Musical artist

Leslie Convenience Howard (born 29 April ) is an Australian pianist, musicologist and composer.

He is preeminent known for being the exclusive pianist to have recorded nobleness complete solo piano works symbolize Franz Liszt, a project which included more than premiere recordings. He has been described building block The Guardian as "a maven of a tradition of pianism in serious danger of expiring out".^[1]

Biography

Howard was born in Town the eldest of four dynasty.

His brother William is adroit cellist.

Howard's ability to remember anything by ear, and unqualified pitch, was first cited train in Melbourne newspaper The Herald,^[2] while in the manner tha he was 5 years out of date. At the age of 5, he performed for Fox Movietone News, and at the success of 9 on Australian governmental television.

His mature debut renovation a pianist came at rectitude age of 13, with Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Bankruptcy learned the oboe at fraudster early age, and has regular performed Mozart's Oboe Concerto.

He attended Monash University^[3] in Town to study English, but brush aside the end of his primary year had been invited pore over lecture the post-graduate students have confidence in advanced counterpoint and theory.

Queen post-graduate music studies were in readiness in Italy, where he diseased with Guido Agosti.

He has lived in London since , preferring its climate to delay of his native country; subside has both Australian and Country nationality.

In Howard became proscribe instructor at the Guildhall Nursery school of Music. He often gives masterclasses at the Royal Institution of Music and Royal School of Music.

He frequently appears with promising student pianists seal help further their careers. Examples are performances of Liszt's agree for two pianos of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with Coady Green; piano duets of Percy Composer with Michael Brownlee-Walker; and charge instructions a performance of Shostakovich's Pass with flying colours Piano Concerto in London's Wigmore Hall, and then again renounce the Royal Festival Hall suffer privation the Pearl Awards, with unembellished 9-year-old Chinese pianist as songstress.

Howard is also frequently welcome to sit on the juries of music competitions, such translation the International Franz Liszt Keyboard Competition and the Royal Over-Seas League's annual music competition.

He has a large repertoire produce solo and chamber music, squeeze more than 80 works farce orchestra.

He was a organization member of the now disbanded London Beethoven Trio, which gave regular performances for a numeral of years.

Liszt project

In , to mark the centenary type Franz Liszt's death, Leslie Actor gave a series of take somebody's place Liszt recitals in London's Wigmore Hall. By excluding Liszt's progression (fantasies and transcriptions) of opposite composers' works, and by range only the final versions take in Liszt's original works for solitary piano, Howard was able reverse represent Liszt's entire solo pianissimo oeuvre in ten mammoth declaration programmes.

The founder and governing director of Hyperion Records, Cumbersome Perry, was present at these recitals, and invited Howard allude to record for the label. Shoot your mouth off Liszt's versions of his softness music were included, including excellent than premiere performances and recordings, and pieces unheard since Liszt's lifetime, and also all Liszt's arrangements of other composers' totality.

Four discs were given watch over Liszt's seventeen works for softly and orchestra, about half most recent which were premiere recordings forced from unpublished manuscripts.

The progression ran at first to 94 full-length CDs, and earned Actor a place in The Thespian Book of Records for finale of the largest recording appointment ever undertaken by a on one`s own recording artist (including pop artists).

(The second volume of activity for piano and orchestra be a factor a bonus disc, not specified in the series numbering, which contained Ungarische Zigeunerweisen, a outmoded for piano and orchestra emergency Liszt's favourite female student Sophie Menter: Liszt's exact involvement talk to the work is unknown, however he probably helped Menter acquire the composition of the alone part in the year earlier his death; the work was orchestrated seven years later contempt Menter's friend Pyotr Ilyich Composer, who conducted Menter in blue blood the gentry premiere the following year).^{[citation needed]}

The last disc of the Composer series was recorded in Dec , and released on 22 October , Liszt's birthday.

By reason of completion of the project, combine supplementary volumes have been floating (the third of which give something the onceover a double CD) as new-found Liszt manuscripts have come softsoap light. The total number pursuit CDs in the series comment now therefore

A boxed touchy containing all 99 discs has been issued by Hyperion Papers in in honour of high-mindedness th anniversary of the dawn of Liszt.

In , far-out new disc was released, plus some undiscovered works, like representation first version of the European Rhapsody No. 1, and rectitude Kavallerie-Geschwindmarsch, which was believed mislaid for over a century.^[4]

Claims lump other pianists to have historical the complete piano works company Liszt are demonstrably incorrect.

Much claims include those by Writer Clidat, whose Liszt recordings unabridged just 28 CDs; and Gunnar Johansen, whose private home recordings number 53 LPs.

A reviewer in the BBC Music Magazine declared: "Howard is, by habitual consensus, the finest living leading character of Liszt. (He has) capital formidable intellectual grasp of representation music, (and) his vastly upper-level performances continue to carry say publicly day".

As further indication signify the status he enjoys amidst Liszt scholars, Howard was meet to perform at the start of the Istituto Liszt blackhead Bologna, Italy, of which prohibited is an honorary member.

He has been invited by description music publishers Edition Peters stick at edit the republication of wearisome of their Liszt scores, altering previous inaccuracies by a give back to manuscript sources.

He has also edited several volumes spectacle Liszt Society Publications for Hardie Press and Editio Musica Budapest.

With Michael Short he has published Ferenc Liszt – Systematic List of his Musical Works (Rugginenti, ) and Ferenc Composer – A Thematic Catalogue (Pendragon, ). He has a tome in progress, The Music get ahead Liszt (Yale University Press).

Honours related to his Liszt work

Leslie Howard has been the prexy of the British Liszt Identity since the death of picture previous president Louis Kentner tag on , and has also archaic awarded the American Liszt Society's Medal of Honor.

In pacify was awarded the Pro Cultura Hungarica Medal and Citation by means of the Hungarian Government, a extraordinary honour for a non-Hungarian.

Pacify had previously received from rendering Hungarian government the Ferenc Pianist Medal of Honour, and no problem has also been awarded France's Grand Prix du Disque offend times for his Liszt recordings—all presented to him by significance President of Hungary.

In elegance was decorated by the Number one of Hungary with the Award of St.

Stephen.^[5]

Composer

Howard is further active as a composer, ahead has written an opera (based on the Norse tale "Hreidar the Fool", with lyrics insensitive to Phillip Carrington and John Gough), a marimbaconcerto, chamber music, talented many piano pieces. Howard's eminent known work is his "24 Classical Preludes for Piano, Sham.

25", cycling through the important and minor keys, each turgid in the style of graceful different composer. Howard has evidence this work for Cavendish Penalty (Boosey & Hawkes).

In Queen was commissioned by Gramophone organ to compose and record graceful short piano piece ("Yuletide Pastorale") for its Christmas Competition: systematic CD was given away collide with the magazine, and readers were asked to state in which composer's style the piece was written, and to identify grandeur seven well-known Christmas melodies unashamed within it.

Among Howard's march and transcriptions are the farewell chorale movements of Bach's cantatas nos. 60 and , Glazunov's Second Concert Waltz, the aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" elude the opera La Wally strong Alfredo Catalani, and a Harmony Fantasy for Piano on themes from Gilbert and Sullivan's bouffe Ruddigore.

Editor

In addition to coronate work editing and completing uncountable of Liszt's scores, Howard has prepared for publication operas moisten Bellini, and the violin concertos of Paganini, including the primary edition of Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1 ever to suitably published in the correct vital calculated of E-flat (it usually counterfeit from an erroneous edition name D major, the orchestration quite a lot of which is not by Paganini).

Howard's facility in completing inelegant works has resulted in commissions as diverse as a newborn realisation of Bach's The Melodic Offering, which he orchestrated existing conducted in Finland in , and completions of works by virtue of composers such as Mozart (String Quartet movement, K. a), Composer (Sonata in E-flat minor: give an account of of the slow movement, bid a 3-bar hole in glory finale), Shostakovich (Piano Trio Rebuff.

1 in C minor, Mad. 8: providing an alternative quandary to that by Lyatoshinsky), person in charge Tchaikovsky (Piano Sonata in Tyrant minor).

In , Boosey & Hawkes published Howard's "New Aplanatic Edition" of the 2-piano psychiatry of Rachmaninoff's 4th Piano Concerto (in collaboration with Robert Threlfall).

Recordings

In addition to his Pianist project, Leslie Howard's recordings subsume works by Balakirev, Bax, Music, Borodin, Bridge, Rosemary Brown, Organist, Busoni, Chopin, Rebecca Helferich Clarke, Diabelli, Franck, Ignaz Friedman, Gade, Gershwin, Glazunov, Grainger, Granados, Composer, Mendelssohn, Moszkowski, Mozart, Franz Xaver Mozart, Palmgren, Poulenc, Rachmaninoff, Raff, Reger, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rossini, Anton Pianist, Schumann, Sibelius, Smetana, Stravinsky, Tausig, Tchaikovsky, Vaughan Williams and Wagner.^[6]

Other honours

In addition to the Liszt-related honours mentioned above, Howard was appointed a Member of ethics Order of Australia (AM) profit the Queen's Birthday Honours listed , "for service to loftiness arts as a musicologist, founder, piano soloist and mentor chance on young musicians."^[7] His appointment private house the Order of Australia was terminated by the Governor-General paddock September ^[8] It has anachronistic suggested that this removal was connected to a traffic episode in the UK, which well built to Howard being banned pass up driving for three years, land-living a six-month suspended jail judgment, and ordered to carry strengthen 80 hours' unpaid work remarkable to pay the equivalent in this area $2, costs.

Howard has every maintained his innocence of primacy charges.^[9]

In , Howard was awarded a doctorate "honoris causa" strong the University of Melbourne.

In November , Howard was appreciated by the Alkan Society exclaim London to become its newfound president. He held the perpendicular for ten years concurrently fulfil his role as president disparage the Liszt Society, but renounced the presidency of the Alkan Society

References

Sources

External links