The Mid-twentieth-century Concert Pianist ― An English Experience

In this book, Julian Hellaby presents a detailed study of English piano playing and career management as it was in the middle years of the twentieth century. Making regular comparisons with early twenty-first-century practice, the author examines career-launching mechanisms such as auditions and competitions, and investigates available means of career sustenance including artist management, publicity outlets, recital and concerto work, broadcasts, recordings and media reviews. Additionally, Hellaby considers whether a mid-twentieth-century school of English piano-playing may be identified and, if so, whether it has lasted into the early decades of the twenty-first century. The author concludes with an appraisal of the state of English pianism in recent years and raises questions about its survival. Drawing on extensive research from a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, the book is structured around case-studies of six pianists who were commencing and then developing their careers between approximately 1935 and 1970. The professional lives and playing styles of Malcolm Binns, Peter Katin, Moura Lympany, Denis Matthews, Valerie Tryon and David Wilde are examined and telling comparisons are made between the state of affairs then and that of more recent times.

Engagingly written, the book is likely to appeal to professional and amateur pianists, piano teachers, undergraduate and postgraduate music students, academics, and anyone with an interest in the history of pianists, piano performance and music performance history in general.

It is customary for a performer’s biography to inform the reader of that artist’s achievements, highlighting where, what and when he or she has performed. What is seldom if ever revealed is the ‘how’ behind this list of achievements: by what means they came about, why this artist and not another was selected or what support mechanisms, other than competitions, were around for the artist to get noticed in the first place.

In this book, Julian Hellaby examines how British pianists who were active in the middle years of the last century started, built and sustained their careers. Using the careers of once-eminent performers such as Peter Katin, Moura Lympany and Denis Matthews as case-studies, Hellaby compares the state of affairs as they were then with the competition- and commerce-driven conditions of more recent times, looking at contemporary performers such as Clare Hammond, Ashley Wass and Llyr Williams. Hellaby examines the role of debut recitals, competitions, auditions, interviews, agents, broadcasts, recordings, music clubs, orchestral work, style, image, management and artist promotion within the UK, making comparisons on a then-and-now basis. The book concludes by suggesting where future developments may lie.

The material, which has applicability outside the British Isles, is likely to appeal to professional and amateur pianists, music undergraduates, postgraduates as well as academics with an interest in the history of piano playing, career building and piano performance.