Carnegie Trust Edition Recordings
In 1916, the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust announced the launch of a new ‘Carnegie Edition’, an initiative proposed by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford to support emerging British composers by funding the publication of six new pieces through the young company Stainer & Bell (est. 1907). In the event, 136 pieces were submitted for consideration from which seven were selected, although a further seventeen were praised with ‘honourable mentions’.
Of the seven works initially accepted for publication, most enjoyed considerable success but, with changing fashions, only Vaughan Williams’s A London Symphony has achieved lasting fame. With that in mind, we have added links to recordings of all the winning pieces on our website (except for Bainton’s Before Sunrise, which has been partially recorded but is unavailable online) that collectively offer a snapshot of the British music that was considered to be ‘state of the art’ just over a century ago. Two of these works in particular, Bridge’s dramatic symphonic suite The Sea and Howells’s ‘vigorous and astonishingly assured Piano Quartet’ (BBC Music Magazine), should surely be welcomed back to concert programmes on a more regular basis.
Edgar Bainton: Before Sunrise
Granville Bantock: Hebridean Symphony
Rutland Boughton: The Immortal Hour
Frank Bridge: The Sea (symphonic suite)
Herbert Howells: Piano Quartet in A minor
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford: The Travelling Companion
Ralph Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony
The scheme ran until 1928, embracing symphonic, operatic, choral and chamber music. Twelve women composers were considered in that time, but only one work, Ina Boyle’s The Magic Harp, received full publication.
(To hear preview recordings, please use the Spotify player widgets below.)
All the symphonic pieces remain available for hire, and the Piano Quartet by Howells is available for purchase.)
Carnegie UK Trust publications – Recording list
Granville Bantock: Hebridean Symphony
Fourth Movement
Frank Bridge: The Sea
I. Seascape: Allegro ben moderato
Charles Villiers Stanford: The Travelling Companion Op.146
Act 2: Oyez! Oyez! Sir, you that have desired
Ina Boyle: The Magic Harp
Rutland Boughton: The Immortal Hour
Act 1 Scene 2 No.12 ‘How beautiful they are’ (Spirit Voices)
Herbert Howells: Piano Quartet in A minor Op.21 (For purchase; not available for hire)
- Allegro molto – Energico
Ralph Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony
- Andante con moto – Maestoso alla marcia
Also:
Edgar Bainton: Before Sunrise
(Only one movement – Genesis – has ever been recorded. Not available to listen online.)