W.B. Yeats plus shanties ballads and dances.

Rhapsody in F Sharp was commissioned by the BBC Proms and first performed in the Royal Albert Hall on August 19th 1943. Written for solo Piano with Orchestra accompaniment it has been arranged here for twoPianos. Written with the wartime audience in mind it is unashamedly popular in style with a flashy virtuosity making it immediately accessible and entertaining. There is argument among scholars as to whether it should bereferred to in the Major or Minor key as it makes almost equal use of both starting in one and finishing in the other. Ernest J Moeran (1894-1950) was an English composer who followed the tradition of R. VaughanWilliams and John Ireland by collecting preserving and using many folk songs mainly from Norfolk Suffolk and Ireland.