Alkan, Concerto for Solo Piano. Duration 55:19. From live concert, Edinburgh, 23 August 2004.
This is a unique document from my musical history. It is the second half of an all-Alkan recital I gave at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2004 in St Mark's Unitarian Church, Edinburgh. From the research I did at the time, it seemed quite likely that this was the first Scottish public performance of this remarkable work.
The recording is a bootleg made by a friend on a portable device concealed in a handbag (unknown to me at the time). Consequently, the audio quality is rough to say the least: there is a lot of noise, the piano sound is muddled — unintelligibly so in a few places — and there is practically no dynamic range. The performance, too, has its moments. Even so, there's much here that I'm proud of, and I treasure this as an authentic record of a unique event.
Thanks to Rob and Louise Holden for their help in resurrecting this recording 20 years later!
A few landmarks:
Beethoven, Sonata in F minor (Appassionata), 3rd movement. Live concert, Edinburgh, 27 September 1997.
Rachmaninov, Prelude in G minor. Live concert, Edinburgh, 27 September 1997.
Rachmaninov, Prelude in G sharp minor. Live concert, Edinburgh, 27 September 1997.
Debussy, Clair de lune. Recorded 15 July 2000: features as Track 5 on my album Heaven and Earth.
Trad. arr. Longley, Eriskay love lilt. Recorded 12 August 2000: features as Track 8 on Heaven and Earth.
Andersson/Ulvaeus arr. Longley, Thank you for the music. Recorded 12 August 2000: features as Track 12 on Heaven and Earth.
Debussy, Poissons d'or. Live concert, Hawkshead, 11 July 2017. Recorded on smartphone, dynamics wobble a bit.
Ives, The Alcotts (from Concord Sonata). Live concert, Hawkshead, 11 July 2017. Even more wobbly recording!
Schumann, Abegg variations. Home recording on electronic piano (edited). Made for my mother in Holy Week 2016.
Schumann arr. Liszt, Widmung. Home recording on electronic piano (unedited).
Schubert, Impromptu in A flat. Home recording on electronic piano (unedited). Made for Quintin Bradshaw.
Rimsky-Korsakov arr. Rachmaninov, Flight of the Bumblebee. Home recording on electronic piano (unedited).
Gershwin arr. Longley, Summertime. Home recording on electronic piano (unedited).
Longley, Toccatina. Home recording on electronic piano (unedited). Originally written as a duet for two flutes called Catch-as-catch-can, and dedicated to Chris and Cathy Barber.
Trad. arr. Longley, This little light of mine. Home recording on electronic piano (one edit). Made for Christmas 2017; the arrangement is inspired by an old Salvation Army version I grew up with.
Justo Santos arr. Longley, La Mora Limpia. Home recording on electronic piano (edited). This is an arrangement of a Nicaraguan popular song which I made for the concert I gave there with Camerata Bach.
The Beatles arr. Longley, Yesterday. Home recording on electronic piano (unedited). Arrangement for right hand only, made when I had broken a bone in my left arm.
Franck, Panis Angelicus. Home recording on electronic piano (unedited). Ad hoc piano version.
Ivor Lester, Fidelity. Home recording on electronic piano (unedited).
Longley, An Offering. Occasional piece composed for St. Columba's-by-the-Castle Church, Edinburgh, April 2018.
Vaughan Williams arr. Longley, Come down, O Love divine (Down Ampney). Home recording on electronic piano (edited). Arrangement made for Pentecost 2020.