"her exquisitely variegated tonal palette, deft touch and quiet authority truly things of wonder" — Andrew Achenbach
It's been an age (55 years to be precise) since the last recording of Walton's still underrated Sinfonia concertante in its 1943 revision (featuring Peter Katin and the LSO under the composer - Lyrita, 6/71, 7/92), so a hearty welcome to Clare Hammond's scrupulously prepared alliance with George Vass and the BBC SO. Conceived in 1925 as a ballet score for Diaghilev (who didn't like it), the piece was reworked during 1926-27 and overhauled again 16 years later ('revivified the Sin. Con. chiefly by eliminating the pfte', noted the composer). There are indeed fewer opportunities for solo display than before - and the opulent original scoring has also been pared back - but in a performance as judiciously integrated as the present stylish offering it leaves a thoroughly convincing impression nonetheless. Granted, Kenneth Wilkinson's vintage Walthamstow sound still packs a punch, but this superbly realistic BIS newcomer emerges as an altogether more involving, less sedate affair than its analogue rival and is demonstrably preferable.
Commissioned by the Austrian-American pianist Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961), Britten's dazzlingly inventive Diversions for piano (left-hand) and orchestra (written in Maine during the summer and autumn of 1940) makes quite a splash here. Stereo successors to Julius Katchen's pioneering July 1954 recording for Decca with Britten conducting the LSO have never been exactly thick on the ground, but Peter Donohoe (Warner, 11/91), Leon Fleisher (Sony, 4/93) and Steven Osborne (Hyperion, 10/08) all give of their formidable best, and to their number must now be added Clare Hammond, who locates a melting poetry and depth of expression in Variations 5 ('Chant'), 6 ('Nocturne') and 10 ('Adagio'), while not missing out on the virtuosic fireworks of those two linked toccatas that form Var 9 as well as the 'Tarantella' finale.
A comparably selfless dedication, nourishing intellect and unfailingly questing spirit inform the illuminating performance of Tippett's soaringly lyrical and luminously textured Piano Concerto (1953-33), written in the wake of his first opera, The Midsummer Marriage. Intensely concentrated and memorable articulate, Hammond is comprehensively equipped to tackle this music's formidable technical challenges, her exquisitely variegated tonal palette, deft touch and quiet authority truly things of wonder. In all of this Vass and the BBC SO play their full part (the expansive opening movement in particular is unerring in its sense of organic growth), resulting in a wholly immersive, keenly responsive display that I feel confident will yield lasting satisfaction.
In short, if the programme appeals - and it certainly should! - don't hesitate.