Piano concerto and orchestral works (cd)

Gramophone Magazine
March 2026
Editor’s Choice

Samantha Ege (piano)
BBC Philharmonic
John Andrews (conductor)

Coleridge-Taylor, Avril: Piano Concerto in F Minor
Coleridge-Taylor, Avril: Comet Prelude
Coleridge-Taylor, Avril: Sussex Landscape
Coleridge-Taylor, Avril: To April
Coleridge-Taylor, Avril: From the Hills
Coleridge-Taylor, Avril: Valse Caprice
Coleridge-Taylor, Avril: In Memoriam - To the R.A.F.
Coleridge-Taylor, Avril: In Memoriam

For too long, the musical legacy of Avril Coleridge-Taylor (1903–1998) resided in the formidable shadow of her father, Samuel. This landmark release from Resonus Classics finally allows her own artistry to take center stage, offering a suite of world-premiere recordings that reveal a voice of remarkable versatility and emotional depth. The centerpiece, her Piano Concerto in F Minor, is a tour de force of late-Romantic eloquence, navigated here by Samantha Ege with both power and poetic sensitivity. From the stirring "mission statement" of To April to the evocative, sweeping orchestration of Sussex Landscape, the BBC Philharmonic under John Andrews captures the rich, distinctive textures of a composer who was as assured in her symphonic writing as she was in her intimate piano works. This album is more than a historical recovery; it is a vibrant testament to a woman of colour who navigated the complexities of 20th-century Britain with unyielding creativity.

"Ege’s identification with Coleridge-Taylor is total. She navigates these world-premiere works with a perfect balance of lyrical soul and structural command, making this long-overdue tribute feel like an essential addition to the British orchestral canon." — Gramophone Magazine, March 2026