William Sterndale Bennett - Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 4 (1833)

Sir William Sterndale Bennett (13 April 1816 – 1 February 1875) was an English composer, pianist, conductor and music educator. At the age of ten Bennett was admitted to the London Royal Academy of Music (RAM), where he remained for ten years. By the age of twenty, he had begun to make a reputation as a concert pianist, and his compositions received high praise. Among those impressed by Bennett was the German composer Felix Mendelssohn, who invited him to Leipzig. There Bennett became friendly with Robert Schumann, who shared Mendelssohn’s admiration for his compositions. Bennett spent three winters composing and performing in Leipzig. Please support my channel: Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 4 (1833) Dedication: Philip Cipriani Hambly Potter (1792-1871) I. Allegro moderato (0:00) II. Adagio espressivo (12:50) III. Vivace giocoso (19:41) Malcolm Binns, piano and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite In 1834 Bennett was appointed organist of St Ann’s, Wandsworth, London, a chapel of ease to Wandsworth parish church. He held the post for a year, after which he taught private students in central London and at schools in Edmonton and Hendon. Although by common consent the RAM had little more to teach him after his seventh or eighth year, he was permitted to remain as a free boarder there until 1836, which suited him well, as his income was small. In May 1835 Bennett made his first appearance at the Philharmonic Society of London, playing the premiere of his Second Piano Concerto (in E-flat major, Op. 4), and in the following year he gave there the premiere of his Third Concerto (in C minor, Op. 9). Bennett was also a member of the Society of British Musicians, founded in 1834 to promote specifically British musicians and compositions. Davison wrote in 1834 that Bennett’s overture named for Lord Byron’s Parisina was “the best thing that has been played at the Society’s concerts“