Dudley recorded two CDs of his favourite piano pieces in his late 80s
For more information or to purchase either volume please contact his daughter Linden at linden@porter.net
Volume One
‘The CD is dedicated to the memory of Vernon Warner, the finest pianist amongst the many great pianists it has been my fortune to have heard. He became my teacher when I left Stowe School in 1927 until 1939 when I exchanged piano for aeroplanes. Age, now, inevitably sets limits so my repertoire is confined to some of the less-demanding pieces I learnt with Vernon Warner who, like all great artists, had a unique way of playing which I have tried to convey on this disc.’ All money raised from the sales of the CD has been donated to charities: MIND, SENSE, The Samaritans, Macmillan Nurses and CRISIS. So far (April 2006) the sales have raised over £1500. The CD has been produced with the generous help of Mike Cross of Aerosonic with thanks to Ablex Audio Video Ltd., Telford. The recording was made on a Sony DAT recorder in my sitting room on a 1903 Steinway piano.
| 1 | Bach/Busoni | Choral Prelude ‘Ich ruf zu Dir’ |
| 2 | Bach/Petri | Minuet |
| 3 | Brahms | Intermezzo A min Op 118/1 |
| 4 | Brahms | Intermezzo A maj Op 118/2 |
| 5 | Brahms | Intermezzo E flat min Op 117/1 |
| 6 | Brahms | Intermezzo B flat min Op 117/2 |
| 7 | Brahms | Waltz E maj Op 39 |
| 8 | Brahms | Waltz A flat Op 39 |
| 9 | Gluck/Brahms | Gavotte |
| 10 | Chopin | Waltz D flat(post) |
| 11 | Chopin | Waltz G flat(post) |
| 12 | Chopin | Waltz A flat (Unknown) |
| 13 | Chopin | Mazurka A flat Op 41/4 |
| 14 | Chopin | Mazurka A flat Op 24/3 |
| 15 | Chopin | Mazurka C maj Op 33/3 |
| 16 | Chopin | Mazurka F min Op 7/3 |
| 17 | Chopin | Mazurka A flat Op 59/2 |
| 18 | Chopin | Mazurka D flat Op 30/3 |
| 19 | Chopin/ Liszt | Meine Freunden |
| 20 | Scriabine | Fragilite Op 51 |
| 21 | Chopin | Nocturne D flat Op 27/2 |
| 22 | Schuman | Des Abends |
Volume Two
This second CD is dedicated to my friend, the actress Phillada Sewell, whose generosity in lending me her Steinway to replace mine, (destroyed in a disastrous house fire in 1981) made these CDs a possibility. As with my first CD, all the pieces were recorded in my drawing room.
For this second selection of favourite piano pieces, I have chosen seven by the great romantic Russian composer Scriabin – for me one of the great poets of music. Like Debussy with his full-tone scales, Scriabin had a musical message to give and, like Chopin, he often conveyed this in short, exquisite preludes and studies. By playing these seven pieces in succession, I hope they will better convey the harmonic idiom which is unique to Scriabin and has, for me, a special appeal.
The Brahms and Schubert pieces are examples of the supreme art of their composers.
A few years before he died, Rachmaninoff revised his famous melody in E and I heard him play it in this revised version at his recital at the Queen’s Hall in about 1937. His playing was as unforgettable and as spellbinding as usual. It is this revised version I play on this disc.
Seguidillas by Albeniz is 100% Spanish and pure entertainment, whilst Liszt’s Sonetto del Petrarca is a fine example of music as the language of emotions. (I recall) it was the first item on Horowitz’s first recital in London, in about 1924, and I was completely captivated by it. Chopin’s Nocturne Op.15/1 with its impression of a passing summer thunderstorm is another strongly emotional piece for me. Godowski’s Transcriptions show what a great musician can do with simple melodies. I have included Liszt’s lovely “Soirée de Vienne après Schubert” because the technical fluency to cope with its difficulties eluded me when I started to play it in 1939. Only now, sixty years later, have I been able to come to terms with it.
I hope these pieces will give you the pleasure they have, over the years, given to me.
This CD has been produced by my son-in-law Adrian. As with the first CD, all proceeds will go to charity.
Dudley Steynor. September 1999
| 1 | Albeniz | Seguidillas | 4.17 |
| 2 | Liszt | Sonnetto Del Petrarca No. 128 | 6.54 |
| 3 | Brahms | Intermezzo Op. 16/6 | 3.41 |
| 4 | Chopin | Nocturne Op 15/1 | 5.34 |
| 5 | Schubert | Momens Musicaux Op 94/2 | 6.29 |
| 6 | Schubert | Momens Musicaux Op 94/3 | 2.13 |
| 7 | Schubert | Impromptu Op 142/2 | 6.09 |
| 8 | Scriabin | Etude Op 2/1 | 3.46 |
| 9 | Scriabin | Prelude Op 11/9 | 1.36 |
| 10 | Scriabin | Prelude Op11/5 | 1.49 |
| 11 | Scriabin | Prelude Op11/13 | 1.34 |
| 12 | Scriabin | Prelude Op 11/10 | 2.05 |
| 13 | Scriabin | Prelude Op 16/5 | 0.39 |
| 14 | Scriabin | Poem Op 32/1 | 3.52 |
| 15 | Rameau/Godowsky | Musette en Rondeau | 4.12 |
| 16 | Saint-Saens/Godowsky | The Swan | 2.45 |
| 17. | Palmgren | Finnish Dance | 1.15 |
| 18. | Rachmaninov | Melodie in E (Revised) | 4.50 |
| 19. | Liszt | Soirée de Vienne No 6 | 9.10 |
