PIANO MUSIC - Abeille Musique

LESLIE HOWARD
'A virtuoso in the true Romantic style with its emphasis on musicality as much as bravura'
{The Guardian)
Embracing repertoire from the earliest piano music to the music of our own time, British pianist
Leslie Howard is a familiar figure as a soloist, ensemble player and accompanist at numerous
international festivals. With a vast array of concertos, he has played with many of the great
orchestras of the world, working with many distinguished conductors.
Born in Australia but long resident in London, Howard has travelled extensively throughout the
world with recital programmes which are renowned for their communication of his personal joy
in musical discovery and for his 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, most important of ail, Liszt.
Since 1985 he has been engaged on the largest recording project ever undertaken by a solo
pianist - the complete solo piano music of Franz Liszt - a project which, it is estimated, will take
fifteen years to complete. The total will be some ninety compact dises, ail on the Hyperion label.
(By mid-1997, Howard had completed eighty of them.) The importance of the Liszt project
cannot be overemphasized: it encompasses premiere recordings, including much music still
unpublished, and works unheard since Liszt's lifetime, and so far Howard has been awarded the
Grand Prix du Disque for no fewer than five volumes of the sériés. He is currently président of
the British Liszt society and holds numerous international awards for his dedication to Liszt's
music.
The most recent Hyperion releases include Tchaikovsky sonatas, a double CD of music by Anton
Rubinstein, and a recording with viola player Paul Coletti of music by Beethoven, Mendelssohn
and Schumann. The next volume in the Liszt sériés will be of the Litanies de Marie - a dise
entirely of unpublished music.
Howard's work as a composer encompasses opera, orchestral music, Chamber music, sacred
music and songs, and his facility for completing unfinished works has resulted in commissions as
diverse as a new realization of Bach's Musical Off ering and complétions of works by composers
such as Mozart, Liszt and Tchaikovsky.
Leslie Howard is a regulär writer and broadeaster on radio and television.
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