William Baines.

[Irons]

The 6th of this month saw the centenary of the death at the tender age of 23 of William Baines. Like I suspect most I had not heard of him, but his art, predominantly for piano, has saved him from obscurity. That doyen of British keyboard music, Eric Parkin has recorded Baines twice, first for Lyrita and later for Priory. Also a brand new recording by Duncan Honeybourne has been released. Honeybourne performs Baines live for a small audience in a Yorkshire Piano store on YouTube. A great shame as a fault in the sound with dropouts mars an excellent recital.

Some info on Baines here   http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-centenary-of-death-of-willaim_0693957179.html

[Roasted Swan]

The 6th of this month saw the centenary of the death at the tender age of 23 of William Baines. Like I suspect most I had not heard of him, but his art, predominantly for piano, has saved him from obscurity. That doyen of British keyboard music, Eric Parkin has recorded Baines twice, first for Lyrita and later for Priory. Also a brand new recording by Duncan Honeybourne has been released. Honeybourne performs Baines live for a small audience in a Yorkshire Piano store on YouTube. A great shame as a fault in the sound with dropouts mars an excellent recital.

Some info on Baines here   http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-centenary-of-death-of-willaim_0693957179.html

Baines' music is remarkably beautiful - he also wrote quite a few movements for string quartet which have been edited and published in performable editions but have not been recorded.  Wel worth hearing.

[calyptorhynchus]

Interesting, I'd never heard of him. I listened to the Symphony on Youtube, but it was an amateur performance that didn't do him much of a favour (full of wrong notes!)

However, what I did hear reminded me powerfully of Havergal Brian's pre WW1 works. Some very interesting textures, timbres and themes.

On to the piano music...

[Irons]

Goodnight to Flamboro is a good example of Baines art, I think.

https://youtu.be/-RUxYAwu340

BBC Radio aired a 90 minute documentary on "William Baines tragic short life" titled Goodnight to Flamboro last played in May 2021. Frustratingly it is no longer available on BBC iPlayer.