William Hurlstone (1876-1906)

[Albion]

The tragically short-lived Hurlstone was, along with the equally tragically short-lived Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), amongst Stanford's favourite pupils at the RCM. Although such comparisons are crude, Hurlstone seems to have imbibed Brahms whilst Coleridge-Taylor absorbed Dvorak. Both influences were incredibly beneficial as the musical quality of both British composers' output speaks for itself. Coleridge-Taylor has been fairly well recorded although there are still major gaps, not least the 1909 opera Thelma and the choral works beyond Hiawatha.

The main recordings of Hurlstone are on Lyrita and there are two splendid releases:

Variations on an Original Theme (1896)
Suite, The Magic Mirror (1900)
Variations on a Hungarian Air (1897)

LPO/ Nicholas Braithwaite (Lyrita SRCD 208)

Piano Concerto in D (1896-97)
Fantasie-Variations on a Swedish Air (1903)
Piano Trio in G (1905)
Piano Quartet in E minor (1906)

Eric Parkin, piano/ LPO/ Nicholas Braithwaite/ Tunnell Piano Quartet (Lyrita 2CDs SRCD 2286)

The two orchestral discs cover the whole of Hurlstone's larger-scale orchestral output (although there's an unrecorded choral ballad Alfred the Great) and couldn't be more highly recommended. Nicholas Braithwaite was a stalwart of Lyrita and is still with us at the age of 83. This is music that is definitely worth seeking out...