Bartók: Allegro barbaro, Sz. 49

There can be few, if any, musicians, whilst practicing works written earlier than the 20th century, who have not wondered how the composer himself might have performed their music. There are reports, some of which are most skilful in their description, how the likes of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven may have played or improvised; furthermore there are lines of teacher/pupil relationships which can trace their lineage back to the pianistic greats such as Liszt, but still we have to imagine the sound since we cannot actually hear it.

Edison’s invention of a recording machine which developed through the Gramophone to the latest Hi-Fi system of today has been able to capture an extraordinary range of music which continues to give us endless pleasure, though some of us might occasionally even have sympathy with the perspicacious remark that Sir Arthur Sullivan recorded in a message to Edison congratulating him on his invention but expressing his terror “at the thought that much hideous and bad music may be put on record for ever”.

Some composers have left us an extensive catalogue of recorded performances, most notably Edward Elgar, Igor Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten. Others like Olivier Messiaen, Heitor Villa-Lobos and William Walton have left us significant, although limited, editions. All too many, however, have merely left us a mere fraction of their output and it was to bring these recordings to the record-buying public that the EMI Classics series COMPOSERS IN PERSON was planned and researched by Ken Jagger (1945-2007). He did include representative issues for five the above named composers in the series so as to provide a total of 20 releases.

Most composers are found as either conductors or pianists (so sometimes both) although some appear on other instruments – Hindemith as violist as well as conductor and Messiaen, Widor, Vierne and Dupré as organist.