PIANO MUSIC - Abeille Musique

© JASON P TAILBY
R
ENOWNED CONCERT PIANIST Leslie Howard has
given recitals and concerto performances all over
the world. His repertoire embraces the whole
gamut of the piano literature from the time of the instrument’s
inception to the music of the present day. As a
soloist, and in chamber music and song, Leslie Howard is
a familiar figure at numerous international festivals. With
a vast array of more than 80 concertos, he has played with
many of the world’s great orchestras, working with many
distinguished conductors. The recital programmes that
Leslie Howard gives on his extensive travels throughout
the world are always noted for their communication of his
personal joy in musical discovery, and his playing for its
combination of intellectual command and pianistic
spontaneity.
Leslie Howard’s gramophone recordings include
music by Franck, Grainger, Grieg, Granados, Rachmaninov,
Rubinstein, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and,
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most important of all, Liszt. For fourteen years he was
engaged on the largest recording project ever undertaken
by a solo pianist: the complete solo piano music of Ferenc
Liszt—a project which was completed in a total of 94
compact discs on the Hyperion label. The publication of
the series was completed in the autumn of 1999. The
importance of the Liszt project cannot be overemphasized:
it encompasses premiere recordings, including
much music prepared by Dr Howard from Liszt’s still
unpublished manuscripts, and works unheard since
Liszt’s lifetime. Leslie Howard has been awarded the
Grand Prix du Disque on five occasions, and a further
Special Grand Prix du Disque was awarded upon the
completion of the Liszt series. He is currently the
President of the British Liszt Society, and he holds
numerous international awards for his dedication to
Liszt’s music. In 2000 he was honoured by Hungary with
the Pro Cultura Hungarica award.
Leslie Howard’s work as a composer encompasses
opera, orchestral music, chamber music, sacred music
and songs, and his facility in completing unfinished works
has resulted in commissions as diverse as a new
realisation of Bach’s Musical Offering and completions of
works by composers such as Mozart, Liszt and Tchaikovsky.
He is also a regular writer on music and broadcaster
on radio and television.
Leslie Howard was born in Australia, educated there, in
Italy and in England, and he has made his home in
London for many years. He gives regular masterclasses in
tandem with his performances around the world. He is a
member of The London Beethoven Trio with violinist
Catherine Manson and cellist Thomas Carroll.
In the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours Leslie Howard
was appointed a Member in the Order of Australia (AM)
‘for service to the arts as a musicologist, composer, piano
soloist and mentor to young musicians’.