William Sterndale Bennett: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 6
Simon Callaghan (piano), Hiroaki Takenouchi (piano), Northern Sinfonia, Martin Yates
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, January 2026, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd January 2026
Callaghan is the superb soloist in the Fourth and Sixth, in energising performances with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and conductor Martin Yates that feel tailored to the music's scale and sympathies.
William Sterndale Bennett: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 6
Simon Callaghan (piano), Hiroaki Takenouchi (piano), Northern Sinfonia, Martin Yates
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Gramophone Magazine, January 2026, Editor's Choice
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 2nd January 2026
Callaghan is the superb soloist in the Fourth and Sixth, in energising performances with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and conductor Martin Yates that feel tailored to the music's scale and sympathies.
About
Bennett was acknowledged both in England and Germany as an outstanding pianist and his finest and most characteristic music was composed for his own instrument. As well as numerous works for solo piano, including two sonatas, he composed six piano concertos and a single movement Caprice for piano and orchestra. He gave public performances of all his works for piano and orchestra with himself as soloist. It was during the heady days of Bennett’s third long visit to his friends in Leipzig, from January to March 1842, that he mentioned in correspondence that he was working on a new concerto, which he hoped to perform before leaving for London. In the event this did not happen, but a substantial amount of work must have been done at this stage on what was to become the unpublished Piano Concerto no. 6 in A minor, WoO. 48. Bennett did further work on the concerto in the summer of 1843 and hoped to publish it, but changes to his personal circumstances contributed towards further delays. His son claimed that he always intended it to be published, but as the years passed the more out-of-date it became.
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
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Simon Callaghan on Sterndale Bennett
23rd Feb 2026
Known for his adventurous exploration of neglected repertoire, the British pianist discusses his latest recording of concertos by William Sterndale Bennett (released last month on Lyrita).
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Sterndale Bennett Concertos from Simon Callaghan
2nd Jan 2026
Simon Callaghan joins the Northern Sinfonia and Martin Yates to champion the music of a nineteenth-century English composer who was admired by Schumann and Mendelssohn, but whose music is played and discussed less than it deserves.
Awards and reviews
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Gramophone MagazineJanuary 2026Editor's Choice
-
Presto Recording of the Week2nd January 2026
March 2026
Callaghan is the superb soloist in the Fourth and Sixth, in energising performances with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and conductor Martin Yates that feel tailored to the music's scale and sympathies.
January 2026
Besides the novel repertoire...the quality of sound and balance are exceptional, as are the insightful interpretations from soloists, conductor and the Royal Northern Sinfonia, who are in fine fettle.
2nd January 2026
The advocacy of Simon Callaghan, and his sympathetic partnership with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Martin Yates, makes a strong case for a composer whose profile has suffered in part from the strange dismissal of English composers from a time of Austro-German masters, and offers the opportunity to enjoy the music in superlative performances.
